Kharma Writes Stories and Wins Game 4 For LeBron

And then there were none.

Is LeBron his own dynasty, or is Cleveland attempting
the impossible? Winning in a small market?

With the fall of the San Antonio Spurs, the age of the NBA dynasties has almost come to an end.  If you count the fact that LeBron is struggling as I write to take down the Chicago Bulls just for a chance to overcome the Washington Wizards or the Atlanta Hawks, then its safe to say that none of the remaining teams are cut from championship pedigree.

The moment I typed these words, LeBron drove to the lane against the Bulls to cut into their double digit lead that they took into the fourth quarter of game 4.  Win this game and the Bulls take a strangle hold over the series (3-1) and start the process of returning Chicago to the realm of champion, despite distant memories from their dynastic days of old.

This season, all signs point towards the rise of the "Have Not's", teams from small market cities that typically were believed to be incapable of winning a championship.  Maybe Chicago or the LA Clippers will win and keep the theory intact, but their franchises are among the many in the league fighting to rise to relevancy too.  Even if the Clippers (big city) or the Cavs (LeBron's team) can win a title this season, hope still springs eternal for lowly cities like Denver that have never proven themselves to be capable of reaching the peak of the NBA.

While my heart has moved into the corner of supporting NBA legend Doc Rivers this playoff season, the only other championship mind capable of dealing with the championship experience of LeBron, I wouldn't be sad if the Warriors lay siege or the Wizards cast  a spell of hope for the rest of us secondary sports cities like Denver to build on.  With a capable front office, anything is possible.  Whether or not Denver's front office qualifies as capable is the only question left unanswered for this hopeful fan looking for a reason to believe.  The Nuggets' next few moves will reveal a lot.  In the mean time, I have to watch this Cav's versus Bulls game and wonder if losing Timofey Mosgov and J.R. Smith was good in the long run, or is LeBron so good that he makes even these ex-Nuggets look like stars?

Before I could complete two paragraphs of thought, LeBron has erased the Chicago lead, and is making Smith and Mosgov look like Parish and Ainge as he carries them towards greatness.  I expect LeBron to find a way to win this game and keep the Bulls in the state of figuring things out- which might mean firing Tom Thibideau at the end of this season.  Thibideau is actually the only other coach that I would take in Denver aside from Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt, still in the hunt for a permanent tag in Denver.

As I write, J.R. Smith just nailed another long range 3 in response to one scored by the Bulls, giving the Cavaliers a 3 point lead with 5 minutes to play.  James blocks a shot that Mosgov recovered and then set Mosgov up with a pick and roll dunk   He missed of course, but nailed the two free throws from being fouled.  In game 3, Mosgov only missed one free throw, and for all of the things he struggled with in Denver, he was an improving free throw shooter.  As I typed these two sentences, Mosgov followed his two freebies with a defensive rebound, and offensive rebound and a put back for a 7 point lead.

Timeout Chicago.

Cleveland might win it with LeBron doing what he does, but they are the Cavaliers of small city Cleveland. A victory by this team makes small city hoops more possible than ever, so even the magic that LeBron keeps doing works in favor of the little guys.  After a really good defensive play that produced a foul from the Bulls, J.R. Smith shoved the same Bulls player, giving up a technical free throw and reminding me why we don't really miss J.R.  On the next possession, Mosgov got one of those wide open layups that he often misses.  He missed the shot, reminding me why we don't really miss Mosgov that much either.

With the clock winding down quickly, LeBron misses another 3 point shot (he has hardly made any during the series), and Derrick Rose heads down court to show King James how its done, knocking down a 3 pointer to close this pivotal game to a 3 point margin.  How did the King respond?  With a muscle drive to the hole for an easy 2 points.  Rose advances up the court trying to match LeBron shot for shot, and gets fouled by a Cavalier team unwilling to let him do it freely.

Rose hits both freebies.

When the King can't hit a jumpers, it's not hard to guess what he will do instead, so Joakim Noah did just that when he guessed right on the next Cavalier possession, drawing an offensive foul on James destined to get to the hole.  Despite the turnover, the Cavs got a stop and had one minute and LeBron James to finish off an important game.  This time down, the Bulls fouled an attacking LeBron and he nailed both freebies for a 5 point lead.  With 27 seconds left in the game, Jimmy Butler nails a 3 point bucket to try and salvage the biggest game in the series for his team.  Win the game and you cripple the King.  Lose it and he inspires his henchmen to take you out.  Guaranteed. If LeBron doesn't get you, the depression of such a lost will do it for him

Bulls use their last time out to create a plan.

3 seconds separate the game and shot clock, and Noah informs the ref that they will not play to foul, so hold tight to that whistle. A strong double team on J.R. causes him to take a timeout with 19 seconds on the clock.  Though the Bulls have no time outs with one left for the Cavs, until more great defense on the in-bounds forces the Cavs to use their last timeout without taking a second off of the clock.  These Bulls saw red and the Cavs were it.  With a long inbound pass to LeBron that he catches in half court corner, the Bulls double team too, forcing LeBron into another offensive foul and a turnover. With a sudden sign of life, Rose takes the ball end to end to tie the game and force the play back to LeBron.

