stevenlebron:

Rose

Opening weekend of the playoffs is suppose to be about excitement, about the anticipation of matching our expectations of teams and players formed throughout the season against actual results, and for some of those players to surprise, most of the teams to disappoint, and allow conversations to break out into every direction imaginable.

While the first day did give us those prerequisites — Miami asserted themselves, the Knicks continue to have nothing figured out, Dallas possibly losing their chance at winning their series, Indiana not looking as playoff ready as I expected — it’s the season ending injury to Derrick Rose that hovers over all of that like a black cloud.

Can an injury end the championship hopes of a team? One of this magnitude, to this caliber of a player? A definite yes.

Will it change that player’s entire career going forward? A wait and see I suppose, but definitely a question worth asking for now.

It couldn’t have happened to a better player, someone who deserved to have his exit from these playoffs determined by his performance on the court, and not by an injury in the last minute of the first game where his team led by double digits.

This is the same player who actually lives the basketball never stops slogan, who never got over last year’s Conference Finals loss to the Heat, and went through an injury filled season to get to this point again, to face the challenge once more, with a supporting cast seemingly more equipped to wage battle with their rivals in Miami.

It’s a huge letdown for basketball fans who viewed the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs as the under card before the main event.

Over the past two seasons, Rose and his entire team became the antithesis of everything that the Miami Heat stood for.

It was talent versus teamwork. It was team constructed through an overnight accumulation of talent versus the blue collar, no nonsense mentality that we could all identify with; or simply chose to do so through a means of latching on to a belief that this is the proper way of going about winning.

All of that is perhaps magnified now, as we reconstruct our arguments for the Bulls’ chances at a championship.

But in one play, it would appear that all of that went out the window, at least for these playoffs.

We’ve seen several injuries this year that abruptly ended great stories. Jeremy Lin’s injury didn’t feel as devastating if only because the momentum of his rise was already on the downside, and he wasn’t in the grand scheme of things the most important player on the team. Ricky Rubio’s injury halted the Wolves’ chances at a playoff appearance, but because the team had a considerably lower ceiling, the disappointment was more associated with the lost enjoyment of watching his ascent happen at a faster pace than it is when he’s not on the court.

In Rose’s case, it’s a bit darker and carries with it considerably greater amount of sadness, if only because he was the centerpiece to a contending team with aspirations of winning it all; and because players of his makeup deserve to construct their own endings on their own terms.

When you take that away seemingly at the very start of a journey he waited all year for to begin, it makes it that much more difficult to accept.

Footnotes:

You can read all my 2012 NBA Playoff related posts by clicking here, and by following me on Twitter for in game musings and on Facebook for other great reads, videos and links throughout the post-season.

Here are some thoughts from All-Star weekend:

• The dunk contest represents everything the NBA is not: The dunk contest officially hit rock bottom this year, with four relatively anonymous names (to the general viewing audience) and tired gimmicks that overshadowed some impressive dunks. When Kevin Durant tweeted after the game that Lebron, Wade, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook should enter the contest next year, he echoed the thoughts of many: it’s time to make the dunk contest relevant again. But I don’t think we necessarily need to bring the biggest names out to rejuvenate the event. We just need better personalities. While it’s easy to merge these two thoughts of best players and best personalities as one, remember that some of your favorite interviews and best follows on Twitter are not necessarily from the top guys. Though he tried his best to entertained, Chase Budinger is still, well, Chase Budinger. We still don’t know who Jeremy Evans is, and despite being rising stars in a league of many, Paul George and Derrick Williams don’t have that connection and reach to an outer audience. For a professional sports league brimming with individuality, it’s tragic that the one event that takes center stage on All-Star Weekend highlights everything that the NBA is not: boring, stagnant and deprived of any fun.

• My favorite photo from this past weekend: Chris Bosh being Chris Bosh.

• The All-Star game, surprisingly entertaining: The first five minutes of the game salvaged the entire weekend. The real stars came out and put on a show for the fans. Continuing with the theme of individuality, every superstar’s personality came through in the game. From Derrick Rose’s surly response to his teammate’s dancing during the introductions, to Kobe mouthing off to anyone within his line of vision, to Dwight Howard generally not taking much of anything too seriously, it was a reminder of why even though the quality of basketball has suffered, it’s nice to have these players around instead of hibernating through a nuclear winter of lockout talk. Even watching Russell Westbrook’s athleticism on display without the shadow of whether he’s taking too many possessions away from Durant, and Deron Williams exiled from New Jersey for one night and back on the big stage, there were so many interesting subplots to follow that made what is often called a farce, surprisingly entertaining.

• My favorite tweet from this weekend: Ozzie Guillen on Nicki Minaj.

• What’s our opinion on Dwyane Wade? For the past two years now, Wade has gotten away with almost everything. When in doubt, blame Lebron. From The Decision, to their mocking of Dirk’s sickness during the Finals, it seems Wade is protected as all the criticism is directed towards Lebron. On Sunday, Wade broke the unspoken rules of the all-star game and took a swipe at Bryant that resulted in a broken nose and a mild concussion. Competitive? Or out of line? I’m surprised more hasn’t been made about this. In the same breath, it was Wade who bobbled a breakaway pass from Lebron with over a minute left that would’ve put the East in the lead. Of course, it’s easier to lament Lebron’s deference on the final possessions. Slowly but surely, I’m starting to view Wade as a bigger villain than Lebron. To be continued.

