Potential Finals Matchups

Now that the Grizzlies Cinderella run is over, here are the matchups I'm rooting for, least to most, to happen in the Finals. Both in terms of entertainment value and historical impact.

4. Oklahoma City-Chicago

Entertainment Value: 6

Historical Value: 2

This is basically a youth vs. youth matchup. Do we coronate Rose or Durant as the next king of the league? That'd be fun to watch, but then we'd have to hear a whole summer of how historically great either of these guys are. Which may turn out to be true, but it certainly won't be true yet this summer regardless of who wins. And I hate it when expansion teams win the title right away. I feel like they haven't earned anything yet. And yes, I consider OKC an expansion franchise. I know they weren't starting from scratch, but the fan base is. And it's even worse that they didn't start from scratch and they stole another city's team. In other words, I'd root for Chicago in this one.

3. Dallas-Chicago
Entertainment Value: 6
Historical Value: 5
There really isn't a whole lot here in terms of interesting juxtaposition of these two teams. Don't get me wrong. Both of these teams have a lot of interesting aspects about them. But there isn't anything specifically entertaining about Dallas against Chicago that only these two teams can bring together. About the only interesting storyline I can think of is a very young/inexperienced team against a (very) veteran heavy team. But we're already getting that with Dallas-Oklahoma City, so... it'll just be a rerun of that storyline if we get it again. Historically, there isn't really any bad blood between the franchises, or any of the players. It's really just a validation of Dirk's career (and Kidd's and Cuban's) versus the meteoric rise of Rose's. (Maybe I'm just not that pumped about this potential matchup because I'd be okay with either team winning - although I'd still root for Dallas.)


2. Oklahoma City-Miami
Entertainment Value: 8
Historical Value: 9
This would be exciting, but the historical value of this series cannot be understated. This would be the ultimate "Build-a-Team" vs. "Buy-a-Team" argument put into practice. Whoever wins this series could impact how teams and stars operate for the next 5-10 years. And as much as I dislike Oklahoma City's ownership, I do like (most of) their players, and you'd better believe I'd be rooting for them.


1. Dallas-Miami
Entertainment Value: 10
Historical Value: 10
Now this is what America wants to see. What it needs to see. The 2006 Finals Redux. The Finals that had the most ridiculous jobbing of a team in recent memory. (Sorry, Sacramento fans, the 2001 series against the Lakers was a conference finals. Doesn't count.) The bad blood will be through the roof. I know the teams are totally different, but the principal players are the same: Dirk! Wade! Cuban! Riley! Plus Miami got more "evil" (LeBron and Bosh) and Dallas got more "good" (Kidd, Chandler, Stojakovic) since that Finals series. It's a straight up "Good Vs. Evil" brawl. If Dallas wins, it's a sports movie come to life. If Miami wins, children will weep and no one will ever believe in Santa Claus again. Anyway, not only is the bad blood and Finals rematch historically awesome, but this might be the first time all of America will root for a German. Has that ever happened before? I doubt it. The Kaiser and Hitler really screwed that nationality over. But I'd really like to see Germany and America on the same side for once. That'd be nice.