Loyalty is a funny thing.
Like an offensive line in football, it’s expected to be rock solid and really only becomes a story when it’s somehow compromised. Everybody knows what it is, but everyone defines it differently. It can make the rational irresponsibly irrational.
LeBron James was thought to have loyalty in abundance, he even has it tatted on his torso. He went out of his way to praise his teammates when he worked in Cleveland, then stabbed them and his hometown — or home region anyway — in the back. Last year, Dwight Howard did to the word loyalty what Papoose did to Summer Jam XX. Who could forget the most hilarious piece of sports memorabilia of all-time?
Sidebar: Seriously. That’s like a shirt with Young Scooter’s face on it that said BARS across the chest. Although rockin that shirt is intriguing, you know, just to be entertaining…*mulling it over* Okay, it’s official. I want one of those Dwight Howard t-shits.
Fans clearly care about loyalty in sports, as judged by the James & Howard backlash. But to what extent? And whose job is it to categorize “loyalty” anyway? Nobody catches more hell these days than a Miami Heat fan. Apart from the fact that that the 305 was never known for having great fans, 90% of Miami Heat fans today weren’t Miami Heat fans in June of 2010. And bandwagon fans are just the absolute worst (ahem! Lil Wayne).
Still, many fail to realize that the majority of these individuals support LeBron James, and subsequently root for the Heat for that reason. Thus, they’re being loyal to their favorite player. Others are simply loyal to basketball excellence, and therefore throw their support behind the best and or most entertaining team.
Sidebar: There are of course, those that support the Heat for no other reason than to play the contrarian. And those people are as reprehensible as 10 Weezys.
When being a fan stops and one starts getting into the game of making objective predictions (especially publicly), you’re basically chained to that prediction like a politician running for president. And if you so much as consider going back on it at any point, you expose yourself to the possibility of being raked over the coals by every wannabe O’Reilly waiting in the wings.
But then that word creeps back up into your consciousness…loyalty.
Well, what happens when you want to be loyal to your prediction and yourself, when the evidence at hand suggests that you may want to rethink your position? It can be a difficult choice, but it doesn’t affect anybody but you. Ultimately, you make the decision that you feel will make you look the smartest in the end. LeBron did the same thing in 2010, only on a scale a million times larger.
While James bailed on the team that drafted him in pursuit of greener pastures, Tim Duncan stayed the course when Florida once called his name. Much like Lebron’s, Duncan’s “decision” to leave for palm trees, flashy new teammates and no state income tax, certainly would’ve altered the course of basketball history. But loyalty to his franchise won out and he returned to the Spurs.
Above all else, Duncan and James were both loyal to one thing: winning.
Turns out they both made good decisions.
Prior to the start of the season, HHSR predicted the Miami Heat would win the 2012-13 NBA Championship. Midway through the season, we said they were the only real contender in the Eastern Conference (which seemed a tad inaccurate through the first six games of the Conference Finals, but you know how that ended). Yet through three rounds of the playoffs, one team appears to be a cut above the rest…and it ain’t the Miami Heat.
The San Antonio Spurs have been called fossils many times before, but they have literally been sitting around collecting dust as they’ve been posted at the crib since May 27th. That, a result of them brooming the Memphis Grizzlies out of the playoffs like the Sandman on Amateur Night in the Western Conference Finals.
Of course the Heat are more than capable of dispatching the Spurs and winning their second straight championship, but heading into Game 1, it is the Spurs that are passing the eyeball test (of this observer, anyway) with flying colors. They’ve lost only twice in this postseason, dominating a seemingly formidable Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Heat lost three times last week!
If that weren’t enough, the Spurs are strongest where the Heat are weakest (they always say the playoffs are about matchups)— at the point and in the pivot. Tony Parker is neck & neck with LeBron in the fictitious playoff MVP race. And only few players in the history of the league have ever elevated their game in the NBA Finals like Tim Duncan, who boasts career averages of 22.7 points, 14.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.0 blocks per game (over 22 games!) on the NBA’s biggest stage. Oh, and his team is a perfect 4-0 in the final round on his watch.
Sidebar: Granted, TD has faced some pretty weak competition over the years in the Finals. But Jason Collins and Drew Gooden aside, those numbers are damn impressive.Â
Duncan is also a superior rim protector — a facet of his game that often goes underappreciated, if not unnoticed, Zach Randolph is still on milk cartons in Memphis, Tennessee — who should be ready to feast on a Miami team that has only one guy willing and able to attack the rim on a nightly basis. Roy Hibbert and the Indiana Pacers laid the blueprint for how to slow the Heat down; if there’s one team capable of executing that blueprint to perfection, it’s this Spurs, who by the way have a decided coaching advantage in the Finals.
San Antonio has a system in place, with principles centered around ball movement, player movement, setting hard/clean screens, spacing the floor and making open shots. With Parker at the helm, the Spurs are averaging just 12 turnovers per game in the playoffs. If San Antone can keep this number low, it will limit the Heat’s fastbreak opportunities.
No caption needed.
The Heat’s opportunity to win this series hinges on their ability to get out in transition, keep Parker out of the paint and staying active in all phases of the game, like they were in Game 7 against the Pacers (offensively, defensively and ON THE GLASS!). Dwyane Wade’s health (knee) and Chris Bosh’s health (bitchassness) hampered Miami in the conference finals to the point that envisioning them defeating the Spurs at this point is a tall task.
LeBron tried the one-man-gang approach against the Spurs once before in the Finals— it didn’t work. Bottom line: If the Heat play like they did in the East Finals versus the Spurs, they will not win this series.
Earlier this season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich kept Parker, Duncan and Manu Ginobili (and Danny Green) out of the lineup against the Heat — in a move that was really Pop thumbing his nose at Commissioner David Stern — which led to Erik Spoelstra returning the favor and benching LeBron & Wade in the regular season rematch. Only a coaching wizard like Popovich would take an opportunity like that and turn it into a national display of loyalty to his players (by resting them when he felt his players needed it, even though it was during a national TV game, which the Spurs nearly won anyway).
Sidebar: At the time, I openly ripped Pop for this decision, but he was clearly acting in the best interest of his team, even if he did it in the most arrogant and fan-dismissive way possible.
And it couldn’t be anymore fitting. Duncan showed his loyalty by staying in the Lone Star State after Orlando rolled out the red carpet for him 10 years ago. Ginobili demonstrated loyalty to his coach and organization by not going ham on the team for relegating him to a sixth man role. Parker and Popovich’s allegiance to each another has stood the test of time, despite them having a sometimes contentious relationship (particularly in the early years). And all parties involved have been rewarded time and again for their commitment to one another and the shared belief that they could grow together. As a result, the Spurs are positioned to win their fifth championship in a 14 year span.
What about the Heatles, you ask? The good news for them is that their A game is unmatched, and LeBron’s A game is unparalleled. But their inconsistent play against the Pacers makes you question whether or not they have the capacity to access the excellence reservoir four times against a team that possesses more NBA Finals experience then even they have.
No flukes. The NBA’s two best teams are here. The idea that this series could end in anything sooner than seven games seems highly unlikely— about as unlikely as a person writing over 1,500 words (mostly) on how good the Spurs are, only to stick with the Heat to repeat as NBA Champions…
Only loyalty could do that.
Miami in seven.