Written by: Melissa Harder
Right now you probably think from the title
of this column that this is going to be chock full of references to Jesus Shuttlesworth, aka the
character Ray Allen plays in the Spike Lee joint “He Got Game." Well you're wrong! This is about a different Basketball "Jesus." After
the Oklahoma City Thunder came back to beat the San Antonio Spurs to make it to
their first NBA Finals (well as OKC, their precursor Seattle SuperSonics have been
there before) I thanked Basketball Jesus for this win. Now you’re wondering out
loud, “who is Basketball Jesus?” It’s time you knew the real truth.
I have for many years discussed the various
“Jesi” (the plural, in my mind, for Jesus. Don’t correct me. I'm pretty set on
this.) that professional athletes, entertainers, etc. thank when they reach their
plateau (a championship, an award). And I remember thinking, there’s just no
way that God or Jesus has enough time to help all of these people reach their
potential. No. Way. And so I decided there must be multiple “Gods," properly
categorized and their respective “Jesi” to do the helping. That way, everybody
wins! For example, there is an Entertainment God and he has Grammy Jesus, Oscar
Jesus, and World Music Award Jesus. You get the idea. For professional sports,
there is Sport God and his friends Football Jesus, Soccer Jesus, and of course,
Basketball Jesus.
You’re going to tell me that OKC beat San
Antonio. I know they did. I know. They used their youth, their athleticism,
their spunk, their three time scoring champ Kevin Durant and some great defence
to climb out of an 18-point, first-half deficit to win 107-99 in front of an
energized and delirious crowd. But don’t you think Basketball Jesus helped?
Just a little? I think he saw the Thunder walk out of American Airlines Center
in Dallas after the Mavericks eliminated them last year and saw how much it
hurt them to lose. He told the team that they were too young and excitable. He
told them their time would come.
"I understand it's a process,"
Durant said on finally winning the series against the Spurs. "We had to
wait our turn."
And wait their turn they did. They slammed
the brakes on San Antonio’s 20-game winning streak and dealt them four straight
losses. I know many thought when the Thunder went down 2-0 that it was time to
break out the brooms, that there was no way they would beat the Spurs
juggernaut, even once. By the time the clock ran out in Game 6, the Spurs had
lost as many times in 7 days as they had in the previous 12 weeks.
The box score numbers for Game 6 were
impressive – Durant had 34, Westbrook had 25 and Harden 16. But their maturity
for being 23 and 22 years old, none of them old enough to even rent cars when
they head to different NBA cities is what’s most astounding.
The Spurs? They’ve won four championships,
their nucleus has been together for umpteen number of years and they’re old
hands by now. They’ll be ok. Basketball Jesus knew this time how the chips
should fall. So congratulations Thunder, Western Conference Champions.
Basketball Jesus and I cannot wait to see how you’ll perform in the Finals a
few days time.
2013 NBA Playoffs – Worst First Round Ever?
Perhaps you missed “Inside the NBA” on Sunday night following the Thunders demolishment of the Houston Rockets. If so, let me fill you in on a comment made by Charles Barkley referring to the day’s activities. Sir Charles stated “This may be the worst playoffs we have ever seen.” …
2013 NBA Awards Analysis
With the NBA playoffs just under way it is time to take a quick look back at the regular season and evaluate which individual players and coach made the greatest contributions to their respective franchises success this year.
We will start our in-depth analysis with Most Valuable Player, Candidates: LeBron James
2013 NBA Playoff Dark Horses
Most observers of the NBA have all but already anointed the Miami Heat as the 2013 Eastern Conference Champions. In the West there seems to be more of a competition but the overwhelming opinion has the Oklahoma City Thunder emerging from there to meet the Heat. …
