Indianapolis and the Death of the American Game

As the Indiana Pacers heroically staved off a late Miami Heat run to tie the Eastern Conference Finals series at two games a piece, I couldn't help but reflect on what had taken place in that same building eleven years ago. Then known as Conseco ( now Bankers Life) Fieldhouse hosted the 2002 FIBA world championships, a tournament that will forever be etched in the memories of American basketball fans. For the last ten years, dating back to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, America had dominated a sport that it had practically created, though Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of the sport, was born and raised in Ontario. The United States was hosting a major international basketball event for the first time since the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. Again, the Americans were highly favored to breeze through this tournament, as they had done in every major event for the last ten years, with the exception of the 1998 world championships in Athens, in which they had finished third, due to the absence of locked out NBA players. That was during the league's first major labor dispute that delayed the start of the 1999 season until February. Aside from that, the U.S. was dominant as long as it sent its NBA players to compete. In fact, they hadn't lost a game in which NBA stars were playing.

Former Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller was on the U.S. team that finished 6th at the FIBA world championships in 2002

The Americans breezed through group C, defeating Algeria, Germany, and China respectively. In the second preliminary round, the United States won its first two matches against Russia and New Zealand. It appeared as though the Americans were on pace to do what they had done in previous years, win with ease. But on September 4th 2002, the U.S. squared off with Argentina in a match that changed the sport forever. Led by Manu Ginobili, Argentina stunned the U.S. on its home floor in America's heartland of Indianapolis by the final score of 87-80. Reeling, the Americans headed into the knockout stage to face a very tough and experienced Yugoslavia team that featured Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic, two players who had literally been robbed of a Western Conference title with the Sacramento Kings a couple months earlier by crappy officiating. In a closely contested game, the Yugoslavs came out victorious by a score of 81-78. The disappointing finish sent American basketball to the drawing board to conjure up a plan to bring the glory days of the Dream Team back to life. The American team wound up finishing 6th in that dreadful tournament, losing to Spain in the consolation round. The Americans would not win another major tournament until the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but it took all the effort they could possibly give to sneak by Spain in the championship game.

Fortunately, the United States has won the last two major international events, the 2010 world championships, and the 2012 Olympic tournament, thanks to the guidance of Mike Krzyzewski. With the help of Kobe, LeBron, Carmelo, and Kevin Durant, it appears that American dominance in their sport has returned, but the loss in Indianapolis was truly the death of the American game, and the reincarnation of basketball as a legitimately international sport that any country can now have a chance at becoming a powerhouse in. With the FIBA world cup coming up in 2014, we may be entering the most globally competitive era of basketball yet.

NBA Strikes Out With Small Market Conference Finals

After the Indiana Pacers received every ounce of favoritism from the referees in order to advance past the demoralized Knicks, it  has come down to four teams left to compete for American basketball's top prize, the NBA title. San Antonio and Memphis will kick off what is sure to be a competitive Western Conference Finals series this afternoon. Meanwhile, Indiana and Miami will square off in South Beach in game one the East Finals on Monday. Despite the teams being somewhat interesting to watch, the NBA will have a major problem trying to get people to maintain an interest in these games, considering that three out of the four teams represent small markets.

Following the 2011 lockout, NBA commissioner David Stern has worked hard to make the league more competitive, and with the help of the new CBA (collective bargaining agreement) structure the league to be more small-market friendly, disallowing teams from exceeding the salary cap without paying an enormous luxury tax. One of the main causes of the labor negotiations that took place between the players, owners, and league office in 2011 was disgruntled ownership in smaller markets who felt that they had no chance to compete with the Knicks, Lakers, Bulls, and Heat. Now, small market teams suddenly have hope, and we the fans have a glimpse at what the NBA could look like in the coming years. Suddenly, its possible to envision finals between Indiana and Memphis, Minnesota and Cleveland, and New Orleans and Charlotte.

Brooklyn native Lance Stephenson celebrates Indiana's game six victory over his hometown Knicks

Although this new-found parity around the league sounds great, it also suddenly means that we can look forward to more finals match-ups that lack interest from the most important markets in the NBA, those being L.A., New York, and Chicago. Without the interest from those markets, NBA ratings will be sure to sink faster than rocks. Suddenly, teams like the Pacers and Grizzlies can think about building championship contenders year-after-year that could potentially oust teams from bigger markets. What this suggests, is that the small market teams in the league are just as important as the large market teams, and this is simply not the case. If teams from New York and Los Angeles can spend more money to make themselves better, let them do it. Those are the cities that hold the key to the prosperity of the league, not Indianapolis and Memphis.

