Getting LOST In The NBA Playoffs
Monday, May 31, 2010Posted by Jeremy Conlin
A little over a week ago, we came to the end of an era.
LOST. It’s over. After six seasons of twists and turns, the journey is finally over. However, after spending the last seven days re-watching parts of the series and turning things over in my head, this really isn’t the time or the place for me to express my complete thoughts on the series. Frankly, there aren’t enough hours in the day. I would never be able to write down all of my thoughts, and you’d never be able to read them all. Just know that LOST will go down in history as either the best or second-best network TV drama ever (depending on how you feel about The West Wing), and considering the number of characters, the sheer volume of different storylines and the insane level of detail included in those storylines, I can’t think of any television show, network, cable, or premium cable, that did a better job with a higher degree of difficulty. I have done multiple 180-degree turns on the Finale (at first I hated it, then liked it, then hated it, then didn’t mind it, and now I love the first 125 minutes and kinda-sorta hate the last 25), but the fact remains that it is a groundbreaking show and I would absolutely do the last six years over again if you gave me the opportunity.
In its honor, I’m going to be handing out a few LOST-themed awards from all six seasons, and how they relate to the 2010 NBA Playoffs, but first, an important note:
If you either (1) follow the show, but haven’t seen the finale and plan to (and it’s been a week already, so what the hell are you waiting for), or (2) if you’ve never seen the show but are thinking about starting, just stop reading now. It’s an amazing show and I don’t want to spoil anything for you. Just stop reading. I won’t be offended.
Also, considering the aforementioned ridiculous amount of characters and storylines, I won’t be able to hand out awards for every character and story that probably deserves them. Again, there aren’t enough hours in the day.
Anyway, onto the awards.
The Jack Sheppard Award for “Most Times Vacillating Between Being 100% Behind Him and Completely Hating His Guts”
Throughout the show, I had a love/hate relationship with Jack. He was one of the rocks of the show (along with Locke and Sawyer), and he was unquestionably the most important character in Season 1 and Season 2. He carried the show up through the first flash-forward episode (maybe my favorite episode ever – a seminal moment for the show), but really became unlikable in Season 4 and Season 5, especially in the flash-forwards and in the 1970s timeline after it became clear that he had been wrong all along about The Island. However, in Season 6, he became the character that we all wanted him to become, realized his destiny, and saved The Island from Smoky McGee, just like we all knew he would need to do.
And this award goes to Kobe Bryant. Much like Jack, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Kobe. Granted, my relationship with Jack is about 75% love and 25% hate, while my relationship with Kobe is about 92% hate, 7.9% begrudging respect, and .01% love, but that’s beside the point. When Kobe is involved, everything is a little bit more interesting. He’s a fascinating player to watch and to follow, and he’s impossible to figure out completely, a lot like Jack. Like Jack in Season 6, he constantly is trying to do the right thing and become the best player he can possibly be, but also like Jack, there are constant roadblocks in the way. Jack’s lack of faith in The Island constantly held him back, while Kobe’s desire to dominate constantly holds him back. Jack finally realized his destiny and became who we all wanted him to become. While Kobe isn’t there yet, he definitely “gets it” more than he did in 2002, 2004, 2006 and even 2008. Does he “get it” completely? No. Will he ever completely “get it?” I don’t know. And that’s why I watch.
So far for this postseason? I’ve been wildly impressed. He played his best basketball in a loooong time in the Phoenix series, averaging 33.6 points, 9.0 assists, 6.8 rebounds, and shot 52% from the floor and 43% from three. A lot of this probably has to do with him getting his knee drained before the series. Normally the knee will feel awesome for two or three days, but stiffen up after that, but for Kobe, apparently it never did. That’ll be something to keep an eye on going forward.
The Josh Holloway as “Sawyer” Award for “Best Breakout Performance”
For six seasons I thought that Sawyer was the most underrated character on the show. Other than Locke and Ben, he was the best actor on the show, and he arguably had the most intriguing backstory. Even the far-fetched-at-first-glance, painfully elaborate love square between Sawyer, Juliet, Jack, and Kate was believable, and Sawyer, who at first seemed the most far-fetched, turned out to be the most genuine on the screen because of how good of an actor he is and how good his chemistry was with Juliet and Kate.
I would definitely follow Sawyer to another show. With characters like Locke, Ben, or Jack, I’ll never be able to watch them again without immediately thinking “That’s John Locke, why isn’t he on The Island?” With Sawyer, I would definitely watch a show where he was a crooked cop, or a super intense football coach, or something else that would be right in his wheelhouse.
