Win Or Lose, LeBron James Is The King Of Hoop

I was mostly being melodramatic when I dared to compare the LeBron James comeback on Golden State as his Muhammad Ali, Rumble in the Jungle mimick- for memory sake.

Is LeBron ready to shock the world? Boomaye!

Those who hate LeBron mostly hate him because he did a quiet version of what Muhammad Ali did when assuming himself the greatest because he had all the assets to think himself so. LeBron is called a linebacker playing basketball by his detractors, as though he should be apologizing for the size and skills he combines.

No, he is not the biggest to ever play or the best ball handler ever either, but he has combined these two gifts in a way that makes you appreciate it or envy it to hatred. LeBron embraced it, did his best to master his basketball duality from the very start of his career, and used it to do unseen things in the game.

He called himself King before most would accept him as a real deal. Now he is such a real deal, when debating who's best, the only names of significance we consider with LeBron anymore are the two guys who we call the best ever to do it in Jordan or Kobe.

Kobe Bryant left the league reminding us of his unique status in the league, because we needed that reminder after so many years of LeBron James playing on the last day of the NBA season. Love or hate him, you can't escape him.

We could speculate on how many times in a row MJ would have been in the finals if not for baseball, but he's still the undisputed GOAT (greatest of all time), so that won't matter until LeBron...or someone passes Jordan by.

In time, even Joe Louis or Marciano were supplanted as the GOAT, but not as quickly as Ali fans would like; nor was the attempt to sell us on Tyson over Ali ever useful for anything except to make us doubt Tyson and use his finish as a blemish against his masterful start to his career.


James won't easily replace MJ, but could solidify his legacy with a win in Oakland, though I doubt history will be as cruel as current critics are. Win or lose, he'll have the benefit of beating Steph or adding a real feather in the cap of Steph's own legacy.

Either way, great players are made from great competition. Steph has time to overcome this moment, but the signs are pointing to Steph simply being a good piece on a great team, a team he'll need desperately if he hopes to return to the finals as often as LeBron has.

In reality, Klay Thompson has out performed Steph as has last year's MVP Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green, the Warriors actual most valuable player.

Steph and the rest of the Warriors are on the verge of losing at home and having to point to fatigue from the OKC series to avoid blaming the 73 game regular season record chase.  LeBron's win will make his haters blame the NBA for Draymond's nut fetish, Iggy's back, Bogut's exit, or 80's style non-whistle's instead of giving credit to the rope-a-dope LeBron is doing to GS.

In these finals, he is leading every important stat among every player on both teams, and deserves to be the series MVP win or lose, just like last year when they didn't have the courage to go there, so gave it to Iggy as the only option that wouldn't embarrass LeBron or the Warriors.

Twice in two years, the player on the losing side could deserve the MVP. This is assuming that the Warriors don't have the worst meltdown in NBA Finals history of course.

If LeBron can do this impossible feat, he must be the King, just like said.  If it takes us years to acknowledge that fact, that too will be par for the course for skeptical critics. Once we crown a GOAT, we don't often acknowledge the new GOAT until long after they're not playing anymore.

I'm rooting for LeBron to bring glory to Cleveland and shake the haters off while doing it. What I'm not rooting for is LeBron to prove, once and for all, that he is the best player in the league because there is no need for all that.

That is a question that has been unequivocally answered, until Steph steps up or LeBron steps down from his throne.

Golden State Leaving It's Mark.... And It's Green

When it comes to this Golden State Warriors all time regular season win streak, I'm really concerned that folks just don't get it. Winning the most regular season games has a value only useful for barber shop crap talk.

No really.  These guys are pushing for a record that will only matter if they win it all, and even then only for the sake of looking like a peacock while sitting in that hair chair getting yo' doo did.

Now, I am perfectly black enough to get why barbershop crap is actually kinda important, but I'm also old enough to recognize risk over reward.  Also, I am cheap enough and bald enough to not have used a barber in years, so the barbershop dozens are no longer a part of my world.  If I had an NBA title to defend, and a full head of hair that demanded trained barber love and not just that trim the fuzz cut I do at home in my bathroom, I would try to do something that no team has ever done before too, and simply winning back to back is passe. Lots of teams have accomplished that.

