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Simply 'The Finals'
Posted: Tuesday June 02, 1998 01:34 PM
We are here at basketball’s ultimate games, and there is no need for some fanciful slogan, like “Final Four,” or “Super Bowl” to over-hype the event. This is hoops at its most elevated state, so something simple, something decidedly understated will do just fine.
So they chose to call it “The Finals,” and that’s more than enough, because it seems just a bit wasteful to spend too much time dealing with all the ribbons and bows when what’s inside the box is such a wonderful gift.
So the NBA does not dazzle you with a week’s worth of carnival excess to lure you to its ultimate post-season party. It captivates you with the simplest of pleasures.
No ribbons. No bows. Just the gift inside the box.
And that gift is pure athletic drama.
These NBA Finals are ripe with it. There is the aging dynasty and the great Michael Jordan, both in their final days, straining to squeeze out just one more memorable championship moment. If this is the end of ‘His Airness’ reign as the absolute hoop deity, then let it be here in a championship hunt. Give us seven games filled with classic MJ. Catch him in the lane on some hang-gliding improvisational trip, seeking space where there is none, creating another breathless, jazzy rift.
Watch him now in his hoop twilight, still the cold-blooded competitive killer … exhausted, surrounded, challenged … then rising to meet that challenge, just like he’s done so many times in the past.
But the drama doesn’t stop there. There is another team involved here, and it is the Utah Jazz, who come into The Finals with a similar sense of championship entitlement. If the Bulls believe the title is theirs simply because they've already won five of them, the Jazz think this year’s title belongs to them because it’s at last their turn.
Karl Malone, John Stockton, and the rest of the old school Jazz may very well be the best team in The Finals. They have all the proper motivation, fueled by a history of playoff frustration and last year’s close-but-not-close-enough loss to the Bulls in The Finals. They are unafraid of the Bulls. They have a 2-0 season series lead. They are well rested. They have the home-court advantage. They have two future Hall of Famers in Stockton and Malone who would love to complete their NBA legacies with some championship hardware.
But as the Bulls already showed us in the Eastern Conference finals, the best team doesn’t always win. It is the team with the most audacity, with the most arrogance, with the superstar who is unfazed in the most high-pressured moments, when others wilt under the intense heat.
We know Jordan thrives in such conditions. Is Malone now ready to show similar cold-blooded heroics?
The box is about to be opened.
I can’t wait to see the gift inside.
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NBA Finals
