ESPN.com - What's hot, what's not for NBA Finals

ESPN.com: Page 2

Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Updated: June 4, 12:48 PM ET
What's hot, what's not for NBA Finals

By Dan Shanoff
Page 2 columnist

After a season when all the talk has been about how great the Western Conference is (and how lousy the East is), it's refreshing that the NBA Finals appear to be either team's for the taking. Not to mention the fact that no matter who wins, the Finals put the NBA's best big man (Tim Duncan) and best point guard (Jason Kidd) on center stage.

Whether you are watching the Finals in a bar with friends or talking to yourself at home, discussing it with co-workers in the morning or with a blind date at night, check out what's hot and what's passe heading into the Spurs-Nets showdown:

WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT FOR 2003 NBA FINALS
Category	Hot	Not Hot
No. 1 fan	"Sopranos" stars	Any TV shows set in S.A.?
Matchup	PG (Kidd vs. Parker)	SG (Kittles vs. Ginobili)
Hot coach	Nets assistant Eddie Jordan	Spurs' Gregg Popovich
Rising star	Richard Jefferson	Danny Ferry
Crowd-thriller	Nets' dunks	Spurs' treys
Due for mainstream breakout	Manu Ginobili (Spurs)	Lucious Harris (Nets)
Senior citizen	Kevin Willis	Dikembe Mutombo
Spurs' Mr. Clutch	Steve Kerr	Speedy Claxton
Nets' impact sub	Rodney Rogers	Anthony Johnson
Defensive stopper	Bruce Bowen	Stephen Jackson
Off-court distraction	Kidd to Spurs in offseason?	Coaching carousel
Jersey to be seen in	Anything ABA	Current jerseys
Music to fire up the crowd	50 Cent	Dixie Chicks
Where to wear sweatband	Forearm	Forehead
Hairstyle	Conventionally short	'Rows and 'fros
X-factor	Kenyon Martin (Nets)	Spurs' home court
Town on the rise	San Antonio	Newark
David Robinson	One last big push	Fades into background
Hardest foul	Malik Rose (Spurs)	Jason Collins (Nets)
Trendy strategy	Run, run, run	Slow-down, plus D
"Who's the real MVP?"	Jason Kidd	Tim Duncan
Page 2 pick	Nets hard	Spurs easy

Dan Shanoff is a columnist for Page 2. His "Daily Quickie" commentary appears every weekday morning.