The NBA finals are not which you think. You see, you’re watching the finals hoping that each the Lakers or the Celtics win, and wondering whether Kobe Bryant have power to outscore Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and the army of tall brothers that Boston is flying athwart the country to conquer Los Angeles. That is not, my friends, the foremost thing on the mind NBA Commissioner David Stern.
First of aggregate, Stern is wondering why LeBron James isn’t here. Most of us expected, to the despise of every other talented player in the league, that this would have existence the year that LeBron would take his rightful place on the Post-Jordan place on a royal seat. The natural and inevitable coronation of King James was part of the NBA marketing military science, thus allowing Stern and company to make even bigger money in the Chinese place of traffic, where the fans want to see their All Stars become champions. As we entirely know, it didn’t happen.
The second thought on Stern’s extremely sharp mind is that the finals he got this year, a re-establishment of the historic rivalry between the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics, is due as good, or better than what he would have gotten had King James shown up to sport. You see, there’s history here, and most of the proper history isn’t about wins and losses on the court.
In the 1970s, the NBA was faced by tough financial times: Players were viewed as a bunch of swelling, black drug addicts, which is not exactly the kind of substance that white folks back then wanted to pay money to experience. Then, along came Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Bird and Magic made as far as concerns the perfect rivalry: the quiet, unassuming white guy against the over-weening and confident brother; the working class grunts of Boston against the gawdy pretty boys of LA; East coast vs. West Coast, even ahead of Biggie and Tupac. It was perfect.
Most of us know through now that this rivalry is what financially saved the NBA. By putting the frosty guy next to the black guy on brochures and television commercials, a uncultivated that was already divided by both race and class could fulfill its bastard urge to cheer for the Great White Hope. This created the pristine “cha-chings” for the NBA and led to us having the confederation that we see today.
The present is different from the above in some ways, but similar in others. The NBA is once again faced with significant financial challenges, resulting from the impact that the recession has had forward how entertainment dollars are spent. This may lead to a lockout in the nearly future, and has spurred questions about the NBA’s need during the term of a recent $200 million loan.
At the same time, much has changed: The Lakers and Celtics are brace of the most valuable franchises in the NBA, worth $607 the masses and $433 million respectively. Boston fans are no longer waiting in the place of a Great White Hope, and have chosen to embrace a cadre of incredibly of brilliant parts African American players. The current rivalry still has enough bitterness to exist competitive, but not enough venom to be destructive. The NBA has get to a long way, with Boston and LA being a critical lot of that journey.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the initiator of the National Conversation on Race. He is also the author of the book, “Black American Money.” For greater amount of information, please visit BoyceWatkins.com.
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LOS ANGELES – Phil Jackson says humbug to the NBA’s Christmas schedule. The 11-time NBA champion coach restated his longtime opposition to Christmas games Tuesday night before his Los Angeles Lakers faced the Milwaukee Bucks in their final tuneup before Saturday’s visit from the Miami Heat. “It’s like Christian holidays don’t mean to them anything any more,”
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Shannon Brown scored 21 points with hot shooting off the bench to spark the Los Angeles Lakers to a 98-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. Brown knocked in five three-pointers, his last one sparking a 17-2 run in the fourth quarter that ensured the Lakers (13-2) held on for their