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<\/a>The victorious Golden State Warriors.<\/p><\/div>\n
So, as I watched all the celebrations of the Golden State Warriors on Monday night, I jotted down some of my random thoughts on what I had just seen over the course of the entire NBA Play-offs, but mainly about these two teams who had just competed for the Championship. (If you\u2019re interested, you can read my earlier<\/em> thoughts on the whole post-season here: itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/basketball-nba-play-offs-2017-so-far<\/a>.) Here they are, in no particular order:<\/p>\n \u2013 I\u2019m sure that LeBron James totally sympathizes with Kevin Durant (KD, for short,) for having changed teams this season for the sole purpose of winning a championship, because that\u2019s exactly what LeBron did all those years ago himself. But I have a feeling that Kevin will not<\/em> be returning to Oklahoma to help them<\/em> win one now, as LeBron did for his beloved city of Cleveland.<\/p>\n So, I guess that KD made the right decision, eh?\u00a0 I still don\u2019t understand why he\u2019s able to play so well when he\u2019s so hunched-over.\u00a0 It just doesn\u2019t seem physically possible.<\/p>\n \u2013 As brutal as this series was for the Cleveland Cavaliers, I\u2019m so glad they weren\u2019t swept<\/em>. And that one game they did<\/em> win was absolutely amazing! They set so many records that I don\u2019t even have the time to recount them all for you. But I guess that game took too much out of them, and they had nothing left for what turned-out to be the final game, even though they came close at some points of it.<\/p>\n \u2013 As Mr. X said, (only with better words,) the NBA really<\/em> needs Charles Barkley and his Inside The NBA<\/em> co-horts to comment on every<\/em> play-off game. As he pointed-out to me, they\u2019re the only ones who make it fun. And interesting. I explained that they work for TNT, while some of the games are on ESPN, and the Finals are all on ABC, but he said the NBA needs to make a deal with the guys to do them all! Period. Dot, dash, end of story.<\/p>\n \u2013 I certainly will not miss Kendrick Lamar\u2019s Humble<\/em>, which was played ad nauseum on every game telecast.\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad that I won’t have to hear it any more! So that\u2019s a plus that the series didn\u2019t go the full seven games. Possibly the only<\/em> plus. (Except for the fact that now I can keep the plans that I had already made for the nights that would have been Games 6 and 7. But you know I would have cancelled them to stay home and watch the games live<\/em>! That\u2019s the kind of fan I am!)<\/p>\n –I used to like Kevin Durant.\u00a0 I wish I still did, so I could be happy for him.\u00a0 But when I started really<\/em> watching him play last year, and listened to him talk, I began to dislike him. So, he\u2019s one of the two reasons I rooted against the Warriors this season. (The main reason is two paragraphs down.) But, I\u2019m such an Empath that I\u2019m still sort-of happy for him to have finally won now.<\/p>\n And then, after disliking him intensely for two seasons, I watched his interview with Scott Van Pelt on ESPN after the win, and, as Mr. X said, he comported himself very well. And then he spoiled it all by saying that LeBron is such an idol of his that he wants to pass<\/em> LeBron\u2019s accomplishments!\u00a0 What is wrong with him?! I recently heard LeBron exalting his<\/em> idol, Michael Jordan, and he was basically thrilled and humbled to just be in the same sentence with MJ! And it came to me right away why I rooted so hard for LeBron over KD!<\/p>\n \u2013 Okay, here\u2019s the main reason that I rooted so hard for the Cavs\u2014I absolutely detest the Warriors starting center, Zaza Pachoulia! He\u2019s perhaps the dirtiest player ever; definitely the dirtiest one I\u2019ve ever seen. After the win, I tweeted that he<\/em> should actually get the MVP trophy for his disgusting, evil, dirty play that took-out the Spurs\u2019 star, Kawhi Leonard, in the last round. That bit of rottenness ensured that the Spurs would not have a chance in hell of keeping the Warriors from getting to the Finals, and easily, I might add. He paid no mind to the fact that he was messing with Kawhi\u2019s brilliant career. As I said, he\u2019s dirty. And evil!<\/p>\n LeBron James hugging Kevin Durant after the latter’s victory. Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the big one at the top of this page.<\/p><\/div>\n \u2013 Contrast those players with LeBron James. That guy is such a man! At only 32! He was the very first guy on either<\/em> teams to go over and hug Kevin Durant, the second the game was over. Major props to LeBron for that extra bit of class.<\/p>\n \u2013 KD didn\u2019t even run over to his own teammates<\/em> when it was over, and he had just won his very first Championship with them, after ten years in the league! That was one of the weirdest things I\u2019ve ever seen in the sport. I really feel like he\u2019s into only himself.