When small market teams complain that they have no ability to compete financially with big market teams, they must consider the fact that the big markets are what drive, not only professional basketball, but America's economy in general. When ratings for these games begin to flounder, Stern can only blame himself for giving in to the whining ownership of small-market teams that claimed they couldn't stay afloat with the, then current, structuring of the league. Instead of downsizing the league, and removing some of these irrelevant cities from the basketball map, he has handed over the reins to them, and now fans in America's biggest cities must sit back and watch teams from much smaller ones battle for hoops supremacy.

The Champs Were Here

The last time the Washington Wizards won the NBA title, they were still the Washington Bullets. The year was 1978. Jimmy Carter was president. Washington's team was anchored by 6'7" center Wes Unseld, and 6'9" power forward Elvin Hayes. That year, they had defeated the Seattle Supersonics in seven games giving D.C. its first, and only NBA title. Tonight, the Wizards celebrated the 35th anniversary of the championship team, as the current squad faced the Indiana Pacers on a very nostalgic night at the Verizon Center.

A brand new 1978 championship banner was raised to the rafters during halftime

John Wall's recent play has given Wizards fans reason to believe that another championship won't be too far in the distant future.

Memories abounded during halftime,a s the crowd welcomed out the members of the 1978 championship team. Music from that era blasted through the Verizon Center speakers all night, capturing an era that relatively few young D.C. basketball fans are even aware even existed. 35 years is a long time to go without a title, but some fans are old enough to remember that Bullets team as one that the city was immensely proud of.

Pacers guard Gerald Green takes the jumper

Gerald Green takes it to the rim

Green finishes with the slam over Kevin Seraphin

Wizards forward Trevor Booker and Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough box out for the rebound

Wizards forward Jan Vesely and Pacers forward Jeff Pendergraph wait for the rebound

Vesely and Pendergraph jump for the loose ball

Inspired by the presence of the legendary Bullets stars, the Wizards toppled the pacers by a final score of 104-85 behind an incredible 37 points from John Wall, who may be giving Wizards fans hope that another championship is not too far away, given his recent stellar performances.

Indiana was led by former Georgetown center Roy Hibbert, who scored 25 points and 10 rebounds in his return to the same arena where he played college ball.

The Wizards will travel to Boston to take on the Celtics tomorrow night.

Pacers Blow By Wizards

After dropping the ball at home on New Year's Day against the Mavs, the Wizards were back on the road Wednesday night to square off with the 18-13 Pacers in Indiana. The Pacers had been without their leading scorer from last year, Danny Granger, for the entire season. The forward is not expected to return until later this month. In his absence, Indiana had been relying heavily on forward David West who had been averaging just over 20 points and 6 rebounds per game, George Hill, who'd also been putting up solid numbers with 15 points and 5 assists a game, and forward Paul George, who'd been averaging just over 16.5 points per game to go along with just over 7 boards.

The Wizards received big time contributions in the loss against Dallas the previous night from both Bradley Beal who had 22 points and Emeka Okafor who put up 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The Wizards fell behind 12-2 with 8:50 left in the 1st quarter, trailing 31-18 going into the 2nd, and shooting 33 percent from the field. Indiana had already been to the foul line 11 times by the end of the 1st. The Wizards went on an 18-7 run to start the 2nd quarter to pull to within 6, and make it 31-25, but Indiana retained an 8 point lead 47-39 going into the half.

Pacers forward Paul George is defended by Wizards guard Jordan Crawford

Washington then got off to a quick start in the 3rd quarter pulling to within 2 at 51-49 with 8:20 left in the period, but Indiana increased their lead to 67-58, despite Jordan Crawford hitting a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to keep the Wizards within single digits going into the 4th. Indiana widened the margin to start the final quarter, making it 77-64 with 8:12 remaining, but the Wizards climbed back at the end of the game behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Bradley Beal, cutting the Indiana lead to 85-81 with 34 seconds left. D.J. Augustin then knocked down 4 free throws to finish off a season high 18 point game, and the Pacers held on for an 89-81 victory behind Paul George, who ended the night with 29 points and 14 rebounds. Jordan Crawford led the Wizards with 20 points and 7 assists in the loss.