Sometimes, life isn’t all about school.  I mean, sure, school and my future are important, but sometimes I have to take a break from those things.  When I’m not studying or, at this moment, applying for medical school, my interest turns towards NBA basketball.  I’ve probably blogged about this the previous two years around this time of the year, but I’ve been such a big basketball fan for pretty much my entire life that I can’t really help it.  I could go on for a long time about basketball but I’ll try and make this brief.

Right now, we are in the middle of the playoffs and I’m getting more and more excited as we approach the Finals.  My excitement would be greater if my Pacers were still in the hunt, but unfortunately they came up short against the Miami Heat.  I may not gain a lot of friends for saying this, but it doesn’t matter because ultimately it is how I feel: this is the first year I’ve found myself actually actively rooting against another team.  I used to feel indifference towards Miami, but I liked a few of their players.  However, after the classlessness and dirtiness they displayed in their series against the Pacers, I’m so disgusted that I’ll probably be happy to see them lose.  It has nothing to do with the fact that they beat us – that doesn’t matter.  I just lost respect for them, and that really saddens me because I didn’t expect that to happen.  Although I am watching the end of game 1 of the Miami-Boston series right now and Boston is going to lose, I hope they win the series and, even if they don’t, Miami will have their hands full with whichever Western Conference adversary they face.

Another playoffs first for me is that I think the Western Conference Finals will ultimately be more exciting than the actual Finals will be.  Maybe it is because Manu Ginobili is my favorite player and the Spurs years ago used to be my favorite team even as a Pacers fan.  Maybe it is due to the fact that OKC is now my favorite Western Conference team and that they play in a smaller market.  Maybe it’s because Tony Parker is playing out of his mind and Kevin Durant has had an MVP-worthy season getting his third consecutive scoring title.  Whatever it is, this matchup is an exciting one and, after seeing game 1 last night, it looks like it will live up to my expectations, which is excellent.  You can call the Spurs a boring team but, when it’s all said and done, they play basketball well and conduct themselves in a manner befitting professionals who possess class and respect.  That is more than I can say for Miami.

My prediction (and my hope): Miami vs. San Antonio in the Finals, San Antonio in 6 (and Tim Duncan, already a first ballot Hall of Famer and the most underrated superstar of his generation, gets his 5th championship).