This is the business David Stern has chosen; or, don't cry for me, Manu Ginobili

Only a couple more dominoes have to topple before we will have the Lakers-Celtics NBA final (none of the Finals nonsense here) that David Stern knew was what you really wanted. Sure, maybe you tried to claim otherwise, but, uh, yeah, it's time to submit.

"This is what sets the NBA apart from every other team sport in North America: Everyone who loves pro basketball assumes it's a little fixed. We all think the annual draft lottery is probably rigged, we all accept that the league aggressively wants the big market teams to advance deep into the playoffs, and we all concede that certain marquee players are going to get preferential treatment for no valid reason. The outcomes of games aren't predetermined or scripted, but there are definitely dark forces that play with our reality. There are faceless puppet masters who pull strings and manipulate the purity of justice. It's not necessarily a full-on conspiracy, but it's certainly not fair. And that's why the NBA remains the only game that matters: Pro basketball is exactly like life."
-- Chuck Klosterman (Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, p. 96)

Bucholtz had a good post on this yesterday. It says here San Antonio has a little karmic payback coming after the hosing Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns got in last season's playoffs.

Related:
Use The Stern Button, David! (Sporting Madness)