NBA Finals 2012: Why NBA Fans and Media Overreact to Everything

NBA  fans and media have one thing in common: They like to overreact to everything. 

The Miami Heat were going to be the greatest team ever when they came together. Then they were the biggest team ever. But they were the biggest team ever because the expectations put on them were the also the biggest ever. 

So when they were ready to face their second season together, they were going to break the Bulls' winning-percentage record from 1996. 

Then they lost three games in a row, and they were the most disappointing team ever, before January even ended. 

Then they had a nine-game double-digit win streak before the All-Star Game, and that meant they had finally found their game and were finally the team that "we thought they were."

Then they lost two in a row, and LeBron James proved once again why he would never win a ring.

Then they won four in a row, and LeBron was having the greatest, most efficient season in the history of the NBA. 

They lost to the Thunder, and Kevin Durant outplayed James, proving that Durant was really the league's MVP.

As the Heat staggered into the playoffs, people questioned whether they would even make it to the NBA Finals. 

Then Derrick Rose tore his ACL, and there was no stopping them.

Then they lost to the Pacers. Then they beat the Pacers. Then they lost to the Celtics. Then they beat the Celtics. Then they lost to the Thunder. Then they beat the Thunder. 

No team has ever won the championship and lost it more in one seasons before they actually won or lost it. 

After Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Skip Bayless was ready to say that Kevin Durant could be as great as Michael Jordan one day. After Game 2 Magic Johnson said that Russell Westbrook had the worst game by a point guard in Finals history. 

The Thunder need to start James Harden or else doom will befall them. 

The Thunder would be making the biggest overreaction in the history of the NBA if they start Harden. 

Whoever wins Game 3 will win the title. 

That will last until Game 4. 

NBA fans and media obsess with overreaction. It's impossible to address anything with nuance. (Feel free to note the deliberate and ironic use of overstatement.)

Why do we have such a tendency, though?

The media will blame the fans, and the fans will blame the media. The media will say that's what the fans respond to, and the fans will say the media does it to provoke a response. 

But aren't these things inseparable?

The fans and the media are working in tandem to make everything bigger, more grand, more important and larger than what it is. 

There's something about the "now" that makes us want to think that "now" matters, that "now" is historic. 

Does anyone really want to debate whether LeBron James is having the 12th best season in NBA history or whether Kobe Bryant is the eighth best player of all time?

A measured response is deemed as being "wimpy" or "noncommittal." If another moment was greater, it makes the present moment feel unimportant. 

If Kobe Bryant and LeBron James aren't as great as Michael, then the "greatest" is in the past and no longer in the present. 

Here's my advice: Let greatness happen. Just enjoy the moment, and if greatness emerges, it emerges.

Allow me to draw an example from baseball: Who expected David Freese to produce one of the greatest World Series moments of all time?

Yet after it happened, there were those who questioned whether we were just being "prisoners of the moment."

Why? Because we are so used to seeing things over-billed as the "greatest ever" that when we see greatness truly come, we aren't ready to accept it for what it is. 

Greatness comes. Just let it.

Then, when it's there, surprising you, you can really embrace it.

We want to gloss over the greatness that really is Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and even Russell Westbrook because we want to make it something more than what it is. 

In other words, stop waiting for history to unfold, and just watch it.

It's great.