Martin Devlin: Finally, NBA finals were about basketball - not Drakey Fakey

Author: Martin Devlin,
Publish Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019, 1:33pm

Told ya so. I told ya so and I'm not the sort of person that rubs this stuff in when I'm right and you, yes you, you out there in listener/readership land get it so comprehensively wrong.

But this time I will because you deserve it and deserve to be reminded of it. Yesterday in Toronto there was a fantastically intense game five of the NBA finals and, and, and IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE BASKETBALL!!

How weird. How unusual. How much of a let down was it that the narrative was on-court and not suffocated by the buffoonery of a fading sideline popstar still trying to maintain his failing recording career. Tah-ra Drakey Fakey. Did anyone miss you yesterday? Did anyone at all, apart from your most brainwashed teeny-boppers, miss your sideshow for even a microsecond?

Hear that people? Listen real close. Concentrate for a minute and you will hear the sound of silence.

That noise called nothingness. Finally, the focus was off him and his antics and back on the hardwood where it should be.

Did the NBA come down heavy here? Did they issue an edict to the TV companies telling them enough is enough and to ditch the sideshow Drake stuff?

Hip hip hooray if they did. Significant coincidence then if they didn't given that it's gone from saturation coverage of his goonishness up to & including Game 4 to absolute zero yesterday in Game 5. No mention or coverage of him pre-match during match or post-match.

If you're still so obsessed with Drake instead of Durant then jump his instadick and snapchat his memes 'til your bookface aches. For the rest of us, everything about this series is already so engrossing we don't now nor never did need him as part of the narrative.

This story is about a team north of the border becoming the 1st ever to claim the biggest prize in world basketball. It's about the end of a dynasty - or the day the dream team, backs against the wall, pulled from nowhere an escape act only ever achieved at this level once before and that was by Le Bron and his Cleveland Cavaliers.

So on to Friday and another winner take all Game 6. Will Drake be there? My point is so what, why would we care? The game is about the players. Not those wanting to be them.