The NBA Finals just finished up an hour ago or so. Yeah, it is way too late in the year for basketball but the NBA keeps stretching it out longer and longer all the time. In spite of this the finals were worth watching this year. For once it was a matchup between two basketball teams rather than a matchup of a hype machine and a basketball team.

When Chicago won their six championships with Jordan it was about Jordan. He was the best player on the planet and parlayed that into success in advertising, products, and movies. When LA was on their recent run, it was all about the Shaq and Bryant brands. It didn't matter what the teams did because the media seemed more focused on the egos of the players. Even the 94 and 95 championships were more about Shaq trying to match up with Hakeem than anything else.

Then here comes the 2003 finals with a pair of 7' players on San Antonio who are considered two of the quietest and nicest guys in the league. New Jersey on the other hand has the best team player point guard in the game who would rather make his teammates look good than score himself. The media just couldn't make it into the ego hypefest that they have for the last decade.

I liked it. I think this may be my favorite finals of all time. I've watched most of the games in most of them since the late 80s but this one was one for the ages. I can't think of anyone who deserved a championship more than David Robinson. Everyone respects him. For years he was one of the best players in the game. This was his swan song. Unlike most players he knew that this was his time to walk away and played like it. He already had a ring from 99 but that was the strike year with only a 50 game season. It just wasn't the same.

Tim Duncan is a great guy too. How can anyone not enjoy watching such a fundamentally sound player demolish the opposition? I just watched him come within 2 blocks of a quadruple double. That is exciting in my book. Not only that he lets his game speak for himself. In these days of hype and loud-mouthed bragging, he is a rarity, a quiet man who doesn't need to proclaim his own greatness.

In fact there is an absence of loudmouths, braggarts, and all around jackasses on the Spurs. It is amazingly refreshing to look at a team and not see a single thug, punk, or gangsta wannabe on the court or on the bench. Best of all, they managed to stick together, play team basketball, and win the championship. They managed to disprove the old axiom that nice guys finish last. In fact sometimes nice guys finish first.