The NBA Finals

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The first NBA Finals I remember was to finish up the 1969-1970 season.

I cried as the final score on Game 7 flashed on the screen:

New York Knicks 113
Los Angeles Lakers 99

Sad. 

My Dad had watched with me as Wilt and West lost to Reed and Clyde.

Basketball was definitely my favorite sport to watch and it stayed that way until 1977 when the Yankees and baseball took over.

I have always kept an eye on the NBA season though and the Lakers-Celtics battles in the mid-80’s were epic.

I was rooting for Larry Legend then, but Bob McAdoo and Kareem were on those Lakers teams so I was okay either way.

And then there was Michael.

Man, I rooted against him hard! Couldn’t stand that he was winning every year. I bad-mouthed Michael all the way up until I watched “The Last Dance.”

Then I respected him.

Of course, LeBron became my new villain as his ‘taking my talents’ program aggravated me to no end.

He still makes my skin crawl because of how he flops.

But I haven’t truly watched an NBA game since I saw one in person in Denver years ago.

Jake asked me on Saturday night:

“Dad, you wanna’ watch the game?”

I turned off the movie I was watching. My kids wants to watch something with me, I’m all in!

Bucks-Suns

Jake and Sam are both going for the Bucks.

So, we watched and man, it’s a different game. Both teams shot the lights out.

The athleticism of the players is mind-boggling.

Grace and speed and they can all jump out of the gym.

They take a ton of 3’s.

No one plays any D at all.

But it was good fun, other than the start time of the game.

I was getting a little droopy around 11:15.

“Thanks for watching,” Jake said. “You can skip the 4th quarter if you want.”

I did.

The Bucks won and are a win away from the title.

I regaled Jake with stories of years gone by, and I thought of him, someday in the future, sitting with his son.

Telling stories about LeBron and Curry and Giannis.

And hoping he remembers sitting there with his old man on a quiet Saturday night.

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