It Was A Good Series, but Let's Relax

It was a very good series. There is absolutely no doubt about that. Several overtime games, it was back and forth the entire time, and aside from game 3, there were no blowouts. At the end of the day though, it was a good matchup between two good teams. Not two great teams. Add to that the fact that it was a first round series, and that Game 7 wasn't that close, and you come up with a very good, not great series. The media, ESPN.com we're looking at you, has completely blown it out of proportion. We knew, regardless of who won the series, that the winner would not go further than the second round. Neither of these teams should be capable of beating the Magic, and everybody kind of knows that. Although, if Dwight maintains his current form from the last month of the season and into the playoffs, it's quite possible they fall. I can't help but be a little disappointed with their performance over the last 30-45 days. Further from that, everybody knows that Team King is going to dismantle everyone in their way during their storm to the Finals. Nobody is in their class now that KG has been shelved for the playoffs. Here are a few reasons why the Bulls v. Celtics series was NOT as great as everyone thinks it was.

1. Game 7 was a Dud.
It stunk. Sure the final score looked relatively close, and if Ben Gordon hit that 3 when they were down six in the last minute, the game would have been even closer; but still there was never a point where I thought the Celtics may lose the game. You can chalk that up to the inexperience of Chicago, playing on the road in one of the toughest places to play in the league, as well as the fact that the Celtics happen to be the defending league champions. That brings me to my next point.

2. The Two Seed Should Wipe the Floor with the Seven Seed.
The first round of the NBA playoffs isn't supposed to be close. The whole charade is an exercise in futility. Do you know why that picture of Dikembe Mutombo holding the ball in Seattle is so famous? Because that garbage NEVER happens. It's not supposed to. We don't watch 82 regular season games to see one and two seeds go down in the first round. Boston fans should be embarrassed that they got taken seven games by a completely inexperienced team with no proven superstar, or a proven scorer for that matter. Stop being excited Celtic fans, you won a first round series against the seventh best team in the Eastern Conference. People calling this one of the greatest series of all-time should be smacked in the mouth. You know what the winner gets in this series? A trip to Orlando.

3. Vinny Del Negro
The guy couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag. It took him four months to figure out how to work his team to a seven seed. Granted, there isn't a lot on the team, but with someone as fast and talented as Derrick Rose, you don't need much. Please see New Orleans Hornets and the Phoenix Suns when Amare was hurt. In game, the guy is an even bigger joke. How many times did they come out of the timeout needing two points, and he couldn't even draw up a play. His idea of calling a play? Get the ball to Rose, and get it to Gordon to chuck up any shot he sees. God forbid you run a high screen or get the ball down to Brad Miller who was being guarded by Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby Davis. Let's not even think about kicking it to Kirk in the corner where he is consistently money. Let's just give it to Ben, let him try to get inside with Paul Pierce guarding him, and we'll see what happens. Needless to say, this ended up killing them in a few of the close games. If a coach with any sensibility had been in charge in Chicago, we would be analyzing Bulls v. Magic.

4. No KG
For a playoff series to be memorable and reach legendary status, the teams involved should be full strength. Certainly their best players need to be on the court. Ten years from now we will be calling these Celtics teams the KG teams. The fact that KG did not play in this series will undoubtedly hurt its long time legacy, because it wasn't a truly accurate test of the quality of both teams. We will be hearing for the next 6 months how the Bulls are poised to become one of the elite teams of the East. I think that's completely unjust considering they took a team without it's best player seven games, and failed to ultimately succeed.

5. It's the First Round
I covered this in the second part, but it needs to be reiterated. I think in basketball, more than any other sport, the best team usually wins. Upsets are rarities, and in the first round they just don't happen. Some will take that and say that makes this Bulls-Celtics series more interesting, and instead of taking from it, it only adds. I say no. I don't want surprises in the first round, I want to see the teams that are supposed to win thus guaranteeing the best matchups later on down the road when they really count for something. Do you want to see Bulls v. Cavs in the Eastern Finals or do you want to see a Cavs, Celtics rematch? If this series had been in the Eastern Finals you could argue it was the greatest series of all time. But because the Celtics were missing their best player, and the Bulls are the Bulls, you are talking about a first round battle between what probably adds up as the fifth and sixth best teams in the Eastern Conference. That's somewhere between the eighth and twelfth best teams in the league. That really makes it lose a lot of its luster.