2005 NBA Playoffs: Face The Music

by Rob King

Renowned poet and musician Gil Scott Heron said that Black people never die in scary movies because they can hear the music that forecasts imminent danger. As soon as they hear the ominous melodies they respond accordingly.

As we all know a series does not begin until the home team loses. After watching four games where only the home team bothered to show up, fans and viewers were finally treated to competitive contests in games five and six. Game 5 featured Horry’s heroics, while Game 6 turned into Rasheed’s redemption.

On Sunday, the Detroit Pistons were poised to go up three games to two in the 2005 NBA finals when they became the latest victims of Big shot Rob. San Antonio forward Robert Horry’s three-point basket in the final seconds of overtime gave the Spurs a 96-95 game five victory.

Horry capped a 21 point second half with a final three-point dagger off a Manu Ginobli feed for the game winning basket. Everyone on the Pistons and in the Palace was familiar with Robert’s record in the final moments of playoff contests, yet he was left uncovered. Must be the music, or in this case Piston power forward Rasheed Wallace, who took full responsibility for the defensive lapse that left Horry uncovered behind the three point line.

Robert Horry’s game five heroics aside, San Antonio superstar forward Tim Duncan played horrible down the stretch Sunday. He had the worse 26 point 19 rebound performance in finals history. He missed crucial free throws, put backs and played real small in the clutch. Duncan wasn’t “tiny tim” during crunch time in Game 6 but he didn’t play like the best player on the court either.

After the first two games people were speculating on how many championships Duncan would win in his career. Now “Duncan Doubters” are wondering if Tim can win a chip without former Spur great David Robinson, who retired following the 2003 season. Robinson played a prominent role in the Spurs 1999 and 2003 titles. If the Spurs hope to secure their third championship in seven years “Tiny Tim” better play like "Mr. Big Stuff".

Tuesday the Spurs were the team that tuned out. How many times during the last two playoffs have the Pistons appeared beaten and left for dead only to bring “Ether” to the foolish foes that underestimate them. The men from Motown netted victory over Jersey in 2004 and withstood the Heat in 2005 when faced with 3-2 deficits. No road team has won Games 6 and 7 since the Finals went to its present 2-3-2 format in 1985. Ten consecutive loses in San Antonio, including games one and two of this year’s final. The Spurs had to know that such rhetoric meant nothing to “Dead Team Walking”.

Fueled by Rasheed Wallace’s desire to erase game five’s defensive gaffe, and directed brilliantly by point guard and team leader Chauncey Phillips, the Pistons demonstrated poise under pressure and won game six. The Pistons 95-86 victory evened the series at three and set up tonight’s showdown in San Antonio.

Constructed by Joe Dumars, and coached by “Love ‘em and Leave ‘em” Larry Brown these Pistons are a resilient bunch. The Spurs received that message loud and clear in game six. If the Spurs plan to beat the “Bad Boys” tonight they better bring silver bullets and stakes because the men from Motown don’t die they must be killed.

The stage is now set for the game seven showdown for the 2005 NBA title between the last two title teams. For tonight’s winner “it's your world” and for the losing squad the off season will feel like “winter in America”.

Being Mike Tyson

by Guichard Cadet

Mike Tyson did not go to jail for raping Desiree Washington. He went to learn history, one to which he had not been exposed as a youth in the Brownsville – never ran never will – section of Brooklyn. In the late 1970’s Brownsville was a neighborhood defined by abandoned, burned-out buildings – the remnants of white-flight, middle class desertion and government apathy.

Tyson’s life is a cautionary tale of elements gained and lost when a black youth, without a black positive role model, is mentored and raised by a white person. Had Cus D’Amato been, let’s say, a scientist, Tyson could today be a leader in the sciences, business or the humanities. But D’Amato was a great teacher of Boxing, the sweet science. At one time the sport served as a sanctuary for Tyson who had moved to the Catskills Region of New York. D’Amato lifted Mike out of the concrete jungle, and inadvertently placed him in a smaller box.

Mike was groomed to be the people’s champ because he embodied the roughened sensibilities ingrained in society during the Reagan era. Fighting and unifying the Heavyweight division enabled him to live extravagantly and see the world, but he never understood his place in it.

