YAYsports! NBA

With the Bulls sweeping the Heat almost an afterthought in this All-New Warriors-centric World, one can’t help but feel a little bit of sadness for Coach Pat, Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and Co.

Actually, that’s not true at all - this is sweet, karmic, justice.

The team that so much as said “we’re gonna relax until the Playoffs” is four and out, and it was an embarrassing four and out, to boot. Never forget - Coach Pat himself took six weeks off in the middle of the season.

What next for Team Faulty Lightswitch? Just to put a capper on the season, how about more not caring?

“I’m not going to go through my normal morose, depressed, beat-myself-up month. OK? I am not. I’m not going to do that,” [Coach Pat] said. “We’ll start talking about the roster, start talking about what’s coming up. That’s what’s next.”

“Our one-year reign comes to an end,” Riley said. “It was a great year and a great experience. It was an incredible experience. This team took me to a place that I’ve never been in a long time. And, as always, there’s another experience and we experience it again.”

If that doesn’t say in no uncertain terms that this team was satisfied with one title, we don’t know what does. Maybe if someone comes out and just says it in those exact words?

The wonderment does lie in what’s next, however. Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning will probably retire, but they both make minimal dollars, so it’s not like that helps you start over in any way.

This team (unless a taker for ‘Toine comes along…insert laughing sound here) is really going to look much the same next season, which can’t lead to much greater motivation, can it?

We’re actually a little frightened of how heavy Shaq might be at the start of next preseason. If you figure he has an entire extra month-plus to lie around, you’re talking 50 more pounds than normal? 60?

(On the other side of that series, we’re not quite ready to break down DET-CHI yet, which is gonna be a monster of a series. We’d also rather have CLE playing either of them, rather than NJN.)