“Golden Boys of the Past Era” staging a strong comeback – NBA Feature
Basketball is a strange game. It is one of the few games where you have to think twice, maybe even more than that when you call someone the underdog or the favourite. It is the nature of the game.
Anyone who has ever played basketball would know that it is the type of game where momentum means everything and once a team gains momentum, the match can go in any direction, irrespective of the status of the team or the superstar
status of the players in the team. Also, basketball is a team game more than any other sport. We have examples of this fact all over in the league, the latest being the inability of the Superstar studded Miami Heat to defeat the well balanced Dallas Mavericks
in last year’s NBA finals.
This year has been a good one for the NBA, but one with many twists and turns. The so called teams of the past era, which include the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and to some extent, Dallas Mavericks did
not have a good start to the season, when new teams were making all the headlines. We saw some teams that were almost nonexistent before, climb up the ladders this year to become one of the best. Miami Heat has been one of the top teams since 2010, when LeBron
James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were united. But who could have imagined that Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder would be the best teams in their respective conferences five years ago.
The rise of the Los Angeles Clippers, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Atlanta Hawks has been watched by many with awe and excitement at the same time.
When the season started, we saw teams like Miami, Chicago, and Oklahoma City dominate the league. Other teams such as the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks showed great improvement.
Amidst all the hype around the new guys in the NBA, we all lost sight of teams such as the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs. However, the old brass is on the rise again and the once discarded boys of the past are now staging a comeback.
Ever since the All-Star break, the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs have been on fire. The Celtics have clinched the top spot in the Atlantic division yet again, and are currently 4th in the Eastern Conference. They
are 7-3 in their last 10 games, and seem to have found a new life as the playoffs approach. The Spurs have staged the biggest comeback, going on an 11 game winning streak just recently to displace Oklahoma City as the top team in the West. The big three of
the San Antonio, namely Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, seem unstoppable.
The Los Angeles Lakers are also making ground for their not so perfect start to the season. They still have Kobe Bryant who refuses to grow old, and have now found a point guard to take away their worries in Ramon Sessions. The
Lakers are currently ranked third in the West.
We all know what these teams are capable of in the playoffs and their experience in that stage of the NBA season is definitely a big plus point, which will make them even more difficult to defeat.
The Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder still remain the favourites to win the championship this season but it will not be as easy as predicted at the start of the season, or even before the All Star break. Playoffs
are a completely different ball-game all together and the lack of experience could hurt these teams in the longer stretch.
How the season unfolds remains to be seen but anyone counting out the Celtics, Spurs or Lakers or taking them lightly would be committing a big mistake and overlooking the fact that these teams have won championships in the past
decade and have the mental toughness and experience to play long series.
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