The Association For The Win

Tonight, I was playing poker at the wild game that I've mentioned recently, with a full table of people making big raises, and I'm all over the place, in terms of good play and bad, being ahead and being behind. I've had a lot of gamble, with big swings back and forth, and I've been at the table without a break for just about four hours. And as good as the game is, and as live as the action is... well, I can't keep my eyes off the big screen, where the Thunder and Lakers were playing Game Six. Because you can play poker any time, really, but you only get to see games like this a few times a year.

As the third quarter ends, I check my stack, and it's five bucks less than my buy-in... and my ride has busted, and really, I'd rather watch the end of this game in private, and write about it. That's how good it was.

The Thunder were down for nearly the entire game. They finally took a lead in the fourth, but it was never more than one possession, and the Lake Show kept getting found money buckets from the hateful Ron Artest, and the occasional give the devil his due ridiculous moment from Kobe Bryant. But the OK Kids just would not be shaken, despite an awful shooting night from Kevin Durant, despite the fact that everyone knew the defending champions would pull this out, the way they always do, because young teams never win without learning through heartbreak.

On the penultimate play that gave the Lakers their winning margin, young big Serge Ibaka failed to box out Pau Gasol, who corralled the offensive rebound and got the putback with half a second showing on the clock. The bucket changed the score from down one to up one, and the catch and shoot corner three at the buzzer missed, and that was that. The champions move on.

And when it was over, despite the loss and the end of their season, everyone in Tulsa gave their team a standing ovation, to thank them for the year and the seris. And on some level, I wonder if it will ever be better for them. There's no guarantee that young teams will make the next level. Injuries happen, expectations take the fun out of life, and athletes become knuckleheads. The Thunder should be back, should be better, should be a frankly terrifying threat coming out of the West as everyone on the team gainse experience. But for now, you take them for what they are, and you mourn the fact that you won't get to see them again until next November, because honestly, that's how much fun they are to watch.

Meanwhile in Utah, the Nuggets finally showed some grit, with deep reserve Joey Graham giving them the game of his life, and Deron Williams battling foul trouble. And when it came to the fourth, with the game in doubt with back and forth lead changes, it was the Jazz trusting the system and getting big moments from everyone, and the Nuggets self-destructing.

Halfway through the fourth, Denver had a couple of classic bonehead moments, with Chris "Birdman" Anthony going ballistic on the refs, then Kenyon Martin taking his second technical on an utterly pointless shove on Deron Williams. Seriously, I'm not sure that any team, with any collection of talent, can win while employing Martin. He's just a black hole of sense, with just enough game to get minutes that will cripple you. If Artest is a ticking time bomb, then Martin is an eternal grenade. And Anderson, especially with his knees limiting his hops to ordinary levels, really isn't much better. As for J.R. Smith, I get that when hot he's useful, but honestly, I would not hire him for my Euro league team.

Two minutes after the pointless Martin foul, Billups took another technical after a no-call, and for all the heart that the Nuggets showed, it's obvious that they blew a seris despite wildly superior talent, because the inmates run the asylum. As athletic as the Nugs are, and as good as they can look when things are going their way, this series is just an indictment. If they think that everything will be fine with a returning George Karl, they are wildly delusional. I picked them to win, and by the time it was over, I was rooting against them, even though I'm really no fan of the way the Jazz play (or their redneck fans).

In the fourth, the Jazz shot a dozen-plus more free throws than the Nuggets. They deserved to. With 90 seconds left and Billups running on a break, three of his teammates never even crossed halfcourt. Their body language was beaten a long time before they were, and if the refs wanted to just award the home team the win on general principles, it wouldn't have been any kind of miscarriage of justice.

(As for the advancing Jazz... they get the Lakers next, with the series starting in less than 48 hours, and with less than half a minute left, Williams crashed into Anderson and got hurt. As if they had any chance with the Lakers in the first place. The Lake Show are going to have a much easier time int he second round than the first, because they always crush the Jazz even when Utah's healthy, because Gasol and Lamar Odom crush their bigs, and they have no one that can stay with Bryant. The only question is whether the Lakers are feeling motivated enough to put the hammer down, and if Artest costs the champs enough to force some losses. Not seeing it.)

Anyway, in case you aren't an NBA fan, and suffer through these posts waiting for the NFL/MLB stuff... well, I'm sorry. Tonight's action was so good, I left a hot table in a swank room. And I'm very, very, very happy that I did.