Old Fashioned Good vs. Evil

Amidst the product the NBA has given us in its 2010-11 season, cognizance of its theatrics renders something much more beguiling.

Facets of the regular season were entrancing in their own right, inducing magnification over every Blake Griffin dunk, every Kevin Love rebound, every Miami Heat game since October, every Lakers winning and losing streak, every word Carmelo Anthony said and every ‘hint’ Carmelo Anthony gave, every trade deadline move, every Derrick Rose performance, and every other performance by a young player/team that gave us a taste of the uniquely promising future of basketball. Growing up, the NBA regular season meant less to me than any other regular season of any major sport. I enjoyed the 2010-11 season more than any other regular season I’ve ever watched, regardless of sport.

But it wasn’t solely because of the aforementioned aspects. It was much more than that. The regular season prepped us for an already-enthralling postseason just two rounds in, and an organization containing not just its greatest crop of young talent in history – but also a compelling set of dramas capable of vaulting the NBA toward unparalleled popularity levels.

Of any other sports organization, the NBA’s history books somehow beautifully fall into place. Eras are able to be mapped out perfectly, dynasties are found among the decades, and Hall-of-Famers can be spotted flawlessly within. Most of all, fan reaction and response top off the recollection of those eras. They allow those periods of time to reverberate and banter to perpetuate even years later.

The dramas within the game of basketball are slowly becoming the epicenter of what the upcoming era has to offer, and the after-effects of game 1 of this year’s Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls displayed so with eye-opening transparency on Sunday. This series isn’t just handing us a preview of this decade’s fresh cream-of-the-crop squads, but a preview of a classic battle between good and evil – one of the many underlying storylines that will perpetuate in banter years from now.

When LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat sauntered over the blood-red painted areas of the United Center – emblazoned in villainous black as they strutted in the presence of an unforgiving scene so contradictory of the one that surrounded them when a career-long quest to vanquish the Boston Celtics was finalized – the stage was set for a tale comparable to ones in old storybooks.
The Chicago Bulls came in as the team that had operated its season the ‘right way,’ portraying a defensive scheme that wins championships and a passion led by the season’s MVP (Rose) and coach of the year (Tom Thibodeau).

The Heat came in as the unconventionally constructed, superstar-oriented, ego-flaunting group with two of the league’s three best players at its forefront. They hadn’t reached their current destination by doing things the ‘right way.’ No way anything the great Michael Jordan would contradict can be seen as ‘right’ in the eyes of a Bulls fan, or any other devoted NBA fan for that matter. James, Wade and Chris Bosh came together in the wake of a convenient opening in team salary and a publicly appalling Decision. To find themselves at this point in the postseason was to find themselves brandished with an inevitable ‘villain’ stamp.

In turn, the hatred was palpable. Once James committed his second foul in the first quarter, boos rained down on him until he took his seat on the bench. The same ambiance was apparent in Boston the series prior, but never enough to seemingly affect the Heat. The Celtics were in their twilight while the Bulls are entering their limelight (just in case you wanted an example of flawlessly mapping out eras), which was far from ominous in Chicago’s convincing 103-82 win.

Everything about Chicago’s quick 1-0 series lead marked hero status. Derrick Rose stood in front of his teammates and apologized for the mistakes he was making in the first half and subsequently led his team with an incendiary 28 points in MVP fashion. Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer anchored the front line with the distinctly passionate bravados they both express. Luol Deng played fantastically on both sides of the floor and held LeBron James to only 15 points on 5-15 shooting while Deng put up 21 points and netted four three-pointers himself. Taj Gibson sent home two ferocious dunks that galvanized the team so enthusiastically that the admirable camaraderie of the 2008 Celtics came to mind.

To top it off, it was all happening against the Miami Heat. The team that celebrated as if it won the title the series prior found themselves in a rut on Sunday. They had no answer for Rose, allowing Boozer and multiple outside shooters to find openings in their sweet spots when help was needed for Mike Bibby or Mario Chalmers. Wade expended most of his energy on the defensive side when he was assigned to Rose, resulting in only 18 points on his own end. Bosh was allowed to do whatever he wanted as the Bulls suffocated Wade and James and kept them off the free throw line. So much that got Miami through Boston was taken away in Chicago. Just like the villain in every other old tale, the protagonist exploited weakness just when it seemed as though the antagonist depicted true invincibility.

Then again, the villain always has something up his sleeve.

As head coach Erik Spoelstra said following the loss, Miami “took one in the chin” Sunday night. The Bulls better be hoping they didn’t awaken the beast. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are still the most daunting duo since Kobe and Shaq, and may eventually become the most titillating tandem since Jordan and Pippen. It’s hard to believe both superstars will generate outputs of less than 20 points a piece in game 2, considering the 291 combined points they scored in five games in the conference semifinals. Wade had one of the best playoff series’ of his career (30 points per game, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 53% shooting), and LeBron James played one of the best playoff games of his career in the series clincher (scored the team’s final 10 points of regulation with two clutch threes and two scintillating dunks, followed by a decorated celebration). Expecting Chicago to continually shut them down as they did in game 1 would be a ludicrous proposition. It doesn’t sound fair, but then again, does the villain ever play fair?

Now it’s time for the Bulls to combat the best shot they’ll get all series from the Heat on the road. Game 2 is primed to possibly be the best game of the series on Wednesday. Following the series and the season, the next half-dozen years are set up for the Bulls and Heat to face off in playoff series’ just like this one. One that isn’t just headlined by a soft-spoken, overly ambitious man in red and two overwhelming vanguards in black, but by an old fashioned tale of good versus evil.