Game 4 notes:

…Just managed to get to the game after a busy day, at the beginning of the second quarter. Saw the Parker twisting lay-up highlight. Nice. Apparently, this guy is more than just a pretty face and an Eva Longoria plaything - jealousy grows with each passing day.

…One of the commentators just said “THIS is how you use LeBron James against this defense. Off screens.” Hmmm, took three crushing loses to figure that out? Look at my previous posts…I’ve already covered that obvious strategy, people. Way to wait until the series is out of reach.

…”Transformers”…expect that silly movie to be a guilty pleasure this Summer.

…7:49 in the second – There’s nothing quite so sad as seeing “Game 5 (if necessary)” – it might as well say “Game 5 (If the Cavaliers manage to play some decent basketball and actually win one).” It’s way longer, but much truer.

…6:13 in the second – Ginobli hits a three. Spurs 30, Cavs 25. Cavs timeout. LeBron is on the sideline getting taped up. He’s been poked in the face, and now they’re working on his leg…the Cavs are simply grinding their wheels like no other team I’ve ever seen. At least when my Red Sox pulled out 4 after going down 0-3 against the Damn Yankees in ’04, they had firepower that was just dormant and lurking…I just don’t have the feeling that Gibson, Gooden, Ilgauskas and Varejao are “dormant and lurking.”

…Cut to a clip of a Spurs pre-season party with Tim Duncan playing the old Carson character Carnac. Some things are so not funny that they’re funny – this was not one of those things.

…Nearing the half – Parker makes a pretty double-clutch lay up. Replay shows the move to be a clear travel – which even my 8-year-old is able to notice. Perhaps we need younger refs? I mean, not fetuses, but younger…like ones that can see.

…There’s so little to enjoy on the court, we’re now star-gazing. Franco Harris is in the crowd. Last game, we had Payton Manning, now it’s Tom Brady and Terrell Owens. Hey, now that this Finals series is as good as over, how ‘bout dem Patriots? Can’t wait to hear this call on the hook-and-ladder play…Brady passes to Stallworth, who laterals to Moss!…I think I just peed myself a little with anticipatory joy….

…Nike “We are all witnesses” commercial…seems a little silly with an impending sweep…we are all witnesses to WHAT? Self-destruction and ignominious failure?

…Remember the hyper-down halftime report “Cleveland Misery”? Well now we get over-hype halftime report “Spurs Dynasty.” ABC already has them surpassing the Kobe-Shaq Lakers and the Bird Celtics in greatness?* Christ, we can’t even let them actually WIN the fourth championship before we start making outrageous comparisons like that. Yeah, I know the Spurs have four championships, but the ones against the Knicks and Nets should only count for half. And come to think of it, this one should count for only, like, a quarter championship - at least in the “How does this team measure all-time” argument. And Larry’s ’84 series win over Magic’s Lakers counts as two…God, I love it when I get to make up the rules. After watching this Spurs lovefest, I have a sudden rejuvenated need to see the Cavaliers come up with the impossible.

*I’ll take a Larry’s Celts and Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers over any of these Spurs teams – all…day…long. Don’t be fooled by something as silly as a number – black-and-white judgment of greatness by number of championships is a simplistic way of looking at things…unless it’s football, whereby Tom Brady is clearly three times as good as Payton Manning because of the three championships vs. one…Now, see how silly that sounds?

…Barkley and Wade “Fave 5” commercials…forget Cleveland’s misery, what about the misery I have to endure watching these?

…1:24 left in the third – LeBron is poked in the eye for the second time in the game, this time by Horry. Horry gives him the “Hey man, you OK?” Ah, heartwarming. If the series were tied and competitive, Horry would be body-slamming Gibson to get LeBron kicked out of the game. Sign your team is completely awful? Robert Horry is being nice to you : “Hey, loser-we’re-wiping-the-floor-with, you OK buddy?”

…End of the third – The Cleveland crowd is chanting something. Whatever it is, it’s irrelevant and pointless.

…We 're starting the 4th, and it’s 60 to 52…I’m thinking to myself “Maybe it’s time to take up watching the WNBA…”

…9:52 left – Cleveland makes a run to get down by 4. They’re pumping fists like they’ve actually done something. Note to Cavs. Keep it down, the Spurs are getting ready to celebrate.

…Cut to shot of Eric Snow trying to jack up his team – didn’t understand a single word he said. I think I managed to make out “Advance or go home,” but it may have been “Chance for a loan?”

…9:16 left – Cavs down by three. Hope seems silly.

…7:50 left – Cavs up by one. Hope feels…almost dirty.

…5:50 left – Varejao flops and the refs fall for it, calling an offensive foul on Duncan. It appears David Stern has ruled from on high that there shall be a Game 5.

…5:05 left – LeBron is fouled, hits one of two, he’s 2-for-6 on free throws. That’s not what superstars do. Think he would’ve hit three free throws at the end of game four if they gave them to him? Neither do I.

…2:29 left – Spurs back up by 6. Done deal.

…The Cavs are back to looking completely awful – a fitting end. All they can do now is chalk up these finals to “getting experience” - sure, getting a terrible, humiliating experience, but an experience nonetheless.

…A minute or so left – Mike Breen actually says “Spurs trying to hold on” to add some artificial drama to the moment.

…Two “filet-o-fish” talking to each other in a commercial just cheered me up, only to be followed by another Barkley and Wade commercial to bring me back down.

…7.5 ticks left – Ginobli called for a phantom foul on a Damon Jones three. The refs are still trying to follow Stern’s “Make Game 5 happen” decree.

…Breen again trying to add drama, saying how the Spurs owner “looks nervous.” Nervous about what? How hot it’s going to be at the parade?

…Great time management over the last minute Cavs. That is some bad coaching right there…AND to add insult, the Cavs sink the buzzer-beating three to make it a one-point final score and further make you wonder how the game could have turned out with better time management…

…Cavaliers are giving those post-loss handshakes that smell suspiciously of “Yep, we were really just happy to be here.”

…Duncan interview. Good for him. True class act. Never says a single word that makes you dislike him. Robert Horry, on the other hand…7 rings? Jesus. So is he better than Larry and MJ and Shaq? Of course not…that’s like Jeff Goldblum pretending that everyone went to see “Independence Day” and “Jurassic Park” because of him.

…The Cleveland fans are booing the Commish…Amen, Cleveland. But now you’re booing the Spurs…and Tony Parker as the MVP. Don’t do that. It makes you look petty and classless. One of the enduring images of sportsmanship I recall from my youth is Boston fans applauding the Lakers when they won it all on the Celtics’ floor. You don’t have to like the opponents, but you should, as a sports fan, appreciate them (put Yankees caps on Kareem and Magic, however, and they wouldn’t have gotten out of town alive). On second thought, Parker is French, so if you’re booing that, I am in full agreement.

…Finley says he is going to put the game ball “between me and my wife in bed.” Well, well, Michael, we all love basketball, but clearly not quite in the same fashion that you do.

P.S.> Ironic "ring" footnote: Robert Horry: 7, Steve Nash: Zero

Ok, ok, enough of that. Congrats to the Spurs, 2007 World Champs.

Labels: San Antonio Spurs, World Champions