But Jason Whitlock has the most interesting column, which is essentially about whether the Pacers can really be happy about their season has gone on so long. He is a bit too hard I think on the Pacers (and especially Frank Vogel), but his attempts to try and cut through the crap do leave us with some interesting reflections.
He first considers the Pacers in the light of the sports ethicist's argument that what matters is the journey and the conduct more than the endpoint. And by that standard says he has has thoroughly had enough of this team. But then he simply asks about whether it is fun and exciting to watch them anymore, to which he has to give the answer of no.
As he puts it: "What's the point of winning 56 games, securing the No. 1 seed in the East, and making it to the final four if it creates zero joy, if it inspires little championship swagger?"
That's a real, real interesting question. Even when they win this much, can Indiana fans say they're actually happy? Indiana fans, according to Whitlock, at least have to wonder about this.
Now, winning matters, and it is productive to keep the focus there: championing a team because it plays "good basketball" over someone who actually wins games can harbor resentment and righteousness more than a moral awareness. But everyone knows the difference between an earned and an unearned victory. And the Pacers wins feel unearned, in some way--as if they are merely a matter of course for the team, a matter of accident and good fortune just coming to sit in the lap of a dysfunctional franchise. In the end, how many of us can say it would be good to see them in the Finals?
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Next, Zach Lowe has an article trying to pinpoint for people the exact impact of Ibaka to the Thunder. He does it in order to chase away the extreme capriciousness of the media over the course of this series, which went from talking about a Spurs blowout, to Ibaka singlehandedly defeating the Dpurs.
On this he has a good point, which is put excellently: "Anyone proclaiming a counterfactual outcome with certainty is usually selling you garbage." It's something that happens a lot in sports commentary, often just innocently for hype, but also in ways that confuses the story.
he then goes on to talk about the Harden trade, and the new argument that is emerging around it: that basically the Thunder made the right decision getting rid of Harden. This comes on the heel of Harden's bizarre and unsatisfying performance against Portland (in many ways caused by Wesley Matthews shutting Harden down), and the obvious value Ibaka has to the Thunder in these big games.
The right answer is always: they could have kept both! But Lowe breaks things down minutely and seems to come down on the side that, well, if they did have to make a trade, Ibaka is in a way more understandable than Harden, because he adds to their defense, and they already have enough shooters.
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Finally, BallerBall has a great set of memes that Dwight Howard would make as he sits at home in his Texas house watching the playoffs.
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