As Denver dismantled the Lakers last night, I couldn't help but think about those Nike ads that had the puppets of Kobe and LeBron. Throughout the ads, the two puppets reference their excitement to ultimately play in this years finals. Well, maybe those ads came out a bit too early. Dwight Howard has been quoted to take some offense to these ads as he felt they were disrespectful. Can you really blame him? Carmelo Anthony is also a Nike guy and while he may not be on those guys level, he still is a premier player of one of the final four teams. I understand Kobe and LeBron are the leagues marquee players, but it may have been a bit short sighted as both Nike and the NBA's marketing plan may be blowing up in their face right in front of them. The Cavs are miracle away from being down 3-0, and the Lakers are an inbounds pass or two away from trailing in their series.
In my opinion, my predictions now to these two series look brutal. I completely underestimated the Magic and the match-up problems they would give the Cavs. I also felt that while the Nuggets were a very capable team of beating the Lakers, I couldn't pick against the team with the most talent. I think now the chances of getting a Kobe/LeBron final now don't look too strong. Obviously, this all changes if the Cavs win tonight and take back home-court heading to game 5. The Lakers haven't faired much better but still hold home-court advantage. That being said, if I'm a Lakers fan, I have gotta be concerned that my team just got blown out 19 points and Carmelo was nearly a non-factor.
Hey, maybe both the Cavs and Lakers make the finals, but either way the NBA and Nike look a bit dumb if they don't since they chose to market just these two players and not the four remaining teams.
Later.
why do you think it is disrespctful it is most likely lebron would make it to the final 2 teams but he didn't so why would dwigt be mad
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