The Lesson of This Year's Incredible NBA Finals: It's Basketball That Matters

Reuters/Mike Segar

Every week, our panel of sports fans discusses a topic of the moment. For today's conversation, Hampton Stevens (writer, ESPN and The Atlantic) Patrick Hruby (writer, Sports on Earth and The Atlantic), and Jake Simpson (writer, The Atlantic) discuss this year's NBA finals, which ended last night with the Miami Heat beating the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game Seven.

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Stevens: Now that's a show.

There were blowouts and comebacks, and anonymous heroes that outshone superstars.

There was the bone-dry deadpan wit of Greg Popovioch growing more monosyllabic as the series progressed. There was Ray Allen's shot in Game Six. No, r! eally. It happened. There was Ginobili and Parker held together with duct tape and prayer, and the legendarily unemotional Tim Duncan furiously slapping the floor after missing a fourth-quarter layup. Oh, yeah. There was some guy from Akron, Ohio, who is very, very good at basketball. In the end, there was the Miami defense; swarming, pounding, banging, contesting every Spurs pass.

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Related Story

The Agony of Game 7: Can Sports Be Too Exciting?

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! There is an authentic, if seemingly perverse joy in being a f! an who doesn't care. Rather than dining on cuticles and anxiety while living and dying with every dribble, the uninterested fan gets to float loftily above the action, dispassionately observing the athletic prowess. That's me in this series.

Kansas City hasn't had an NBA franchise since Sacramento stole the Kings. We do have a professional basketball team, though. They are called the Jayhawks, and some in the bar where I saw last night's game were pro-Miami for the fairly tenuous reason that Mario Chalmers went to KU. The rest of the crowd, like most of the country, were pro-Spurs. Or, really, anti-Heat. As my friend Tim Finn wrote, San Antonio is a band. Miami is a supergroup.

Maybe. There something innately unlovable about any team with so much going for them. That's why the rest of the world resents the USA. We're the Heat of global politics. But that "high-priced collection of stars" narrative for Miami didn't feel true for the last seven games. They playe! d like a team, smart and hard, and they played it clean, too. I'm won over. At least until next season starts.

That "high-priced collection of stars" narrative for Miami didn't feel true for the last seven games. They played like a team, smart and hard.

Other than Jesus Shuttlesworth hitting a three-pointer, the most memorable moment of this year's Finals was the last one. After the buzzer when both teams and all the coaches met and congratulated each other--including midcourt hugs--it didn't look like a phony display of sportsmanship for the camera. That felt like the real thing. We saw genuine expressions of the respect, affection, and shared gratitude that can only come between athletes who have given each other the great and rare gift of a truly worthy opponent.

I'll bitch about the NBA from now until the Kings come home. The extra steps, the endle! ss season, the infuriating inconsistency of officials. Don't get me sta! rted on flopping. But these last two weeks are enough to make you forgive it all. Basketball is over for a while--unless you care about the guys in suits who play with ping-pong balls. But before we let the 2013 season go, give me your thoughts on this dynamite finals.

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Hruby: After it was over--after American Airlines arena had mostly emptied out and LeBron James and company were gearing up for celebratory early morning pizza--ESPN talking head Bill Simmons announced that he had something to say. About "The Decision," James' infamous live TV breakup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a sports-celebrity-snake-eating-its-tail hypefest that launched a thousand furious columns and radio segments. That was three years ago. Even Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has moved on. But whatever. This was LeBron, and wit! h LeBron it's always something, and airtime abhors a vacuum, and so here was Simmons to tell us what it all means, because that's the conversation--and then, gloriously, the screen went dark. Silent, too. Like the end of The Sopranos.

I can't think of a better coda.

