sportsjabber.net

I’m not dissin any teams, but let’s be realistic. There are only 4 teams with a snowball’s chance in the desert of winning the 2009 NBA Championship. I’m sorry, but if you’re a fan of any team not named Lakers, Celtics, Cavaliers, or Magic, the only thing you have to look forward to with realistic hope is the NBA Draft. Yeah sure, the Spurs could rise up in the playoffs. However, their strength (a plethora of veteran players) is also their Achilles Heel (Old Farts wear out in the playoffs). Just try not to go blind while “pleasuring yourself” as you fantasize about what Blake Griffin, Ty Lawson, Toney Douglas, or Tyler Hansbrough will look like in your favorite team’s uniform.

The issue though with “The Big 4″ is that each has a key injury or two…or more. The Celtics played (and beat) the Heat the other night and they had so many guys out that I was waiting for Doc Rivers to suit up. KG just came back, but he isn’t right…yet. Will he be, in time? The Lakers just moved the timetable for Bynum’s return from 2 weeks to a month. Sound familiar? Can you say, “2008 season LIE all over again”? Ben Wallace is out for the Cavs, who would be in trouble already if not for “King James” playing like the freak that he is. The Magic’s Jameer Nelson and his 16 points/game are lost for the season with a torn labrum. (By the way….I didn’t know that men even had labrums, but male or female, I imagine that having a torn one hurts like all get out).

None of these injuries are key enough to bother these teams against anyone except each other. But my point is that the 2009 NBA Championship could be determined by which of “The Big 4″ is the least injury-affected in the playoffs. Then again, if the Cavs hold onto home court advantage throughout, it may not matter. See…no team except the Lakers has beaten the Cavs at home and if I’m the Lakers, I wouldn’t bet a Phil Jackson meditation session on doing that again…at least not without Bynum.