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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Great expectations

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DESTINY will trump savvy predictions every time.

When the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 2020-2021 season started, pundits named the teams most likely to win it all: Lakers, Nets, Sixers, Nuggets.

“The [Los Angeles] Lakers will be looking to repeat [their] champions’ feat one again…[and are] bigger favorites than they were last campaign..LeBron James is having an MVP caliber season while showing no signs of slowing down..[They have added] young players who are hungry for their first trip to the NBA Finals..They are “tipped to win with +360 odds” in free NBA picks—the favorites in most NBA picks,” said mountainwestwire.com.

Only the Nets came close to LA with +320 odds in free NBA picks. Brooklyn looked stacked and fabulous like never before. Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens called them “probably the most talented team that’s been assembled since I’ve been in the NBA.” “Anything short of the 2021 NBA championship should be an embarrassment for the Brooklyn Nets,” said Ben Rohrback in Yahoo Sports in late May.

Yup, they were “beyond loaded.” Not only do they have the so-called “three-headed monster” of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden. They also had Joe Harris, the most lethal three-point shooter during the past two NBA seasons. Add to that Blake Griffin, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jeff Green, Landry Shamet, Bruce Brown and Nicolas Claxton. You’ve got yourself the most lethally offensive team with an ultra-talented, very deep bench.

Beyond the Nets, you need not look far. The Philadelphia 76ers were also in the mix and in the running for the Best in The East and beyond. The Sixers led the East all season long, making it look like they were going to deal with some champagne and confetti at the end of the relatively short but more challenging grind.

After many frustrating seasons, the Sixers looked like they’ve got their checklist perfect. Savvy, winning coach who can push the right buttons, check. A new, reconditioned Joel Embiid who’s an absolute beast, a Tobias Harris who’s playing at a different level; Dwight Howard waiting in the wings just in case, a sweet-shooting Curry (Seth) to amp up the artillery, and Ben Simmons—he of the tentative, unpredictable performance—now laser-focused on his role and committed to defense. Check, check, check, check, check.

The Denver Nuggets were a much respected team too this season. Scoring, courtesy of Michael Porter, Jr., vet moves by Paul Milsap, Austin Rivers’s savvy backcourt maneuvers and the recent Aaron Gordon trade gave them stalwart defense, youth, strength and agility—a well-rounded, fighting squad. The biggest reason—the MVP, Nikola Jokic—was on this Nuggets team. Nobody but nobody was better than the 6-foot-11 Serbian this time. He carried Denver on his big back all year as he showed a level of productivity that dimmed all other competing figures. Well, had Jamal Murray been healthy, it could have been a different story.

So there. The great expectations for LA, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Denver went tumbling down. For a while, it did look like these four teams would really be the ones to compete in the Eastern and Western Conference finals as the best of the best in the two conferences.

But no. Destiny has a strange agenda that cannot be viewed beforehand. Right now the East is being disputed by the Milwaukee Bucks and the Atlanta Hawks. While in the West, the sun is rising for Phoenix, and the Los Angeles Clippers are asserting their might as the stronger LA team, at least for this season.

Who would’ve thought that LA would fold so early? That the Bucks that KD and the Nets drubbed in Game 6 would return in Game 7 on the wings of a previously humbled Giannis Antetokounmpo who scored 40 points that night? Who would’ve thought that the game would go into overtime. And that Durant—who worked black magic on the Bucks’ defense all night—could have won the game for the Nets in regulation had his shoe size been a few millimeters shorter?

Who would’ve imagined that in the homestretch, Kyrie Irving, who had invited the whole world to unite (“I hope everybody is with us”) as the Nets moved on to the second round of the playoffs, would suffer that freak injury that kept him out of the equation forever more? Or that James Harden would be playing through a Grade 2 hamstring strain in the midst of battle?

In the same manner, how could the No. 5 seed Atlanta Hawks have defeated the No. 1 seed, all-dominant Sixers in their best-of-seven? Perhaps Trae Young has a date with destiny as well.

The LA Clippers have always been contenders with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the mix. And this year they can almost touch the sky. Yesterday’s heartbreaking loss to the Phoenix Suns may be a bit discouraging, and Leonard’s injury is worrying. But we can’t second guess destiny who always has twisted scenarios that challenge reason and expectations.

Now the sun is up for Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns. Long overlooked and even underrated, people are looking at CP3 with fresh, awed eyes. Out for Games 1 and 2 due to health protocols, he just may return in Game 3 and carry this team that hasn’t yet won an NBA finals on his trusty back.

Don’t make predictions just yet if you want to keep your pride. No matter what we think and no matter who looks stronger, Destiny always holds the cards and has the last laugh.

Read full article on BusinessMirror

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