Thoughts on the 2015-2016 Western Conference Finals and Oklahoma City Thunder

Sweet baby Jesus, that was one helluva series! Our Game 6 victory is probably the most exhilarating, joyous sports victory I have felt. Last year’s opening round series between the Clippers and Spurs was a hair better, methinks, but this was the best Warriors series I’ve been fortunate to witness. During the past two years, this was the greatest challenge we overcame. I also happen to think it’s the greatest challenge we will face this season. A week ago when the Warriors were down 3-1 after getting shellacked in Oklahoma City, ESPN Radio’s Dan Le Batard offered an interesting take on what exactly the Dubs were up against. He said, when all is said and done in their careers, that Westbrook and Durant would be a better duo than any that Jordan and Pippen took down. It was a ballsy thing to say, but I’m with him. In my mind, the only one of those duos that could compare to the 2015-2016 version of Westbrook and Durant would be Barkley and Kevin Johnson, who were also in their prime when they lost to the Bulls in the 1992-1993 Finals. As it is right now, ESPN ranks Durant 22nd and Westbrook 49^th on their list of greatest players in NBA history. In all likelihood—especially with Westbrook—that ranking will only increase over the years.

But anyway, before I get too scrambled here, I wanted to offer some thoughts on this epic series: 

2015-2016 NBA Conference Final predictions

We have arrived to the NBA’s final four. It should be no surprise to see Golden State, Cleveland and Oklahoma City here.

Going into the conference finals, the Warriors remain heavy favorites according to FiveThirtyEight’s latest NBA Predictions:

2015-2016 NBA Conference Semifinal Predictions!

Although I was tempted to write a panoramic prognostication for the NBA Playoffs before it kicked off, the opening round affirmed why I decided to refrain. Thus far, the story of the 2015-2016 NBA playoffs has been dominated by injuries. Key players like reigning MVP, Steph Curry, Avery Bradley, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul suffered significant injuries. Sure, I’m biased, being a Warriors fan, but I hope we’re done with all these major injuries. The opening round was brutal in terms of the talent that got shelved: Curry is going to repeat as MVP; Chris Paul would be #4 on my MVP ballot for this year. (Judging from other sportswriters and analysts picks, he’ll likely finish in the top five.) Bradley is one of the best two-way players in the game and when he’s healthy and properly motivated, I think Blake is a top-10 player in the NBA. 

Brutal.

As the second round begins, the Spurs and Warriors remain heavy favorites to win it all according to FiveThirtyEight’s latest NBA Predictions:

as of 4/30/2016

Here’s my predictions for the Conference Semifinals:

If in Fremont... (or Things to Do in Fremont, CA)

Central Park with Mission Peak in the distance

Having grown up in Fremont, I have an impassioned love/hate relationship with my hometown, my budding ground. It’s an absolutely quintessential California suburb—a car-centric conglomeration of strip malls, slew of corporate chain businesses and a city laid out in an unimaginative straight grid bereft of a downtown area for communal gathering. Sure, it’s the fourth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, but when Fremont’s main bragging point is being ranked the third safest American city with a population over 200,000 in 2015, it’s not a surprise to know that there’s little reason—if any—to ever visit our ho-hum town.

That said, in a town as geographically expansive as Fremont, there is some beauty to be seen. (Fremont ranks #132 in terms of American cities by land area.) To boot, Fremont is one of the most diverse cities in Alameda County, which is one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States. Its yummy variety of restaurants and cuisines is a testament to that.

So let’s start there—with independent restaurants and food joints to check out if you ever find yourself in Fremont.

Memoir Outtake: Wishes, Wishes, Wishes

These were wishes I jotted down in the summer of 2009 when I was midway through chemotherapy:

• That my hair will fall off like a autumn leaves so it can grow back as the mightiest afro ever. (My lifelong dream of having hair like Jimi Hendrix or Sly Stone would come true!)

• That my cancer won’t come between the joy I feel alongside Paola. (Like sitting next to each other at a café, months or years down this road, reading or writing together.)

• That the chemo will rid my body of Mr. Hodgkins so that I can kiss her and hold her hand when we walk around the city and—for once—not be sick.

• That it won't make me sterile so that someday, if I want, I can have kids with someone I love (and who loves me).

• That the chemo doesn’t stop me from riding my bicycle around the Mission on a sunshiny day, or from cycling beneath the skyscrapers (our urban redwoods) in downtown at night.

• That this ordeal will help me become the strongest, kindest, most beautiful person I can be. (Humble like dirt, compassionate like a Buddhist monk yet fierce and indomitable like the scorching guitar riff during the beginning of Kirk Hammett’s solo on Metallica’s “Holier Than Thou.”)

• That it doesn’t stop me from going to grad school in the fall like my oncologist said it would.

• That it gets rid of Mr. Hodgkins forever and ever so that I can be with my parents and sisters for as long as I can.

December 2014

2015-2016 NBA Playoff Preview: Opening Round

Oh sweet baby Jesus, after an eighty-two game regular season grind, the 2015-2016 NBA Playoffs commence this Saturday! For the second time in NBA history, this year’s playoffs will include two teams with over 65 wins. (During the 2008-2009 season the Cleveland Cavs entered the playoffs with 66 wins while Kobe’s Lakers had 65 regular season wins.) Those two teams—the San Antonio Spurs, and, in particular, the Golden State Warriors—are heavy favorites to win it all according to FiveThirtyEight’s latest NBA Predictions:

Prior to this season, 17 teams—including last year’s Warriors—have won 65 regular-season games. 14 of them have won the title, so it seems extremely likely (with apologies to Cavalier and Thunder fans) that either the Warriors or Spurs will hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy amidst a rain of champagne two months from now.

On paper, this year’s First Round doesn’t feature many enticing duels like the epic opening round of the 2013-2014 NBA Playoffs, but the second round could feature some excellent matchups.

Here’s my quick breakdown and predictions for the opening round:

Interview: Ruby Hansen Murray

Last month, during my residency at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, I was fortunate to meet several good-hearted and talented artists including Ruby Hansen Murray, my writing studio neighbor and the other fellow writer-on-the-snow-filled-premises.

Ruby is a writer and photographer living on Puget Island in the lower Columbia River estuary. A member of the Osage Nation, her work appears or is forthcoming in Wild in the Willamette, Yellow Medicine Review, American Ghost: Poets on Life after Industry, Oregon Humanities Magazine and National Public Radio. On the artist residency front, she’s been knocking it out of the park, having been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Island Institute in Sitka, AK, Jentel, Playa and Hypatia-in-the-Woods. She has studied at Warren Wilson College and the Institute of American Indian Arts along with Jamie Figueroa, who I met at a VONA workshop (Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation), which Ruby has also attended.

On our road back home from Wyoming, in the lobby at the Laramie Regional Airport, the lone television—to our complete chagrin— was tuned to Fox News. 2016 Presidential candidate Donald Trump spewed his bullshit on a campaign stop with his defeated minion, Chris Christie, grinning and standing behind him. And so, Ruby and I retreated to the back of the lobby to sit down for this interview. After quietly sharing a cabin for three weeks, and after hearing her read a short excerpt from her novel-in-progress, The Heart Stays People, I wanted to find out more about her craft and the process she has embarked on to write this novel: