A Detroit Pistons Guide to the NBA Finals
By Alex Siquig
Jun 13, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker (9) shoots against Miami Heat center Chris Bosh (1) during the second half of game four in the 2013 NBA Finals at the AT
The Finals can be a difficult time for fans of the other 28 teams in the Association. Complex loyalties and bitter histories come together to bring out bogs of conflicting emotions. This year, the Pistons fans who haven’t completely tuned out and hitched their wagons to the Tigers find themselves between a rock and the best player on the planet. But both the (pounding the) rock and the aforementioned best player on the planet have done serious damage to the Pistons, and this makes choosing a side a grim prospect.
The San Antonio Spurs ripped the guts out of a Pistons team fresh from a championship in 2005. A few years later LeBron James used that same Pistons core as a trampoline into superstardom, cutting through our aging core like a broadsword through yogurt in a fateful Game 5 double overtime. Not exactly a series wrought with subjectivity for the Pistons faithful.
So who should Pistons fans root for? A serious question demands some serious analysis.
The Case For The San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs are a team, the way all the championship Pistons squads were. The pieces weren’t quite equivalent, but the same unselfish Jack Shephard (from LOST, a popular show from the mid 2000s) style “live together die alone” approach shines through in every extra pass, every smart cut to the basket.
It is amusing to see Erik Spolestra get stressed out. Man, that guy gets stressed out.
Chris “Birdman” Anderson is not currently a San Antonio Spur so they have that going for them.
If you have a desire to see Kawhi Leonard smile.
If you are more impressed with an engineer building the bridge than Godzilla knocking the bridge down.
If you want to punish all those racists who tweeted terrible things about the little boy singing the National Anthem.
The Spurs were good to Antonio McDyess. Antonio was good to the Pistons.
The Case for the Miami Heat
LeBron James is the best player on the planet and just a straight up joy to watch. Come on, you know it to be true!
The Heat’s swarming and smothering trap defense makes you giddy, like when you still believed in things.
You feel bad that Mario Chalmers gets yelled at constantly. It makes you feel the way you felt when Optimus Prime died.
The Spurs invented flopping right? Specifically Manu Ginobli.
The Spurs fleeced the Pistons of their second back-to-back championship.
Brandon Knight is from South Florida.
Man, that is NOT a good reason to support the Heat.
You have an inkling of Eastern Conference pride. The Western Conference has more hubris than Odysseus.
Conclusion
Both of these teams are very good at basketball and hopefully they both lose.