There are no timeouts left and very little time on the clock as LeBron makes his hesitation drive at the lane.  When he was a younger man, he would have dunked on Noah who put a hand on his shoulder to stop the expected dunk. The refs swallowed their whistle forcing the King to use 1.5 seconds in regulation to decide it.  He was clearly fouled on the play, but the uncertainty of when the ball got knocked  of bounds gave both teams one last chance to huddle up as referee's checked video to correct the shot clock.

In my mind, hoop kharma writes these stories for you, and kharma usually goes in favor of those who've paid their dues in the past.  LeBron has won it before, but he also has a lot of tears from those years when he didn't win.  Those are the tears that carry you over the top in moments that matter.

James hit the shot at the buzzer.  Series tied 2-2.

Maybe all the years of bad hair has hurt Rickie's kharma?

PostScript:  Kharma told me that Rickie Fowler was going to rush from behind to win the Players championship today even though he was 5 shots back when I felt the premonition and turned to watch the Cavs/Bulls finish.  By the time I turned the channel back to The Players, Fowler was in a three-way playoff with Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner.  Garcia has a lot of kharma out there on the course, but nothing compares to 2014 for Fowler.  I'm predicting Fowler wins just so I can pat myself on the back for having kharmic awareness.  He's left a lot of tears out on the course over the years
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What Will Happen To Mens Golf When We Lose The Roar of Tiger?

Women's golf has its rising star and she is 17 year old Lydia Ko.  She is the Tiger of the women's game and a singular reason to tune in to see the ladies play. In the last couple of years, if you've heard a roar from viewers of men's professional golf, it was likely to be the chant of the name of the games rising star. What seemed a familiar sound was actually the crowd chanting "Rory, Rory," and not that unmistakable roar that only a Tiger can make.

Apparently, the folks at Augusta aren't confused by the roar and neither are the organizers of most tournament events these days- including that tournament organizer named Eldrick Woods.  That's right.  Even Tiger needed Tiger recently in order to insure the viability of his own charity golf tournament, so he announced himself ready to play hoping to keep his tournament viable.  Once again, a seemingly unhealthy Tiger is announcing his intention play in an upcoming tournament, but this time its the Masters.

Can Tiger recapture the days of his youth?

Some guys have the ability to move the needle in special ways. Tiger is the needle.

It might sound conspiratorial to suggest that Tiger is only playing this years Masters for the sake of tournament sponsorship and viewer ratings that increase tournament sponsorship, but the evidence seems rather clear in light of his recent health status and failed attempts to finish a decent round. Tiger's don't hunt like this.  They quietly lay in wait so as not to over exert their energy- and then they overwhelm their prey with cat like agility and speed.  The young Tiger did this with apparent ease while the old Tiger has proven to us all that nothing great is ever truly easy- the great ones just make it look that way.

Tiger could finish his stellar career tomorrow and he will rank among the best to ever do it.  Problem is, he has a chance to be the best to ever do it.  Some think he already is, however, being the best and winning the most tournaments are not always the same accomplishments. As it stands, one modern era player stands in front of Tiger and his name is Jack Nicklaus.  Up until now, Tiger has tracked Jack's path of greatness to the letter and remains on the trail to catch and surpass the greatest. Problem is, he looks to have lost the scent.

What Jack accomplished in 19 years (13 majors)  Tiger did in 11 (14 majors).  Problem is, Tiger  seems to have stalled out since reaching that first resting plateau because when Jack reached 40 years old, he still had a few good wins in the bag.  Right now Tiger Woods is 39 years old. If he follows Jacks trend of 5 major titles after 40 years of age, all will be forgotten during these years of Tiger's malaise.  What can't be forgotten is the enormous impact he still has on the game of golf, an impact that even Jack never had.

Traditionalist who yearn for golf purity may not be happy now that every Happy Gilmore and his ethnic friends have taken to the game of golf.  The decades of opening new golf courses regularly has not returned, but the tide of closing existing golf courses regularly has stemmed while the likelihood of sitting to view a golf tournament on weekend television remains very strong- so long as Tiger says he's playing.

Yeah, yeah. We all like Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler and those cats, but we can get the leader board update when they play, whereas we will sit and watch Tiger wail and flail any day of the week.  Tiger has always been an adventure to watch because he plays for big prizes only.  In the effort to insure you win and not just place, you might find yourself missing the cut in the game of golf.  Some players would love to win the tournament, but are genuinely out there to just keep hold of their tour card and make enough money to call themselves a pro. That's never been Tiger Woods, and given his unwillingness to play mediocre golf, it never will be.  Tiger would actually rather overemphasize (I didn't say fake) an injury versus remaining in a tournament that he has NO chance of winning.  That might sound pitiful from a competitive point of view, but it also might explain why Tiger is a boom or bust (mostly bust) performer right now.

What does a golf fade away look like?

