Last weekend produced two champions. For the first time in 53 years, the New York Knickerbockers are the NBA champions capping a playoff run marked by one stunning comeback after another. Some folks have labeled this Knicks team as a “team of destiny”; I prefer to think of this team as a hard-working, tough-minded group of players who play sound fundamental basketball.
Jalen Brunson was named the NBA Finals MVP as he should have been; the Knicks would not have won this series without him. My favorite player to watch on the Knicks, however, is Josh Hart. I would give him an award as the MVUP – – the Most Valuable Unspectacular Player – – on the court. Maybe a better label would be the Lake Woebegone Player of the Series – – he does a bit of everything, and it is all above average. Hats off to both Brunson and Hart and the rest of the Knicks’ squad.
The NBA should get a significant benefit from these playoffs:
- The Spurs and the Thunder are two young teams, and their Western Conference Finals series sparked a rivalry.
- The Spurs and the Knicks should be an interesting rivalry at least for next season.
- The Knicks and the Celtics just became a more interesting rivalry along the I-95 corridor.
- The NBA needs rivalries to goose interest in regular season games.
And in addition, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup finals over the weekend. This is the first championship for the Hurricanes since 2006, and they did this with defense. In the final game, the Hurricanes shut out the Las Vegas Golden Knights, but it was more than just a shutout. I saw the final two periods of the game, and I only saw the Hurricanes’ goalie make one “difficult” save; the Knights were on their back foot for the whole time I was tuned in.
One tidbit from the Hurricanes victory:
- The 2006 Stanely Cup Champion team’s captain was Rod Brind’Amour.
- The 2026 Stanley Cup Champion team’s coach is Rod Brind’Amour.
The first round of Group Stage games in the FIFA World Cup has produced some surprises:
- Japan tied The Netherlands 2-2. The Netherlands have been touted as dark horses to win it all; Japan – – not so much.
- Australia beat Turkey 2-0. Turkey was the favorite in that game.
- Qatar tied Switzerland 1-1. The Swiss were solid favorites in the game.
- Scotland beat Haiti 1-0. The “Tartan Army” marches on.
- Germany beat Curacao 7-1. The outcome is no surprise, but it is always a surprise when a team scores 7 goals in a World Cup game.
In the second game of the World Cup Tournament, South Korea beat the Czech Republic 2-1. The story there was all the empty seats in the stands which prompted a lot of commentary about ticket prices and FIFA’s price-gouging and – – well you get the idea. I only saw a small part of that game; and indeed, there were way more seats than there were fans. However, I think there is another dynamic at work there to produce empty seats.
- The game was in Guadalajara, Mexico.
- That is a long way to go for fans of both South Korea and the Czech Republic.
- I know of no rivalry situation between the two sides.
- And then on top of all that, tickets are really expensive…
Moving on … They say you should learn something new every day. Well, over the weekend, there was a report that James Harden was arrested in Texas and charged with a weapons violation. It seems he was driving in his car, and the gun was on the seat and not in a holster; that constitutes a violation in Houston. There was no violence or shooting or anything like that involved in the situation; it was just the locale of the handgun. So, what did I learn from that?
- I did not realize there was an illegal way to carry a handgun in Texas.
- Now, I know.
Finally, I’ll close here with words from Mark Twain:
“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………