Here's what I'll remember most about these Finals: The games themselves were the thing. The signal drowned out the noise. The basketball--you know, the athletic exhibition taking place between the Tweeting and scribbling and kvetching about James's psyche and his place in history and who would win an arm-wrestling contest on the moon, James or Michael Jordan or Mini-Ditka?--was terrific. It was glorious. The series was exciting, unpredictable, intense, expertly played, a delight for hardcore and casu! al fans alike. Even the blowout games were intriguing.

Here's what I'll remember most about these Finals: The games themselves were the thing. The signal drowned out the noise.

Like you, Hampton, I didn't have a rooting interest. And like you, I found so much to relish and appreciate regardless: Dwyane Wade's sore knee-defying eruption; Manu Ginobili's swashbuckling throwback game; Danny Green's metamorphosis into Ray Allen 2.0; Allen 1.0's clutch shot-making; Chris Bosh's defense and hustle plays; Tony Parker's one-legged cleverness and perseverance; James's vastly improved jumper and overall two-way excellence; the tactical back-and-forth between Gregg Popovich and Erik Spoelstra; the quiet ferocity of Kahwi Leonard; Tim Duncan's inexplicable Game Seven steal-and-breakaway-slam.

None of this needed larding. It didn't need umpteen hours of pre-and-post game analysis, of breathlessly desperate tonight ... destiny is on the line! salesmanship, of all the big and little things we do! to reassure ourselves that sports are, you know, important and stuff. All the things that can sometimes make watching the actual competition seem like a letdown. An afterthought. Maybe just a chore. The things that seem to cling to James in particular like barnacles. Legacy and "The Decision" and blah blah blah. I say the hell with all that. Life is what happens when you're busy figuring out whose head to carve into the side of some imaginary basketball Great Pyramid of Giza. The 2013 Finals gave us seven joyful games, full of moments that were enjoyable in and of themselves - and for me, at least, that was more than enough.

Jake, what will you remember about this series?

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Simpson: Seriously, guys? All those eloquent words on the beauty of a truly legendary Finals and a couple pithy sentence about LeBron James? Sorry, I can't let the King's coronation pass without acknowledgement.

See, Michael Jordan took the NBA's Iron Throne! not during his first Finals victory, but in the first half of Game One of his title defense the following year, when he torched Clyde Drexler for 35 points, six three-pointers and one unforgettable shrug. This was LeBron's first chance to defend a championship, which everyone from Bill Russell to Magic Johnson says is far more difficult than winning just one. And after three quarters of Game Six, his Heat were 10 points down and in danger of becoming basketball's version of Peyton Manning's Colts.

Then LeBron simply elevated his game, literally and figuratively. He became an assassin on defense, with unimaginably athletic and aggressive ball pressure. He sprung--that is the only word for it--up to block a Duncan dunk attempt at the rim. He scored 18 of Miami's 38 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a desperation three-pointer to keep the Heat alive and the game-winning jumper! in OT. And after Tim Duncan quietly pulled off an illegal substitution with five seconds left in regulation and the score knotted at 95, LeBron blanketed Parker and forced him into a desperation heave that fell well short.

That effort merely set the stage for LeBron's Game Seven, a 37-12 masterpiece that was probably worth closer to 60 points. As LeBron said after the game, "When my shot's falling, I'm unstoppable." His shot was falling. And he was unstoppable. He made the game his own (with much-needed assists from Wade and Shane Battier), and for good measure, he shut down Parker at the other end. Oh, and he drilled a dagger 20-footer to put Miami up four with 30 seconds left and seal the Spurs' fate.

"I want to be the greatest, or one of the greatest, to ever play the game," LeBron ! said. Who are we to doubt him now?

So let's recap: To d! efend his first title, LeBron averaged a 25-11-7 on 45 percent shooting over seven games against the smartest, best-coached, and most complete team in the NBA, and finished the series with a 32-10-11 in Game 6 and the 37-12 in Game 7. And as you guys pointed out, the numbers don't begin to tell the story of this Finals, one of those double-rainbow-like occasions in sports where two great teams take each other to a higher level in a championship series and push the limits of what is possible.

