No offense to Denver, Jokic is an absolute joy to watch. He is the best passing big men I have ever seen play the game of basketball. His awareness of his teammates on the court at all times is something coaches will start teaching their big men from this point on. But this is not the series I wanted to watch.
Jamal Murray has been phenomenal this entire bubble season. Game after game he proves himself to be virtually unguardable. The game when he dropped 50 against the Utah Jazz to force a game 7 was amazing.
His one dribble step back three was reminiscent of the way James Harden scores at will with his step back. The way he used the pick and roll, the way him and Jokic played off each other throughout the entire playoffs up until this point has demanded the overall respect of the league, but this is not the series I wanted to watch.
The emergence of Jerami Grant (who i used to call little Harvey) because I literally watched him grow up when his father Harvey Grant would bring him and his brothers to Bowie Gym to work out. I would see them in church (First Baptist Church of Glenarden). He would bring them up to the Wizards games or practices. I remember watching him at my alma mater Syracuse University and talking to him while he was there. I actually interviewed him on my show the beginning of the bubble season mainly because I saw how he directed each of the NBA media qsts to focusing on Breonna Taylor during their first bubble media day.
I’m so proud of the man he has become and how he went from people questioning if he should leave Syracuse early to playing in the western conference finals. But this is not the series I wanted to watch.
This entire season, I wanted to watch a Clippers Lakers showdown. I wanted to see Lebron Vs Kawhi. Battle for LA. Battle for the NBA.
Watching the Lakers dominate game one was frustrating to watch. All I kept saying was “This is not the game I wanted to see”. Which my daughter Baby Sierra replied “Then why are you watching it ? We can put on my show” (She’s always looking for a reason to put back on her show) but honestly, I understand her point because I complained the entire game.
This was supposed to be the gleaming Lakers against the snarling Clippers. The 16 banners hanging in the rafters against the team looking to take over LA. It was going to be a drama filled, smack talking, players being separated, heated rivalry that was sure to be epic .
The prevailing notion was that this in essence would be the NBA finals as the winner of this series would be heavily favored to win it all. And that’s no disrespect to anyone in the East, that was just the overall thought.
Even Magic Johnson tweeted out last Thursday night
“I’m so excited that I’m going to see the Lakers vs. Clippers for the Western Conference Finals!!! The battle of the best in LA!”
https://twitter.com/magicjohnson/status/1304236563665022977?s=21
This is the series everyone was looking forward to seeing. And although I enjoyed watching Dwight Howard dominate the game and bring Big Men back into importance after the small ball Houston series rendered big men as obsolete, this still was not the series I wanted to see.
At halftime last night, I sent a text to one of my best friends from high school Zee Chilton who is honestly the biggest Lakers fan I know and told him as well that I was really looking fwd to seeing the Clippers Vs the Lakers. Which he replied,
“I did too, but I feel better that we didn’t have to play them”
And that in a nutshell is the reason for my complaints. The Clippers had a legitimate chance to beat the Lakers. In fact, from top to bottom, the Clippers looked like they were poised to take over LA, and everyone knew it. The Lakers were going to need to play a level of creative, swarming defense in order to stifle the Clippers one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the NBA. And quite frankly, many doubted if they could rise to that occasion especially on the defensive end of the floor.
In fact, die hard Lakers fans like my friend Zee were nervous to play the Clippers. Even if they don’t want to admit it. Snoop, Magic, all of them were nervous because they saw what the rest of the world saw, that the Clippers weren’t afraid of the Lakers one bit. Sure they had a lot to say after the Clippers lost, but make no mistake, they were nervous too.
Now the Clippers will have a long time to endure all of the criticism they have earned, especially since they talked so much noise all season. There will be people who question if Kawhi Leonard should’ve left Toronto; people like Stephen A Smith will take public shots at Paul George; there will be media questioning if Doc Rivers should be the coach; they’ll bring up Lou Williams chicken wings situation to point out that they weren’t focused; they’ll point to arguments between players Montrez Harrel and Paul George as possible dissension in the locker room; and of course they will point to one of the biggest trash talkers in the game Patrick Beverly who had a verbal sparring match (along with Paul George) with Damian Lilard having to eat his words.
They will have a lot to prove next year because they didn’t reach the expectations of the entire basketball world and I’m sure the expectations they had for themselves. This should create an even bigger fire in them. This season it didn’t happen but make no mistake, this rivalry definitely isn’t over, if anything, it’s just getting started.
