So let's start off with an admission - I stopped being a huge basketball fan when MJ retired and the Knicks got bad in the early 2000's. I miss hard-nosed basketball - you remember, when they paid for each drive to the basket with a bruise, drew the foul, and smiled because they knew their power forward was going to do the same to the next guy to drive in your defensive end. I missed hard basketball, and while I'm all for the skill and ability shown by big men from outside of the US (see: Nowitzki, Dirk) it hurt to see the Association become a jumper-fest.
Last night, the Bulls and Heat played a REALLY good basketball game. Hard fouls (I didn't see one flagrant, although LeBron got called for one that should be reversed - he showed more patience than Gandhi), drives to the basket, and proof that the juggernaut of the Eastern Conference can be beaten - for at least one game. After a run of dominance not seen in 41 years, the Beast of the East got beat with an old-school, teeth-jarring performance that I can only hope is repeated come playoff-time.
Yes, I'll be rooting for the Knicks again, but if the Heat and Bulls match up at any point, it's must see TV and, fandom be damned, I'm watching good basketball.
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