And if Sawyer was the breakout star of LOST, then Rajon Rondo is unquestionably the breakout star of the 2010 playoffs. As far as I’m concerned, Rondo is clearly the best point guard in the league at this point. This is the third straight postseason that he’s raised his game a considerable amount in the playoffs. The Celtics have played 17 games in this postseason so far, and Rondo was the best player on the floor in 10 of them. Normally, that wouldn’t be a huge deal, except for the fact that the Celtics played against Dwyane Wade (1st-Team All-NBA), LeBron James (ditto, plus the league’s MVP), and Dwight Howard (1st-Team All-NBA and Defensive Player of The Year) in the first three rounds. Furthermore, the defenses Rondo was shredding were Miami, Cleveland, and Orlando, the 6th, 7th, and 3rd best defensive teams in the league this year, respectively, and each of those teams made it their #1 priority to take away Rondo and make him a jump shooter, and Rondo STILL got into the paint effectively at will. After beating Orlando in Game 6, it marked the second straight series that Boston won without home-court advantage against the two best home teams in the league during the regular season, and Rondo was Boston’s best player in each of those series. Frankly, the degree of difficulty for Rondo to be doing what he’s been doing is staggering. If I had to start a team with any point guard in the league right now, between Chris Paul’s injury worries and Deron Williams’ inability to step up for the third straight postseason, Rajon Rondo is the clear choice in my mind. But, on second thought…
The Desmond Hume Award for “Unsung Hero”
Desmond is clearly the Unsung Hero of LOST, right? I mean seriously, name one person that doesn’t like Desmond. But nobody ever really talks about him, do they? I mean, personally, I get hours of entertainment out of speaking with a Scottish accent and throwing “brothah” at the end of sentences. While playing Monopoly: “Good roll, brothah.” While playing FIFA: “Nice pass, brothah.” While making dinner: “Good grillin’ brothah.” It goes on and on.
So who is the unsung hero of the 2010 Playoffs? It’s gotta be Steve Nash, right? Did you SEE Game 5 against Los Angeles? I’ve never seen that kind of shot-making from a point guard, at least those types of leaning, running, off-balance jump shots. Rondo and Rose might make tougher shots around the rim, but the touch on Nash’s jump shot is just unbelievable. Other than Rondo’s triple-double in Game 4 against Cleveland, Nash’s Game 5 in LA was the best game from any point guard in this postseason. And the most underrated part about him? You realize he’s 36, right? This is his SIXTH straight season of 16/10 (or better) with 50/42/89 (or better) shooting percentages. Considering the amount of offensive weapons that Phoenix has lost over the last 3-4 years, this might have been Nash’s best season yet. Again, he’s 36. On the other hand…
The John Locke Award for “Worst Debilitating Karma That Was Never Fully Explained”
John Locke, without question or hesitation, is my favorite television character of all time. I never thought that anyone would unseat Nate Fisher (from “Six Feet Under”) or Stringer Bell (from “The Wire”) but John Locke, and I mean the REAL John Locke, not the Smoky McGee impersonation of John Locke, blows them both out of the water. The fact that Terry O’Quinn only has one Emmy Award is a crime. I don’t even think he goes by Terry O’Quinn anymore. I think he’s just become John Locke. He’s the best written and best acted character I’ve ever seen on Network TV. From Day 1, he was the most fascinating and intriguing character, the one character that understood The Island better than anyone else (and yes, that includes Ben Linus), and the only character that was universally right in his decision-making, even if it didn’t appear that way at the time.
As for the award, Locke was at serious ends with the Karma Gods for most of the series. First he was an orphan, then he was a nice guy living in a commune that got infiltrated by the cops, then he was paralyzed when his father threw him out a window, then he got to The Island, healed his paralysis, came to understand The Island better than anyone, only nobody believed him. When everyone left The Island, he left to bring them all back, and ended up getting murdered by Ben Linus. So which player from these playoffs mimic John Locke’s debilitating Karma? Again, Steve Nash.
After going through countless ups and downs (mostly downs) in Phoenix, the 2010 Suns were inexplicably in a better situation to make and win the NBA Finals then they ever have been before. They completely re-invented themselves on the fly, becoming tougher and better defensively with better chemistry. Phoenix wasn’t as good as Los Angeles, but from watching the series, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that. They played a goofy zone that threw LA for a loop and dictated the pace and tempo of the game exactly the way Phoenix wanted (in fact, I wanted to give Phoenix’s Goofy Zone its own award, but I couldn’t find a comparison from LOST). They lost in 6 games, but from Game 2 to Game 6, Phoenix played better in 13 of the 20 quarters, and came within a Ron Artest prayer of a rebound and putback of winning Game 5 and having the opportunity to close out the series in Game 6.