Tiger is not failing for lack of introspection.  When you listen to him talk about his woes, he seems pretty clear that he is reaching the waning days of his golf years, and he must develop a fade-away to close out his career like Michael Jordan (his idol) closed out his illustrious career.  To continue in the vein of basketball, no player completes a championship run without experiencing some significant adversity.  Outside of this third quarter meltdown that Tiger is experiencing with his career, the guy would have been on his way to a route of the entire field.

Greatness just doesn't work like that.

Despite being undefeated, nobody will consider Floyd Mayweather the best ever if he doesn't show us his ability to overcome that moment of real adversity in his career. This is Tiger's moment of adversity and his time to prepare for his fourth quarter finale. Whether he succeeds or fails is inconsequential to each of us who are totally hooked on this show and committed to seeing it through to the final episode.  If he stinks up Augusta, we will watch until its clearly time to check back next time.  39 might be old in most professional sports, but not in golf, so Tiger has time to prove all of his doubters wrong and all of his supporters right, or vice versa- so long as he can handle the pressure of knowing that every single one of them is watching his every move.

The question that remains is not whether Tiger is only playing for the sake of television ratings and sponsorship dollars.  The question that remains is what becomes of golf without Tiger?

Rory McIlroy Joins Tiger and Jack In Rare Air. Is It Time For One Name?

Rory McIlroy just rushed from behind to shut out the lights on the last PGA major of the season.  When I say turned out the lights, I mean that literally.

Under the minimal lights that remained in the skies at Vallhalla, McIlroy took a 2 shot lead into the 18th hole with a blind tee-shot to close out the tournament.  Blind, because there was not enough light for Rory to see the fairway that he grabbed a driver to reach, and water was in play to the right. If that wasn't enough to complicate the ending for Rory, the tee-shot was anxiously taken. Rory was scheduled to sit and wait even longer as the group in front, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler had yet to even reach their balls to take an approach.  Before they got the chance,  Mickelson and Fowler agreed to let Rory tee off since the light was nearly gone for the day.  Tournament rules typically allows for the tee-shot in the event of minimal light, but Mickelson and Fowler expected Rory to wait behind for his approach shot.  For some unusual reason, the tournament officials allowed Rory to approach before the group in front finished the hole.

This seems like a small logistical error, but it might have cost Mickelson a tournament.  Rory had just enough light to get a birdie putt within 3 feet, and finished it off along with the tournament.  Had he been forced to wait, he would have taken his putt within 5-10 minutes of less light than he ended up receiving. Even more importantly was the tee-shot that landed way too close to that water on the right I had mentioned.  Mickelson graciously declared that it didn't impact the conclusion of the tournament, but one might only wonder.  Simply allowing Rory to tee-off could have been a tactical move that the tournament officials totally impeded, especially considering the extra minute or so that Mickelson and Fowler had to wait for Rory's approach.

When the light is dim and the eyes lose depth perception, every shot becomes a different kind of guessing game.  Rory should have had a couple of tougher guesses than he ultimately got. It was his lack of second guessing himself, even when faced with the option to tee-off on 18 or save it for another day, that might have captured him a tournament.  Rory never appeared to have a second thought about playing in the dark, and he didn't hesitate to thank the twosome in front for how classy they proved to be given an opportunity to totally screw the guy in the lead who was foolishly willing to tee-off in the dark...with a 2 shot lead no less.

And boy is he in the lead.  Rory joins Tiger and Jack as the youngest players to win 4 majors (all three were 24-25 years old). He gave up a lead to start out the day, but rushed past the capable twosome that played right in front of him, and finishes this tournament having won 3 weeks in a row.  Whether Tiger makes it back to capture enough victories to move past Jack is quickly becoming a page 2 story.  Rory is securing his place in golf lore while most of the golf world is still taking bets on the Tiger thing.

In some ways, that might be what gives him the air to breath.  Everyone knows this kid is amazing, but no one seems to want to shift the camera off of Tiger for long enough to recognize what we already know.  No problem.  This young man will make sure his presence is felt even if no one cares to watch his arrival. When asked to put his amazing accomplishments into perspective he said, "It's just something I'm going to have to come to terms with".  No one really understand their own excellence, especially while its occurring.  Even Tiger is struggling to recapture the wild feline that once roared inside of him.  Your best option is to treat all of your success as simply not good enough.  When you lock your sights on all-time greatness, the last victory isn't enough anymore.

Postscript:  Rory most likely wins the Player of the Year award from this 3 weeks of excellence.  To start the year, Henrik Stenson, who also had a chance down the stretch of this tournament, was on a Player of the Year run himself.  Closing out this tournament would have reignited Stenson's name in that conversation for sure.

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Rickie Fowler, who also had a chance to capture a season ending victory (for majors) might have had the best season ever for a player who didn't win a single tournament.
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Mickelson said that he is finding his game and I believe him.  If the Ryder Cup team needs an elder statesman, Phil is ready to play.
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In Rory's podium interview, it appears that he would have chosen to play the next day if he didn't get a chance to tee-off when he did. Thanks again Rickie and Phil. This stress was too much to carry into another day, and I didn't even play.