In Praise of the Underdog

Remember the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals? The dominant, overpowering Red Wings went up against an overachieving group of no-names out of the East who just happened to be playing in front of a red-hot goalie. Detroit lost to the Devils in four games.

There are tremendous similarities between the 1995 Devils and the 2002 Carolina Hurricanes. I'm not prepared to compare Martin Brodeur to Arturs Irbe (though that may be the hometown bias coming into play), but I'm also not prepared to count Carolina out against Detroit. They'll make a series of it, though I still predict Detroit to win.

Strangely, a scenario similar to this has played out several times in the past year. In October, it was the supposedly hapless Diamondbacks going up against the powerhouse of major league baseball. Behind inhuman performances by Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, the D'Backs beat the Yankees and ended their chances for a four-peat.

In January, the Patriots were 14-point underdogs to the "unstoppable" St. Louis Rams. Not only did the Patriot defense stop the Rams offense, they shut it down with authority.

And now we have the Lakers cruising (with a little help from a few NBA officials) to their third consecutive title. The only thing that stands in their way is...an underappreciated team from New Jersey led by a point guard who plays out of his mind.

People are discounting the Nets, as well. Phil Jackson said himself that the winner of the NBA Finals would come out of the West. This has been the case all along for the Nets, as everyone said they wouldn't be able to handle Reggie late: they did. Everyone said that Baron Davis would step it up and carry his team to the Eastern Conference Finals: he did, but not nearly enough, as Jason Kidd stepped it up as well. Everyone said that the Celtics shot too well for the Nets to handle them: the Nets played their best defense of the season. Everyone said that the Nets would never recover from their historic collapse in Game 3: they did.

And now I'm expected to believe that the Nets have no prayer against LA just because everyone is saying it? Not a chance. Shaq is not 100%, Kobe has not been invincible this postseason, and the rest of the team is middle-of-the-road at best. The Nets have the ace-in-the-hole of Jason Kidd, who distributes the ball better than anyone I have ever seen (though, granted, I have not been an NBA fan for long) and has Martin and Kittles to funnel the offense through. Kidd can also run the pick-and-roll with either Van Horn or Kittles, something that the Lakers had a hard time defending against vs. the Kings.

It's the year of the underdog, baby. Let's go Nets!