While watching Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, I got to thinking. Witnessing the LA Lakers come back from a 13 point deficit to beat the Boston Celtics made me wonder which is the best way to win a game: dominating the whole game, winning a close one, or coming from behind? So I thought we could examine all three and determine what’s the better way to win.
Dominating the whole game: There’s nothing better than winning, especially when you crush your opponent. But can spanking the other team lose it’s fun after awhile? For example, in January 2009 a Texas high school girl’s basketball team beat their opponent 100-0. While it might be fun to brag about for those girls, crushing an opponent like that had to have lost it’s fun at some point. Sports are about competition and the other team putting up somewhat of a fight. If the other team has no chance then what’s the fun in that? We see it all the time in the pros — a baseball team wins 20-4 or a basketball game ends in a final of 102-67. I think that blowout wins are only fun to watch to a certain point; when you know a team is out of it, sometimes you want to change the channel.
A close game: These are the heart pumping games that make us hang on the edge of our seats. These games can have you cheering one minute and leave you in shock the next. Like in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Chicago Blackhawks could score and the Philadelphia Flyers would turn around and light the lamp 20 seconds later while Chicago fans were still celebrating. You never know what’s going to happen in games like these because every player brings its A-game. The only downside to these games is being on the losing end; no one likes losing but it’s even worse when you were so close to victory but just couldn’t win.
Come-from-behind victory: Ah, the Cinderella games. These games occur when a team is down (doesn’t matter by how much) and somehow they come back and win it. These are the games when Thomas the Tank Engine fever spreads throughout the clubhouse (“I think I can…I think I can…”) and the team rallies to pull a win out of nowhere. This is the game when the other team gets really angry because they thought they had it in the bag and then — well think again. This happened Thursday night in Game 7 of the NBA Finals when Kobe Bryant and the Lakers (and maybe some help by the refs with the constant fouls on the Celtics) came back late in the game to pull out a win for the purple and gold faithful. Maybe they were fueled by the revenge they were seeking or maybe they just woke up and realized what was actually at stake, but the Lakers came back and were victorious. These are the feel good moments that sports movies often base their “big game” on and if you’re a sap like me, you cry even though you knew it would happen.
So, which one is the best way to win? It’s a tough call but in my opinion it has to be the close game. Yes, it sucks if you are on the losing side but you can’t be anything but proud of the effort your team gave. If your team is involved in a blowout, then you know the outcome well ahead of time. If they blow a game late, you’re left asking yourself “what just happened?” In my eyes, winning a close game is the best.