• The tipping point for our hatred of Lebron James might’ve been this weekend: You know it’s crazy that we’re all sitting here criticizing Lebron’s passiveness in the final seconds of an all-star game. Key word: all-star game. Somewhere in Lebron’s head, he genuinely believes that when he’s making these passes and not taking the final shots, he’s making the best basketball decision on the court that’ll lead to victory. And who are we to question the best basketball player in the world right now? The criticisms for Lebron since the Decision have gone from reasonable with a touch of bitterness to irrational with complete bias and jealousy. I think this Sunday will be the tipping point where we will all start moving towards rooting for Lebron again. When he’s in that position again in the playoffs, with much more on the line, we will find ourselves rooting for Lebron to take that shot, and root for that shot to go in. If only to satisfy our desire to move onto to the next conversation. And that’s the best storyline as we head into the second half. This is Lebron’s championship to lose. Even as we’ve waited year after year for him to come through, it seems the pieces are finally in place. But we’ve been down this road before. If anything, we are moving closer towards embracing Lebron again. I can’t be the only one. But if he falls short again, we will re-start this conversation with another year’s worth of evidence to support all that we hate about him.

3 In The Key

1. The most dangerous man

The Minnesota Timberwolves have celebrated very little since entering the league in 1989. Since moving on from the Kevin Garnett era, the team has spent its time stockpiling assets and undergoing a necessary rebuild.

One of the impediments to their resurgence has been general manager David Kahn, the man who drafted two point guards, Johnny Flynn and Ricky Rubio, when he was armed with two lottery picks, than went and signed another point guard in Ramon Sessions through free agency.

There has been no semblance to Kahn’s roster construction over the past few years, but seemingly out of randomness or just out of sheer quantity of moves made, he has pulled together one of the most promising young rosters in the league.

The remarkable transition by Ricky Rubio to the league has lifted a lot of pressure off Kahn. Also, Head coach Rick Adelman is the perfect man to mold this team into something more than just a collection of misfit talent. The Rubio, Kevin Love and Derrick Williams core should make the rest of the Western Conference landscape take notice very soon, as early as next season.

But the man that’s orchestrating all of this is the most dangerous man in the league. As the franchise turns the corner, Kahn threatens to be the one to blow it all up again.

Last week, much was made about the fact that Kevin Love settled for a four year extension with an opt-out option, the pros and cons were broken down in detail by Tom Ziller. While many of us believe that the Wolves have offended their superstar power forward through negotiation by not locking him up over five years, Kahn believes that he’s obtained long-term flexibility for the team, to possibly pursue a better player down the road should the contract not work out.

This is of course ignoring the fact that Kevin Love is in the argument for best power forward in the league.

It’s not the first time that the team has come under fire under Kahn for handling a delicate situation in the worst way possible.

When the season ended last year, David Kahn allowed the uncertainly of then head coach Kurt Rambis linger on for months before finally firing him in July. It raised eyebrows across the league as to how poorly the organization is run. Last week’s debacle with Love only cements that reputation.

So while the Wolves are building a young and exciting core, the organization should take a hard look at whether they have the right guy to make the necessary moves to turn this roster into the next Oklahoma City Thunder, or players like Love and Rubio will follow Garnett into another era of underachieving results and mis-management.

2. The newest rivalry

Rivalries are great for sports, especially in basketball. I grew up following the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, Knicks-Heat and anyone in the East versus the Bulls. Bad blood that develops over time is great for the game.

It looks like the Bulls and Pacers look to have nominated themselves as the most interesting rivalry at the moment.

The groundwork was laid last year in a first round match-up that was much closer than the final result, where Chicago won in five games.

Earlier this week, the Pacers handed the Bulls their first home loss of the season. And didn’t hide their satisfaction in doing so, which upset Bulls guard Derrick Rose: “I’ll never forget how they celebrated just from winning this game.I can’t wait to play them again.”

Looking at the rosters of both teams, this looks like a rivalry with staying power. The Pacers are on the rise in the Eastern Conference, with a young core group led by Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and Paul George. For the Bulls, many don’t expect their real season to start until they play Miami in the Conference Finals.

The two teams look locked into a tight race in the Central Division, and as the bad blood continues to rise, it will definitely heighten the rivalry between the two teams to levels we haven’t seen since Reggie Miller and Rik Smits threatened to unseat Jordan, Pippen and Rodman from the throne.

So mark your calendars down for March 5th, when Indiana returns to Chicago for a rematch. And don’t be surprised to see these two teams match-up in the second round of the playoffs.

3. War of attrition takes shape

Everyone knew before the season that with the compressed schedule, players would take their time getting into game shape and injuries were bound to occur.

But they’ve been happening lately at an alarming rate.

Earlier in the year, the Atlanta Hawks lost Al Horford for likely the entire season. The Spurs are without Manu Ginobili for the forseeable future. Back-up point guard Eric Maynor of the Thunder was lost for the year. Andrew Bogut of Milwaukee is expected to be gone for up to three months. Andrea Bargnani is out indefinitely with a calf injury. Players like Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have also missed games due to an assortment of injuries.

In any season, players getting hurt is just a normal part of the game. But in the compressed schedule, it does take on additional meaning and a different way for teams to manage them.

Players that are out for three months now aren’t missing just a portion of the season, they’re out for the whole thing. Also, nagging injuries don’t just mean a player misses a practice or two. When a team is playing four games in five nights, or six in eight, that means games missed.

And these games that the superstars are missing can quickly add up to losses that will push teams out of the playoff race.

Health will be a key factor in determining playoff seeding.

And maybe the most important takeaway is this: whatever Kobe Bryant is doing to play through his wrist injury is just incredible.