Luka’s Corner

Sometimes, sports can just be too difficult to explain. Why is it that strength can be so deceiving, and so unimportant? Why is it that the strongest athletes sometimes act like the weakest? Is faking, flopping, and falling so integral in sports? These questions are both amusing and necessary for a fan to ask themselves. Whether it is basketball or soccer, or any other popular sport for that matter, “flopping”, or exaggerating contact in any way, is a huge part of the game.

When people think about the NBA and its toughest players, who do they think of? They think of Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett, to name a few. But, even these three use the flop to their advantage. If he is guarding Carmelo Anthony or another star who uses his body to create contact, “Ron Ron” flails his arms and falls backwards to draw offensive fouls on the man he is guarding. He flops to both get the call and frustrate his opponent. Kobe Bryant does the same. When attacking the hoop or pump-faking his defender, the “Black Mamba” flails his arms more than anyone. The artist who approaches the art of the flop differently is Garnett. The “Big Ticket”, widely regarded as one of the best defensive players of his time, talks trash to his opponent and waits until they react. If his opponent responds by either talking to or pushing Garnett, the intimidating and intense Garnett steps backwards, puts his arms up, and flails them to act like he is actually innocent.

In the end, the flop is used by even the toughest players in basketball to achieve or receive something. In their minds, the end justifies the means. Artest falls and flails to force the referee to call an offensive foul and to frustrate the opponent, Bryant exaggerates contact to get to the free-throw line, and Garnett steps backward to get the opponent thrown out of the game for starting the fight. The funniest aspect of all this is that these three are considered to be the toughest, grittiest, and most intimidating players that professional basketball has to offer. Yet, they flail and flop when the game is on the line. They ignore their strength and physicality and resort to the flop.

The same can be said about soccer, which is notorious for the flopping associated with it. As with any sport, flopping is so difficult to explain in soccer. To illustrate is unexplainable side, I put forth two words: Gennaro Gattuso. Considered one of the world’s most hard-nosed, physical, and relentless footballers, “Rino” relies on an unexpected skill to get him over the top. That skill is using his bulky, powerful frame to exaggerate contact in midfield. In other words, he flops. Although Gattuso tackles with reckless abandon and uses his powerful frame to push around his opponents while defending, he resorts to flopping when he has the ball. When opposing defenders do the same work defending the ball as him, Gattuso falls to the ground, even with minimal contact on the play. In his mind, if he can get the foul call, flopping was worth it. In this way, “Rino” is no different from “Ron Ron”, the “Black Mamba”, or the “Big Ticket”. The reasoning behind the flop is the same.

So, do not be deceived by the athletes you watch on TV. While they may seem built-up and physically superior, they are not all that. The time that they spend in the weight room working out is negated when they make the decision to flail their arms, fall on the ground, and fake the impact of any possible contact. Keep that in mind when you watch a basketball game, soccer match, or any other sporting event. No matter how strong they get, athletes still try to act as weak as they can. Their goal is to become stronger, but to act weaker.

As the regular season nears its end in the NBA, it is time to start looking ahead to the postseason, where a number of teams will compete for the game’s biggest prize come June. However, only one of these teams will earn the right to be called champions of the NBA. So, even though it is still up in the air in terms of who will win the title, I can safely say that only one team can and will win it, barring injury.

This team is the Los Angeles Lakers. Nothing has made me believe so far this season that any team can knock off the defending champions this year. While some may point to the Lakers’ defense, record against the Cavaliers and Nuggets, inconsistent offense, and questionable acquisition of Ron Artest as reasons why they will not repeat, it is still the Lakers that have the best team in the league. Come April, May, and June, it will be the team’s combination of inside muscle, with Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom, outside scoring, which lies squarely on Kobe Bryant’s shoulders, and strong bench play that will undo all teams in the Lakers’ path. From Kobe to Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar, the Los Angeles Lakers simply have the best team in the NBA once again.

Less of a factor, but still relevant, is the poor play of the Cleveland Cavaliers after recently acquiring Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards. Watching the Cavs after making the trade, their defense, which was perhaps the team’s greatest strength, seems to have taken a step back. While only one significant player in the team’s rotation was lost in the trade, Zydrunas Ilgauskas (who may yet rejoin the team as a free agent), the addition of Jamison has thrown off the rotation, most notably the use of Anderson Varejao in defensive situations. Even though Coach Mike Brown now has another legitimate 20-point scorer at his disposal, he is forced to give up reliable post defense and rebounding. It is exactly this, defense and rebounding, that could potentially give Cleveland an edge over Los Angeles. However, it is looking more and more unlikely.

That is why, as of late February, the Los Angeles Lakers are my lock to win the NBA title come June. They are just too tough, too talented, and too focused to be denied this time around.

Personally, I would much rather watch a high-profile college basketball game than a high-profile NBA game. If I was given a choice to watch, during the regular season, a Duke-North Carolina rivalry game as opposed to a Boston-Los Angeles matchup, I would go with the college game, and for several reasons.

At the college level, players have more to prove than their counterparts in the pros. These college players, especially highly-rated prospects attending schools with strong basketball traditions, like Kentucky and Kansas, want to show NBA scouts that they are ready for and able to contribute at the next level. What makes them different from the pros is that there is still something else to achieve in their basketball careers. These prospects are not paid in college, so they have not accomplished anything with basketball yet, in terms of financial success and stability. NBA players, with a few exceptions, already have firm contracts, so they are financially secured. The result is that college players play more motivated and hungrier than professionals, which makes them more enjoyable to watch. This applies to the rest of the field, or those with no future in the NBA, who just want to prove themselves to their fellow students and school coaches. It just seems that college players, no matter their situation, try harder and put more effort into every single possession in the game. They leave it all on the floor.

Because players have more to prove and their motivation levels are higher than those of NBA players, college basketball games are more intense across the board than NBA games. From color commentators, such as Dick Vitale, Bobby Knight, and Digger Phelps, to coaches, like Bruce Pearl and John Calipari, the sphere of NCAA basketball is filled with passion and fire. More importantly, this intensity is felt on the court by the players themselves, who have everything to prove to scouts, coaches, and fans. Generated from the student bodies at most college games and the intensity on the court, excitement touches the players and propels them to perform at their best. Even star players, who are expected to succeed in the NBA, play as passionately as any other collegians. When you see John Wall of Kentucky and Xavier Henry of Kansas, two freshmen who will likely leave for the NBA after only one year in college, fired up on the court after an electrifying block or powerful dunk, you know you are witnessing something special. No matter their future, ranking, profile, or ability, all college players are touched by and create the excitement of NCAA basketball.

The presence of student bodies at college games, lacking in the NBA, adds a new dimension to an already intense atmosphere. Whether it is to cheer on their friends on the court, support their schools’ colors, compete with opposing fans, or for all of these reasons combined, students are always present at games in numbers. Their cheers and chants bring passion, intensity, and motivation. Whether it is Duke students at Cameron Indoor Stadium or Kentucky fans at Rupp Arena, the power of the student body is the same. It completes the sphere of college basketball, from players to coaches to parents and outside fans.

So, if you were to ask me how I would spend an evening watching basketball, I would choose, even though I love both levels of the sport, a broadcast from Chapel Hill showing the Duke-UNC rivalry game over an airing of a Celtics-Lakers game from the TD Banknorth Garden.