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Interest in the National Basketball Association is slipping. It is often said that the league is nothing but an isolation game, everyone watching the two best players on the court. While the NBA continues to reel in this post Jordan era, the New York Knickerbockers, predicated upon team defense, will win the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.
It may be asked at the midpoint of this season how a team without a true center, no Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo or even Herb Williams, can beat anything that the Western Conference, taller than the Himalayan Mountains, has to offer. The answer is simple. While the Knicks offer enough scoring punch to clobber most teams they live by the adage that defense wins championships, because they give up only 84.1 points a game, the fewest in the league. The Knicks score 87.8 points per game, below last year’s average of 92.1. Numbers that make little sense because of the offseason addition of super shooter and supposed defensive liability Glen Rice should have reversed those numbers.
The numbers tell one story, but the true confirmation comes from a source regarded as the grand oracle of sports information, NBA Live 2000 from EA Sports. The player ratings are so precise and detailed that for one instance I think the game can be played on paper.
I modified the rosters in accordance with the mass player migration that took place last summer and then set the playoff matchups, as they would look if the season ended during the All-Star break.
The results were astonishing, the Knicks won the championship four of the seven times that I simulated the playoffs. Additionally, I now know that the Knicks will play the Trail Blazers from Portland in the finals. Portland and New York played three times, with the Knicks winning every meeting. Portland won three rounds, but none against New York.
This means that Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers will not repeat as champions, even though Kobe seems to be the second coming of MJ, but with more game at this stage of his career. Michael was continually befuddled and pounded by the Pistons early in his career and Kobe won a championship. Michael hit big shots (don’t the Cavs know it) and scored a ton of points, but Kobe does more. Exhibit A: The final minute of All-Star game 2000 when Kobe hit three jumpers with the game on the line, each with a defender in his face, Jordan did not routinely stick the outside dagger until after he came back from baseball.
Expect to see the Knicks and the Blazers to be the only teams still playing in June. Expect to see the Knicks win.
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- Predictions: Boston Sox will win third title of decade, take down Cards (October 8, 2009)
- To NBA, or not to NBA (April 9, 2009)
- L.A. still rules NBA playoffs (March 31, 2003)