There are so many amazing things to remember from this seven-game basketball dream that it will take a book to fill them all. Even the Game Seven postgame, after almost everyone had gone to bed drunk on a great series, had memorable moments. Wade saying he still doesn't know what Kawhi Leonard sounds like and adding: "He's a baaaad boy." Magic calling Wade "the most unselfish person on the face of the Earth" and shattering the Hyperbole Scale. LeBron, cradling the Larry O'Brien T! rophy under one arm and the Finals MVP trophy under the other, secure in his place atop the basketball world, revving his engines to chase Jordan and Russell and make his claim for the Greatest of All Time. "I want to be the greatest, or one of the greatest, to ever play the game," the King said. Who are we to doubt him now?

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Face Veils and the Saudi Arabian Plague

The MERS virus up close (in yellow). (AP)

At first, it causes a fever and mild cough. In a few days, full-blown pneumonia sets in and it moves on to wreak havoc on the kidneys. There's no cure or vaccine, and about six out of 10 patients die.

Health officials are reacting to this new Saudi Arabian virus with the appropriate level of alarm:

"My greatest concern right now is the novel coronavirus," Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a World Health Assembly meeting in May. "We do not know where the virus hides in nature. We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these questions, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention."

The new SARS-like disease, also known as MERS, has infected at least 60 people in the Middle East and killed at least 38. Four new deaths were announced Monday. It's appeared in eight countries, but most of the affected live in Saudi Arabia. Now health officials are scrambling to figure out how to curb its spread during Ramadan, the ongoing holiday that ends in a massive celebration, and before the October Hajj pilgrimage, in which millions of Muslims gather at Mecca.

(AP)

"Everyone is very aware of the fact that Ramadan begins next month and that there will be a large, large movement of people in a small crowded spaces," Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the WHO, told the Telegraph. "So the more we know about this virus before that starts the better."

This week, 80 doctors and health officials are meeting in Cairo to try to come up with an appropriate response to the virus, whose origin has so far baffled specialists.

The disease first appeared last fall in Saudi Arabia and seemed similar to a strain carried by bats. It comes from the same family as SARS, which killed 800 people worldwide in 2003, and it similarly spreads through close contact and causes severe immune system reactions. What's alarming about MERS is that it spreads within hospitals, even when patients are not in close proximity to one another, and its mortality rate is much higher -- 65 percent .

Saudi Arabia strictly enforces the separation of the sexes, and in another confusing development, more than twice as many men as women have contracted MERS -- making for interesting case study how cultural practices impact responses to disease.

The author of a recent New England Journal of Medicine study on the virus, Alimuddin I. Zumla, said he didn't know the reason behind the gender difference, but then he offered the New York Times a guess:

"I don't think the virus prefers any gender," Dr. Zumla said, adding that he suspected that Saudi women might be protected by their veils, which cover their mouths and noses and might help keep the virus out.

Over at Discover, infectious disease specialist Rebecca Kreston pokes holes in that theory. The niqab, or face veil, doesn't reduce the likelihood of catching respiratory infections, it seems:

In a 2001 study on the effect of the niqab veil on incidence of respiratory disease in Saudi women, researchers unexpectedly found that bronchial asthma and the common cold "were significantly more common in veils users;" wearing the veil may have contributed to dense, wet spots close to the mouth and nose which could faciliate the growth of organisms that lead to infection.

Indeed, in a 2006 study of respiratory infections during the Hajj, researchers did find that pilgrims were more likely to contract a virus when they stayed at the Hajj longer or when they prayed at particularly crowded mosques. They also found that while men at the Hajj could reduce the likelihood of infection by wearing a protective face mask, that didn't hold true for women and their niqabs. (However, the authors note that women sometimes take off their veils when inside and in the presence of other women, so it's not a perfect proxy for a facemask, which is worn more consistently.)

