Finals

Congratulations to the New York Knicks.  I was hoping for a good Finals series and it happened in an unprecedented way with the Spurs blowing double digit leads in each of their four losses.  San Antonio's youth and inexperience showed and Mitch Johnson's coaching, particularly in Game 4, didn't help.  

At the beginning I was pulling for the Spurs but ended up very impressed with the Knicks, particularly with Jalen Brunson.  It's very unusual for a small point guard to lead his team to an NBA title.  The only other one who comes to mind is Isiah Thomas who captained the Pistons to two titles at the end of the 80s.  Because Thomas is so disliked by an NBA player with the initials MJ, and by many fans (including me), it's sometimes forgotten he was a truly great player and leader (which I will grudgingly admit, including he may have been the best small point guard in NBA history).  Some place Steph Curry in the same category but he's a bit taller than Thomas and Brunson and not a traditional point guard.

Going into the series I was a fan of Victor Wembanyama but these games took a bit of the glow off.  In particular I did not like a couple of his moves on Brunson, most of all in this play from the final game where, I believe, he was actively trying to injure Jalen.  You can see Wemby look down to make sure his foot is placed underneath where Brunson is coming down.

The Knicks played Wemby very tough, grabbing and pulling on him, but that's different than intentionally trying to hurt someone.  It reminded me of the hated Bill Laimbeer, from Isiah's Piston team.  Laimbeer is the one player Larry Bird still despises all these years later because, as Larry said, he tried to hurt you and he specifically mentioned the type of move that we saw Wemby pull on Brunson last night.