Spurs in 5

The big sigh of relief heard last week came from the NBA corporate offices as they were spared a Spurs-Pistons rematch from 2 years ago that would've brought ratings to a new low. The NBA's marketing plan for years has been centered around stars. Tim Duncan is the best player in the league, but his personality and locale make him hard to market (ironic considering how Duncan is what most of the league's critics and fans claim to want in a player). ABC would've been stuck with "Chauncey Billups ... ... Mr. Eva Longoria .... next!"

Instead they get LeIcon in Le Finals, where he will play a top 5 team for the first time in a few months (meanwhile, every opponent the Spurs have faced was at least as good as Cleveland). Good for NBA marketing. Probably good for the future of the league, as the Pistons are done (thanks to the Darko pick; they'd be looking good if they had gone with any of the 3 guys taken after Darko - Anthony, Bosh, Wade) and the league needs LeBron to be an elite player on an elite team (though I'm sure they'd prefer that he were somewhere a little more Nielson friendly than Cleveland).

For Cleveland to have a good chance, they either need Tim Duncan to turn into Adonal Foyle overnight or they need 4 huge games from LeBron, his shooters to be hot in those games, and his rebounders to continue their work on the offensive glass in those games. Their formula would probably be to steal one in San Antonio with LeBron throwing up a huge game, taking game 3 in Cleveland with a big game from LeBron and guys like Gibson continuing to be unconscious from deep, and then hope the Spurs crumble under the pressure. Odds aren't good, and the Spurs will take it in 5. They're simply the better team, able to play any style, more experienced, and they have the best player in the league (and one of the best ever, but that's another discussion).

(oh, and how did David Stern allow the league to reach a point where San Antonio vs Cleveland was the preferred result of the conference finals?)