From Distance: Awesome Endings

four point play….

1. In 1989, “NBA Awesome Endings” was somehow delivered to my childhood home in Mentor, Ohio. I’m not sure whether it was a special gift for having renewed Sports Illustrated, or whether my mother had ordered it for me on a whim.

I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the former. SI did a great job of roping people into subscriptions during that era. Ya know, that, and my parents weren’t much for random gifts.

Before SI changed the world with the singularly best subscription bonus ever (see above), they dished out all sorts of random videos for us to enjoy in the pre-internet age.

They specialized in bloopers mostly, but really any extra sports footage was ripe for the taking. With no way to do an internet deep dive into 1970s basketball, it was a special treat to see the game I loved in an era hadn’t lived through.

Enter “Awesome Endings”. Like most kids of the 80s on summer vacation, I played outside from sunup to sundown unless it was raining out. While I did enjoy playing Arch Rivals on old school Nintendo, nothing gave me a proper summertime basketball fix like that ridiculously “awesome” VHS.

There are many amazing things about this work of art.

• It was made in 1989, thus predating Michael Jordan GOAT talk. One was able to actually consider players as “great” without having to immediately compare them to Jordan.
• You get Hubie Brown, the lucid and somewhat humorous coach, instead of Hubie Brown, the humorous and somewhat lucid announcer.
• “It’s like you’re shooting and putting your hand in the basket, and as it goes through, you’re taking your hand out. It’s an awesome feeling.” -Isiah Thomas

As a kid, I never really got what he was saying. I’d go to my mini-hoop trying to recreate the moment. Hand in, hand out. Nothing.

I concluded that making a shot feels a lot better than putting my hand in a basket and then taking it out again. Wait a minute. I’m an adult now. Maybe Isiah was just being euphemistically classy about the whole thing. J.J. Redick was more direct. You can google that on your own.

• “We can’t be at this emotional pitch the whole season, or we won’t make it ’til Thanksgiving.” -Kareem Abdul Jabbar

This was in response to then rookie, Magic Johnson’s euphoric reaction to Kareem’s game-winning sky hook… in the first game of the season! People underrate Kareem all the time, and maybe this perfectly sums up why. Dude kept it cool.

• Michael Cage grabbed 28 rebounds in the final game of the season in order to beat Charles Oakley for the rebounding title.

People really cared more about rebounding in those days. This ridiculous stat grab doesn’t just indicate that Cage was a crazy person who wanted to win something. It also shows that in an era with more traditional bigmen and fewer stats, rebounding numbers were taken far more seriously.

We just saw Andre Drummond average 15 points and 16 rebounds a game. Sixteen! Have you heard anyone really praise Drummond lately? People mention his improved free throw shooting more than anything.

A guy who has averaged more than five offensive rebounds per game in three different seasons is still considered an “eh” star in the league. Perhaps rightfully so.

If we compare how rebounding was praised during the Rodman era and before, it’s somewhat amazing to me that no one really seems to care anymore.

But enough burying the lead.

• The Celtics/Lakers rivalry is examined heavily.

The Cavs’ strange “three season regular season” has mercifully come to a close. At the beginning of the campaign, most people, and Vegas, considered it a virtual lock that the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers would meet for the fourth consecutive Finals.

Like the Lakers and Celtics of the 80s, history might look back on this last half decade as the Warriors/Cavs years, and not just the reign of Golden State.

2. The odds have since shifted following a regular season that strikes me as somewhere between maybe a little relevant, and not relevant at all.

The injury reality forged from the regular season is really the only thing that I take very seriously. The somewhat “chill-mode” play of the Warriors throughout the season, the Cavs three iterations, and/or the Rockets ascent, don’t really factor into my post-season expectations excepting for Stephen Curry’s health.

Throw in Kawhi Leonard’s absence, and things do get a little murky out West. Still, I’m holding out on the preordained Finals. Warriors vs Cavs, Part IV

3. Random Player Matchups I’m excited about.

Karl Anthony Towns vs Clint Capela

KAT has all the tools to be an impact player on the defensive end. He tries hard. He’s got length and athleticism. He plays with force. And yet, he’s just not very good. Early in his career, it was well documented that he would try to block everything leaving himself horribly out of position.

Towns doesn’t do that quite as much as he used to, but he still lets his exuberance get the best of him. The Wolves have a ton of plus defenders on their roster, yet they are still consistently awful on that end of the floor.

