I Hate to Say (that They Love to Say) I Told You So

I was never raised as an NBA fan.

My whole life, my mom raised me to appreciate the game of basketball because her dad (my grandfather) was a basketball coach.  I was in youth leagues when I was a kid to learn the fundamentals, and I played a lot of pick up games when I was growing up.  My parents took me to a couple games at the Coliseum in Morgantown, and even a U of R game when the mountaineers came to Richmond shortly we after we moved here in Chester.  I was even born inside the holy triangle of college basketball- the area known as the "research triangle" between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill which also features the two schools that make up the rivalry of college basketball.

But even with all that, I never truly followed the NBA at any point when I was a kid.  I knew Michael Jordan was the closest thing to Zeus on the hardcourt in Chicago.  As a teenager, I knew Kobe and Lebron were both serious contenders to follow Jordan's legacy.  But that was about it.

It wasn't until I got to college and Da'Sean Butler got drafted by Miami that I honestly cared about what went on in the NBA.  I threw my lot in with Miami the night I found out they had picked up Butler in the second round.  Several weeks later, I found out Lebron James was teaming up with Wade (and "that other guy from Toronto").  Some of the best minds in the NBA would be mentoring my favorite player.  When many others doubted their potential, I embraced it. 

Of course, many of you that listen to my frequent complaints throughout the year know how this story ends.  Mike Miller gets injured in preseason practice, and the Heat have to cut Da'Sean Butler after the final cuts had been made in order to make room for a replacement for Miller.  Da'Sean eventually ended up with the Spurs, a team I already favored anyway.  So it all worked out in the end.  But I couldn't shake the feeling that the Heat were a Dynasty in the making.

Some said their superstar attitudes couldn't work.  I said that some degree of humility would be prevail.  Some said there would be no rings.  I said 2 in the next 3 years, and 3 in the next 5.  Some said LeBron James was a punk.  I said... actually, I kind of thought LeBron was a punk for a while too. 

But the fact remains the same.  An actual army of people, led by Skip Bayless, Rick Reilly, and angry Cleveland residents, were actively hating on the team from Miami.  Pick one of the multitude of reasons that were floating around out there, and that was surely why this superteam would never work.  The big 3 wasnt born out of trust and good drafting, it was smashed together out of arrogance.  Surely such a conglomoration can't work- at least, that's the storybook ending we would be read by our parents if this was a morality-teaching picture book from our childhood.  Arrogance is bad.  It doesn't lead to rewards.

And yet here the Miami Heat are, officially in the NBA finals.  The regular season is over.  Sometimes they sank, sometimes they swam.  But regardless, they're here, and like the all-stars that they are, they have saved their best basketball for when it mattered most.  They've gotten to the NBA final in- correct me if I'm wrong- 15 games?  That's pretty rediculous, when you consider that they had to beat a scrappy Sixers team, a veteran C's team, and a MVP-led Bulls team. 

Doc Rivers said it best.  As the Heat had regained momentum in one game vs the Celtics pretty early on in the series, the sideline cameras panned over to Doc as he told his players "Remember what we talked about.  Did you think I was kidding?  You're not going to outathleticize them.  You can't beat them at their own game."  And he proved to be right.  No team is more freakishly talented or athletic than the Heat, and now that they've finally figured out the winning formula (D-Wade and LeBron do their thing and take turns leading the team, while Bosh is just a really really really good role player.  If a team decides to double guard James or Wade, or the PF pulls for help defense, then  Bosh gets to make them pay with a nice stat line), the sky is the limit for this team.  Can a team really play unselfish, extra pass basketball for 7 whole games?   I don't know, but I do know what happens if no one is capable of doing so.  Ironically, arrogance is what protects the ultimate team of arrogance. 

So yeah.  Keep fueling their fires, haters.  I really do hate to say that I was right about the Heat.  I want nothing more than a classic showdown, where the focus was the team and not the individual.  I want Scotty Pippin and Jordan taking on whoever could challenge.  But the Heat are elite, and they're here to stay.  And the more the Skip Baylesses of the world hate, the more the talented ones in South Beach are going to rub it in your face.