The Finals Countdown

Two great sets of playoffs are each in their final series, and so far the games are proving worthy of what preceeded them. 

In no particular order, the Top 5 things I'm enjoying about the NBA and NHL Finals:

1) LeBron, The Invisible Man
Okay, I said in no particular order, but I had to put this number one.  The Stanley Cup Finals may matter infinitely more to me than their NBA counterpart, but some things are bigger than the particular sport.  Much like the New York Yankees, LeBron is the embodiment of many things I hate about sports.  The last year of his life has been one long commercial for the premise of the mercenary athlete, who's only concern is what's best for himself.  More are sure to follow his lead, and for that I will forever be rooting against him.  No athlete owes anyone anything, that much is true, but when a guy gets this staggeringly self-absorbed, it's fun to watch him fail.  Here's hoping it continues.

2) The Nathan Horton Hit
This wasn't great from the perspective that it put one of the Bruins most productive players out for the rest of the series, but it galvanized the Bruins and was nice as a reminder of what a pack of cheapshot b*tches the Vancouver Canucks are.  After listening to some of the quotes coming from coaches and players about Aaron Rome's blast to Horton's head, I had a moment of doubt.  I've been around enough hockey fans in my life to know that two people can look at the same hit and see two completely different things, usually due to the tint of the glasses they wear while watching the games.  So I went back and watched it again.  You know what?  My opinion hasn't changed one iota.  You can throw out all the phrases you want about "finishing your check" and quote rulebook passages making it sound better than it was, but I know what I saw.  I saw Horton get rid of the puck, take two strides, then get leveled by Rome, who left his skates while driving up through Horton's head.  If he still had the puck, or didn't raise up to contact his head, there's an argument to be made, but frankly I think there's no argument.  Henrik Sedin thinks it was a clean hit?  Well in that case, I hope he is on the receiving end of one just like it this evening.

3) Amazing Goaltending
Tim Thomas' odd move in the Game 2 OT and Roberto Luongo's sieve out in Game 3 notwithstanding, the goaltending in this year's Cup Finals has been unbelievable.  My sincere hope is that Thomas continues his run of great play, and Luongo reverts back to his habit of being a headcase.  Monday's third period was comical, one of those shooting boards with the corners cut out would've fared better than Boberto.  It looked like he was trying to keep hockey pucks out of a soccer net.  Fitting, since he's always looked more like a member of the Italian national team than the Canadian one.  I'd say it was so bad, you almost felt sorry for him, but that would be a lie, at no point did I come close to feeling anything but contempt for any Vancouver player.  Nor will I.

4) Dirk Delivers
He's got a torn hand ligament, the flu, dysentery, typhoid fever, gout, still nothing can stop Dirk Nowitzki.  I'm still slightly amazed that the Mavericks were in a position to win last night, after watching them clang 8-10 open jumpers in the last 5 minutes, but once they were, it was once again Dirk who sealed the deal.  I liked Charles Barkley, was indifferent on Gary Payton, kind of hated Karl Malone, but I wanted each of them to win a title.  It just seems like anyone doing something at such a high level for that long deserves a better fate than walking away empty handed.  Dallas has played well, but also been a bit fortunate that Miami has lacked the killer instinct to put them away.  Winning two of the next three games is still a tall order, particularly if LeBron remembers he's the best player in the league one of these nights.  Until that happens Miami, remember that coffee is for closers.

5) Degree of Difficulty
I'm in Minnesota, it was 103 degrees yesterday, and tonight there's a professional hockey game on.

Just wanted to put that in print, because I'm 100% certain it's the first time anyone has been able to.