With Clint Capela rolling hard into the paint in James Harden Pick and Roll situations, Towns is going to require more subtle patience than he has ever exhibited. If not, Capela will average 20 ppg in the series via lobs and putbacks.

Taj Gibson saved the Wolves’ season by shutting down superstar, Nikola Jokic in the season finale. If Minnesota wants to take this series to more than five games, Gibson can’t be the only Big playing defense.

Quick aside on Jokic. Yes, superstar. I found myself actively cheering for the Nuggets the other night. Jokic is the reason (okay, I might have been cheering against Rose as well). The Joker gave the Wolves everything they could handle. It was only supreme defensive play by Gibson that cooled Jokic off. As Nikola continues to improve his stamina, look out.

Kevin Durant vs Kyle Anderson

Who doesn’t love watching Slo-Mo play basketball? He plays like a 6’9″ version of 40 year-old Andre Miller. He makes me chuckle. Whatever hilarity he provides on offense with his old man game is strangely reversed on the defensive end.

Anderson, through natural basketball IQ and good coaching, has become a defense force. He is one of those guys who pokes away any lazy pass or ball-handle. His length allows him to contest without giving up subtle defensive angle integrity. Anderson is legit good.

No one can guard Kevin Durant. Seriously. We all know he is essentially unguardable. But without Steph Curry to worry about, the Spurs might be able to leverage Anderson’s ability to slow Durant down enough to steal a game. Toss in one hot shooting contest from Patty Mills, Danny Green, and consistent excellence from LaMarcus Aldridge, and the Spurs could even take two contests. Nah, I don’t believe it either.

Portland’s guards vs New Orleans’ guards

On the surface, this would seem a no-brainer win for the Blazers. Damian Lillard, much to my ever surprise, started to occasional bounce off or, (gasp) even avoid screens for the first time in his life. C.J. McCollum is one of my favorite players in the Association. The Blazers’ backcourt is the lifeblood of the team.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans are a one-man show, right? Not so much. Jrue Holiday has quietly had a very nice season playing mostly at the shooting guard. His two way play has been huge since DeMarcus Cousins went down. Curiously, he is having an off shooting year from distance, (shout out!) but we often see postseason shooting doesn’t automatically continue from regular season’s averages. He very well could drill 40% without deviating drastically from his career numbers.

At the other guard, Rajon Rondo has long had a history as “Playoff Rondo”. Even last season, the Bulls had the Celtics on the ropes before Rondo went out with injury.

Maybe I spent too much time destroying Lillard’s game to eliminate my bias. Common sense would say the Blazers backcourt will clearly win the day. I’m going the other way. If I’m right, Pels in six.

Ty Lue vs My Soul

Listen. At some point, it will be clear that Victor Oladipo can only be guarded by George Hill for so many minutes per game. Darren Collison is far too quick for Jose Calderon, Rodney Hood, and J.R. Smith. He is too crafty for a jumpy Jordan Clarkson.

Someone will have to handle guarding a quick player on the perimeter at some point of this series. When the Pacers go to their bench, who will guard Cory Joseph? Who has the size to match up against Lance Stephenson consistently?

In the frontcourt, the Pacers play a stretch five in Myles Turner and the quirky but effective Thaddeus Young.

It’s only a matter of time before it’s apparent the Cavs need Cedi Osman’s and Larry Nance’s defense against this underrated Pacers team.

Instead, Lue is going to start Jeff Green with the thought that he can switch all Oladipo Pick and Roll action. Fine, but then that leaves what size on the backend of the defense? Love and LeBron can play good weakside positional defense but neither is big enough to consistently rim protect against Myles Turner rolls and weakside attacks.

The Pacers have size and quickness. The Cavs will need to counter with the same. More importantly, the will need to counter with intelligence. Blown rotations from Jordan Clarkson and Jeff Green will not suffice.

On the bright side, it seems Lue doesn’t plan to feature Tristan Thompson in the playoff rotation. A minute that could be given to Larry Nance Jr should never be given to Tristan. I might get over Nance not starting as long as he plays big minutes.

4. Thankfully, the regular season is over. We can finally see what this team is made of. I don’t think they even know as Game One will be the first game with the complete post-trade roster…and Perk! A gentleman’s sweep is in order, but the rotation is what I will be focusing on. Here’s to another “awesome ending” to the season.