Today we saw an energetic, in-rhythm LA Lakers team beat a Boston Celtics team that never looked like winning this game.  You have Boston from the East, who since April 17^th, have played Eastern-Conference teams and played a physical, lock-down defensive orientated style of basketball beating King James & the Cavs and steam-rolling last years Eastern Conference Champs, the Orlando Magic.  On the other hand, the Lakers have fought through an extremely talented OKC Thunder team, swept the Jazz and overcame one of the best offences in the league, the Phoenix Suns, to make the NBA Finals.  Two different teams, two different conferences, two different styles of basketball, and yes….it’s all TOO different.

So when you have two teams that are so different match up in the NBA Finals, inevitably one of them is going to surprise the other.  Today, it was the Lakers turn to surprise the Celtics.  Both teams went deep into their benches early, with Nate Robinson, Sacha Vujacic and Luke Walton sightings in the first and second quarters.  Both coaches seemingly were trying to spread the minutes so their stars had enough in the tank down the stretch.  The Lakers probably benefited from chasing around those young punks at Oklahoma City in the first round, then Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals because they out-hustled and out-ran the Celtics at every opportunity.  The Lakers looked to have more energy from start to finish in this game and after being up 20 at the end of the third, coasted to a 102-89 victory.

Kobe Bryant did everything you could ask from him.  He hit fadeaway jumpers, went to the basket for dunks, distributed the ball, rebounded & even had a spectacular block on the Celtics Tony Allen on his way to a very Kobe 30 points, 7 rebounds & 6 assists on 10-22 shooting.  Pau Gasol (as 3MW predicted) outplayed the entire Celtics frontline with a dominant display of post moves, finishing with 23 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists & 3 blocks.  Gasol shot 8-14 from the field and 7-10 from the stripe.  Ron Artest again proved what a difference maker he can be, nailing threes in the fourth quarter and coming up with defensive play after defensive play.  There were numerous times in the second half where a Laker was scoring on a fast break with no Celtics in sight.   The Celtics had 24 points and 9 boards from Paul Pierce and a solid 13 point, 8 assist, 6 rebound night from a clearly injured Rajon Rondo.  But the Lakers would pound them on the glass for a 42-31 rebounding advantage and Celtics shot just 1-10 from behind the arc.

What does this mean?  Not much at this stage.  We aren’t ready to hand the Championship trophy to the Lakers just yet, and we’re sure the Celtic’s aren’t either.  Whilst it was a convincing win, it’s only one game and the Lakers did what is expected from them…they came into their own building and defended their home court.  And for the Celtics, it’s likely that they came to LA hoping sneak one game and go back to Boston 1-1.  They’ll have their chance to do that in game 2 on Sunday (Monday for us Aussies) and you can bet that is going to be one physical game!

There is something beautiful about sport.  Something poetic.  Something noble.

To so many, love for their sport stems from the elegance in simplicity that it offers.  Of course this is just a more verbose way of saying “I just love to play.”

My chosen sport, basketball, has taken me through so many highs and lows in life.  It has been as good a friend as any other I have had the privilege to meet, and has been as consistent a presence as my own family.

Our game has also shown an incredible ability to do good beyond the court.  Organisations like the Big Bangs and Peace Players are two great examples of that.

There are times, however, when the sport is dishonored in such blatant, brazen, unjustifiable fashion that one wonders whether as a community we are losing sight of what is really important about basketball, about sport.

From A Stern Warning:

“It has been a disastrous week for powerhouse basketball schools throughout the NCAA. Kansas was the first to fall with details emerging about a ticket scalping scam orchestrated by a pair of brokers.

Connecticut came next, once the Nate Miles saga came to a predictable end.

Now the one that everyone has been waiting for, Coach Cal, and his University of Kentucky Wildcats are under investigation for the recruiting practices surrounding star freshman guard Eric Bledsoe. Word is that Bledsoe received improper benefits by having his high school apartment paid for by Kentucky, in an attempt to render him geographically eligible to play for powerhouse Alabama high school, and eventual 5A champions, Parker High School. Bledsoe’s high school head coach also supposedly demanded large sums of cash as part of his recruitment.”

The NCAA was created especially to protect the amateur nature of collegiate sports in the United States, taking it upon itself as an integral part of its charter the promotion of student-athletics, rather than just athletics for a student fan-base.  At its very core is the principle of athletics being a secondary, though no less important, part of colleges around the country.

And yet as the sponsorship, prize, advertising and merchandising incomes continuously rose throughout the years, the allure of athletic “business” became too great.  Facilities became world class, rooms and classes created especially and exclusively for athletes, more investment was made on students as players rather than as “mere” students, and the entire concept of “amateur” was discarded, along with any morals, it seems.

Of course this is not an all-encompassing statement.  There are many, many colleges and programs who have kept their reputations clean in spite of all the money floating around (we salute you, Duke and Texas).

Yet even 1 program in disgrace brings dishonor to the entire game.

Some dis-honorable mentions in NCAA Basketball history:

• University of Georgia, 2004
  “The National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I Committee on Infractions on Aug. 5 placed the University of Georgia on probation for four years, retroactive to April 17, 2004, for violations of NCAA bylaws regarding recruiting inducements, unethical conduct, academic fraud and extra benefits in the men’s basketball program. ”
• University of Michigan, 1996
  Fab Five, Fab Mistakes…
• University of California at Los Angelas, 1964-75
  Booster Sam Gilbert funneled so much money to players that NCAA probationary poster boy Jerry Tarkanian quipped, “The only team with a higher payroll was the Lakers.” The NCAA didn’t take action until 1981, by which point Wooden and his ten titles had been retired for six years.
• University of Massachusetts, 1996
  No 1. Team in the country, Final Four participant… and payments to players…  fail.
• Boston College, 1978
  A game of gangsters…
• Special mentions: Oklahoma, Villanova, Memphis

While the NCAA has levied fines, stripped competition points and even removed teams from competitions, the mere fact that such grave infractions continue to happen means that more must be done to dissuade programs from even thinking of pushing the boundaries.  I would love to see punishments extended to the entire school, such as a year’s ban on receiving alumni contributions, for example, however in the meantime, it is up to the fans, supporters and alumni to enforce our high expectations of our teams’ not just on the court, but off of it as well.

It’s not good enough to pass it off as being “part of the game”.

We fell in love with this game for a very different set of reasons from those with which we now use to justify or excuse the continued violations of some programs.

Get your teams in order, gentlemen, before you’re no longer seen as student-athletes, but pawns.  I hope it’s not too late.