6/01/09 NBA Tracker: Mikey's Finals Edition

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I know my fans and my regular readers know that I am not the 'biggest' fan or analyst of NBA basketball.

Normally, I don't even watch NCAA basketball, except for during March Madness when one of my teams from the ACC-conference are playing in it.

So in review, I don't really watch basketball in any form except for when they get to the games that count. That means the playoffs.

Now recently (as recently as last season when the Boston Celtics made their surprise run to an NBA Championship), my close friend J. Stark started bringing up the NBA playoffs every single day at the bar where I work.

I wasn't really as interested last season as I was this season, for reasons that hit close to home. As I typed up some new articles about my beloved Baltimore Ravens, I had the Denver and Cleveland games on my television screen with the volume turned down so it wouldn't distract me from my work.

Yes, that means that I have been paying attention this season. No, this doesn't mean that I will be turning my attention away from the NFL.

The reasons for my suddenly-renewed interest in the NBA are sometimes as strange and confusing to me as they will be to you. I've always liked the play of Kobe Bryant and unlike most of the rest of America, I know how to separate between Kobe the player and Kobe the person.

The other players that I have immense respect for and have loved watching over the years—albeit sometimes as ESPN Sportscenter highlights—are Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards.

I absolutely love hearing good news on how Carmelo and the Nuggets are doing for this simple reason. Carmelo Anthony is one of Baltimore's favorite sons. He was born and raised in the MD-area and has never done anything to deserve less.

I found myself pleasantly surprised when I found myself cheering and watching the USA-basketball team win Olympic gold.

Gilbert Arenas is a star on a team that frequently provides little or no help to him. Just his playing in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitian area provides me a lot of game highlights, even if I do not normally like Washington-area teams.

I don't like the Nationals. I don't like the Capitals (maybe a little) and I absolutely hate the Washington Redskins (99 percent of the time). I don't really like the Wizards all that much but find myself rooting for them and Arenas just because they are so often the underdogs, fighting and clawing their way (somehow) into the playoffs.

As for LeBron James, it's very hard not to like him for one or more reasons. He has a great media personality, he's explosive and dynamic and seems to almost always play at a level that elevates everyone around him.

So now that I've given you guys some background information, here's my updated opinions about the past couple weeks of the NBA-Playoffs:

1. The ratings and interest in the NBA Finals are not going to be what they could have been if it had been between the Cavaliers and Lakers instead of the Magic and Lakers.

This does not mean I think the Cavaliers deserved to get to the NBA Finals. It just means that just about everyone was looking forward to the two best teams in the NBA regular season and their two MVPs battling it out for the NBA championship.

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