Throoooooooow it doooooooown, big man!

Slate has a great article about NBA colour man Bill Walton that praises his hilarious stream-of-consciousness commentating style. One point the author might have made, though, is that former players are always more entertaining commentators than former coaches. Bill Walton, Danny Ainge, Kenny "The Jet" Smith and especially Charles Barkley (who's funnier than Walton and a ruthless critic of underperforming players) feel the emotions of the players on the floor. That empathy is the difference between Hubie Brown's chirping about the importance of fronting your man in the post and Walton's "Throoooooooow it doooooooown, big man!"

I enjoy the technical perspective that former coaches like Brown or Mike Fratello bring to the game--the match ups, the field goal percentages, the overall strategy. But they tell the coaches' story, not the players' story. (Addendum: and I guess I think the players are the heart of the game.)

Anyway, this seems like the appropriate place to opine on the most underwhelming NBA finals in recent years. As soon as the Kings started to collapse in the final game of their series with the Lakers, you just knew who was taking home the championship. Of the 16 quarters the Lakers and Nets played, I watched maybe five. The final outcome was easy to predict and the only interesting question was would the Nets steal a game or two.

Despite the mis-match, I thought there were two interesting developments. First, Shaqille shook off the weariness and injuries that bothered him throughout the season and was once again an irresistable force in the paint. He carries the team. Second, Kenyon Martin played big. I really like his game: the rebounding, the scoring, the intimidation, the flagrant fouls...