And Then There Were Three

The Lakers beat the Spurs last night, 100-92, and I seriously doubt there's anyone reading this who didn't already know that. Still, the Lakers are in the Finals and this now fulfills my bold prophecy that the Spurs would not make it out of the first round/Conference Semifinals/Conference Finals. It also means that the NBA is now 50% of the way towards the NBA-brought-to-you-by-Gatorade's wet-dream matchup of Celtics-Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Speaking of... I hate to be a wet blanket here and embrace that fearsome stranger known as "objectivity"-- and this is NOT an expression of doubt about the Celtics' ability to win this series-- but am I the only one who finds it strange that no one is talking about the fact that Lakers-Pistons would be a pretty sweet series as well? I mean, it's not like there's no historical rivalry between those two teams: in fact, since the start of the Magic/Bird/Isiah era, the Celtics and Lakers have squared off in the finals only one more time than the Pistons and Lakers have. And don't forget that Phil Jackson and Kobe are probably still stinging from the Pistons' huge upset win in 2004, a truly embarrassing moment for the Lakers' franchise all around.

Again, in no way do I mean to suggest that I'd be anything less than devastated if the Pistons beat the Celtics in this series, and one could even make the case that this post could function as a "reverse jinx" against the Pistons. Still, you hear a lot of noise about coastal media bias, and while I do think a lot of that's exaggerated, if I were a Pistons fan let's just say I'd probably be acutely concerned with the officiating of tonight's game and particularly Sunday's, if necessary (heaven forbid).

And, finally, a few words of eulogy for the San Antonio Spurs, model franchise and most dominant team of the past decade: Fuck you and I'm glad you lost. I'd also like to point out that Robert Horry scored 2 points in 53 minutes this series and was a DNP-CD in Game 5. In his defense the two points were probably super clutch, somehow.