Today's the anniversary of Magic almost single-handedly defeating the Sixers in Game 6 of the 1980 Finals: 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals. Probably the greatest Finals performance ever. I know Jordan had the flu, but Magic was a rookie.

That was an amazing, though heartbreaking (for my 5-yr old heart), game. Really and truly unbelievable. If memory serves, he actually had to play center in the (road) game b/c KAJ was hurt.

Of course, that was the beginning of the best sports year in Philly history, with the Sixers and Flyers losing in their respective championship games, the Phillies winning the world series and the Eagles losing in the super bowl. Little did I know at the time that I'd only see one more championship from those teams (and only 4 more finals/world series/superbowl appearances) by the time I reached 32.

But, yeah, Magic was phenomenal.

It's always talked about that he played "all five positions." Center obviously being the standout one, but with a player as versatile as Magic was--6'9" and could still handle the ball and pass as well as any point guard ever has--playing at forward would hardly be shocking. And really, I don't think the distinctions are ever that set in stone. "What are you doing? I'm the power forward!"

I agree, but Magic was one of the first really big point guards, rather than the prototypical, Oscar Robertson-types, and so one of the first to be able to play the big-guy positions. But center. Center is generally something a little special, there haven't been very many starting centers in the modern era who were 6'9".

Paul Pierce and LeBron James did a credible impression of Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins in game 6 of the second round in 1988. LeBron, in the 'Nique role, scoring 45 and lost, while Pierce scored 45 in the close win. It was a very enjoyable game, ending 97-92 Celtics.

Yeah, that was some game.

I'm looking forward to another round of Celtics-Pistons. Those games in the 80s were some of my favorite of all time. This should be no different.

Hell, even if we get another Lakers-Celtics it won't be all that bad. (Unlike, say, Pistons-Spurs II.)

Hmmm.

14 points down in the 3rd.

Shooting 37% from the field, laying up more cold bricks than a Canadian mason.

Looking good for the Hornets.

Whoops, another 3 for the Spurs. 11 for 21 from the 3-zone.

71-56 3rd quarter. Yep. I jinxed it.

I put the whammy on it like Dancing Harry

(takes 1-foot-long bitter pill, opens cap of Jack Daniels, pours half bottle into beer mug, shoves bitter pill halfway down throat, chugs mug of JD, swallows bitter pill)

Go Lakers.

I don't know why, but I really like the Spurs. Actually, it's probably b/c Duncan is my favorite non-Iverson player in the league, and my Duncan- and Popovich-like outweighs my Bowen- and Parker-dislike.

I was fairly agnostic in the Spurs/Hornets series (Paul is great, and easy to love), but against the hated Lakers (even Gasol can't overcome my dislike of Jackson, Kobe, Jack Nicholson and Buss), it's an easy choice.

In the East, I don't like either team. I won't know who I'm rooting for until the games start, but my guess is that I'd rather see KG get to the finals than to see this Pistons team again.

Celtics in six.
Lakers in seven.

Bring it on.

Lakers in 6.
Pistons in 6.

I liked the Admiral Spurs teams, but these cheapshit cheapshotters need to get punished.

Happy, jv?

Leaving the great Lakers comeback aside, starting any game, let alone a conference finals game, at 6pm local time is a FUCKING OUTRAGE.

So far so good. But we all know how that ended last round.

I'm trying to digest the 6pm thing, if it's good or bad. I'm all in favor of getting as many kids to watch games as possible, so in that sense it could be good (cartoons for 3 hours after school, then a major playoff game around dinner time.)

However, there's the issue of coming home from work (if you even made it through traffic) and not eating dinner yet, so in that sense it's bad.