The 76ers, Celtics, and Pistons collected 5 of the 10 NBA Titles prior to Chicago's first half of what was to be a two season, six episode saga. Trophies were being collected in the Northern section of the U.S. while southern teams, with the sole exception of the Lakers, failed over and over again.
When people refer to "the good old days" they're talking about this most violent, Northern dominated time in professional basketball. (This may be true)
Let us move forward in our time machine. The first Bulls three-peat had just ended and Michael Jordan allegedly roamed the Earth preaching compassion and kindness while practicing meditation and selflessly gambling away all the earthly possessions he had amassed. The year is 1994 and the Houston Rockets win the first of two consecutive titles. One trophy is snatched from the Knicks, the other from the Orlando Magic.
This marks the beginning of the end for northern dominance. Winters, hustle and bustle, smaller portions of food, sunlessness for days at a time, pale skin, public transportation. No more.
Over the past 19 NBA seasons 14 championship teams have called the South their home. Seven titles reside in the state of Texas, five titles belong to California, and two titles have migrated to South Beach. Meanwhile, only five titles have been attained north of the Mason Dixon line over that time period. Three of those titles belong to the Bulls.
That's not all.
Rainy city/suicide capital of the U.S., Seattle, was stripped of a team. The franchise was moved to Oklahoma City, north of Texas. Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska don't have professional basketball teams. The Timberwolves are far from a team all those states would dare support. Fortunately, some of them are close enough to Illinois to call themselves Bulls fans. Yet there's something terribly amiss about this whole situation. The NBA has become a global giant with fans all over the world and players from all sorts of countries. Still, some states right here at home are missing out on the fun/misery.
What do people in that strange northern section of this country do? Watch NASCAR? Strictly watch football? Maybe hockey is big up there. It's quite possible that they're hunter gatherers, a lifestyle that would make these people much more fit than the rest of us. And what is up with this Texan reign of terror? They can add another title to their collection within a week, and if they fail to do so it's staying in the South with the Heat. That adds up to 20 NBA seasons of overwhelming Southern dominance.
Hope: although northern teams have become the equivalent of your friends that go out solely to document their going out on social networking sites ("look at how great my life is!") while sulking through the other 95% of life, there are some glimmers of hope that shine through the Instagram pics (pix, pictures, photos, fotos) and Vine...vines? The 1988-89, 1989-90 champion Detroit Pistons were a bruising team that made a bloody living off of physical play and had multiple hitmen on the payroll. The three-peat Bulls were physical as well, but a visible transformation was taking place in the league. Finesse play and players had infiltrated the one time playground of high elbows and hand checks. This is how the South took over. Tim Duncan introduced himself as a seven footer that went glass; there was only one Shaq and no one physical enough to stop him; Dwyane Wade set a record for free throw attempts in a Finals series; Dirk Nowitzki taught us that in Europe very tall humans shoot jumpers; and the Heat have lectured us on how much rebounding doesn't really matter anymore if you can outrun, outpace and gracefully blitz any and all of your opponents. But the times are changing again. The 3rd and 4th place Pacers and Grizzlies resemble the Malice at the Palace Pistons and the Boozer-Noah Bulls will fight you, literally. These teams frustrated finesse guards and forwards by dictating the pace of ugly games. Teams are getting bigger to combat small ball and they've found some success. This bodes well for the chaotic brand of ball played by the not so pretty North.
Although the transformation has not come full circle, and it very well may never happen, the war cry can be clearly heard. A handful of Northerners have decided it's time to play by the rules of a past time. A time when faces were regularly smashed, eyebrows were not waxed, bow ties were not worn, and men made a point of being the fouler and not the fouled. A time David Stern has done his best to sweep under the rug of star friendly Southern basketball.
It is no coincidence that this post has the sound and feel of a Game of Thrones episode. R.I.P. everyone that died this season.
- Alex Moran
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