Appreciation Of Two Fierce Competitors

Me being a diehard Laker fan, I always check the Lakers Nation website to keep up with the rumors and news. This morning I read an article that made me realize and appreciate what we have seen from these two particular players.  The following is written by Gabriel Lee, a staff writer and a student at Ryerson University. You can read the full article here. 

This year I decided to watch the rest of the series between the Celtics and the Knicks for a couple reasons.

1.) No team in the NBA has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. I believed the Celtics had a chance to do it after the gutsy Game 4 win to avoid being swept at home. Like all sports fan, I watched for the potential of witnessing history.

2.) In Sun Tzu’s famous writings, the Art of War, he writes that “If you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.” As Lakers fan we’re supposed to come out of the womb with a disdain for the Celtics, so logically, I might as well watch the fall of the enemy even after the team we follow had crumbled. Misery loves company, right? 

3.) Kevin Garnett. In February, the Big Ticket cryptically said that this past All-Star game was going to be his last before retracting that statement. After the Game 4 victory, Jason Terry furthered the retirement speculation by saying “I don’t want his lasting impression to be, okay we got swept.” Which meant that every game the Celtics played could potentially be Garnett’s last, that constituted as must-see TV to me.

Somewhere between Games 4-6 I developed an appreciation for Kevin Garnett, while also allowing it to foreshadow how it’d feel to watch Kobe once he returns from the brutal Achilles injury. 

Kevin Garnett represents everything we look for in a professional athlete: a leader, relentless worker in the off-season, loyal to his team to a degree and appears to care about winning as much as the fans do. 

Now doesn’t that sound like the same reasons that we cheer for No. 24?

Garnett’s been playing in the NBA longer than most kids in high school have been alive, for that to come to an end so abruptly, I wasn’t sure if I was ready.

We’re set to face an eerily similar situation with our own franchise player when the 2014 playoffs roll around. Kobe has flirted with the idea of retirement for the past while, saying that he is set to call it quits after his contract runs out next summer.

Having experienced what it’s like to watch basketball without him this postseason, I’ll be much more indebted to every game he laces up the following season; especially with the foresight that his awe-inspiring performances are soon to become a non-renewable resource.