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Dear Basketball Gods,
Have we done something wrong? Why are you punishing us this year? Sure, you gave us a few things to be cheerful for this year: the promotion of Danny Granger into superstardom, the hilarious, hilarious combo of Gary Payton and Chris Webber on NBA TV, and there’s also perhaps the greatest 1-2-3 punch MVP race since 1989 (when Magic, Jordan and Chuck finished 123).
Despite the little gifts you gave us, you took away a good number of impact players on teams that could theoretically make some noise. You took budding young superstar Al Jefferson away from us early. Followed by Elton Brand and Jameer Nelson. Then when the Suns switched coaches and dropped 140 in back to back games, you took Amare Stoudemire from us as well.
But you didn't stop there. With the Spurs looking like the only threat to the Lakers. You took Manu Ginobili, one of the most exciting playoff performancers of this decade, out.
Even despite all the injuries and unfortunate situations, we basketball fans were giddy at the fact there were four powerhouse teams this year—three in the East, which is the first time in a damn long while this has happened. We were set for a great Magic/Celtics battle followed by an epic 7 game series between Boston and the Cavs. But nope. You took Hedo away with an ankle sprain, now Kevin Garnett may miss the entire post season?
What was shaping up to be a dramatic playoff race now looks predictable. It’s gonna be Lakers vs Cavs. Kobe vs Lebron.
Thanks for promoting Danny Granger and all (the kid deserves it), but can we get some quality playoff drama next year? You don’t have to do nothing special, just don’t take away key players on key teams late in the season.
We’ll be good. We promise.
Regards,
Ben Sin , Lifelong NBA Fanatic