The New York Knicks did it… they won their fourth championship in a row. We are the only other team to do that besides Boston in the 1960s, when they won eight straight with Bill Russell on the way to his 11 rings.

Four rings???
At this point, the case for Stephon Marbury to make the Hall of Fame is becoming stronger and stronger. Of course, I am biased—because it’s my franchise and he’s one of my favorite players ever—but I really think he’s pretty close to cementing himself. If he hasn’t already, he’s right there, and I don’t think there’s too much left he needs to do.

He has 11 straight years averaging 20 points and 6 assists, and in 9 of those years he averaged at least 8 assists per game. He absolutely got robbed of an All-Star appearance this past season. He was TOP 5 in voting among all guards, yet two guards—one of them a point guard—got in over him, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Especially when he was averaging 21 points and 9 assists, and we were the best team in the league.

Yes, our team is very well built and we have Melo, but that does not mean Marbury didn’t deserve to make the All-Star Game. Teams have had more than two All-Stars plenty of times before. He definitely got robbed. But hey, that’s okay, because the voters made up for it with the end-of-season awards.

Kevin Garnett finally won his first MVP award and also took home Defensive Player of the Year (2008–09). Rookie of the Year went to the expected—and deserving—winner, Derrick Rose, which is super dope since he plays for the Bulls. I was trying to get OJ Mayo to win Sixth Man of the Year in his rookie season, but came up short. He lost out to Luol Deng on the Pacers, who averaged over 17 points off the bench. OJ had a good year, just not enough to win the award, but he was named to the All-Rookie Second Team.

LeBron likely would have won his second straight MVP, but he got injured over the last two or three weeks of the season, so that cost him. Carmelo was named to Second Team All-NBA, and Marbury made Third Team All-NBA, which I’ll totally take for both—though I still think Marbury deserved the All-Star nod to go along with it.

We cruised through the playoffs pretty easily, and when it came to the Finals, it was no different. We had a rematch from last year against the Timberwolves, led by MVP/DPOY Kevin Garnett and the 7’6” monster Yao Ming. We handled them with ease, sweeping them and sending them home packing.

Marbury ended up winning Finals MVP, which I honestly didn’t expect while simming—I also didn’t check the box scores. I really thought Melo would win his second straight Finals MVP, but he didn’t. He must have struggled, because he only averaged 19.5 points per game. Marbury, on the other hand, had a hell of a Finals. He averaged 21 points, 9 assists, and 2 rebounds on 54/95/40 splits. He was absolutely balling, and it’s no surprise he won Finals MVP over Melo.

That now gives him THREE Finals MVPs.

As I said, I feel very confident that he’s going to make the Hall of Fame. At this point, he is a 4x Champion, 3x Finals MVP, 2x MVP, 5x All-Star, 2x First Team All-NBA, 1x Second Team All-NBA, and 1x Third Team All-NBA, along with an All-Rookie First Team selection and 11 straight seasons of 20/6.

I think his case should be pretty easy when he retires. Maybe one or two more All-Star appearances (if possible), or one more All-NBA team, would really lock it in. But even if he doesn’t get those, I still think he makes it.

We’ll see. Stay tuned.

– Jett Garden