Instant Classic

I called it with about five minutes left in regulation. I was on the phone with a friend and declared that this game was not only going to go down to the final seconds, but that it was destined to become an instant classic. I believe my exact words in clarifying this statement were along the lines of "I mean, not the kind of classic that is going to be replayed over and over again every year, but the kind that, surely, will be played on ESPN Classic every time the Bulls and Celtics face each other in the playoffs again." Unfortunately, my friend was a female whose response to this was something along the lines of "wait, are we talking about college basketball?" So I don't know how much my calling the nature of the game impressed her. Although when I declared that Jeff Van Gundy and I had echoed each other's exact sentiments more than six times over a single quarter of the game, she did concede that I should be a professional basketball commentator. It is an opinion that I happen to share, and I was glad to hear it confirmed, even by someone who didn't know what I was talking about when complaining about the subjectivity involved in officiating the charge vs. blocking foul call.

Indeed, game four of the Celtics Bulls series lived up to every expectation one could have had at that five minute mark in the fourth quarter. The fear at that point is always one of two things. One: either team will fall apart in the waning minutes, allowing their opponent to blow the lead open and run away with it. That this game was not headed in that direction seemed like a safe bet. Two: the final thirty seconds of the game turns into a five minute free throw festival, with the team behind never actually managing to catch up and make things that exciting. This certainly could have been the case tonight if only a couple of possessions had gone differently over the last two minutes. However, I just got that feeling, as I'm sure many other viewers did. Somewhere along the way, both these teams had made it abundantly clear that they were not going to go away quietly. And, fortunately for us, the audience, they held firmly to this promise. They even gave us that rarely achieved succession of last second three point shots, one by each team no less. Of course, when a game is sent into OT due to a gutsy shot made by a player as time is running out it is infinitely more exciting than a game that remains a tie over the last five or six possessions due to shoddy execution.

Ray Allen's three pointer to send the game into the first overtime was at once both inexplicable and completely inevitable. Inexplicable because, not only was Boston's best and most clutch three point shooter left wide open as he caught and shot the ball, but he was that wide open for two whole seconds leading up to the shot itself. How in god's name Chicago allows Ray Allen more than a split-second of day light at such a pivotal point in the game is beyond me. Of course, it is also something we have seen time and time again. And the same head coach who one second calls a play at a crucial juncture of the game which results in Big Baby Davis taking a twenty foot jump shot, manages to, time and time again, draw up plays at even more crucial junctures that allow Allen those kinds of looks which he, inevitably, hits. In this way, as Boston inbounded the ball at the end of regulation, you would have been crazy to expect the possession to end any other way.

Ben Gordon's shot to allow his Baby-but-Growing-Up-in-Front-of-our-Eyes Bulls another overtime period to try and tie this fantastic series up was even more dramatic. It was one of those off-balance, fairly well covered prayers that a player never actually practices but, somehow, manages to convert more often than they seemingly should. And, if you watch the replay extremely closely, you can see Gordon almost crack a smile as he walks back to the bench. I swear. It's just a flicker really, and afterward he immediately assumes that emotionless, expressionless, "I have no personality but I hit shots" demeanor that he has so mastered. He's like a big, cuddly teddy bear, but, you know, the opposite.

Even Paul Pierce's three point attempt at the end of the second overtime, poorly executed as the play was (note who assumedly drew that play up), sealed the game's fate not when the shot actually missed it's target but when a keen defensive play by John Salmons denied the shot even the opportunity to miss. Again, while neither team executed their game plans perfectly throughout, this game was nothing short of thrilling due to the fact that it came down to which team made the biggest play last, and not which team managed to stink more thoroughly, as is so often the case in close but, ultimately, disappointing basketball games.

Sadly, this is the first game of this series that I have been able to watch. However, I am genuinely excited at the opportunity of watching how it ends, which is certainly not the case with all of the series that are currently going on. And even as I commend myself for declaring this game a classic six or seven minutes before it actually cemented its case as one, I watch the Pistons walk away thoroughly and miserably embarrassed by a Cavs team that looks far more impressive than I gave them credit for. Indeed, I said to more than one person that that would be a series worth watching, as Detroit seemed better suited to defending Lebron James than most teams in the league. What I underestimated was just how much the Piston's offensive firepower had fallen by the wayside, and just how much Cleveland's defense had improved.

Still though, we do have a couple of exciting series going on. Philadelphia is giving Orlando all that they can handle, as the Magic come to terms with the fact that they are not going to get the open looks on the perimeter in the playoffs that they grew accustomed to taking advantage of throughout the regular season. And tomorrow night I hope to see the Hornets play their butts off in the kind of defensive effort that they have shown so rarely in the last couple of months and tie up their series with the Denver Thuggettes. As always, we will see how it all plays out.