The Present Is A Gift

Watching Christmas day’s Lakers/Heat game made me realize what a special era of basketball we live in. Dwyane Wade was ridiculously sensational, but when there’s a conversation about the best players in the game, he is only one of several amazing ballers, and he’s usually not at the top.

There are so many players and styles that we can marvel at right now: Wade and his unbelievable athleticism, creativity and ability to finish. Kobe Bryant and what is likely the most well-rounded offensive repertoire in the league. LeBron James and his ability to dominate through playmaking and scoring – not to mention his sheer power. Then there are players who are incredibly special in other ways. No person can dissect defenses in more ways than Steve Nash – give him a tiny window of opportunity and he will make you pay. Tim Duncan may be the best power forward ever – he is a rebounding and scoring machine and a perfect fit for the nickname, ‘The Big Fundamental’. Dirk Nowitzki has to be the best shooter in the game today and he stands at 7 feet. Kevin Garnett is a freak. Dwight Howard: Freak #2. Gilbert and ‘Melo can go for 60. AI is a hall-of-famer. Shaun Livingston occasionally looks like Magic. Greg Oden is coming. Don’t forget Yao, Shaq and Stoudemire.

All I wanted to say here is that we can take these special talents for granted. When a person can buy a ticket for an NBA game on any given night, in any given city, and see a basketball player with extraordinary abilities, it’s quite easy to forget how good they actually are. No wonder the MVP vote is anyone’s guess these last few years.

I suppose Christmas day gave me the time to kick up my feet and realize that we’re watching what must be the best era in basketball ever.

Share This

By Tas Melas at 4:25 am on 12.26.2006 — Tags: Superstars

Comments

5 Responses to “The Present Is A Gift”

  1. crash-dev at 10:52 am on 12.26.2006

    Oh my how times have changed…In the first ten minutes of the game it was decided. Wade got every call when he jumped into people and Kobe could jump into everyone and never even smell the line.

    Give me Agent 0, who fucking erans it. When he scored 54 he went to the line 6 times all game.

    I respect Kobe for gaurding Wade, but without his offensive end he just looked down all game.

    Yes, I am a Wade hater and it doesn’t help that I was on the lakers and the over…I guess JC was angry at me for betting on his birthday. My bad playa.

  2. Marie at 11:11 am on 12.26.2006

    Yes, I can be thankful for all of those things, but yesterday’s game was atrocious. I sincerely hope that this is the last Lakers/Heat Christmas Day matchup that is shown until the two teams are actually equal with each other and have better players than the usual stars. In the previous years it was Shaq vs. Kobe and now it’s Kobe vs. Wade and Phil Jackson vs. Pat Riley…you could not pay me to give a damn about this matchup, especially since these “rivalries” are practically contrived by wishful thinking media. Next Christmas, what I’d really like is to see two different and better teams competing on national television in a quality game of intense basketball (say, Dallas vs. San Antonio, for example).

  3. Lisa at 2:51 pm on 12.26.2006

    How about when Arenas scored 60…and went to the line 27 times?

  4. crash-dev at 3:20 pm on 12.26.2006

    I know I know…but that is the norm for the NBA. I wish we could put an asterick next to those games or something. I know that would never happen, but perhaps we celebrate crazy scoring when someone is not going to the free throw line.

    The Christmas game aside from the 3rd quarter, just seemed like a complete whistle-fest to me.

  5. Tas Melas at 4:23 pm on 12.26.2006

    Phil Jackson said Detroit and San Antonio complained until they couldn’t complain any more about having to play on Christmas day in 2005.

    There may be a connection there as to why no other teams were scheduled.

Leave a Reply




Close
E-mail It