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"FacebookPinterest\n\nNo offense to the brave city of Dallas or their championship team that was all but eradicated for this season, but 2010-11 felt like a transition season. The Mavs relied heavily on Dirk Nowitzki's Teutonic majesty and Tyson Chandler's defensive mind-games, but they were saved by hot-shooting randoms and improbable comebacks throughout their DVD-ready quest. It was hard to imagine them pulling it off again, and fittingly enough, that team is no more. We expected 2011-12 to bring more of the same unrest, or push straight into the future. Somehow, things haven't worked out like that.\n\nWhat was last season's murk like? The Heat, believe it or not, were only playing their first season together, an experiment that actually deserved the term. Oklahoma City, young and still sorting out its team dynamic, could easily have beat Dallas and ended up in the Finals themselves. The Bulls, which combined Derrick Rose's awesome firepower with Tom Thibodeau's coaching maneuvers, similarly blew up ahead of schedule. The league's older powers seemed to be on the way down. The elderly Lakers were unmanned in the second round by the Mavs, themselves no spring chickens; LeBron finally got past those pesky Celtics; the Spurs, for once, could not strike fear and consternation into the hearts of opponents (and announcers) on reputation alone.\n\nThis season was supposed to bring some resolution, and with it, the keys to the future. We could see it on the horizon, and it tasted so good, but the transition from old to new would have to be completed for this new class of power teams to take the reins. The Heat made the Finals, but LeBron left us mystified once again. They simply had to win at some point. The Bulls needed another strong season to cement their status. And the Thunder, assuming they could answer questions about the impetuous Russell Westbrook's place on the team, seemed ready to make LeBron vs. Durant the new LeBron vs. Kobe, even if both dudes are thoroughly enmeshed in their team concept. There was also the relocation of Chris Paul to the Clippers, which promised all sorts of \"this can't be happening but it is\" basketball excellence.\n\nIf the veteran teams were to have a role, it would be as nuisance, gadflies, corpses of once-distinguished men limping around the astral plane with their finest robes and toughest muskets. In 2010, a Celtics team that had stumbled through the regular season, showing its age and battling injury throughout, got hot in the playoffs and made it all the way to the Finals. It wasn't exactly a Cinderella run, since Boston had won a title in 2008, and had on the roster Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and a greatly improved Rajon Rondo. But it was certainly expected, and at some point, the only explanation for their postseason strength was a shrug and some cliche about veterans.\n\nIt was a lot like the perennial \"don't bet against the Spurs.\" San Antonio, no matter what kind of season it has had, can never be fully counted out of the playoffs. In part, this was due to the Spurs strategy of holding back until late in the season, generously resting players, and the overall sneaky brilliance of Gregg Popovich. But there's also a sense of awe, or fear, surrounding the team, no matter what their regular season looked like (in recent years, the Spurs have had been quietly shuffling their hierarchy in anticipation of the post-Duncan days.)\n\nThis season, though, the Celtics and Spurs aren't going to sneak up on anyone or overpower teams through veteran wisdom alone. The Spurs have flirted with the top of the West, and the best record in the league, for much of the season. Tony Parker has emerged as a dark horse MVP candidate, unexpected \"finds\" have filled out the roster, and reclamation projects like Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw have once again proven the power of Pop as a guru of all that is righteous in the hoops biz. The Celtics have come on strong as of late, sticking Kevin Garnett at center and going from a team that was on the verge of drafting a living will to looking like a legit force in the East.\n\nNeither team is going to shock the world if they win playoff games; we'll have had abundant time to understand how and why they succeed, and there will be little to no mysticism involved in their performance. They are, plain and simple, proof that older teams can sometimes just be good, and not have to be described in vague, drippy, adjective-laden terms in order for us to make sense of them. Much of this could also be said of the Lakers. Getting Ramon Sessions, a long-underrated guard who has deserved a FREE RAMON campaign for most of his career, changed the complexion of the team and seemingly cured much of their dysfunction.\n\nThe Bulls, Heat, and Thunder are the young, exciting teams who view the playoffs as a chance to craft a legacy. The Celtics, Spurs, and Lakers are older squads who have found a way to compete on a high level even as they go for what might be their last hurrah. If 2011-12 is about this tension between teams that aren't quite there, and those that won't go away, the regular season excellence of the latter suggests that it's not a matter of transition, but of both sides of the equation representing a different kind of strength. We're not expecting miracles of either variety. If Oklahoma City wins a title, it will be a rapid, if thoroughly earned, ascent. If Boston does, we'll know it wasn't a triumph of the Old Gods and mysterious dark arts known only to those of creaky knees and waning careers. At this point, though, it's clear that old and new aren't passing each other in the night, but drawing lines in the sand and getting ready for a Final Battle of sorts. Enjoy it while you can. Torch-passing is usually inevitable and kind of sad, not a test of the new that just may upset our notions of whether, in fact, it is time for a change."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/prepare-for-the-ultimate-nba-battle-of-old-versus-young>