The NEJM study on MERS found that 50 percent of female cases in hospitals were infected by other women within their gender-segregated wards. But there's still a lot we don't know about the patients and what they did before they died. Kreston raises a few questions:

Were infected woman convalescing in hospital wards wearing their niqabs and the abaya robe that cover the length of their body, which may have reduced their exposure to MERS within the hospital environment? Was it the case that the niqab protected women from infection or because they have inflexible, highly structured and segregated relations with men which negated any possibility of exposure?

It could be that purdah, the system in which men and women in conservative Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia live separate lives, somehow prevented women from coming into contact with infected men. Describing a Riyadh household where four men fell ill with the virus but none of their female care-takers did, researchers previously noted that the men interacted with society far more than their spouses and daughters did:

"All adult and adolescent male family members shared meals together and ate separately from female relations and their young children. The men also socialized and visited the local mosque together." 

Or it could also be that women are less likely, for either cultural or economic reasons, to access health care, or to work as health care providers.

So far, the CDC hasn't advocated calling off plans to travel to the Middle East or to Saudi Arabia, and the agency advises travelers to simply wash their hands and avoid sick people. But it will be interesting to see if the particular customs of Saudi Arabia somehow either hastens or slows the spread of what could be the new global pandemic. Or maybe the WHO will advise female pilgrims to pull face-masks over their niqabs.

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How Many Cat Pics Does the NSA Have to Click Through?

Thought your friendly neighborhood NSA analyst isn't the fuzzy animal type? Well, okay, there's really no way to tell, and it's hard to know exactly how much Internet traffic ends up in the government's hands — the exact scope and reach of the NSA monitoring program PRISM are unknown. What we do know, however, is that adorable animals make up a relatively significant slice of social sharing.

"I can tell you that around 2 percent of social links are some cute fuzzy animal. There are actually more photos of dogs than cats that are shared, and yet somehow cats have metaphorically come to represent the Internet," said Bitly's chief scientist Hilary Mason at The Atlantic and Aspen Institute's New York Ideas festival in May.

On a more serious note, she and Atlantic writer Megan Garber went on to discuss the privacy entanglements facing social sharing companies. "I do think there is a tension there that is a policy question: What right do we as consumers have to the data people are collecting about us?" she said.

You can see a clip from their conversation below, which offers a few interesting perspectives on the image problem that's been haunting data gathering in the past couple of weeks.

Even if it's unclear whether NSA analysts have to sort through the world's diet of cute animal clips, it's fun to imagine, right?

NSA Director Keith Alexander looking at cat pic hologram (Images courtesy of Artcic Wolves/Flickr and Emilian Robert Vicol/Flickr; editing by The Atlantic)

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Ask Alison: When Cats Stand in the Way of Love

quinn.anya/Flickr

I've been seeing this guy for over a month now. We live over an hour away, but we get together every week. He was always the perfect gentleman, nice and affectionate. Suddenly something changed, though. Now he seems distant. We haven't talked about being a couple yet but we agreed on being exclusive sexually as soon as it happened. To my surprise, during a recent conversation with my girlfriend he said that we are just friends. I questioned him about it and he explained he wants to take it slow. That is ok with me, but it was a big turn off -- I would assume we are at least dating. I made it clear from the beginning that I'm not interested in a friends-with-benefits arrangement. Do you think I'm overreacting or is he trying to take advantage of m! e?

I don't really understand the phrase "take advantage," at least not this situation. Unless he's trying to extort money from you, or use you to make business contacts, or one of the other plot lines from Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. You are an adult who entered into an agreement with another adult, where the two of you exchange time for an emotional and sexual connection. Now it sounds like he would like to change the terms of said agreement.

Don't be small. Don't apologize for being a human.

More than wanting to be friends with benefits, it sounds like this guy might just be done. There could be a million reasons as to why he's distant: busy at work, family problems, just started that part of the hero's journey where he has to go underground, etc. Personally, when I'm dating someone that I'm excited about, I don't go to our mutual friends and imply that our relationship is platonic.

