“Go Yankees”

I’m guilty of using a sensational headline that would catch everyone’s attention. I admit it. Surely when you read that line cheering on the Bronx Bombers, you had to think I had gone mad.

What’s worse? This article doesn’t have anything to do with baseball. Least I don’t think it does anyway.

Originally I planned to entitle my post-NBA championship article as – “How Does Mitch Kupchak Sleep At Night?” – exposing the thievish ways used to acquire Pau Gasol in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies for Kwame Brown, Jarvis Crittenton, and a pair of first round picks – a trade that seemed to seal the championship for Los Angeles.

(Wonder if the Lakers threw in a bag of balls and some rolls of tape to sweeten the deal? Considering the beating I took recently when I asserted the Bulls should trade the #1 pick in the draft – is it safe to say the Gasol deal was ridiculous?)

Then Curt Schilling entered the fray and got Kobe to utter his allegiance to the Evil Empire. After that there was no way Gasol and the rest of Kobe’s underlings could handle the Boston Celtics.

While the Laker offense certainly displayed flashes of brilliance scoring 30 or more points in 5 of the 24 quarters in the championship series, the more telling statistic could be the 7 quarters that the Celtic defense held the Lakers to less than 20 points.

Phil Jackson, the Zen Master, had a front row seat to observe the behavior of hungry wolves. A wolf pack led by Kevin Garnett whose relentless defense ultimately reduced Lamar Odom to that of a temper tantrum. Almost looked like L.O. was unaccustomed to seeing defense.

I was like many who bought into the notion that Garnett did not deserve mentioning in the MVP discussion. That all too frequently he passed the ball late in the game when he should have finished the play. Now it appears that what looked like an unwillingness to take responsibility was instead an effort to establish his teammates as threats on the floor.

Guys like Ray Allen who spent game 6 draining 3s like he was “shooting tiny hoops with the townies.” Allen also showed me that he can play on the other end of the floor. What seemed like an imminent mismatch with Allen covering Kobe, turned into a display of patience as Allen never flinched whenever Bryant gained momentum.

Then there was Paul Pierce – the face of the Boston Celtics for the last decade. Sometimes it has been a face of petulance. But last night, with the past a distant memory, Pierce seemed ready to take his place alongside Cousy, Russell, Havlicek, and Bird. Not sure if facility managers will hold Pierce in high esteem as #34 dumped Gatorade on the unsuspecting Doc Rivers – not much damage done when the sports drink is dumped outside. Turning Rivers’s shirt collar pink was probably not the only problem created by Pierce’s celebration.

Not to forget Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and the Celtic bench – Leon Powe, Eddie House, E.T., and PJ Brown.

I also realized another misconception that I have bought into: the West is the superior conference. Here we are. Another NBA champion crowned and take a look at the last four: the Celts, Miami, Detroit, and San Antonio. The Spurs the only team from the West, and they are the least attractive team from the fun ’n’ gun conference – the team the average fan least likes to watch because of their methodical style. But methodical is also how we could describe the recent champs from the eastern conference.

As I watched the fourth quarter with the Celtics pounding Los Angeles into submission, I also realized the possibility of a rivalry renewed. Everyone has weighed in on this matchup since it became a reality – whether it still carried the same meaning between teams. While there was some doubt a couple of weeks ago, recent events have changed that.

Boston will return most of its team next year, and they will be ready to defend their crown.

Here’s hoping that the sting of this loss will linger with the Lakers and especially Kobe. He has gone from a first round pick out of high school who could not pass into the post – to being part of three championships – to wanting things his way – to losing – to wanting a trade – to kinda manning up with that finger injury – to chastising his teammates in public – to getting called out – to being a Yankees fan – to being incapable of carrying his team when they needed him most (Hey Kobs! Notice what KG did? Instead of shooting all the time, he has included his teammates. Maybe you ought to try it.)

With the Lakers returning a young lineup, the Celtics ready to defend their title, a little bad blood spilled (I’m not sure if Curt Schilling is the person to be calling out Kobe, but at least someone did), this has the makings of a rivalry…renewed.

Guess I always knew that the Yankees make everything a little more interesting.