There perhaps has never been an NBA Eastern Conference finals with two teams as drastically different as the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.
The contrast is simple — one represents the game and the other represents the player.
In other words, the Heat-Bulls series is a referendum on the pop phrase, “Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.”
Why would you hate this game? This game is beautiful when it is played right.
When it is not — when basketball simply serves the purpose of glorifying the player — it becomes more like a circus act.
“Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster,” said Robert Pirsig, the author of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”
Let’s hope so. If you care deeply about the game of basketball, you are cheering for the Bulls, who dismantled the duo of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade in a 103-82 win over the Heat on Sunday night in Chicago.
This series — which continues with Game 2 on Wednesday — has come down to the glory of team basketball vs. the glory of the individual.
It is old-school NBA against the generation of me.
Those of you who have grown up in the generation of me may resent the notion that your idols are false and are parasites on the game. Consider this your wake-up call.
No one basked in the glory of themselves more than LeBron, who created the obscene drama known as “The Decision” last year that resulted in that shameful ESPN-televised announcement that he was taking his talents to South Beach. Then the Heat had a preseason unveiling that pretty much declared them NBA champions before they even took the court.
This is not about the business of basketball. LeBron’s distasteful “Decision” gave the NBA enormous offseason attention last summer, and the creation of the Miami Heat probably led to the continued upswing of interest in the league this year.
But what is the business of basketball? It began to change in the Michael Jordan era to the glorification of the player, but no one can argue — if you watch the quality of college basketball and young players today — that the game has been damaged as an art form.
Now these Chicago Bulls, a team led by one superstar, Derrick Rose, but surrounded by players like Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, represent the best chance of celebrating the game again — defense, rebounding, hustling and movement.
If none of this can convince you the Heat are worthy of your animosity, then just consider this — it’s Miami.
“Miami is one of these great places that is a really sensual, physically beautiful place,” said Michael Mann, executive producer of the TV show “Miami Vice.”
Look around you. Is the place where you are really sensual and physically beautiful? I didn’t think so.
Hate the player. Hate the place.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
