With the conclusion of the 2006 All-Star Weekend proceedings, it's time to bring on the second half.
The eye of the storm that is this NBA season has now passed. Granted, it has been a milder one in comparison to last year, which opened with a near-riot in Detroit and had all the makings of a hundred-year tempest. That one event scarred the league through last year's All-Star Game, but a harmonic second half capped by a riveting and hard-fought seven-game NBA Finals restored stability.
Indeed, this season has appeared more a tropical depression in contrast. Allen Iverson opened the festivities, hoping to garner popular support for players' rights to free expression. In the end, what he found from a fan base shelling out in excess of $100 per seat was a preference for player-neighbors that are dressed as well as them. Even self-righteous liberals always quick to draw a race card from up their sleeve could not beat Commissioner David Stern's hand on this matter of courtside attire.
Ex-Knick Antonio Davis played the 2005 version of Ron Artest, but his performance in the stands of Chicago's United Center proved a lethargic encore and actually won the empathy of rational fans everywhere. Ron Artest's own attempts to get Ron Artest back in the limelight got a cool reception, as fans outside of Sacramento and Los Angeles were indifferent at best to the prospect of his coming to their towns.
For front office antics, there remains the ongoing saga of Isiah Thomas's sexual harassment scandal, but that's only of secondary newsworthiness to his player management skills that leave the Knicks battling for the best odds in this year's lottery.
Yes, it was a relatively mild first half, leaving fans wondering what the winds of change will bring in the back half. But as we wonder, let us also take heed of the weatherman's warning lest our guard be lowered. When the eye passes and the winds take up from the opposite direction, windward becomes leeward and earlier fortification now serves to barricade.
So it is for those of us entrenched in allegiances to the great teams of years past, who reveled in the annual battles between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, or the perennial presence of the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, who admired an emphasis on passing, boxing out, stars who complemented those around them, great role players.
Now, as those winds blow from our aft, we're left with a league filled with poor to mediocre teams. Teams that are in the money one year, the lottery the next. The NBA is now glitter and youth, three-point shootouts and slam-dunk contests, interrupted annually for all-star proceedings where we see more of the same.
During the second half, the Eastern Conference will be on cruise control. The Mavericks and Spurs will make for an interesting race in the West. Both teams will draft each other and may end up passing the Pistons for the best record and potential home-court advantage throughout May and June.
However, that is not where the compelling drama of the second half will occur. The real competition is unfurling on the individual level. Even before the man who some now anoint as king of today's NBA arrives for his coronation, another is usurping him.
Kobe Bryant is nearly as unstoppable today as Michael Jordan was throughout the 1990s. His trophy shelf will surely need rearranging to accommodate a 2006 MVP award. He may yet send numerous pairs of his sneakers to Springfield. But the mirror now tells him there is another, fairer than them all. With each passing day, the image of LeBron James sharpens within its frame.
In only his third year, King James' stats are nearly stride-for-stride with those of Bryant in this, Kobe's career year. At the break, James was third in scoring at 31.2 points per game, trailing only Allen Iverson and Bryant's league-leading 35.0. However, James' contributions are more dimensional. He averages 7.0 rebounds 6.6 assists per game to Bryant's 5.4 and 4.4, respectively. To date, LeBron has had four triple-doubles to none for Bryant. Most importantly, his Cavaliers are currently 32-22 as of this writing after splitting the first two games of the second half.
Here lies the biggest knock on Kobe among his critics. His petulance and lack of maturity during the Shaq administration cost the Lakers the most dominant big man in the game and the principal source for the three championship rings Bryant now wears. Since separation of the two superstars, the Lakers fell from the 56-26 Western Conference champions to 34-48 last year. One game past this year's All-Star Break, they stand at 27-26, clinging to the final playoff spot in the West.
Nonetheless, Bryant, an eight-time all-star, has also appeared in eight postseasons over his nine-year career. He has averaged 22.6 points in 119 playoff games and has won three NBA crowns. On the other hand, the King's Cavaliers have missed the playoffs in both his first two seasons, although they are a solid hold at the fourth spot in the East as the second half opens. Provided James stays healthy, he'll be making his first postseason start this April.
On Sunday, James became the youngest player ever to win an NBA All-Star Game MVP at the age of 21 years and one month. In January, he became the youngest player to eclipse the 5,000-point mark. The previous holder of that distinction was Kobe Bryant, who holds nearly every career mark for scoring production within his grasp and not yet within LeBron's. Kobe was 22 years, three months and playing in his 292nd NBA game when he scored his 5,000th point. James accomplished his first 5,000 in 197 games.
Tuesday opened the second "half" of the season — most teams had only 30 games remaining — and the winds of change are indeed afoot. In a league that is beleaguered with inconsistent play, diluted teams, and an ever-decreasing average roster age, hope for salvation must once again vest with individual superstars. The team concept has gone dormant.
As it was for Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 1980s and Michael Jordan in the 1990s, the throne lies vacant for the NBA's next savior. Kobe has been fitted for the crown, but remains a controversial icon amidst questions over his character and appeal. On Tuesday night, LeBron resumed his own challenge, a challenge that will make the most compelling drama for the balance of this season.
In the end, we will see if the King is indeed ready to take up the staff and lead the NBA back to glory.
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