I've followed the Warriors just like the rest of the universe, and I've written in the past that the season opening streak was an out of control monster. The health issues of Warriors head coach Steve Kerr left a spineless figurehead in interim coach Luke Walton to pull the strings of the kite and keep the wind from snatching it from his grip, sending it off towards a journey that usually ends horribly.

This run away kite turned a few loopty loops, launched a couple of half court 3 pointers and soared far from the grips of the interim coach's hand, and also out of the functional grip of the real coach who soon would return to the bench.  The out of control start to the season forced Golden State's true leader to keep the ship intact whilst it meandered on a journey few teams have ever ventured to take.

The evidence is clear as it spews freely from the mouth of this team's unquestioned leader,
Draymond Green

It was Green who admitted that the streak might have gotten to be too much before declaring that the regular season win total still stood within reach. It was Green who doubted that it could be done...until around game 50 when it was clear they were still on track to do it- which signifies the moment he decided, why not?.  If you listen to their leader now, Green says that his own coach can't really stop them from trying for the record.  Short staffed or full staff, Green has the influence to dictate the intensity of team play, whether on the court or glaring like a bully from the bench.  Green is both the engine and the brains of the Warriors operation, and Kerr himself would be replaced if he alienated and risked his team the long term services of Draymond Green. For Green, unlike the coach, is the only person that can not be replaced.

His defensive back line support against LeBron is the reason Golden State won one title, and he and said defensive support are still their best hope for getting two. Green is the only reason we even use the term "small ball" because his ability to play five spots on the floor make the Warriors small ball the blueprint- everybody else a copy.  Steph has the highlights and Russell Westbrook does the triple double thing, but even Paul George or LeBron himself DON'T have the plus/minus numbers that Green put up this year.

In fact, NO ONE has ever achieved the plus/minus production that Green has done during this season (although the metric is something the NBA has only tracked in the modern era of basketball). We might actually be witnessing a best player bait and switch move.  As we wait anxiously to anoint a stupendous scorer with average defense as the best player in the entire league, Green keeps proving himself to be "that" player of the so called best team in the league. Even this year's 3 point contest winner, Klay Thompson, could tally similar points to Steph with the same amount of offensive attempts, while his defense is among the best we've ever seen in this league.

With similar shot attempts, would Klay Thompson
score just as efficiently (or better) than Curry? 

How exactly is Curry the best player in the league but close to second or third on his own team? Thompson and Green do way more heavy lifting than does Curry, and are often saving the day on defense or the boards. In reality, the Warriors are much too balanced to really have or need an MVP.  Nonetheless, they will have two.  One that wins the award and one that earned it for him by gobbling up his misses for that second chance kickout, the true key to winning basketball in the first place since statistically, players (including Steph) mostly miss that first shot attempt.

I don't often respect the selection for MVP because it is notoriously given one or two years after it was most deserved, almost as a form of lifetime achievement award, much like all-star game selections. Is LeBron still the true MVP?  Overall, he is still the most impactful, but Green is so close on his heels that he might surpass LeBron before you finish this read.

Curry will continue to dazzle, but will never have the complete ability to impact all aspects of the game.  Green can and does, on and off the court.

On the court, Green is the best player not named LeBron. Off it, he declares that Kerr can't stop the pursuit of 73 wins even while Kerr admits that the record is meaningless to him- then smiles a sly grin realizing that he can't stop Green.

This pursuit is about history, and history has to be made by teams and players that can make it. Is Golden State that kind of team?

Yes they are, but chasing history comes at a price.  To start the season with an undefeated streak forces you to achieve some kind of mark worthy of the all that energy you expended in the first place. 73 wins is that mark, but to set that mark and not win the title would be a waste of all the energy it took to set the regular season mark, which is why coach Kerr could care less about this record.


If the coach doesn't care for the pursuit, why does Green think that it shouldn't and won't be stopped?

Green already has gold, so why not?  

Given the determination of San Antonio, Cleveland, or the Clippers to unseat the Warriors and win their own gold, I don't think Green is really doing the right thing. Unless of course he is moving to make his mark as the best player in the NBA and among the best of all time. In that case, Green is looking to do the only thing all time greats think of.

Make history.