Thank you, mom

This coming winter will mark my tenth season of basketball. I will be a sophomore in college, and for the past ten years I have played organized ball nearly year-round. While I have learned countless skills and life lessons from the game, it has taken me ten years to understand the importance of something simple.

I’ll come back to that later.

After all, what I now understand is influenced greatly by someone who has greatly influenced me: my mom.

There has been no one more important in my basketball career than my mother. The time, money and emotional investment that she has put towards my career have allowed it to become what it is today. She was never a basketball fan until I started playing, and she’s put everything she’s had into making sure that I have what I need to keep doing what I love.

And from an early age, I recognized this. I knew that my mother was making these sacrifices and I respected them.

I remember being in seventh grade, doing conditioning workouts and thinking, “Man, this is tough.” Then I would look over at my mother, sitting in the bleachers. She was wearing her work clothes because she picked me up straight from work to take me to this workout. This workout was 30 minutes away. And this workout cost more than I knew.

“You can make this tiny sacrifice,” I would tell myself. “Run harder.”

While I acknowledged my mother’s sacrifices, however, it took me a while to truly understand their meaning.

I have three years of college basketball left. My mom still goes to every game that she can, but she will never take me to another practice. She will likely never take me to another tryout, overnight camp or workout. She has given me so much and my time with basketball is almost up.

Over the past couple years I have realized this, and it has made me understand the importance of those times when she drove me to practices and workouts. This understanding was increased this spring.

On March 21st, my mom visited to campus to have dinner with me. It was then that she told me the tough news; she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and would be having surgery the following month.

Her surgery in April was physically taxing, but also effective. Doctors concluded that she would not need chemotherapy or radiation treatments. She takes daily medication to help fight the cancer and will be back for a potentially conclusive surgery in August.

Doctors said that because she found the cancer early, they could contain it. My mother is healthier than ever right now, and words cannot describe how lucky I feel every day because of that.

While this spring has not changed the gratitude that I express towards my mother, it has changed the way that I understand the sacrifices that she has made.

Fortunately, my mother was never at a terminal stage, or even close to it, with her cancer. But just the thought of her having cancer (which is terminal to so many others) has made me think deeper about what it means to have her in my life.

The sacrifices that she has made for me, both in basketball and in life, are acts of complete selflessness. When she drove me to practice every day, she was doing more than just that. She was showing her commitment to me as her son. She knew what was important to me, and she put my interests before her own.

There are so many people who do not have someone like this in their life. They do not have someone who is this committed, this selfless, or this caring. And for that, I am truly grateful.

But in my thinking this spring, what stood out the most to me was that I should have been grateful for so much more. Sometimes I would get embarrassed when my mom would cheer loudly for me from the stands. And although I recognized her sacrifices from an early age, I would sometimes still prefer, in a childish way, to ride with my friends to games instead of with my mom.

While I cannot blame myself for these behaviors, as they are symptomatic of any child, I want to use these memories as an opportunity to relay a message to today’s children.

To all of those kids out there, falling in love with the game and blessed enough to have a mother who is willing to make the enumerable sacrifices involved with the fulfillment of that love: Let mom take you to the game.

Let her cheer for you as loudly as she pleases. Let her show how much she cares. And not only recognize this, but also try to understand and appreciate it.

It didn’t take me ten years to recognize the sacrifices that my mother made. But it did take me ten years to truly understand their magnitude.

Thank you, mom.

Why basketball needs the Clippers to win Game 7

I’ll begin by saying this, because it needs to be said: The Houston Rockets have truly earned their spot in today’s Western Conference Semi-Final game seven matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). They deserve to be playing at home after a historic comeback on Thursday night, and they deserve to have all the momentum (whatever that means in a game seven) that they do heading into this afternoon’s battle.

They have dug themselves out of an egregious hole. Last Sunday night, they fell to the Clippers in a 33-point blowout, putting them down 3-1 in a series that, up to that point, had fans pleading for the return of the NBA’s old 5-game-series format. Austin Rivers was getting buckets and mocking James Harden in the process, Chris Paul was playing 26 minutes per game as his hamstring healed, and Houston, well, they had a lot of problems.

Yet, they found a way. They grinded their way back with wins in games five and six, and now have game seven at home against a Clippers team with everything to lose and a curse hovering over their heads like thick, Los Angeles smog. They deserve to be here.

However, Basketball does not deserve the consequences that come with a Houston win this afternoon.

Here’s why:

1. The Clippers are this year’s feel-good story

Last spring represented both a pivotal and dark time in Clippers history, as the team’s playoff run was overshadowed by the Donald Sterling investigation. When Steve Ballmer (below), the chief executive officer of Microsoft whose net worth is an approximated $21.5 billion, took over in August, the franchise took a new identity. Ballmer sits behind the basket at every game; he is as emotionally invested in the team as a lifelong fan, he high fives his players on a regular basis (sometimes after big plays), and he is shamelessly in love with everything that the newly rebranded Clippers represent- exciting, emotional, fun basketball.

Add Steve Ballmer to a team that is already full of likeable characters, and this team is hard to root against (side note: I have previously commented on how I dislike the Clippers’ tendency to overreact to calls- however, this is merely a blemish on their record, as there is still so much to like). Chris Paul, the old-fashioned point guard who has never been able to reach the finals. Blake Griffin, the freak-of-nature athlete who makes you question whether or not the rim is really 10 feet at the Staples Center (and is in funny Kia commercials). DeAndre Jordan, who is usually Chris Paul’s favorite ally-oop buddy when he’s not being intentionally fouled at the other end of the court. J.J. Reddick, the lethal outside shooter who literally always has his feet set and is an invaluable piece to the Clippers’ offense. I could go on.

