Cleveland… rocks?

By Sam Rubenstein

It’s the night before the second leg of The Finals begins. NBA Finals veterans Lang and Ben have been all over the coverage so far, and now it’s time for me to join in. This will be my first ever trip to an NBA Finals game, and I’m looking forward to it. So first, let’s get the negative talk out of the way.

This has been the worst NBA Finals ever ever ever ever ever so far. Some people say Knicks-Rockets was worse, but because the Knicks are my team and I was young and ready to go to war for them back then, I disagree. Ditto for Knicks-Spurs. Games one and two of this series have not been particularly enjoyable to watch.

The venue. Well, at least its the first Finals game for a city. That is exciting. LeBron’s introduction should be over the top. Will the fans be able to overcome the sense of doom that comes with cheering for, let’s call them lambs headed to the slaughter? Hope so.

The city and the trip. Okay… my last road trip for SLAM was All-Star Weekend in Vegas. There is absolutely no possibility on this earth whatsoever that this trip will live up to that one. I will not compare the two, but I will say that it is quite the indictment of an NBA season when the championship round could struggle to live up to what the exhibition break established.

Those are the negatives. Now, will it be a short 3 day business trip of Spurs smackdowns, perhaps a close game 3 and coronation game 4? Do the Cavs have one big LeBron performance in them that could keep me and Lang there until Sunday night, forcing us to have a two-man film festival with Ocean’s Thirteen as the headliner? Is Daniel “Thanks for that nickname mom” Gibson going to be allowed by the powers that be to help out the aforementioned LeBron? Will Tony Parker cement his NBA Finals trophy by repeatedly blowing by someone who looks like his sneakers are made of cement? Will Popovich order his men to lay down and give Mike Brown a sympathy win? How will the refs try to extend the series and how big will Tim Duncan’s eyeballs get when he is staring in shock at a foul being called on him less than 3 seconds into game 3? Is there anyone else on the Cavs worth mentioning? So many questions. I was thinking about making a case for Cleveland here, and I’ve even got a whole paragraph with a ridiculous parallel to some events in Greek Mythology, but maybe I should just keep those thoughts to myself. It’s a little bit too, um, it’s just reaching.

And so on that note, it’s time to rest up for a trip to The Finals.