Kleeman's Last Word

Playoffs Unfolding as They Should Be

Just one week after hundreds of sportswriters jumped on the "Spurs are a dirty team" bandwagon, they're back to calling them boring.
And with the tired, "these guys are not exciting to watch" label being forced on a great team, these ignoramus hypocrites are back in full force.
One minute, they can't wait to tell America that Bruce Bowen is basketball's ultimate terrorist, deserving nothing less than condemnation to Guantanamo Bay. That Robert Horry is so crooked and malicious he slaps people for breakfast.
The next, they'd have you believe the San Antonio Spurs are so unexhilirating, you'd be better off counting the number of grass blades on your lawn.
Which is it?
While these sports dumbos continue debating whether this team is exciting enough to be dirty or boring enough to be placid, I'll fill in the blanks with the correct answers.
I will pass go and collect $200. Why? Because I have a clue.
Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver felt the Spurs cheated destiny and received a free pass to the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs robbed the Suns of the title they deserved because Phoenix is so great and anybody that messes with beloved Steve Nash has to be the devil.
Sarver rightfully protest the NBA's unfair ruling to suspend Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for leaving the bench during the altercation that followed Horry's hard foul on Nash at the end of game 4.
I wrote many times how I thought the ruling unjustly penalized two players who were exercising human nature in helping a teammate in supposed peril. But, as Tim Duncan said, aside from Horry, no other Spur had anything to do with the decision.

That's why the suspensions didn't decide the Spurs-Suns heated conference semifinal series. The Suns loss is symptomatic of a greater problem, one I hope all these sportswriters and people like Sarver and Kiki Vandawegh will help fix.

I could believe the cheating destiny argument if the Suns had some recent streaks of success with the Spurs. However, since Nash arrived, Duncan's boys have a stranglehold on the season and playoff series advantages.

Let's just throw the cat out of the bag and get to the point: run and gun basketball should be left in the 90s where it belongs.
As long as Phoenix sports columnists believe their team deserves to win because they play a brand of basketball that is "exciting," they should always lose.

This caveman, piece of shit style of basketball has no place in an era when players like Duncan, Shane Battier, Josh Howard and Kobe Bryant show what's possible when you play both ends of the floor.

Sure, Phoenix played some inspired defense against the Spurs, but they did it because they had to, not because they actually value a complete game.

Would Suns fans really mind a 181-179 score, so long as their team emerged victorious? I doubt it.

There's a reason why the All-Star Game exists, so that fans who need to see a game in the high hundreds can get their fix. Leave the running on every possession to this annual contest and play some real basketball, Phoenix. I'm also talking to you Golden State, Washington, Milwaukee and Denver.

Sure, Golden State proved to be the greatest story of this playoffs thus far. But I was just using them for their ridiculously raucous fans and all those nutty shots from Baron Davis. It was more of a shocking comic relief than an investment in their style of play.

True NBA fans don't need to see their team dunk on the fast break on every possession to have a reason to cheer.

The point of this post? The Spurs play real basketball, the kind you were supposed to love watching when the sport evolved over time.
Real basketball means playing half court, man to man defense and holding opponents to a low field gold percentage and getting them to miss most of their shots.
It also means sharing the ball offensively and getting the job done instead of getting on the highlight reel.
And if you really watch the Spurs, they find themselves on the highlight reel more often than not.

Phoenix runs as a team, passes the ball and does the kind of obvious things that any casual fan could appreciate. But that's why this piece of shit mirage must be stopped before it ruins a sacred sport.

What the Spurs do, the Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons also do. It's no coincidence or upset, folks.

The best defensive teams are the ones left standing and one of them will grab the title in June.
Despite a great regular season, Phoenix once again leaves the playoffs empty handed.
So does Golden State, Washington and Denver. And what great shotjackers all of these teams were!

Run and gun is not the future of the NBA, it will be the death of it, if it's allowed to spread like the virus that it is.

The Spurs aren't boring; you just don't know good basketball from your flip-flopping ass.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 9:55 AM