Here’s who we got: NBA Finals version

Talk about it

I almost always find it informative, not annoying or aggravating, when I get a call or an email about what we run, or don’t run in the paper.

If there’s a call or email saying, “We want more of this,” we try to make it happen. If someone says something the other way, than we may veer away from something else. Generally, it’s a good barometer of what people are watching/listening/viewing/reading.

It wouldn’t be interesting to a lot of people if we ran what say me and my boy Ben Rodgers paid attention to because if that were the case there’d be a lot of fantasy baseball and soccer (Euro 2012) in The Sun right now, which wouldn’t serve the masses.

Along those same lines, if a certain event or sport is getting big TV ratings, that’s an obvious indicator of something being popular.

For example, the NBA is in the middle of a ratings bonanza.

Despite getting all kinds of negative press for the lockout during the summer and into the fall that sawed off the first two months of the season, the TV numbers for the playoffs are through the roof. And then the NBA gets a dream Finals match-up between the Heat and Thunder, which will almost certainly continue the momentum of massive numbers of people eyeing the tube the next two weeks.

In light of that, we’d be amiss not to make predictions, and by us I mean the two NBA nerds in the office — Ben Rodgers and I.

Here’s who Ben’s got and why:

The Seattle (oops, my bad) the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven.

As Selvig wrote, this is a dream NBA Finals matchup. Not because of where the teams are from, but the fact that the most despised player in history will be playing.

Not just against anyone, LeBron James, the most gifted and freakishly talented player maybe ever, faces off against Kevin Durant, one of the smoothest on-court talents, but quiet off.

One is loud, boisterous, and has a knack for dancing in front of TV cameras, while the other is a gym rat with the sweetest touch since Reggie Miller.

I’ll take the Thunder here based on player-by-player comparisons.

As much of a dope as LeBron is, he’s better than Durant. Don’t under estimate Durant though. He can carry a team, especially late.

Dwayne Wade is almost, probably, slightly better than Russell Westbrook. Again, only slightly. All four of these players are elite talents.

Here’s why OKC will prevail.

When you build a team through the draft, not only do you have better chemistry, but a deeper bench. Nick Collison and Derek Fischer should have fresher legs and a stronger sense off the bench then Chris Bosh and Mike Miller.

Plus, OKC got to rest up while LeBron and crew were busy going the distance against Boston.

It’ll go to seven games because that’s the way good basketball is played, and the faux three won’t be holding anything back.

Back to Selvig:

Nobody breaks down, well, anything, like Benny, which is why we love him. I got the Heat in 7.

X- and O-wise, it’s about as even as you can get. Based on my provincial tendencies, I sway towards the Heat.

Miami’s two best players, LeBron (Ohio) and D-Wade (Chicago) are Midwestern boys. They also start an Alaskan (Mario Chalmers), Canadian (Joel Anthony) and Michigander (Shane Battier), plus one of their top subs is from South Dakota (Mike Miller).

One thing is for certain though a lot of people will be watching. I just hope the games get done in time so we can get them in the paper.

Selvig is the sports editor at the Sun. Rodgers is a news writer at the Sun and writes a weekly sports column

Tags: sports, nba, basketball