Instead, they lost Game 5, lost an exceedingly winnable Game 6, and for all we know this could be the end of an era in Phoenix as well. Amar’e Stoudemire is unlikely to return next season, and Channing Frye will likely opt out of his contract looking for a bigger deal. Unless Stoudemire returns, or Phoenix is able to sign-and-trade him for a fair package, the Steve Nash era in Phoenix could be over.
The Dogen/Temple and Nikki/Paulo Award for “Most Confusing Storyline That Ultimately Led Nowhere Important”
I’d write a paragraph here analyzing these two storylines like I did with all the other awards, but frankly, none of it matters and it was basically only included to eat up time.
And this award goes to all the time we spent thinking about the “inevitable” Orlando/Cleveland Eastern Finals. Both teams made personnel decisions with the hope of matching up better against each other (as well as The Lakers), but unfortunately, Boston screwed up everyone’s plans by deciding to show up for the playoffs. I feel stupid for wasting all of that time thinking about Cleveland and Orlando, just like I feel stupid for spending the 6 hours watching the episodes that involved Nikki and Paulo and the Temple.
The Ben Linus Letting Martin Keamy Kill His Daughter Award for “Worst Performance By a Leader”
I don’t really think I need a description for the analogy here. It’s pretty self-explanatory.
This award goes to (former) Cleveland coach Mike Brown. He never figured out that Cleveland’s best lineup was Delonte West at the point, Mo Williams playing off the ball, taking advantage of Rondo’s tendency to cheat away from his man and using Williams as a spot-up shooter, LeBron at small forward, and some combination of Hickson, Varejao, and Jamison at the 4/5 spots. Every minute that Shaq and Ilgauskas were on the floor for Cleveland was a wasted minute with inefficient offense. Boston is an old team that didn’t have a ton of energy. Why not play Hickson and Varejao at the same time, two high-energy, high-activity guys that constantly killed Boston in the regular season? I don’t know. I still don’t get it.
I was talking with my friend Ryan the other day, and I decided that watching Mike Brown on the sidelines was like watching a 90-year old woman trying to use the self-scan checkout lanes at a grocery store. Just a lot of confusion, a lot of looking around hoping someone will help, always unsure of how to proceed, and eventually you start to feel bad for them and offer a hand. Unfortunately, nobody offered a hand to Mike Brown. He kept playing Shaq and Jamison together, despite the fact that neither of them could guard Wilt Chamberlain at this point, and I don’t mean 1960s Wilt Chamberlain, I mean 2010 Wilt Chamberlain that’s been dead for 11 years. He kept over-reacting to every change Boston made, and never went small until it was too late. Even still, considering how well Boston played against Orlando, it might not have even made a difference. For all we know, Cleveland might be the 2nd-best team in the league this year, and they just had the bad luck of playing against the best team earlier than anyone else. Do I believe this? Not particularly. But is it possible? Sure.
The Everyone Is Dead Award for “Most Anticlimactic Ending”
Like I said earlier, I thought the first 125 minutes of the Finale were out-of-this-world amazing, and the last 25 minutes were legitimately bad. My friend Tim likened the Finale to that of “Six Feet Under,” with the only difference being that “Six Feet” had much better execution. “Six Feet” put you through a tour-de-force of emotion that just kept coming and coming in waves for four, maybe five minutes. LOST, on the other hand, dragged everything out over the course of 25 minutes, leaving us with a really watered-down feeling once everything was over. Also, the whole “everyone is dead, this is kinda-sorta like Purgatory” development was just plain stupid. They offered no explanation for how and when each character had died (although they did insinuate that all had died separately at different times), and they offered no explanation for why everyone else in Jack’s life wasn’t present (you’re really telling me that Jack didn’t have one single drinking buddy or friend from college that stayed in touch? Really?). To me, I felt like it was a cop-out, and they intentionally picked that route because it was the cleanest and took the least amount of time to explain. I would have been more satisfied with everyone realizing who everyone else was, and then saying, “We’re all going back to the island, that’s where we belong.” I would have been fine with that ending. That makes sense. Instead, they’re all dead. I’m not a fan.
And this award goes to Games 5 and 6 of the Cleveland/Boston series, or as they might be known 10 years from now “The Last Games LeBron Ever Played For The Cavaliers.” After they were over, it was pretty disorienting. It was like 20 Million people collectively thought “wait, LeBron got eliminated? That wasn’t how the plan was supposed to work out…” In Game 5, LeBron played the worst game of his career, and in Game 6, he played his heart out but there was still something definitely off about his game. The effort was there, the execution was not. And now he’s a free agent.
As recently as two months ago, I said that LeBron winning a title is an inevitability. It’s not a question of “if,” it’s a question of “when.” However, that was based on the assumption that either (1) his teammates in Cleveland would eventually be good enough, or (2) if they weren’t good enough, he would leave and sign with a team with talent already in place. However, from the looks of it, LeBron actually might be dumb enough to be guilt-tripped into signing in Cleveland, or dumb enough to sign in New York. If either of those things happen, we could conceivably go another 4-5 years without LeBron winning a title, at which point it WOULD become a question of “if.” That’s a little scary when you think about it. Is LeBron this generation’s Elgin Baylor? It’s too soon to say right now, but come July 1st, we might have a better answer.
The LOST Is Over And Not Coming Back Award for “Most Depressing Sub-Plot That Has Gotten Swept Under The Rug”
In the midst of everyone digesting and re-hashing the LOST Finale, the fact that LOST had ended and the show was done almost fell by the wayside. And in doing so, it has reminded me a little bit of in the midst of the LeBron/Bosh/Wade upcoming free agency really dominating the national media, one sup-plot from this postseason has gotten left to the side for awhile now.
What is that sub-plot?
That this postseason has been really, really boring.
Seriously, think about it. In Round 1, we had one series out of eight that went to 7 Games, and it was the one series that nobody really felt like watching anyways, Milwaukee and Atlanta. All three of the other series in the East ended in 5 Games or less, and we only got one Pantheon-level game each out of LeBron (Game 4 vs. Chicago) and Wade (Game 4 vs. Boston). In the West, all four series ended in six, but only LA/Durant’s Team and San Antonio/Dallas were even that entertaining. Denver was dead-man walking without George Karl, and Portland was left for dead after Brandon Roy’s injury. Out of eight first-round matchups, only two turned out to be that compelling, and neither went seven games.
In Round 2, we had four series, and three of them were sweeps. Orlando/Atlanta was a cakewalk, as was LA/Utah, and Phoenix/San Antonio should have been a great series, but Manu wasn’t Manu for the third straight postseason (and actually might have gotten passed by Goran Dragic as the most exciting left-handed foreign guard in the Western Conference) and San Antonio went meekly in four. The only series that lasted more than the minimum was Boston/Cleveland, but other than Games 1 and 4, none of the six were particularly entertaining, and three of the games were decided by 20+ points. In the entire round, we had more “Memorable in a Bad Way” games (LeBron’s Game 5, LeBron’s Game 6, the entire Orlando/Atlanta series, Utah rolling over at home in Game 4) than we did “Memorable in a Good Way” games (LeBron’s Game 3, Rondo’s Game 4, Goran Dragic’s Game 3), something that VERY rarely happens in the playoffs. And, again, three of the four series were sweeps and the fourth was a butt-whoopin’ stretched out over six games. Not too much intrigue there.
In the Conference Finals, we had two series that should have been intriguing, but only one was. LA/Phoenix was much more interesting than any Round 2 matchup, with a number of twists, turns, and sub-plots (hey, just like LOST!). Between Phoenix’s bench stepping up huge, Phoenix’s Goofy Zone, the death and resurrection of Ron Artest’s future in LA within the span of 90 seconds in Game 5, it was a supremely exciting series and every game was worth watching. On the other hand, the Boston/Orlando series might have been the most boring six-game series I’ve ever seen in my life. Games 1 and 2 were blowouts that got close at the end, but you never got the feeling that Orlando was going to win either one. Also, even though they were close games, that doesn’t mean that they were well played. Because they weren’t. Both teams were sloppy, turnover-prone, foul-prone, bad shot-prone, and both adamant in using offenses that didn’t work (like Howard posting up for Orlando, or taking the ball away from Rondo to let Pierce go 1-on-1 for Boston). From there, Games 3, 5, and 6 were all blowouts, and Game 4 was the least exciting playoff overtime game since I don’t know when. Both teams combined to shoot 43% from the floor with 34 turnovers and 57 fouls. Not exactly like Game 4 of the 1984 Finals by any stretch.
Up until this point, by any estimation, the 2010 NBA Playoffs have been mostly hype but not too much substance. Coming from someone that DVRs every single playoff game and burns them to DVDs (and has done so each of the last 3 years), of the 14 series so far, I can only imagine myself going back and watching three of them (LA/Durant’s Team in Round 1, Cleveland/Boston in Round 2, and LA/Phoenix in Round 3). 3 out of 14 isn’t a great percentage. Last year’s playoffs was riddled with fun series that are remarkably re-watchable: Chicago/Boston in Round 1, Houston/Portland in Round 1, LA/Houston in Round 2, Orlando/Boston in Round 2, Orlando/Cleveland in Round 3, and LA/Denver in Round 3. This year, not so much. But in the end, there may be redemption. Lakers and Celtics. They’re back. And hopefully the NBA’s Finale is better than LOST’s.
Jeremy Conlin is a featured NBA columnist for SportInformant.com. Follow him on twitter: @JConlin3789
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