Cavs vs. Lakers?

So the real NBA season have begun and most of the top guns made roadkill of their visiting opponents. But Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas had other ideas. Instead of becoming casualties of war, they looked like conquering invaders with a mission. Of course, it’s still too early to tell but some things state otherwise.

Let’s take Boston’s case. They went up against Chicago and got overplayed by Derrick Rose and Wilson Chandler. What happened to the merry men in green? Let’s just say that Paul Pierce is the heart and soul of the team, but I say Kevin Garnett is their backbone. The guy is riding the bench on his civvies nursing an injury and he can only contribute with his screams of encouragements.

Yeah, they got big men in Leon Powe, Kendrick Perkins and that guy they call Big Baby but they can’t measure up to KG, The Big Ticket. Chicago’s Brad Miller will have a field day against these three. Hello, even Joaquim Noah was happily prancing inside the paint and the Baby Bulls have shown that they have sharpened their horns for the postseason.

It would be an interesting NBA Finals if LeBron and Kobe squares off. They are currently the NBA’s poster boys and the resulting marquee match-up will be a box office draw. Tons of material have been said about the two and I won’t be elaborating, for the moment. We do some related stuff instead.

Mike Brown, in his fourth year of guiding Cleveland, was the overwhelming choice for the NBA’s Coach of the Year. The 39 year old Brown finished first in a voting made by a panel composed of 122 sportscasters and broadcasters. He was followed by Houston’s Rick Adelman and Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy.

Phil Jackson, who coached 9 championship teams, only has one Coach of the Year honors, in 1996, when the led the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan to a record 72-10 en route to the 1996 NBA title. Jackson is on his 18th season as coach, his 9th with the Lakers.

If you watched the Laker-Jazz game, you should have noticed the sea of yellow-gold on the stands. Upon entering Staples Center, Laker fans were given gold-colored shirts with the print “The Journey Begins” on the front and the championship trophy with the phrase “The Destination” printed on the back. The first step to the 16-step journey to that destination has been done and although it was a win, it was complacently done.

Laker fans missed their free tacos in Game One. A fast-food promo of giving the free snack to fans inside Staples Center if Laker opponents are limited to below 100 points was spoiled by Deron Williams when he scored on a drive with less than 20 seconds left in the game.

The Staples Center is also the devil’s workshop in the art of ticket scalping. Think of a section high up on the bleachers where you can almost touch the clouds if the roofs were off. It would normally cost somewhere between $30 to $40 but if you don’t know your way around, you’re $70 poorer. The first 12 rows on the center section costs somewhere between $450 to $750 and if you still have money to burn, you can sit alongside Jack Nicholson for just below $3,500. Still, as people want to say, money can’t buy experience. But if that experience makes me dirt poor, I’d rather watch replays.

E-mail me at [email protected] (THE FREEMAN)