Classic NBA Highlights

I like how the production team went with the Minecraft theme. So retro.

 

i think this is probably the most well-played series in nba history. not just drama and stars and intensity and the fact it went 7, but just the possession-by-possession attention to detail and everybody doing what they are supposed to do on offense and everybody being where they are supposed to be on defense. everybody just seems like they are executing at all moments and the intensity and tension, especially in games 6 and 7, is just pouring out of the screen. when you combine that many hall-of-famers, pop's san antonio borg having everybody executing precisely, miami probably at their peak in terms of combining talent with chemistry and the way both teams seem to take each other very seriously the whole time, it's just perfect to watch (the team i was rooting for winning it probably also helps). even the fact that i think there were no flagrants and few technicals (not that i don't enjoy a flagrant here and there) just seemed to drive home how little time for BS either team had.

so many series are either lopsided or defined at least as much by terrible execution as well-played basketball. like warriors/cavs 2016 is a super-intense series where you can tell the teams don't like each other, but it feels like half the time one team was just playing like crap or forgot they needed to play as hard as the other team that day. i feel like if i saw the 2010 finals again there would be too much poor offensive execution. us vs the knicks was certainly not always the prettiest (watching starks go 2-18 is kind of brutal to watch now). if i could stomach any more 80's hardwood classics where each team takes 40 ft's and they blow a whistle on every possession, i might try to find all the 1984 finals and see how that series plays out, but the style of play is just so old and "what's a 3 again?" that it's hard to hold up to 2013.

 

and one of the guys calling the game gave him his 2nd. this game was on the other day, what as absolute ass-kicking. i think the lakers finished the game on a 13-0 run, and lost by 13. it's weird in sports how sometimes when the wheels come off a great team, they just come all the way off. the lakers had no business getting dominated in 5 but they just didn't seem to want to guard detroit and, even though detroit's D was obviously historic, they just looked so discombobulated on every possession. kind of reminds me how portland kind of bottled up shaq in game 7 in 2000 and made the lakers look so pedestrian, except the blazers collapsed and detroit just kept on scoring.