I haven't been excited for an NBA championship in a very long time. Now that the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama are set to meet the New York Knicks and Jalen Brunson in the NBA Finals, I can't wait to watch.

The main reason I'm actually tuning in this year is the passion I've been seeing on both sides of the bracket. There are players showing real emotion and hyperpassionate fans hoping to overcome a half-century drought. Now that SGA and the Thunder have been eliminated, nonchalance is out of the picture.

The amount of emotion coming out of the San Antonio roster is incredibly refreshing. People more dedicated to the NBA than I am tell me that Wemby has never been shy about showing emotion or stating his goals — now that he's in the Finals, everything seems even more heightened.

On the court:

After the game: "I want to win so bad, it's like my life depends on it."

Wemby's mentality seems almost like a direct foil to Kobe Bryant's "Mamba Mentality." They have the same intensity, but Wemby seems like he's able to enjoy the process of winning just as much as the end goal. Kobe was more stoic, and Wemby is more freely emotional.

I'm not saying there's any set level of emotionality that's better than another. I'm positive that being stone cold in the pursuit of success came naturally to Kobe. The problem, I think, lies in people intentionally downregulating or upregulating their emotions to fit a level that was set externally. Wemby must have reached some sort of enlightenment with the monks to come up with the following:

If you're like me, your feeds have been flooded with videos of Knicks fans forming a mob outside Madison Square Garden after every game of the Knicks' 11-game win streak. The last Knicks championship was 53 years ago (way before the vast majority of that mob was born) and the fans are eager to end that drought.

Profanity warning for the following video. Knicks fans are passionate, and not in a PG way.

The passion on the San Antonio side isn't limited to the players, either. The Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco are a group of Catholic nuns who serve families on San Antonio's west side. The Sisters have gone viral this postseason for showing up to games in Spurs jerseys and praying over players before tip-off. It turns out they've been attending Spurs games for over 20 years, used to write letters to Gregg Popovich (who would write back), and host watch parties for kids in their community. Although not as fiery as the New York fans, the Sisters are every bit as authentic.

If there’s anything to take away from this postseason so far, I think it would be to embrace emotion and to not shy away from showing passion when you’re excited about something.

Passion is admirable, infectious, and a lot more fun than the alternative.

Sorry I’ve been slacking with my motivation. I plan to return to a more regular cadence soon.

See you all next week,
Nate