To witness the Lakers and Celtics dash out of the starting line with nothing but flat tires breaks the heart at varying degrees. It forces us to abandon the kind of romanticism that defines our fandom. How the proud can stumble. While trudging through an hour-and-a-half of lopsided basketball, watching the Spurs bludgeon the Lakers, watching the Knicks smash the Celtics, die-hards face certain realities.
Perhaps history doesn’t matter.
Perhaps fan support doesn’t matter.
Perhaps even championship banners don’t matter.
For Lakers and Celtics fans, watching these games was akin to watching Grapes of Wrath on a first date. Maling-mali.
Is this the price many of us pay for watching games with nostalgia goggles on? Were our expectations flavored with sentimentality? Eh Lakers yan eh. Eh Celtics yan eh. Maybe we want our memories validated no matter how unreasonable that request might sound. Because faith in a hallowed franchise often demands that we watch with equal amounts of faith, foolishness, ambition and naiveté.
In one stretch during the third quarter, the Lakers fielded Darius Morris, Jordan Hill, Antawn Jamison, Earl Clark and Andrew Goudelock. The Spurs, on the other hand, fielded Kawhi Leonard, Matt Bonner, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. The score was 81-59 in favor of the Spurs, in favor of a team that appeared perfectly dressed for the dance, in favor of basketball common sense.
Sometimes, the Spurs can even bend common sense. With less than two minutes left in the third quarter, Ginobili fired an adventurous bounce pass from near half court. Cory Joseph cleanly caught it and scored a lay-up. Since they’re so efficient, they can make the risky sensible.
Meanwhile in Boston, if you wanted Paul Pierce to do his classic erpats-style-spin-move-step-back-jumper over and over or Kevin Garnett to score thirty on a variety of vintage ball fakes, head fakes, shoulder fakes and every other offensive fake in the KG playbook, I would understand. Kung kinaya ni JayJay Helterbrand and Kerby Raymundo, baka kayanin din nila. Contrary to what statistics suggested, I expected a strong performance from the Celtics. I realized, as in most things in life, it’s always hard to let go.
Carmelo Anthony, vividly, didn’t have that problem. Anthony scored over Jason Terry. He scored over Jeff Green. He scored over everyone.
The Lakers and Celtics looked like two guys invited to the coolest party but weren’t allowed to wear their coolest clothes. No Kobe Bryant. No Rajon Rondo. Memories couldn’t help. Reputations crumbled under the weight of relevance.
The Knicks appear to have hype with meaning.
In a pair of blowout games, when it felt like we were watching preseason games instead of postseason battles, four concepts were strengthened even further: San Antonio and New York can challenge Miami. The Lakers and the Celtics can’t. I commiserate with every Laker and Celtic fan out there. I hope nostalgia, which made you believe this year, emboldens you to look ahead. Next season beckons. - AMD, GMA News
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