by Skyzoo | @TheRealSkyzoo
What’s up world, it’s Skyzoo, checking in for Week 4 of my Chain Link Champions series here on SLAMonline. Shouts to everyone who checked in on my PG report/breakdown last week. It was definitely one of my favorite pieces thus far. For this week, I wanted to jump into a topic I’d been wanting to write about for a few weeks, but decided to wait to see how the Playoffs would pan out till now. Through that, I feel now is as good a time as any to discuss what has now become “Bizarro World” in the NBA.
For those not in the know, bizarro world, or Htrae (“earth” spelled backwards), comes from DC comics and Superman. It’s where everything is reverse, out of order, doesn’t make sense, etc. It was also referenced in “the bizarro jerry” episode of Seinfeld, where Elaine met a new group to hang out with, who were all more civilized versions of Jerry, George and Kramer. This year’s Playoffs have been amazing, but have also turned into a complete bizarro world.
Watching the Spurs drop out in the first round, after being the No. 1 seed this season with 50+ wins, wasn’t really a shocker to me personally. I’ve never been a Spurs fan, so I was actually happy they got rocked to sleep. But besides that, they’re an aging team, so it sort of made sense that they couldn’t handle the youthful run-and-gun Grizzlies. The Blazers came close to knocking out Dallas, which wouldve been a dope surprise. I’ve always been a Brandon Roy fan, and Gerald Wallace was a huge come up for them, for the low, at that. So even seeing them go that far wasn’t too much of a shock. Here’s where Batzarro, The Yellow Lantern, and all the other Bizarro World characters come into play.
Watching Orlando, in all of Dwight Howard’s prowess, fall victim to Atlanta in the first round, and then Atlanta taking the first game against the Bulls in Chicago; or watching Memphis post OKC up against the ropes, repeatedly, and pretty much have them almost clinging for dear life; and last but not least, the meltdown of the Lakers to the Mavs, are the makings of bizarro world, 100 percent.
Of all the above analogies, the LAL/DAL one is the most bizarro world-ish, point blank. It pretty much has Wayne Bruce and Kent Clark written all over it. Kobe losing his “Kobe-ism” for multiple games, Pau Gasol disappearing completely, Artest, Odom, Bynum, you name it—it happened, or moreso, it didn’t.
In a sense, the bizarro world that the NBA has become throughout this year’s Playoff run has been dope. To see the typical LAL/BOS Finals run come to an end is exciting (evn though I’m a Rondo fan). As fans at home, we get tired of the same thing year after year. The last three editions NBA 2k have one thing in common: the start-up screen with the two conference champions have all had the Lakers up there, due to them continuously being in the finals for the past three years. It’s cool, but to load up 2k12 and possibly see MIA/OKC, or MIA/DAL, or even MIA/MEM would be fly (yeah, you obviously see who I got coming out of the east).
I’m sure David Stern doesn’t want to try to sell us, as viewers, a MEM/ATL finals (no shots, I got love for both cities. Especially ATL. Shouts to Club Onyx). But the reality is, the lowest viewed Finals in NBA history was in 2003 with NJ/SA. People wanna see superstars fight for the Chip, regardless of what sport its in. We all kno Stern wanted MIA/LAL, but Jason Terry deaded that, so to me, his Plan B prayer is MIA/OKC. Lebron v. Durant, Wade v. Westbrook, the new version of the Celtics v. the new version of the Lakers—I can see it.
So here’s to Miami doing what they’re definitely gonna do, and to OKC hopefully doing what they gotta do. Regardless though, the Finals are the Finals, and I’ll be glued to the screen, no problem.
Until next time, see y’all at the Chain Links.
Sidebar: Shameless plug, my new tape “The Great Debater” drops for free on June 7th, and every Tuesday I’m leaking content from it to gear up for the release date. Yesterday I dropped “The Definitive Prayer”, the first song/video to get y’all in tune with what the tape will be like. Below is the link to DL it, as well as a link for the lyrics to the joint, to help you see the sound, if needed. See y’all next week.
Song/video: http://bit.ly/k9AA64
Lyrics: http://bit.ly/luPT8s
