Classic Western

It’s a deafening sound. Twenty thousand strong screaming fans, silenced in a heartbeat. This was the scene at the United Center in Chicago this past Saturday, as 2011 Most Valuable Player lay in a crumpled heap by the free throw line, knee shattered. Season shattered.

The Bulls, while amassing the NBA’s best regular season record for the second straight season, looked destined for an Eastern Conference Finals rematch with the Miami Heat. Primed to embrace an underdog role, Chicago needed everything to go just right to win their 7th NBA Championship. Already, just one game into the 2012 Playoffs, everything has gone wrong.

The proverbial deflating of the United Center is the just the beginning for the Bulls and Derrick Rose, who suffered an ACL tear in the waning moments of a game Chicago led by twelve. Rose faces upwards of eight months in recovery and rehabilitation. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau faces incessant questioning on why his fragile superstar was still in the game.

I for one blame Thibs – to a point. Yes Rose needed court time to get back in sync with his teammates after missing over a month with a strained groin. Yes these freak injuries can happen at anytime in a game. But with an entire series yet to play against the hapless Sixers, followed by a second round tilt with either Boston or Atlanta, the Bulls had the luxury of time for Rose to ramp up to full speed. Perhaps most damning is examining the top of the Western Conference Standings, and the quintessential model of a future Hall of Fame coach protecting players…from themselves.

The improbable San Antonio Spurs were guided to the top seed in the West by Gregg Popovich, who displayed mad-scientist like roster tinkering while navigating the most rigorous NBA season in history. With both Tim Duncan (age 36), and Manu Ginobili (age 34), Popovich was ordained with the task of his keeping his antique superstars upright and productive. He did so to the tune of a 50-16 regular season record.

Popovich drove beat writers and fans alike crazy with his unpredictable lineups and impulsive resting of key players. Despite being the poster boy for health all season, Duncan was held out of eight games, his minutes limited in others. One lineup card contained blanks next to inactive players names, presumably meant to list the nature of injury or ailment. Next to Tim Duncan, Popovich scribbled “old”. Ginobili too was preserved, playing in just nine of the Spurs final twelve games. Method to madness, Popovich’s San Antonio team endures.

Perhaps Thibodeau could take a lesson from the NBA’s most dogged coach. And as Chicago mourns the loss of their superstar, championship aspirations dashed in the blink of an eye, the Spurs look as good as ever.