The power of three
Turns out, the Lakers aren’t dead yet.
Doesn’t mean they’ll win the series, though.
The Celtics are still my favorite to win the NBA Finals. I picked them during the first round, and I’m sticking with them even after the Lakers won Game 3 on Tuesday.
Here’s why: the power of three.
There are lots of ways to build successful basketball teams, but the best formula for winning a championship is having three go-to players. The Celtics have Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Sure, the Lakers have Kobe Bryant, one of the best players to ever walk planet earth, and Pau Gasol, one of the nicest gifts to ever be given from one NBA team to another, but they don’t have that third star.
Lamar Odom has moments when he’s great, but he’s still too sporadic to be considered a go-to player. Derek Fisher is a nice player and an even nicer person, but he doesn’t have that go-to quality either.
The Celtics have three legitimate stars, which takes pressure off of them and puts it squarely on opponents.
The power of three is nothing new in our neck of the woods. The last Oklahoma State men’s basketball team to make it to the Final Four had Tony Allen, John Lucas and Joey Graham. The last Oklahoma men’s team to make it had Aaron McGhee, Hollis Price and Ebi Ere.
Even when the gender changes, the power of three still holds. When the Oklahoma women went to the Final Four a few years back, they had Stacey Dales, LaNeishea Caufield, Rosalind Ross and Caton Hill. I’ll leave it up to you to decide who the best three were.
Honestly, the most important thing is having at least three go-to players. More is great, though it can become a little more challenging for a coach who has to manage minutes and balance scoring. But those are challenges that you accept.
Three is the minimum.
Three is the magic number.
That’s why I like the Celtics in the NBA Finals. A few days ago in a video commentary, I predicted that the Celtics would sweep. OK, so that isn’t going to happen, but it’s difficult to think that the Celtics won’t win this series. They don’t have the best player in the series, but they have three very good ones. There is great power in that, and for the Celtics, that means they have a great chance of winning a title.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment