NBA Eastern Conference Finals 2001: Philadelphia @ Milwaukee, Game Six (Pt. 1)



Ray Allen

With all the Miami Heat hype, people forget that there was a Big Three just ten years ago, because we are amnesiacs.

There have actually been several "Big Threes" in NBA history who aren't remembered by that name, except by old timers. The McHale-Parish-Bird era in Boston comes to mind as one of the all-time best trios.

More recently, before LeBron, Wade, and Bosh in Miami... and even before the Boston Celtics glued Allen, Garnett and Pierce together in the mid-Aughts... the Milwaukee Bucks did it.

 

They even used a piece that the C's would later grab: Ray Allen. With "Big Dog" Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell, the trio was dubbed, yes, The Big Three.

The 2001 Bucks meet up with Allen Iverson's Philadelphia 76ers, in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Allen Iverson

Iverson carried Philly's B-minus/C-plus squad through the '00-01 season, scoring in clumps and dazzling fans in his fifth season. "The Answer" averaged 31 points a game over the regular season, adding 4.6 assists and 2.5 steals (along with about 3 turnovers). He raised his scoring by a point in these playoffs, and assists by almost two.

Game Six finds the Sixers leading the series 3-2, and rolling into Milwaukee after a comeback in Game Five.

So it is a typical match-up, familiar to long-time sports fans, between a high-scoring threat who swallows the basketball like a black hole... and a group of slightly-lesser talents who are still excellent...

Still Miles To Go

It's going to be hard for the typical LeBron-hater to keep that lump out of his throat. That's if the Miami Heat continue in the playoffs as they are.

Philadelphia put up as much fight as they could, but the Heat waxed them in the first round, four games to one. Fans and analysts tried to poke at LeBron and Dwyane Wade that week. It wasn't easy to criticize.

The NBA Playoffs are strange, as are all postseasons in all sports. Usually it's because of TV contracts. Games get spaced out by three, four, or even five days. Athletes lose something when their season-long routine is disrupted. In baseball it's very evident, because up until the playoffs, the players are working nearly every day. Even the viewer can see that the alignment is off, so obviously the athletes feel it.

Other than the surging Memphis Grizzlies, the Heat are the only team who seem unaffected by the schedule shifts. They have taken a 2-0 lead on the Celtics as the second round series goes back to Boston. All of them are in tune on the court and in the press room.

James and Wade stood together for a press conference before that Game 2 win, saying that being on the dais together saved time. But it was an unspoken message about their current solidarity. "Our job is to bring out the best in each other," Wade said.

That is bad news for those who hated this so-called super team from day one. The guard is changing.

Doc's Props? Pending

Boston finally dispatched with the Orlando Magic, winning Game Six by 12 points. Now it's on to the Finals, and a chance for the Celtics to win their eighteenth title.

"If you come off the two series they just had, I mean, they beat two very good teams, and they made us look like we weren't very good teams, OK?" Van Gundy said. "I think you have to be fair and say a lot of it had to do with them, and they are playing very, very well right now." The C's have been underdogs in the last two series. Then they waxed the Cavs and Magic, leaving no doubt as to the better team.

No one saw this coming; all winter long Boston appeared talented, but faded. They had an incredible start, but an uninspired second half of the season. KG's injury kept the starting five apart for long periods. They backed into the playoffs--though, in the East, that wasn't too difficult. At some point, NBA observers have to start giving Doc Rivers his due. That hasn't happened as of this writing. Rivers hasn't built a sizable resume'. So even if Boston goes all the way, we can't quite put him in the Phil or Popovich category, yet.

To get on that level, he'll need success with a different group of players. Maybe with a new team. Doubtful he's going anywhere, any time soon. We can talk for miles about the Big Three, and Rondo, who's in the process of taking over this team.

But Rivers deserves credit too. He'll have to win the title again, to get some.