“Don’t you forget about me. Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t…don’t you forget about me. As you walk on by, will you call my name?”
Lyric from: Don’t You (Forget About Me) from the album The Breakfast Club Soundtrack
Written By: Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff
Performed by: Simple Minds
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| Derrick Rose Photo Courtesy of Gary Dineen/Getty Images |
The 2012 NBA Finals begin tonight and the matchup is guaranteed to thrill us silly. Two young, athletic teams pitting the reigning, three-time MVP against the reigning, three-time scoring champion and we can’t wait. Nearly all sports talk has turned to Heat vs. Thunder, James vs. Durant-which team has the edge and which star is the better closer.
I wonder if Derrick Rose will be watching.
Remember him?
If I had talked to you at the beginning of this season about one of the NBA’s young stars, motivated to get to the Finals with a void that only a championship could fill, yes, I could have been talking about Bron Bron or KD. But I just as likely may have been talking about Derrick Rose.
Rose was named MVP last season becoming the youngest player to do so and the second Chicago Bulls player to earn the honor along with Michael Jordan. His jersey in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals vs. Miami, however, may as well have been updated to read Bulls-eye after he became the defensive assignment of Miami's number 6, which effectively shut down Chicago’s best scoring option and masterfully disrupted the flow of their offense.
The Bulls then exited playoff stage right.
The Bulls then exited playoff stage right.
Rip Hamilton was added in the offseason to solve for that and spread the floor but we hardly got a glimpse of what good that did since he and Rose were injured most of the season and rarely seen on the floor at the same time. The Bulls still finished the season with the best record in the east.
But what happened next is almost too painful to type.
Rose tore his ACL in garbage time in Game 1 of the playoffs, not to be seen in action again until the 2012-2013 season.
But what happened next is almost too painful to type.
Rose tore his ACL in garbage time in Game 1 of the playoffs, not to be seen in action again until the 2012-2013 season.
I have always been intrigued by the hierarchy of playoff heartbreak.
In the absence of a championship, is there a sweet spot for a loss?
If no one thought your team would make it to the playoffs in the first place, how well do you stomach a first round exit?
If your team makes it to the Finals and loses does that hurt more or less than if your team would have just lost in the 2nd round?
And when an injury ends your team’s run does it compound the gloomy look back at what could have been?
In the absence of a championship, is there a sweet spot for a loss?
If no one thought your team would make it to the playoffs in the first place, how well do you stomach a first round exit?
If your team makes it to the Finals and loses does that hurt more or less than if your team would have just lost in the 2nd round?
And when an injury ends your team’s run does it compound the gloomy look back at what could have been?
This year’s NBA playoffs held some high stakes for some high profile stars. Dirk could have repeated. Kobe could have tied Jordan. Duncan could have tied Kobe. Melo could have gotten his first and, Pierce, Allen, Rondo and Garnett might have enjoyed a championship swan song. That said, all of these guys are done now as is Rose but in the playoffs, as in life, my guess is that it is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all.
And watching your top-seeded team, from a seat in the owner’s box, labor through a first round matchup without you, ultimately losing to an eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers squad is definitely a no love situation.
It’s also a not so subtle reminder about the fragility of a championship run.
Much has been made of the Thunder and their potential to become the NBA’s next great dynasty. If that is to be the case, the journey starts tonight. They are young and have two of their “big four”, Durant and Westbrook, already signed to extensions.
James and Bosh joined Wade in South Beach two years ago and promised the city more championships than they could count on one hand. They had a chance to get the first one, the one for the index finger, last year and fell short.
James and Bosh joined Wade in South Beach two years ago and promised the city more championships than they could count on one hand. They had a chance to get the first one, the one for the index finger, last year and fell short.
That’s the thing about chances, they come and they go. They look good and then they don’t. Dynasty talk is talk of the future. Winning a championship is best served with laser focus in the present.
I’m sure Derrick Rose would agree since sometimes it happens that guys are healthy and then they’re not.
When this season began, Rose’s Bulls were a good pick to win the east. When these playoffs began, Rose was a star to watch. When Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs ended, Rose was off of our radars, sent home with our well wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery.
He knows all too well of how quickly things change. With two stable, healthy knees, Derrick Rose might have been part of our NBA Finals conversation. Cut that number in half and his season is again remembered in one familiar footnote…maybe next year.
And when these Finals end either James or Durant’s season will be summarized with that exact same footnote.
So...let the Finals begin.
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