Print   Recommend

While that story spawned great bumper stickers that read, "Proud parent of a GBN Powderpuff Girl: my daughter can kick your honor roll student's ass!" (www.goobah.com), the Spurs rolled to their second title in five years.

This year, we wait anxiously to learn the fate of Ross and Rachel, watch Frasier wrap-up a brilliant run, and brace ourselves for some of the best basketball of the year. The current week brings intrigue, drama, defense, subplots, stars, more defense, and even finally an actual game for the Pacers.

Welcome to NBA Sweeps week.

If you're asking why the NBA Finals aren't the most exciting part of the season, then you have been asleep for the last two years. The best part of last year's Finals was watching Byron Scott's expression as he stood on the sideline with arms folded and observed Kenyon Martin miss way too many shots and Tim Duncan not miss enough. This year's championship will probably be decided by which team can reach 75 points first. Yawn.

This week, on the other hand, has an actual game seven. Although one first-round game seven does not make up for three first-round sweeps (read: change the first-round back to best-of-five), it's nice to see a game seven not played on ice.

The Heat and Hornets will battle for the right to play the top-seeded Pacers, a team that boasts Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest, but that also has been sitting and waiting more than Jayson Williams on trial. So far, each game in the series has been entertaining and competitive.

In a related programming note, Hornets coach Tim Floyd is rumored to be voted off the island if New Orleans doesn't advance. Some say that even if Floyd gets past the first-round, he still might hear those two words made famous by Donald Trump.

The Lakers and Spurs go at it in what many consider to be a de facto NBA Finals. After a game one win, the Spurs have won 16 consecutive games, not to mention seven-straight playoff games dating back to last year's championship series with the Nets. The Lakers are reality TV at its finest, complete with Big Brother (Shaq and Kobe) and Big Brother 2 (Phil and everyone else).

And when you think about it, Kobe and Joey Tribbiani are very similar in that both are attractive young men who enjoy dating around and who might enjoy a successful spin off after this season.

Speaking of Kobe, I'm reminded of L.A. Law, a fantastic show and one of my all-time favorites.

If the first game is any indication, the Nets and Pistons will set records for offensive futility. The real story here is which team will look silly for firing their previous coach. Since both teams made the conference finals last year, one coach will be less successful than his predecessor and make his team's management look like TV execs who canceled a hit after one or two seasons.

You have a Timberwolves/Kings series where it's difficult to find a starter who can not score 20 points on any given night. If Sam Cassell is the boss of big-time playoff point guards, Mike Bibby is The Apprentice. Cassell is having his best season of his 11-year career; Bibby simply has made a habit of hitting big shots in the playoffs.

A true sweeps week wouldn't be complete without a guest star. While Kevin Garnett may not be a guest, the recently-named MVP is certainly a star. K.G. showed he can boost ratings when he finally advanced his team out of the first-round for the first time in franchise history.

This week is truly must-see TV. Enjoy it while it lasts because the summer is all reruns ... otherwise known as baseball.

Have something to say? Visit the message boards and discuss this article. Comments? Agree? Disagree? Send in your feedback about this article.