Even though this year’s NBA Finals was anything but aesthetically pleasing, the level of competition was through the roof. Every possession was a battle, the intensity was unlike anything I’ve personally seen, and Game Seven provided one of the most dramatic and climactic final 24 minutes in the past 20 years.
This year was a crash-course for fans and players alike in terms of learning how to win (the Lakers won playing Boston’s game), how to embrace the moment (the easy answer is Kobe, but Pau Gasol took this to heart in Games Six and Seven), how to give 100 percent each and every game and possession in the postseason (we’re looking at you, LeBron James), and how to step your game up when it matters most (the entire Boston Celtics team for the first 22 games of the playoffs).
But what else did we learn? Let’s keep the whole “list of sevens” streak alive and look at seven more things we were educated in during the Finals…
…we learned that the regular season is utterly and completely meaningless.
The Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the regular season for the second consecutive season only to have no intensity in the postseason and before the Finals. Despite dominating the first 82 games, they couldn’t get better in the playoffs—they didn’t have an extra gear to shift into.
Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics were left for dead in the regular season. They dropped seven of 10 to end the season.
There was bitterness amongst the players.
They looked old, disjointed, slow, and out of shape ( OK, maybe it was just ‘Sheed that looked like that).
But they followed the golden path. They couldn’t have cared less about the regular season; they wanted to...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
