Defining NBA Memories

In 2015, I decided to give the NBA a shot at the beginning of the new season. I found myself instantly and effortlessly falling in love with the league, many of it's players, and the sport itself. My first season as a fan had me following the defending champions, Golden State Warriors, who made a lot of noise chasing the record for most regular season wins. I also followed the Oklahoma City Thunder, due to their status as the team that first appealed to me in 2014. Finally, I followed the Boston Celtics, as they are my local team. 

My defining memories of my first seasons are largely as follows:

This is the moment when I realized that the Cavaliers were going to beat the Warriors in the finals. James gives Curry this look that just conveyed that he had just figured him out and saw a path to victory. The 2016 Finals were a great first Finals for me to follow, with the drama of the 73-9 Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead as the Cavaliers came storming back to become unexpected champions. 

Sadly, my lasting memory of the 2016-17 season is the tragedy of Isaiah Thomas. The 5'9 guard carried the Celtics on his back and willed them with in-game heroics to the number one seed in the East and to the Eastern Finals. Thomas was in the MVP conversation and had blossomed into a superstar player. Then, tragedy struck in the form of his younger sister being killed in a car accident as the Celtics were heading into a play-off series against the Bulls. Thomas played through his broken heart, but then tragedy struck again as his nagging hip injury made it impossible for him to continue, and the Celtics were unceremoniously eliminated in the finals by the Cavaliers. After all this, Thomas was shipped to Cleveland in a trade for Kyrie Irving and has been unable to replicate any of his MVP-level success he'd enjoyed in Boston anywhere else. Just a sad story about a guy who gave his all.

This is the moment in the 2018 Finals when I knew the Cavaliers had no hope of defeating the Warriors again. J.R. Smith had just made an epic error in not recognizing the time clock situation, and caused the Cavaliers to miss an opportunity to tie or take the lead in the closing seconds. This incident also prompted James to punch a wall in frustration and injure himself in the process. The Warriors would go on to sweep the Cavaliers and their long running rivalry ended on an anti-climatic note.

The 2019 Finals just began two nights ago with the Toronto Raptors effectively shutting down a Kevin Durant-less version of the Golden State Warriors. Prior to that, my defining memory of this season is Kawhi Leonard hitting the dramatic buzzer beat to eliminate the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round. Just seeing Leonard reborn after missing most of the previous season has been an inspiring story to watch unfold. Leonard is now in a position to take a second championship from a team that put him on the shelf in the first place (though Zaza Pachulia is long gone).