Heading Into Game 4 (NBA)

Wow…the M’s won again. I was going to blog this yesterday, but now I’m glad I put it off till today, as a 5-game win streak is much more impressive. Only 3 games back of the Angels now. It’s like they may finally have gotten their stuff together.

Well, we’ll see where they are in August.

Actually, what I really wanted to discuss (if briefly) is the NBA finals. The Spurs chalked up another W last night, now leading the series 3-0. Is there anything in "the Stars" that was going to indicate the Cavs dropping 3 in a row with nary a squeak? Well, maybe….

There IS some interesting things going on in their charts, but let’s just look at the Sun signs of the major players:

San Antonio Spurs
- Tony Parker (Taurus)
- Bruce Bowen (Gemini)
- Tim Duncan (Taurus)
- Robert Horry (Virgo)
- Manu Ginobili (Leo)

There’s a predominance of Earth and Fixed signs here. Earth signs are steady, solid, feet-on-the-ground, and non-flashy…and this series has been anything but flashy. Fixed signs are likewise steady, organized, controlling…dominating through sheer inertia.

Of course, there’s more than five players on the team. Michael Finley is a Pisces, and Fabricio Oberto is…well, I don’t know. He’s a Pisces if he was born in the early morning; after noon and he’s an Aries. Only someone who knows him well (or knows his birth time) could say for sure, but he has a lot of both Pisces and Aries in him anyway (Pisces Mercury means he thinks like a Fish, and Aries Jupiter means he feels most confident when playing like a Ram). Interestingly, Jupiter is conjunct his Sun, making him at times appear to be almost a bouncy Sagittarian.

Vaughn is an Aquarius, ex-Sonic Barry is a Capricorn, and Elson is another Pisces. The preponderance still seems to be Earth in nature, but with the addition of all that Pisces you see a lot of ADAPTABILITY added to the mix (Virgo, Gemini, and Pisces are all Mutable signs). This is a team that can adapt to the way the other team is playing, pass it around, and wait for the right shot. It may not be especially flashy (or high scoring!) but it appears to be a solid strategy for success.

Cleveland Cavaliers
- LeBron James (Capricorn)
- Drew Gooden (Libra)
- Sasha Pavlovic (Scorpio)
- Daniel Gibson (Pisces)
- Anderson Varejao (Libra)

Pretty much split between Earth and Water with a preponderance of Cardinal (Leadership) signs. Perhaps, this is a case of too many cooks in the kitchen? Doubtful…the Cavs wouldn’t have made it to the Finals without solid teamwork (although I have been told the Eastern Conference isn’t nearly as good as the West).

Now we add in their major bench players: Ilgauskas (Gemini), Hughes (Aquarius), Marshall (Taurus). Now the final signature becomes clearer: Cardinal Air, the element combination associated with Libra, the sign of teamwork. An intellectual team, a smart team…but maybe not as physical?

Again, that’s not really a fair assumption. What IS interesting to note is that none of the players for the Cavaliers (at least none of the ones with any play time) is a Fire sign. No Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius to be found anywhere on the roster: Snow (Taurus), Jones (Virgo), Newble (Capricorn), Pollard (Aquarius)…nowhere is there a single fiery sign.

When astrologers look at the Final Signature of a person’s chart (that is: the number of elements and directionalities), a lack of any particular element can indicate a potential challenge for a person. Having a little bit of everything may make you less focused, but it helps lend balance to your personality, allowing for experiential growth in all areas.

Since I don’t watch the NBA games during the season (especially Cleveland!), I can’t say what affect, if any, this might have on their game play. I could hypothesize that they are not a “fast start” team, something I might expect with a lot of Fire. I might also hypothesize they have an inability to come back from a large deficit (a tight game, yes, simply through smart, solid play). I would imagine they are less likely to get into trouble on or off-court, especially with regard to fighting/brawls…though Water signs are more prone to the substance abuse/escapism thing, and Earth signs have been known to succumb to those “earthy temptations.”

Anyway, I would not be expecting a lot of high scoring, explosive offense from either of these teams. Of the two, the Spurs line-up feels more consistent as far as astrological chemistry: Gemini-sextile-Leo-square-Taurus-trine-Virgo-opposed-Pisces-square-Gemini. Certainly there is some tension in the mix (the squares and oppositions), but a lot more harmony (trines and sextiles…Taurus is also sextile to Pisces). It also has a balance of all four elements.

The Cavs chemistry is good, but feels a bit harder: Pisces-trine-Scorpio-sextile-Capricorn-square-Libra-sextile-Gemini-trine-Aquarius-square-Taurus. Taurus (Marshall/Snow) is also square Scorpio, sextile Pisces, and trine Capricorn…but has no aspect relationship with the two Libras. As I said in an earlier blog, the worst aspect relationship is pretty much NO aspect…there’s no positive to harmonize or excite, and there’s no negative to challenge and grow from. The Pisces and Scorpio starters make no aspect to the two Libras, and Gemini and Aquarius off the bench (Ilgauskas and Hughes) have no aspect with Capricorn James.

Gemini Bruce Bowen may seem the “odd man” in the starting line-up for San Antonio, but only with regard to the two Taurus players (Duncan and Parker). Gemini makes aspects to Finley, Oberto, Horry, and Ginobili, relating to all of them (if not necessarily relating on the best of terms). Bowen also has a Taurus Saturn, so it is his “heavy lot in life” to exercise self-sufficiency…but he’s been practicing it for a lot of years (he’s one of the oldest players on the team), and with experience, Saturn always gives mastery.

Anyway…we’ll see what happens in Game 4.