Most importantly, there is only one player on the Clippers’ roster that has a championship ring- Glen Davis. This is their year. They finally knocked the Spurs off their throne, Kevin Durant and the Thunder are out of the picture, and they seem to be emerging (along with the Warriors and Rockets) as one of the West’s best teams. They are the high-flying, passionate, island-of-misfit-toys-esque (see Matt Barnes, Glen Davis, Jamal Crawford, etc.) team that America can get behind. Why not pull for the Clippers?

2. Your kids should not watch Houston play

The Rockets’ offense thrives on transition points- Harden, Ariza, Brewer and Dwight Howard attacking the rim. However, when the opponent does get back on defense, most of the Houston offense revolves around Harden. They play isolation basketball- let Harden play 1-on-1 with his defender while Howard and Josh Smith brace themselves for the rebound. If the Spurs play with a scalpel, making multiple passes, setting off-ball screens and running precise offensive sets, the Rockets play with a hammer- attacking the rim, getting to the free throw line and grinding it out. At its best, Houston’s offense is ugly; at it’s worst, they look stagnant and uninvolved. Combine this with Houston’s defense, notorious for losing shooters in screens and simply looking disengaged, and you have a team that sometimes seems to be playing open gym.

Alas, they find a way to win. When their shots are falling, they are getting out in transition, and they are playing good enough defense to get by, the Rockets are what they are: one of the best teams in the NBA’s best conference. They are a talented bunch, and what they lack in fundamental discipline they make up for in athleticism and skill.

That being said, this Rockets team is not one to teach from. The longer that Houston plays in this year’s playoffs, the more television exposure they will get. This means that kids, the next generation of basketball, will be increasingly exposed to Houston Rockets basketball: isolation offense, selective defense and moody body language. For the sake of youth basketball minds everywhere, I hope that the Rockets don’t advance.

3. Basketball needs the Clippers-Warriors rivalry to blossom

Slowly but surely, Clippers v. Warriors is becoming the NBA’s best rivalry. They are divisional foes, and last year’s first-round series (in which the Clippers won in seven games) sparked the rivalry. With the help of a piece done by SB Nation’s Liam Boylan-Pett, I have gathered some of the best moments from last year’s matchups.

Christmas Day, 2013. Blake Griffin vs. Draymond Green, round one. Ding ding.

More fun on Christmas Day- this time, it’s Griffin vs. Bogut.

First round of playoffs, 2014. Griffin fouls out, tosses water “unintentionally” at jeering Warriors fans clapping behind him. One of my favorite moments in this young rivalry.

What’s that? You want Blake vs. Draymond round deux? Here’s a taste.

Festus Ezeli also wanted a piece of Griffin last April.

Bogut told Griffin to STOP FLOPPING!!

And then, in an act of sheer mockery, the Warriors bench went crazy when Blake missed a three badly from the corner.

Come to think of it, most of these altercations are between Blake and the Warriors. Why do the Warriors hate Blake? Who will ever know. What we do know is that the Clippers-Warriors rivalry has all the pieces to become the league’s best.

Every rivalry needs a fair amount of agitators- this one has more than enough. In LA, Chris Paul, one of the league’s under-the-radar dirtiest players, leads the charge. He is flanked by instigators Matt Barnes (whose mug shot is actually side-by-side with the word “instigator” in the dictionary) and Austin Rivers (who just likes to talk). In Oakland, Draymond Green, who is a league-renowned trash-talker is joined by Bogut and Ezeli, making up one of the feistiest frontcourts in the NBA.

Every rivalry also needs competition. Both the Clippers and Warriors are emerging as two of the West’s top teams, and both feature some of the best players (and matchups) the league has to offer. What’s better than Chris Paul vs. Stephen Curry? Blake and DeAndre vs. Draymond and Andrew Bogut? And for the shooting purists, Reddick vs. Klay Thompson? Come on now.

And finally, every good rivalry has the locational piece. The Clips and Warriors are the best basketball teams in California, they already play each other four times during every regular season, and they are just an hour away via plane. It’s L.A. versus the Bay: like Dodgers vs. Giants, except with more dunking. They are battling for West coast bragging rights, and there is no ‘California love’ to be found between them.

Besides, what’s the next best rivalry in the NBA? Cavs-Bulls? After the roster revamping that Chicago might have to do this offseason, that rivalry will likely run out of steam. Many of the classic rivalries, like Celtics-Lakers and Bulls-Pistons have been out of style for a while now. While other minor rivalries may exist, Clips-Warriors is still undoubtedly the most competitive.

The Clippers-Warriors rivalry could take a major step with a matchup in the conference finals this season. All the Clippers need to do is beat Houston.

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Need I say more? While it may just seem like a big quarterfinal game to some, today’s Clippers-Rockets matchup is far more important. The health of the NBA, the future of basketball and the league’s next best rivalry hang in the balance. It’s Steve Ballmer’s Ballers versus James Harden’s Bearded Bullies this afternoon in game seven, and I think you can guess who I’m rooting for.