Top 2 seeds in conference finals

THE top two seeds in each conference have qualified for the Final Four of the ongoing National Basketball Association playoffs.

It will be 1-Atlanta (60-22) vs. 2-Cleveland (53-29) in the East and 1-Golden State (67-15) vs. 2-Houston (56-26).

Additionally, each of the four teams in the best-of-seven conference finals is a division winner – Hawks (Southeast), Cavaliers (Central), Warriors (Pacific) and Rockets (Southwest).

By virtue of a better record during the regular season, Atlanta and Golden State will be enjoying homecourt advantage over Cleveland and Houston, respectively.

During the regulars, the Hawks whipped the Cavaliers, 3-1, and the Warriors whitewashed the Rockets, 4-0.

Houston, which won NBA titles in 1994-95, earned a conference final ticket for the first time since 1997.

Atlanta is appearing in a conference championship series for the first time in its current location although the Hawks won the NBA title in 1958 when they were in St. Louis.

Golden State is in its first conference finals since 1976, the year after the Warriors annexed their lone NBA diadem in the Bay Area. The Warriors were NBA titlists in 1947 and 1956 when they were still located in Philadelphia.

Cleveland has yet to win an NBA championship since joining the league in 1970-71 although the Cavaliers made it to the NBA Finals in 2007 – when the San Antonio Spurs swept them 4-0 in LeBron’s first tour of duty in the Wine City. The city of Cleveland, in fact, has not won a U.S. major pro sports league title since 1964 when athlete-turned actor Jim Brown powered the Browns to the National Football League crown.

For the 22nd time in NBA history, the top two finishers in the Most Valuable Player derby will be facing each other in the playoffs. The MVP winner is ahead, 14-7, in such confrontations, the most recent being in 2012 when LeBron James, then with the Miami Heat (and now in the first year of his second tour of duty with Cleveland) defeated Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder, 4-1, in the NBA Finals.

During the playoffs’ second round (conference semifinals), Atlanta beat Washington, 4-2, Cleveland whipped Chicago, 4-2, Golden State knocked off Memphis, 4-2, and Houston survived past the Los Angeles Clippers in a maximum seven games.

A common denominator: Each came down to a team capturing the last three games of a series to advance. The Hawks, Cavs and Warriors all were down, 2-1, before staging a three-game comeback.

The Rockets, on the other hand, were behind, 3-1, in their matchup against the Clippers before winning the last three, including home triumphs in the fifth and seventh games. The Texas squad thus became only the ninth club in league annals to secure a best-of-seven playoff series after trailing 3-1.

Previously, the most recent squad to accomplish the feat were the 2006 Phoenix Suns, who rallied to beat Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in a first-round duel.

The Rockets’ series victory over the Clippers marked the second time in franchise history that they had overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven. In 1995, en route to retaining its NBA crown via a 4-0 sweep of Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals, Houston faced a 3-1 deficit against Phoenix in the West conference semifinals but advanced to the next round with three consecutive victories over the Suns, including road successes in the fifth and seven contests.

The Clippers missed out of a conference final berth for the 45th straight year for the longest drought of such kind in NBA history. The Clippers, in fact, have not made it past the second round at any time in their franchise existence, counting the years they were known as the Buffalo Braves and San Diego Clippers.

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Sixty years old – now universally recognized as a “senior citizen” for people who have reached that age – this battle-scarred Filipino just turned last Saturday.

For the younger generation, life begins at 40. But for Baby Boomers like me, life begins at 60.

And please cut whatever joke you have in mind; a rocking chair is not yet warranted for this Hoopster, who is still rockin’ and rollin’ albeit at a speed of  33 1/3 rpm.

And like the 1960s American singing duo of (Paul) Simon and (Art) Garfunkel, I am “Still Crazy After All These Years” with the game of basketball.

I continue to “eat” basketball for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Concededly, however, I have become a hoops dinosaur who perhaps is nearing the 46th minute of a 48-minute contest.

Aside from playing the game itself since the mop-head Fabulous Four from Liverpool, England who were collectively known as the Beatles joined the American musical scene in 1964 via the Ed Sullivan television show and churning out hits like “I Saw Her Standing There, “A Hard Day’s Night” and yeah-yeah-yeah “She Loves You,” I have been chronicling local and international basketball for most of my earthly existence.

The passion for the sport got into me real early.

At the tender age of eight, I have already been into basketball, reading hoops materials from here and abroad and witnessing countless local ballgames “live” at the old Rizal Memorial Coliseum and world-famous Araneta Coliseum.

Since then, I have not looked back.

Along the way, I flirted with some other sports such as professional boxing, soccer (or what is more known now as football), bowling and table tennis.

I took up soccer, bowling and “pingpong” (the Chinese term for table tennis) but never did I dare try boxing with the skinny bones that I had.

I also was fascinated with the work ethic and Jeet Kune Do fighting style of the late iconic martial artist Bruce Lee as a teenager in the early 1970s. (Of Hong Kong Chinese descent, the San Francisco, California-born Lee died in Kowloon on July 20, 1973 at the age of 32). Then there was this funny actor Ramon Zamora who spiced up his Lee spoofs in the movies with his “Kenkoy” acts.

Take everything aside, there was the girl-oogling that most teenagers do to freshen or lighten up – oh how we fell for movie sirens like Ursula Andress, Sophia Lauren, Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot and Tunisian-born Claudia Cardinale.

Then and as it is now, how does one win the hearts of the ladies (or girls) in red? You earn “pogi” points by playing hoops or simply act funny (like Dolphy or Vic Sotto). The girls often swoon when, as the late musician-composer Del Shannon says, “The joker went wild.”

At 60, I am still crazy over hoops and nets, more excited than ever with the budding basketball career of my 12-year-old son.

Justin Miguel has been recruited to play for the varsity basketball team of the Talayan Village, Quezon City-based Philadelphia High School this year.  His Indianapolis 500-like speed and long wingspan are his tangible assets at the moment.

Like the Carpenters, JM has only just begun and scratched the surface of his cage career. As for this Hoopster, a second childhood is in full bloom with JM on my mind.

Basketball never stops.

The journey continues till I could no longer hear the bounce of a ball or ultimately have caught my last breath.

With God’s graces, I intend to live for another 60 years.