Coming out of prison in 1995, Mike Tyson started speaking a different language. Mike verbalized of being a religious man; that was ignored because in America, it was universal for incarcerated black men to convert to Islam. He spoke about being of the masses, Mao Tse Tung, and a new philosophical bent. That became fodder for jokes.

Though he always had a certain way with words, his high-pitched voice did not harmonize with his chiseled build. No one ever really listens to Mike, except when he considers mutilating opponents or media members who agitate him.

The one thing Mike never openly addressed: race. The derogatory nicknames used, in the past, for whites and society in general were now passé. America since the 1990’s had become a political landmine were, in public, everyone had to be correct; and Blacks had to stop “blaming the man” for their problems.

Along with those socio-political forces, Mike had his personal reasons. D’Amato had been a godsend, in that he could imagine how much more difficult or shorter the road would have been without this guardian. Business dealings had bared what Chuck D. of Public Enemy reinforced in “Welcome to the TerrorDome” – every brother ain’t a brother.

But this past Saturday night, Tyson went from Iron Mike to becoming the major irony confronting people of color worldwide. He gave up fighting a white opponent, though he was ahead in points. Stating that he was too old for this, he validated the major socio-political stance of today’s youth. Fighting racism is a meaningless battle, especially when it is against an invisible opponent, or one who has no clue of your history.

A fair fight was no longer an option for a warrior who could never be the people’s champion, because like recent U.S. elections, the people’s vote really doesn’t count. Mike knew his next move would have been savagery because the frustration of doing something he no longer deemed meaningful. Circumstances had boxed Mike in, to the point where the experts often debate why people pay or find a way to see a Tyson fight. Is it a freak show or an accident waiting to happen?

The post-fight news conference is the reason. There, Tyson updates us on the steps he has taken to repair the damage done to his psyche, from the life he was born into, and not being accepted as the people’s champion. Mike contends missionary work as his next step in life, a setting in which he can contribute. His travels around the world have given insight to those who are truly impoverished.

Skip Bayless’ post-fight article addresses both cases, and goes as far to say that he envisions Mike returning to fight again. Bayless goes on to mock the return, pronouncing his preference that Mike fights a chimp, as if acknowledging the Darwinian devolution of Tyson’s boxing career.

Seeing Tyson fight again would not be a letdown. His would be the same as many who have left unfulfilling careers, only to return because their creditors have shackled them, labeling bills and taxes as their debt to society.

Metaphorically-speaking, Tyson is the crab that made it out of the barrel. His laughter has never been shown; only his pain, as demonstrated by the rage and lengthy metaphors he uses when trying to explain why he is stigmatized.

Being like this Mike, who has chosen to go back to Africa, is a template most cannot physically follow. Like Ali, the people’s last true champion, Tyson has stayed one step ahead of the carnage and articulated the day’s hot button issues. Now, it is only a question of time as to how long it will take for society, as a whole, to embrace him.

Larry Brown and American Basketball On Trial, Again

by Guichard Cadet


In this year’s NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Larry Brown and the Detroit Pistons are facing what amounts to a team of international All-Stars. LB can opt to preach playing the “game the right way” or change with the times.

In the 1988 Summer Olympics U.S.A. Men’s basketball failed to win the gold medal. Since then, America no longer sends a team of college players, arguing their international competitors are not amateurs. For the next 3 Olympic games, USA basketball routed its international peers by sending a series of “Dream Teams” composed of the top NBA players – Jordan, Magic, Bird, Barkley, etc...

A decade after the first dream team, the court of public opinion started making the case that professional basketball in America is no longer supreme because it is not fundamentally sound.

This past Olympics the critics had their convictions fulfilled as a seemingly poorly-concocted Dream Team lost three games, on their way to receive only a bronze medal. Throughout the competition it was evident what star U.S. players lacked as a team and on an individual basis. Key to their lost: lack of chemistry, and a pure jump-shooter to beat zones.

The problem with this assessment: the squad had a good mix of veterans and young players, wherein the youth showed much respect for their elders and no ill will that the veterans were pegged as starters.

