Spurs vs.... ???
With last night's W against Phoenix, the Spurs essentially took the best of seven series, going up 3-0. As I had blogged about earlier, I called this particular series “too close to call.” Never had I imagined that it would be so lop-sided, instead expecting a much closer series. Yes, the Suns weren't necessarily blown out of the water in any of the games (except for last night's, maybe), but neither have they shown any kind of mettle or experience that you'd expect from a team capable of winning the championship. Instead, it has been steady San Antonio exhibiting the calm, focused demeanor of a true champion.
Bah, I was really hoping for a seven game series, how exciting would that have been? Well, at least it's good to see the Spurs playing so well together, as when I was in Vegas in November I bet $5 on them (and the T-Wolves... meh) to win it all.
With the Spurs/Suns series virtually wrapped up, all that we have left to entertain ourselves with currently is the Heat/Pistons series, which is knotted up one game apiece with the pivotal third game nearing tip-off time as I write this. For the Heat to take this series they need either Shaq or Wade to have at least another three very big games, or they need both players to have just big games with the supporting cast stepping up as needed... or they need the Pistons to have some sort of horrific injury that sidelines their starting five. I don't think any one of these things happening are very likely, but maybe some combination of the three can transpire. If it doesn't, I'm afraid it's the Pistons in six.
Personally I'd like to see the Heat advance into the Finals, but I think the Pistons will make it and I think that will treat us to a very well played Finals series. Both the Spurs and Pistons are strong teams with the experience and poise to make this a great Finals.
Speaking of great Finals, I watched the Game 6 from the 1998 Finals a couple nights ago, the game with “Jordan's last shot.” Man, that game still gives me goosebumps, even after all these years.