An Exciting Week Ahead
My love affair with Sports; Watching NBA; My NBA Finals 2020 Pick
Hello readers! This happens to be a super-exciting week for me!
I wish to share a lot today — a brief story about my love-affair with sports, how I started watching basketball, the route to the NBA Finals 2020, and to close it out — my picks for the NBA Finals 2020 this week. Let’s go!
Do you even watch sports?
I absolutely love watching sports, at least the ones I’m introduced to. I have been following football (soccer for ye Americans) since 2008, and have been a staunch Manchester United fan! The early years of my football fandom were marked by exciting 8 P.M. games on Sunday where I’d see Sir Alex Ferguson in the dug-out, calm and composed, as the Red Devils, led by Gary Neville, donned the blazing red kits, and absolutely thrash the visitors! No cause for concern even if it was someone from the Top 3 or the Relegation Zone. Not all games were one-way traffic, of course, but “Fergie Time” was something every fan would look forward to, and more we concede initially, the better was the late comeback!
Sounds cliché, but it has not been the same since Sir Alex Ferguson bid his farewell after 26 glorious years. Of course, the “Chosen One” — David Moyes was appointed as the manager, but it has been a bit rocky (a massive understatement) ever since. And the drama surrounding United right now is deplorable, at least for the ones who have been faithful to the stellar club. Maybe that’s something to write about in a future blog!
Hey! So when did you start watching B-Ball?
It was the early morning of October 19, 2018. I woke up around half past 6 in the A.M. (IST) to prepare for my GRE (Graduate Record Examinations), and as a part of my study routine (which is mostly during the night), I have a game of football or some highlights on.
But the morning programming on the TV didn’t exactly coincide with my football calendar. As I was surfing, I tuned into the pregame show for the Portland Trailblazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers. As my blurry eyes would guide me, it read “NBA Premiere Week (2018–2019)”, which reminded me of a headline I read a while ago —
I knew who LeBron James was as an athlete and a superstar. He transcended basketball alone, but my time-zone and sheer lack of will-power to watch games in the dawn kept me aloof until this day. I was intrigued to watch his Lakers debut, and see how this sport is played for once.
A few minutes into the game and I saw the special “Allow Me To Introduce Myself” Dunk, which was replied to by Damian Lillard, and then James again on the transition, after which a timeout was called.
Now, this experience is significantly different from watching football because your football games involve a set 10 odd plays that come together in a highlight round up, but in the basketball game, potentially every play received a hyped reaction from the fans and players! It was an extremely high-tempo and a high-intensity experience! Each play was flashy, yet non-complex. But what stood out for me is the way one clings on to the certainty that they are going to witness either a couple of points, a deep shot from downtown, a super dunk, an amazing defensive hustle, or just a comical turnover in those 24 seconds, which then continues for the next shot-clock.
By this time, my books were back on the shelf, and I was glued to the game! I certainly wanted to understand fouls, timeouts, plays, and various terminologies better. I wanted to know more about the Legends, the Game 7s, the Hall of Famers and the Play-off Kings!
This led to me consuming a lot of content on YouTube, Instagram and various other platforms so that I could stay up to date, as well as get a chance to delve into the history!
Starting then, I am now on my 2019–2020 post-season, and hopefully will continue to follow actively for many years to come.
(My memory might be foggy about certain details, so if you find a factual discrepancy, please let me know in the comments!)
The route to NBA Finals 2020?
There’s no game bigger than the NBA Finals. My first Final was 2018-2019 Final which saw the mighty Warriors go down against the resilient Raptors. Kevin Durant & Klay Thompson each picked up injuries, yet to the Raptors’ credit, they absolutely played their hearts out, and deserved each bit of their first-ever Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy!
This trophy run set off ripples in the NBA world and forced some big decisions in the free-agency and the upcoming off-season. Some big names changed teams and franchises recruited smartly, at least a handful of them.
The season that followed later, was one of the most volatile NBA seasons, where a lot of things happened real quick. The season was going up in full flow until the close of 2019. On the very first day of 2020, the league saw the demise of its former commissioner David Stern. And almost 26 days later, the accidental death of Kobe Bryant & Gianna Bryant which left the NBA family absolutely devastated, further immortalized the numbers 2,8 & 24 forever. As the NBA started coming to terms with it, every team put their all in! the All-Stars Week 2020 in Chicago was one of its kind and housed one of the most competitive All-Star Games by far, with both teams having 2 & 24 on their jerseys! It looked like a positive climb coming out of there until 11th March 2020. The day the NBA stood still. A couple of Utah Jazz players tested positive for the COVID-19 and consequently, all the games were called off until further notice. The NBA players were on lockdown while the possibility of a restart looked bleak.
Amidst this psychological shift and quarantine period, a chain of disturbing events started being highlighted within the country, and many incidents sent shockwaves throughout the USA. It led to massive protests in all parts of the country. The NBA Community was equally vocal about this and invested in many projects that would work towards eliminating racial discrimination and crime.
All of this chaos was followed by the announcement of the NBA Restart, which was devised to be executed in a “Bubble” created in the Disney World, Orlando, FL. Many players didn’t deem it fit to join their teams due to injuries, family issues, safety concerns in the pandemic and also owing to the risk of overshadowing the BLM Movement. This list included big names like Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Avery Bradley, Bradley Beal, Trevor Ariza and many more!
The Bubble has been in effect since then and is one of the most perfectly executed (touchwood!) model for playing team-sports in the pandemic! Once the regular season was concluded, the post-season kicked off!
In the West, The Los Angeles Lakers (#1) had a tough road to the Finals where they faced a renewed and rejuvenated Trailblazers (#8), went on to defeat the Rockets (#4) and winning the Western Conference Finals against the resilient Denver Nuggets (#3). All these match-ups were won in 5 games (4–1), and they comfortably booked a spot in the NBA Finals.
In the East, Miami Heat (#5) swept (4–0) the Pacers (#4), which followed by them humbling the Milwaukee Bucks (#1) in 5 Games and then beating the Celtics (#3) to win the Eastern Conference Finals, thus setting themselves up for an amazing Final with the Lakers! They also happen to be the lowest seed (#5) to reach the NBA Finals since 1999.
My pick for the NBA Finals 2020.
Throughout the Regular Season, I’ve observed both the teams through close quarters, and something that stood out to me was the unwavering and ever-growing commitment of the players towards their teams! The team chemistry for both the teams is the best as ever seen in the NBA.
Lakers, led by arguably the greatest player of all time, look stronger than ever before and this is certainly Redemption season for them owing to the fact that they’ve been missing the playoffs for over a decade! The loss of Kobe is something that hurts this franchise each day and the only fitting tribute they want to offer is the Championship, nothing less! At this point, Davis & LeBron, both look equally likely to grab a Finals MVP, which would settle in the coming week!
Heat, on the other hand, have had their previous appearance in Finals much later than Lakers’ last! LeBron James & Udonis Haslem were a key part of the squad that won their 3rd Ring for the franchise, while being coached by none other than Erik Spoelstra! Now with players like Butler, Adebayo and the super-rookie Herro, they look locked and loaded!
Both of these franchises are exclusively good with their defense and have absolutely no deficiencies when it comes to offence!
My loyalties are tied with the Lakers, but it’s evidently going to be a tough road!
I got Lakers in 6.
That would be enough for today, I believe! I know this read is a bit long, but some branches just spread out once you climb on. Have a lovely week and let me know your predictions going into the Finals Week.
Stay tuned for more! Stay Safe & Take Care!
