The one thing that can save the NBA from the turgid brilliance of the San Antonio Spurs–you are killing us with your frigging unselfish balance!–is going to happen. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are going to meet in the playoffs and the NBA, which has seen its popularity and TV ratings fall consistently since the pair split from Lakerville, will reap the windfall.

It’s the matchup everyone dreamed of seeing when Shaq went to Miami: Lakers, Heat in the NBA Finals. Their acrimonious split rife with the kind of soap operaesque storylines to bring in the casual fan that makes for huge sports ratings. But the timing was never right. When Shaq’s Heat were good, the Lakers weren’t. And now, with the Lakers ascending, the Heat have crashed and burned.

Then came Pau.

The Lakers larcenous acquisition of all-star Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies produced a shockwave and near-immediate escalation of talent acquisition around the NBA. The first to strike is the Phoenix Suns which traded for Shaq today. In the coming days, look for other big talent players to move–Jason Kidd to the Mavericks? The Cavaliers?

This NBA season having not produced a clear-cut favorite to this point, many teams believe they’re just a player away from competing for the title. The Gasol trade kicked everyone closer to action. So now the NBA figures to have a second half of a regular season that kinda actually matters, with teams jockeying for playoff position. And then the playoffs. Ooooooh.

Whattya think about a Western Conference tournament that features Shaq and Steve Nash in Phoenix, Dirk Nowitzki and Kidd in Dallas, the always excellent Spurs, Carmello Anthony and Allen Iverson in Denver, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming in Houston and Kobe, Gasol and a healthy, rested Andrew Bynum for the Lakers. Yum. All of it topped off by the Laker-Suns conference final which God Himself demands. Verily.

And that could very well be followed by–and see if the NBA can hold their bladders just thinking about this–a NBA Finals between the Laker’s and Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics … ah, ahhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I’m sorry … I swear, this never happens to me … well, not often

Tags: Boston Celtics, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, kobe bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Pau Gasol, Phoenix Suns, playoffs, San Antoino Spurs, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, Yao Ming

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oliver miller 6 months ago 1 point
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I hate the lakers! Well not so much hate as dislike.... what happened to my 1929 Oil City High School PA Varsity team? They had suck a knack for moving the ball around the key...
Poor olde Russell Carroll left for mexico the following year to try his luck in the oil business but was shot in the head during a dispute in a bar over his then local squeeze Rosita Cammarillo.
Then point man Harold Conrad tried his luck in the automat game down in Bixby but he never made it. He soon wandered out west to old Calif to try his luck as a tuna fisherman in San Diego. Then during the summer of 1932 a squall came out of baja and capsized his 28 foot diesel powered trawler.
On a good note left guard Maynard Hipwell joined the then air force wing of the Army where he worked himself up to captain. I heard he settled in with a country english dame named Freta Jervis and they settled down in Minneapolis Minn where he finished out his days flying puddle jumpers from Minneapolis to Kansas City for Northwestern Airlines. But oh those were the glory days!!! Nobody looked like they were taking a dump in their shorts!

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Dave Wielenga 6 months ago 1 point
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No, in those days the players didn't wear shorts that looke as though they had a diaperful -- but on the other hand, it's said that the great Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics totally blew chow before every game he ever played.

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Chris Ziegler 6 months ago 1 point
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go see howlin rain tonite dudes

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oliver miller 6 months ago 1 point
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will howlin rain have dump in their pants?

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Chris Ziegler 6 months ago 1 point
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hey dave go see howlin rain you'll dig it

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Dave Wielenga 6 months ago 1 point
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Missed howlin rain -- no lie, I went to a lecture that put forth an entirely new theory about how the granite towers of yosemite were formed -- but i didn't know where howlin rain was playing. the granite towers lecture was out at claremont college.

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