I knew it was crazy for me to hold out hope that Lebron James could somehow go his entire career
without ever winning a title. But it's eating me up inside that my undermanned and over the hill Celtics actually
had this Heat team on the ropes two weeks ago, and now they are about to win the NBA Championship. Nobody has ever come back from being down 3-1 in the Finals before; in fact no team has even been able to force a Game 7 after facing that deficit. But it's going to happen someday, and here's why it might as well be this year's OKC Thunder:
Recent history dictates that it's actually fairly likely. The Heat have been in the Finals twice before; in '06 they trailed Dallas 2-0 before winning
four in a row to take the series, and last year they led Dallas 2-1 before dropping
three straight to lose the series. Just last round OKC trailed the Spurs 2-0 before taking the final four games, so a three game winning streak by the Thunder over the Heat to finish this series is definitely a distinct possibility. Rationalizing how it could go down isn't even that hard.
For Game 5 in Miami, all the pressure and expectations will be on Lebron and the Heat to close out the Thunder, and get the
"King" his first ring in front of their home crowd. Considering what's
happened in the past, there is a chance that this could be more than they can handle. If the series shifts back to Oklahoma City, the Thunder would clearly be favored in Game 6 with their raucous
blue and white clad fans behind them. If they pull that off they would have all the momentum, and be even bigger favorites heading in to Game 7. So there you have it.
The logical (or lucid) part of my brain is also forcing me to look at this from a mathematical standpoint. Hypothetically, let's say the Thunder have a 40% chance to win Game 5, then a 55% chance in Game 6, and finally a 60% chance in Game 7. Those numbers indicate the Heat still have roughly a 1 in 8 (or 13%) opportunity to lose this series. Not great, but I'll take it.
I have received unconfirmed reports that one of my least favorite teams in the history of professional sports just won the NBA Championship last night. I turned the game off well before it was over, and I have avoided the espns all day, so I am not completely certain that it happened. Luckily I was assigned to write a Red Sox/Marlins series recap for clnsradio.com today, which I was able to do without coming across any NBA news. If you read it you can find out how great Big Papi has been, and also learn how hot it was in the center field bleachers on Wednesday night.
I ran out of dental floss this morning. It was 100 degrees outside, so rather than walk a couple blocks to CVS I just went to the little store across the street from my apartment. Usually I use plain and simple unwaxed floss, but the only one they had was this fancy "Oral-B complete," so I gave it a shot. It is crazy stuff. It's made of a soft foamy rubbery material that's supposed to grip your fingers and not slip. But then it's also partially covered with a blue glossy substance that makes it smooth and easy to slide between your teeth.
For Game 5 in Miami, all the pressure and expectations will be on Lebron and the Heat to close out the Thunder, and get the "King" his first ring in front of their home crowd. Considering what's happened in the past, there is a chance that this could be more than they can handle. If the series shifts back to Oklahoma City, the Thunder would clearly be favored in Game 6 with their raucous blue and white clad fans behind them. If they pull that off they would have all the momentum, and be even bigger favorites heading in to Game 7. So there you have it.
This song was originally by Neil Diamond in 1968. But if you ask me, his version of Red Red Wine was pretty terrible. It was kind of sad and depressing, and only ever made it as high as #62 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen years later a British reggae band remade it, and the new rendition was light and happy and fun. But even then UB40's take only reached #34 in 1984. However, in 1988 they gave it one more try, releasing it again as single with some "rap" lyrics in the middle (I feel weird calling it rap when we're talking about a pop/reggae group from England), and this time it went all the way to #1. Here's the first attempt minus the rap:
