The NBA playoffs, now a distant, painful memory for Kyle, had unfolded into a symphony of chaos and coronation. From his offseason training fortress, he watched the highlights with a detached, analytical eye, a student of the game studying the test he had failed.
The Eastern Conference Finals saw the Miami Heat's magical run continue. Jimmy Butler, a man forged in the same fires of late-blooming obsession as Kyle, dragged his team of undrafted grinders past the exhausted New York Knicks in a brutal six-game series. In the West, the Denver Nuggets, a model of pristine, selfless execution, systematically dismantled the young Oklahoma City Thunder, exposing their inexperience on the biggest stage.
