It's funny though, because I was a John Barker basketball legend from 2nd grade through 8th grade. That game on ice? Never played a real game of hockey in my life. One of my biggest regrets, while we're at it. But at the end of the day, I probably do know a little bit more about basketball than hockey. Weirdly enough.
Why am I telling you all this? Because this series the Celtics are about to play against LeBron James and the Miami Heat re-commit me to professional basketball, or forever turn me off. There's not much of an in-between. If you've been watching these playoffs, and I begrudgingly have (mostly due to the Bruins early exit), you can tell the officiating as been, as expected, suspect at best. More so than any other league, basketball is a sport where the stars get away with what they want, when they want. It's akin to the benefits celebrities have when they get in trouble with the law. Somebody like Paul George gets hacked on the arm? May or may not get called. Somebody like LeBron or D-Wade? Automatic two shots, plus probably a technical or a flagrant. I'm slightly exaggerating, but that's the way it is.
So what's interesting about this Celtics-Heat series is that Boston certainly has the star power to run with the Heat. The Celtics have a better overall team than the Heat. If you were going to hold a school-yard pick 'em for this series, LeBron would go 1, D-Wade would go 2, but the next 5 players would all be Celtics (I'm taking a healthy Brandon Bass over Chris Bosh, and still might anyways, regardless of health).
Of course, it's hard to tell exactly what the NBA wants out of the Heat. Does David Stern enjoy the hoopla surrounding LeBron and his inability to win big games? Do referees look at the self-titled King differently in big spots? It's inconsistent. LeBron gets all the calls he wants leading up to these big moments, but it seems that when the true money is on the line, where his legacy can be re-made, he becomes just any other player. Look no further than the Dallas series from a year ago.
This being the Eastern Conference Finals, and not the NBA Finals, it will be interesting to see if the NBA deems this a "legacy-shifter" for LeBron. He did already exorcise his Celtics demons last year, remember. Having said that, the Celtics pretty much owned the Heat this season, taking 3 of their 4 contests by an average of 7.8 ppg* (the final meeting, a 78-66 Celtics victory, featured only Paul Pierce in terms of relevant players from either side. Sasha Pavlovic led all scorers with 16. So, yeah).
At the end of the day, what this all comes down to for me is one thing, and one thing only: if this series is officiated fairly, I have no doubt in my mind that the better team is capable of winning. And the better team is the Celtics. If LeBron and Wade are getting calls in star-mode, and for whatever reason KG/Truth/Rondo/Ray-Ray aren't, this could be a long one.
Funny as it sounds, we're living in a world where Chris Bosh is an X-Factor for this series. For as much maligned as he's been since taking his talents to South Beach, Bosh could seriously swing this series in favor of Miami. Based on what I've heard so far, if he does show his face, it won't be at 100%.
And whether he returns or not, there's all kinds of nostalgia at stake here. For both sides. Celtics win, and three NBA Finals appearances with the "Big 3" makes them a minor-dynasty. At least a footnote dynasty. The Heat win, great and all, but it won't matter unless they win a Championship. I would make a "not 5, not 6, not 7" joke here, but have the Heat looked more vulnerable since The Decision?
Call in blind loyalty, call it rationale, call it what you will. I'm taking the Celtics in 7.
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