I understand totally, they have to wear that albatross until they rip it off themselves. And Ovi certainly has to shoulder part of that blame as the face of the franchise. That said, I don't feel like he was a glaring no-show this series by any stretch. Did he do enough? Did he really lift the play of his teammates the way great players are expected to? Those are for sure legitimate questions...
Rob - football is a whole other animal, not a good comparison IMO because they don't do best of playoff series, plus they play do few games. Baseball or basketball are more what I'm thinking. Your point about the schedule is 100% valid. In the Overseas soccer leagues everyone plays everyone else the exact same # of times so that negates the concern, but that's a lot harder with leagues that have more teams I realize.
Anyway, just a passing thought, it's neither here nor there in the end. On to next year...