to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy… and to laugh along the way
This year, the Oklahoma City Thunder are overwhelming favorites to win another title. The Denver Nuggets, led by the 3-time MVP NIkola Jokic, will be crowding out the Thunder, for the western pennant. In the East, the Cleveland Cavs should finally win it, if they remain healthy for the playoffs. Victor Wenbamyama will continue maturing with the San Antonio Spurs, while rookie Cooper Flagg gets us excited. Move over, Lebron. Watch out, Steph and Kevin. The next generation stars are here!
The Pacers were a long-shot to reach Game 7; with Tyrese hobbling off the court in Game 6, and the momentum clearly in favor of the Thunder juggernaut. But the Pacers dug deep, ‘circled their wagons’ to score a big win in their backs-against-the-wall duel in Game 6. Which turned out to be a big rout, a total beatdown. With the score now tied at 3-all, we are down to the last game of the season for the NBA.
Having reclaimed the homecourt advantage, with the momentum back with OKC, this now puts the Pacers in a very difficult situation. They will need to win 2 games, at least 1 in Thunder territory. And that should be doubly difficult now.
Tyrese’ glorious buzzer-beater run will probably go down in history as the greatest ever in the history of the sport. This will long be remembered as the buzzer beaters that shook the cage world this season. But here’s the catch. All that ecstatic feeling goes down the drain if at the end of it all, the Pacers do not win the coveted NBA title. The underdog Indiana Pacers will need to follow through with 3 more wins in order to make those crazy comebacks worth revisiting. Absent that and you lose much of the satisfaction from all those great insane memories.
Two former champs – the Nuggets and the Warriors – are banking on their veteran cage IQ to bring them to the next stage. The defending champs Celtics, on the other hand, are not (yet) showing any championship smarts in their series. This is a golden opportunity for the upstarts in the playoffs to learn, albeit on the fly, if they are to compete for the bigger battles ahead. Indeed, the playoff duels are a different set of games. And it will take more than just raw talent, physical strength and youthful exuberance to make it to the top.
It’s halftime, sports fans, for the NBA’s 2023-24 season! There have been some surprises and some disappointments; but by and large, the perennial favorites have
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