Fight or Flight…

The natural human reaction to adversity is this survival mechanism, inherent to all of us. The same can be said for sports teams who face true adversity (i.e.) injuries, contract holdouts, and coaching or management changes midseason. How these teams respond is ultimately how we as fans remember our teams, who performed in the clutch and to fight or who disappeared in flight. We can all remember Michael Jordan’s 1997 finals appearance when he pulled out that thrilling game 5 as MJ had the stomach flu, sickly and dehydrated he still went on to score 38 points with a 90- to 88 win over the Utah Jazz(that’s fight). Isiah Thomas’s performance when he fractured his ankle during the 1987/1988 finals appearance against the Lakers yet still went on to play and score 25 points in a single quarter (once again fight).

These are all great testaments to phenomenal athletes who fought where it counted.

2006/2007 Dallas Mavericks had the best record in the NBA they were primed to return to the NBA finals and win, one problem Baron Davis and his Golden State Warriors handed them a first round exit. Simply because the first moment they found real adversity they shrunk and did not deliver in what should have been a lopsided beat down (flight).

One team that comes to mind is the 2007/2008 Cleveland Cavaliers, as they entered

The season coming off their first NBA finals appearance ever riding on the back of superstar LeBron James this team had some serious expectations. However we all know the story, (SG, SF) Sasha Pavlovic and (PF, C) AndersonVarejao decided they were way above their pay grade and each held out through training camp.

Sasha ended the Drama in late October but showed up out of shape resembling a vanilla milk dud and equivocally played like it and Andy held out until the first week of December. When you can include the six games James missed due to pinky trouble all losses, that was not a great first half of the season. Closely following each hold out came the injuries to both Pavlovic and Varejao both ankle sprains and finally in February Daniel Gibson who played a pivotal role in the Cavs ECF victory over the Pistons the year previously went down with a high ankle sprain.

This for most teams would have already tanked the season however it did not end there. The 11 player trade GM Danny Ferry pulled the trigger on moving malcontent Larry (Mr. Glass) Hughes and a the core of the team that was a part of the 2007 finals run to keep in contention with the vastly improved east. In hindsight it was not quite the blockbuster it was advertised to be but did inject some straight up talent then previously recorded in the James Era.

As if that was not enough….

Shortly after the trade injuries continued as (C) Zydrunas Ilguaskus went down with back spasms along with newly acquired (PF) Ben Wallace. LeBron James started having back problems too with Daniel Gibson going down with a minor sprain to the same ankle he injured in February. Yet all the problems and changes that had occurred instead of capsizing, this team persevered and went on to clinch the fourth seed in the eastern conference and take the eventual NBA champions right to the brink of elimination (kind of sounds like Rocky).

Now to the point…

James and his Cavs fought hard and never quit, and never gave up. The real point is this; real champions must face adversity and prove to themselves and to others that they are the real deal. Real champions don’t make excuses they play harder. Real champions do not shrink away and take part in flight and run away, they dig in take what comes there way and fight.