In the NBA world, a year runs from October to June, with a conspicuous three and a half month gap between the last day of the year and the first day of the year.
In the real world, this conspicuous gap is called "summer" and the year ends promptly at midnight on the 31st of December. As is the custom this time of year, people tend to reflect back on the year that was.
Even though I find myself living in the basketball world more and more with each passing day and my New Year's Eve is still six months away on a yet-to-be determined day, I'm not one to break custom.
We take a break from the usual rotation today to focus solely on the starting five as we take a look back at five of the most memorable and significant moments of 2008 in the NBA.
Starting Five
1. Boston Celtics win 17th NBA title
Every NBA season leads up to one thing: the NBA Finals. Thirty teams all compete for the same prize, but in the end, only one team per year has what it takes to be an NBA champion. Therefore, it wouldn't make any sense to start anywhere but the top when taking a look back at the year 2008.
The Boston Celtics not only completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history in Game 4, rallying from down 24 points in the second half to hang on to a 97-91 victory, but also clinched with a most impressive 39-point blowout victory over the Lakers to ensure their first NBA title in over 20 years.
Aside from winning the NBA title, a feat that alone would put the Celtics as the best of 2008, Boston went on to do even more remarkable things as the year went one. They answered any questions of a potential championship hangover by setting a franchise record with 19 consecutive wins in November and December, leading to a remarkable 85 wins in the calendar year.
At a glance, here is what the Boston Celtics added to their legendary resume in 2008: an NBA title, Eastern Conference champs, Atlantic Division champs, Defensive player of the Year, three all-stars, a First Team All-NBA player, a Third Team All-NBA player, a First Team All-Defense player, Executive of the Year, the second most wins in franchise history, the best start in franchise history, the most consecutive wins in franchise history.
All of those things and more led to 2008 easily being the Year of the Celtic.
2. All eight playoff teams in the Western Conference win 50 games.
For the first time in the history of the NBA, all of the playoff teams in the same conference finished with at least 50 wins.
Not only did having eight 50-win teams in the same conference lead to the deepest and most evenly matched first round of the playoffs in recent memory, but it also made for one of the most entertaining regular season stretch runs ever.
For a solid two- or three-week span in late-March of this year, the NBA could have drawn the Western Conference standings out of a hat each morning and no one would have been able to tell the difference.
A win or a loss on any given night could mean the difference between being in position to host a playoff series and being in position to take part in the lottery. Things were that jumbled up in the West.
It wasn't just that all eight playoff teams were separated by a matter of a couple of games that made the race so exciting, it's that each team was playing at such a high level that we were treated to such elevated intensity that it was like getting an extra month of playoff basketball.
Rarely, if ever, do NBA seasons get remembered for what happened during the regular season. Legends are made and dynasties are cemented during the playoffs, but 2008 gave us something extra: a memorable regular season.
3. Hall of Famers on the move
2008 will be remembered as a year in which more teams tried desperately to improve their teams through trade than usual, maybe more so than any other year to date. It wasn't necessarily the amount of trades but the players involved that made the trades in 2008 so noteworthy.
Surefire first ballot Hall of Famers Allen Iverson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Jason Kidd were all dealt in 2008. And it wasn't just all-time greats on the move, either.
All-stars Chauncey Billups, Pau Gasol, Shawn Marion, Jermaine O'Neal, Marcus Camby, and Devin Harris (soon to be an all-star, anyway) all changed addresses in 2008.
Since the three teams that traded for the surefire Hall of Famers (Detroit, Phoenix, and Dallas) have had less than remarkable runs since acquiring their new stars, teams may be less inclined to trade for a megastar in the hopes for a quick fix, meaning that 2008 may be the last time we see so many great players all traded in the same year.
4. Dwight Howard becomes Superman
Say what you will about the dunk contest, but it's still the most entertaining all-star skills competition in all of sports. Baseball's Home Run Derby is too long and too repetitive, everything that happens in football's Pro Bowl week is an afterthought, and since no one in their right mind watches hockey, I couldn't begin to tell you whether or not they even have an all-star weekend.
You could argue that the dunk contest had lost its luster a few years back when it got gimmicky (anyone remember the wheel? Or even worse, when they invited Birdman?), but I dare you to find one person who watched this live and their jaw didn't hit the floor.
Dwight Howard's Superman dunk goes down as the number one highlight of 2008, proving once again that the NBA's All-Star Saturday still packs the same punch that it did nearly 20 years ago when Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins were stealing the show in their own infamous dunk contest.
5. Team USA captures Gold
Okay, so it's not technically an NBA occurrence, but it might be the most significant basketball moment of 2008, so it makes the list.
The United States reclaimed its throne atop the basketball world when the "Redeem Team" defeated all comers en route to the Unites States first gold medal in basketball in eight years.
Team USA capped off it's amazing run with a once in a lifetime, you-had-to-see-it-to-appreciate-it Gold Medal matchup against Spain that featured quite possibly the best half of basketball I've ever seen from one player (Dwyane Wade's first half) and the best player in the world completely taking over the game in the final quarter (Kobe Bryant's 13 in the fourth sealed the victory for the red, white, and blue).
Any time you put the best players in the world together on one team, you expect to see greatness. What you don't expect to see is great chemistry, a commitment to defense, and all around team basketball. Those things are what made the 2008 men's Olympic Basketball team so special, and why the Redeem Team easily ranks as one of the five most significant occurrences of 2008.
Thus completes our look back at the year that was 2008.
Next week, we'll get back to the rotation as usual and start looking ahead to the conclusion of the 2009 season as we embark on a new year that, we can only hope, will be as jam-packed with basketball action as 2008.
Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.
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