As bored as most people are with the NBA Playoffs by now, what with Oprah Winfrey dictating when games can be played, we should embrace as much NBA action as we possibly can in the remaining months of these playoffs, because the future of the 2011-12 season isn’t looking very bright.
The NBA Players’ Association is hoping to block a looming lockout by filing unfair labor charges against the league with the National Labor Relations Board last night. The players believe that the owners are making unfair demands regarding money and revenue while not offering anything back to the players in return. Basically, the owners won’t admit that they flooded the league with terrible mid-level and horrible max contracts over the past 5 years and now they would just like to call a do-over, what with that whole half-the-league’s-teams-are-hemorrhaging-money thing. You can guess the response of the guys who are on the other end of those terrible contracts. Here comes the Gilbert Arenas Amnesty Clause!
Also, the Los Angeles Lakers have hired Mike Brown as their new head coach in case the league ever has another season.
Miami Heat 101, Chicago Bulls 93 (Series: 3-1 MIA)
You can watch the highlights above, but all that matters about this game is that the league’s MVP and the Bulls’ first true superstar since the man they called Air choked. Derrick Rose had two chances to win the game in the final 25 seconds of the 4th quarter, especially after a gift-wrapped offensive foul from LeBron James, who had no business trying to go to the basket when he could have just shot Miami’s game-winner from anywhere he pleased. Instead, Rose tried to emulate Michael Jordan with an off-balance fadeaway for his first game-winning attempt that he missed, and for his second shot he emulated me in middle school gym class. Of course James was smothering Rose on defense, but apparently the MVP didn’t have enough faith in Carlos Boozer’s and Luol Deng’s combined 40 points.
Rose missed 19 shots. Sure, James missed 15, but he made them when they mattered and he went to the line 13 times and hit every free throw. Rose missed 19 shots. I’m not saying that he’s bad or overrated by any means, but he sure seems to be on the wrong side of a Kobe Bryant/Allen Iverson debate right now.
Tonight’s Prediction: Dallas over Oklahoma to await a rematch that 6 people will talk about.