If ! you guys were able to have a talk about being sexually exclusi! ve, you should be able to talk about this growing distance. It sucks that some people are so terrified of having a conversation that they'll let things drag out for months, causing hurt feelings and confusion. It's funny the damage you can cause by trying to avoid conflict. You should never have to say (or type) the phrase, "I would assume we are at least dating." That means you're not. Or you won't be for much longer.

One last thing, because, I'm sorry, it sounds this non-relationship is over and I encourage you to end it instead of lingering. In your question you asked if you were overreacting. I feel like I hear that a lot from women in their twenties. Like, "Am I being crazy because this guy is making me sad?" Don't be small. Don't apologize for being a human. No, feeling hurt and neglected is not overreacting when someone is hurting or neglecting you. Please lord, if nothing else, don't apologize for the way you feel. Really, even if it's nuts. If you can comm! unicate what you are feeling and the steps that got you to that point to a person, your life is going to be so much easier. It's taken me 27 years to realize that. I hope it doesn't take you as long.

My girlfriend and I have been dating for over a year and we're very happy except for one thing ... her cat. I'm very allergic, to the point where I can't be in her apartment for more than five minutes without my face turning into a runny mess. Zyrtec helps a little, but not enough to where I'm not comfortable. We spend most of our time at my place, which is basically a post-college frat house and not ideal for either of us. I love my girlfriend but it's hard for me to imagine a future with her AND this thing that makes miserable. Would it be terrible if I asked her to find the cat a new home?

I have a roommate who I absolutely adore. We have similar sensibilities, keep similar hours, and are equal amounts of messy. I would live with her forever e! xcept for one thing: she has a cat. I'm not allergic but hoo boy do I h! ate this thing. He's just a shitty cat. He hisses at me at least once a day, he won't let me pet him but he'll sit in the room and just stare at me, and his fur is on e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. It's a little bit like living with the ghost of a mean teenage girl, and I hate every minute of it. I like to imagine my life without Bill Murray (that's the cat's name, which is such a waste of a great name on a terrible animal). It would just make every single thing .04 percent better. He wouldn't be here to put his butt on everything, or sneak into my room, or knock shit off counters: paradise. I would be in paradise.

That being said, I know it will never happen, because my roommate loves her stupid cat so much. Sooooooo much. Girls love cats man, I don't know why, it seems like a bum deal.

So no, you can't ask your girlfriend to get rid of her cat. For one, pet ownership is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. You're only a year in, are you willing to ma! ke an equally serious commitment? Maybe not marriage, but are you two even talking about moving in together? Second, she loves it. A fact I'm deducing from the fact that she is a girl and it is a cat. Don't make her choose, because you may not like the answer. The cat is a guaranteed 10 to 15 year commitment, sometimes even longer because cats are horrible and feed on sadness. If you ask her to get rid of it and she does, there could be resentment that poisons the relationship.

It's a little bit like living with the ghost of a mean teenage girl and I hate every minute of it.

I think your best course of action is for you to try and find a new place. If that's not an option for you right now financially, start saving for it; make it a priority. That gives you another year or two to figure out the cat thing. You're right that it's hard to see a sharing a life with someone whose lifestyle you're allergic to. And yes, owning a ! cat is a lifestyle. I refuse to let this cat be the demise of an otherw! ise healthy relationship, because it will only make its species stronger, so let's brainstorm a few more ideas.

You said that you have tried Zyrtec, which is an antihistamine, with limited success. Have you tried getting prescription steroid? Your doctor might have some other ideas as well. I know there is an allergy shot you can get, which is terrible, but might be worth a try. Your girlfriend should also try to keep the cat hair and dander to minimum, which I know can be a struggle because as stated above, cats are horrible animals that leave their disgusting fur on everything just for the sheer joy of ruining your life little by little. It might take a little extra work, but I think you two can keep the cat from winning.