This left the jump-shot as the main Achilles Heel. Whereas no one player can be considered a pure shooter, the following players regularly knock down the outside shot during the NBA season: Carmelo Anthony, Shawn Marion, Allen Iverson, Lamar Odom, Dwyane Wade and Tim Duncan.

Though there was a slight murmur that Larry Brown was not doing a good coaching job, the majority of the blame fell on the players, especially Carmelo Anthony. His was the lone voice of dissension who allowed his body language and facial expression to simply warn the media and viewing public: Don’t drink the milk…it’s spoiled. Yes, those Little Rascals knew what was at stake.

The players left Greece with the entire world convinced they were not the world’s best players or team. Their loss either helped the NBA or hurt the league, when it comes to world expansion. It truly depends on which side of the fence you prefer to stand.

USA basketball players equate NBA success – maximum contracts, championships, all-star selection, etc… - as their crowning moment. No one had ever questioned whether professional American basketball was the world’s most competitive and complete until the 2002 World Games in Indiana.


Oddly enough right after the first loss in Greece, Larry Brown had begun separating his coaching and reputation as the reason for the team’s losses. LB is a great coach who has won in various situations, and on so many levels. He is to American basketball, what management consultants, in their heyday, were to American business. These specialists are change agents, charged with correcting a particular process that has either gone awry or failed to produce the desired result. LB and other consultant-types have generic systems they apply to all problems.

The problem with American basketball is one that can never be fixed. It is part of the sport’s evolutionary process. Larry Brown either did not realize or respect the types of weapons he had at his disposal – the combination of Speed and Power. Two players – Amare Stoudemire and Emeka Okafor - epitomized this change, and they received the least amount of playing time.

The team was doomed because LB forced them to play a slow-down, non-athletic style, perfect fodder for the zones they faced.

Of the players who played in this past Olympics, only 3 failed to make this year’s NBA playoffs. Okafor won Rookie of the Year as the center for first-year expansion franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats. If LeBron James’ numbers and team turmoil earn him a pass for not taking the Cleveland Cavaliers into the playoffs, then the same consideration should be given to Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks.

Otherwise the other Olympic players have made their appeal they are indeed the world’s best players, playing the best brand of basketball.

Now it is the Detroit Pistons’ turn to safeguard what they gained last year when they propelled Larry Brown to greatness, by blowing up the NBA’s old championship framework that required a team to have two of the game’s most dominant players. Though the clock had moved forward one year, they applied the same logic to beat the Miami Heat in seven games, and some question whether they would have done so had Dwayne Wade not been injured.

During that series, aside from momentum-deadening calls by the referees, the Pistons had to overcome Larry Brown’s penchant for pressing his thumb over outright athleticism. They were on the verge of losing the series to a Heat team that had its 2 best players dealing with injuries. LB had them grinding it out, instead of running the Heat to death, thereby forcing Stan Van Gundy to sit Alonzo Mourning and the Diesel, who looked regular, almost as if he had lead in his shoes.

The Detroit Pistons are an affirmation of what the basketball purists have been seeking: fundamentally-sound basketball without nicknames, and no media darlings. The problem for them is that they are facing their mirror-opposites.

The Spurs feature a bevy of players with international roots – Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Rasho Nesterovic, and Beno Udrih. They also have two three-point specialists, in Brent Barry and Robert Horry, who much like Steve Kerr acts like a garment inspector, whose seal you need in order to get a championship ring. Last but not least, Nazr Mohammed plays best when he is able to fly under the radar.

In Game 1 the Spurs confirmed that “objects in mirror are closer than they appear”. Much has been written of the friendship and similarities between LB and Spurs coach Greg Popovich. There’s even talk of Pop’s proclivity for his dictatorial tendencies with players. The two coaches seem to differ when it comes to their approach toward opponents. Whereas Brown seems to be a total system’s guy, Pop showed his flexibility in the Western Conference Finals versus Phoenix. In that series, Pop allowed his team to abandon setting the pace, scoring upwards of 100 points each game, and settling for a few key defensive stops per game.

The NBA is a league of repeat championships, and the Spurs are the only team not to have done so since the 1986 Boston Celtics. For Larry Brown, not repeating as a championship coach does not diminish his legacy, but it will sure make it harder for him to walk away from this job knowing his team played the game the right way, even though the coach did not.