<\/p>\n It’s so odd that not only does not even one teammate rush over to celebrate with Kevin Durant, but you can see that LeBron James, in black, walking towards Durant in the center, is the only person on the floor who has that thought at the buzzer! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n \u2013 I love that LeBron James is the first player to average a triple-double in the Finals! I\u2019m so happy for him, (even though I\u2019m sure he would have gladly traded that record for another Championship.)<\/p>\n \u2013 I\u2019m the most upset for Anderson Varejao. Here\u2019s why: He was a Cav in 2015, and they got beaten by the Warriors that year. He stayed a Cav until the middle of the season last year, until he was traded to\u2014you guessed it!–the Warriors! And in those<\/em> Finals, the Warriors lost to his former team, the Cavs! Because he had played half a year with them, contributing to their success, the Cavs offered him a Championship ring. (I still don\u2019t know if he accepted it or not.) And then this<\/em> year, the Warriors traded him away, and then they won the whole enchilada! So, he\u2019s just missed-out for three years in a row. That is possibly the definition of “snake bit!” (I hope he doesn\u2019t get a complex about it.)<\/p>\n Kyrie Irving (in black) saving Warrior Klay Thompson, while Klay’s own teammate, Kevin Durant, does nothing to help.<\/p><\/div>\n \u2013 One of my favorite images from this entire play-offs, that not one person has mentioned, (not the commentators, the analysts, nor any players,) is this: during that final torturous game for the Cavs, Warrior Klay Thompson fell over the back of a Cav during a play. His own teammate caught his legs, so he wouldn\u2019t fall on his head, but his upper body was still hanging. And Cav star Kyrie Irving ran over and grabbed his torso, so he wouldn\u2019t hurt himself. That, my friends, is true sportsmanship!!! I absolutely loved that move, and have played it over and over. Major kudos to Kyrie, who has finally moved into my affections with that one second of life.<\/p>\n –I know that Kevin Durant is unusually close with his moms, but she\u2019s annoying. She just had to butt-in during his post-game interview, when any<\/em> parent should know enough to stand back for a bit and let their offspring shine.<\/p>\n As you can see, Kevin Durnat’s mother pushed her way to the front of the celebration on stage. The team (and the woners and coaches) should have been the only ones to hoist the trophy, not someone’s MOM, for goodness’ sake!!! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n And later on, she pushed her way to the front of the stage where the team was receiving their Championship trophy, standing ahead of the players who had just earned it! Disgusting behavior.<\/p>\n –Yes, KD may have been the difference in why the Ws won again this year, but, no matter what anyone says, he<\/em> needed the Warriors as much as they<\/em> needed him, if not more!<\/p>\n \u2013 The Ws won with a very rare four<\/em> stars on their team! (Most teams have just one or two players of that caliber.) So, I guess the Cavs, (and every<\/em> team,) need to get someone of Durant’s ilk for next year. (Yeah, good luck with that!)<\/p>\n Cute Steve Kerr. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n \u2013 I am so happy for Warriors classy coach, Steve Kerr.\u00a0 I love him.\u00a0 (Especially because he also detests Orange Hitler!) And I feel so bad for him about his horrible health issues. (He has major problems due to back surgery a couple of years ago. I\u2019m so glad now that I was too chicken to go through with the back\u00a0surgery\u00a0I<\/em> was supposed to have!)<\/p>\n \u2013 I\u2019m also happy for assistant coach Mike Brown, who coached the team through much of the play-offs, while Steve was out.\u00a0 I wonder if he\u2019ll be a head coach again somewhere next year.<\/p>\n \u2013 I feel soooo bad for the Warriors\u2019 Klay Thompson, even though of course he\u2019s happy that he won another championship. (He said he\u2019s happy that now he has as many as his dad, Mychal Thompson, who won them with the Lakers back in the day.) Klay always seems so nice.\u00a0 The reason I feel bad for him is that he went from being the team’s co-star, with Stef Curry, for the last several years, to being basically just an afterthought in this<\/em> play-offs, where it seemed to be all about creepy Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n –I have to laud Steph Curry for one thing\u2014it\u2019s great that for once, a player didn\u2019t make believe\u00a0that they did it \u201call for the fans.\u201d That\u2019s always baloney. They\u2019re doing it almost 100% for themselves!!!<\/p>\n \u2013 And shame on the media for making the entire Finals series too much about Kevin Durant.\u00a0 I really hated that.<\/p>\n \u2013 Each Warrior was actually much more likable in his private one-on-one post-game interviews.\u00a0 And they all seemed exhausted and drained.\u00a0 So they actually did<\/em> \u201cleave it all on the floor!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>