I have this friend who is always very flirty with me. He isn't seeing anyone, and neither am I. We have stayed up all night talking several times and I feel like there is real chemistry there but whenever I talk about taking it to! another level, he sort of mutters something about ruining the friendship and disappears for a week or two. Then he comes back and in no time, we're right back in same close, almost romantic friendship. What should I do? I know that he likes me and I like him, so why isn't it happening?

Sound like it's not happening because he doesn't want it to. He's comfortable with the semi-relationship he's found, where he can be close to someone emotionally without having to be overly involved. And you know what? That should be fine. On paper, it's the first half of a rom-com where two best buds are just going about their lives, being buddies and then WHAM one day, they love each other, starring Ashton Kutcher and a blonde girl.

But it never happens that way. Or at least, I don't know anyone that has had that happen. Usually there are two people that get close, one develops feelings that the other doesn't have and then things get really weird. You and this dude! are now just doing this on repeat because he doesn't want to lose you ! as a friend and you're still holding out hope for something more. His response to your advances is probably not going to change unless drugs or alcohol are involved and if you want this situation to get any more uncomfortable. Regretful sex with a close friend? It's the worst, trust me on this.

Don't be a Noel Crane. Don't lust over this guy for years and get all weird when he chooses Ben. Remember in season four when Felicity travels back in time and she picks Noel and it's super weird? There is a reason you two aren't together romantically and if it was going to happen, it would have happened by now.

Touchstone

You have two options: you can accept your role as the plucky best friend, where you try to hide your feelings and s! abotage his relationships, or you distance yourself from him for a while, maybe permanently. That's it. Choose one. It's hard to lose a friend, hard to end a relationship. But it's much harder to be hurt over and over by the person you are closest to. It can stunt you emotionally and may keep you from having a real and mutually romantic relationship. I'm not saying that you should cut this person out of your life -- you two obviously care about each other and have a connection -- but you can't follow him around like a puppy, either. If you give yourself some time apart and can come back as just friends (and really be fine with that, not just pretending you're fine with it), then go for it.

Also, I want it on the record that Noel is the only good person on Felicity. So maybe DO be a Noel, minus the unrequited love thing.

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If you have questions about relationship etiquette, please send them to Ask Alison [at]! The Atlantic (.com).

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Introducing the Events Channel

Liz Lynch; Kristoffer Tripplaar Photography; Max Taylor/The Atlantic

Readers of this website and our print magazine may not realize The Atlantic has a powerful third platform for communicating big ideas to our audience: live events. Each year, AtlanticLIVE puts on more than 130 events, from 50-person forums in Washington to two-day festivals in New York to the weeklong, 2,800-attendee Aspen Ideas Festival, which, as it happens, starts next week. Recent speakers at these events have included John McCain, Eric Schmidt, Nancy Pelosi, Mario Batali, Madeleine Albright, Bill Gates, Marissa Mayer, Joe Biden, and many more.

The new Events Channel will cover the most interesting and consequential ideas to emerge from these conversations. We'll tell these stories in a variety of ways: text, video, charts, and photos. Posts might include original video, like this piece about South Florida's transformation into a hub for entrepreneurship, which we shot as part of this spring's Start-Up City: Miami event. Others will provide a snapshot of a pressing issue, like this post about what's at stake among a menagerie of deficit hawks, doves, and even owls at this spring's Economy Summit.

For those who attend Atlantic events, we hope the Events Channel will extend the conversations beyond the conference hall. For the many, many other readers of TheAtlantic.com, we hope it will distill useful or provocative arguments for further thought. Ultimately, we want the channel to provide a starting point for examining debates of the day.

You can find information about upcoming events here, including links to register for events and access live streaming video. Questions about events can be directed here; comments, critiques, and inspirations about our editorial coverage, here.

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