Tag: Kawhi Leonard

The NBA title asterisk argument, and why it doesn’t make any sense

Here we are, in the middle of the 2021 NBA Finals, coming close to crowning a new champion. As it stands right now, the Milwaukee Bucks have a 3-2 series lead over the Phoenix Suns, with Game 6 scheduled for Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Both of these teams have been through a lot in their journey to the championship series, and whoever wins deserve the time to be celebrated. It’s been said nobody can ever take a title away from a team who wins it. Unfortunately, there are many who will try to take it away, or at the very least, attempt to lessen the legitimacy of the triumph. Regardless of who wins, either the Bucks or Suns will have to hear how (among other things) teams they faced along the way were not at full strength, which is basically saying their paths were made significantly easier. The 72-game regular season is also something that will be thrown in to dump dirt on the potential victory. All of this equals the mastery of the halfway acknowledgement, where you have people admitting the championship run happened, but with an asterisk. Words like phony and cheap are constantly thrown around to explain a team’s quest when it’s perceived they did not exactly “earn” it. Come with me as we look at other title runs that commonly have an asterisk by it, and then talk about why these cases against the winners equate to glorified excuse making.

1999 San Antonio Spurs – Going into this particular season, there was serious doubt a season would even take place. The NBA and the Players Association were in the middle of a lockout, and a deal wasn’t reached until January of that year. As a result, the season was shortened to 50 games, and the All-Star Game was cancelled. With the campaign compacted, it was the Spurs, lead by future hall-of-famers Tim Duncan and David Robinson, who would emerge as the team to unseat the Chicago Bulls as the new heirs to the throne. Of course, the Bulls looked totally different from previous years, as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman all left the team, and the Los Angeles Lakers, with young superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, weren’t quite ready to ascend to the throne just yet. To top it off, the Spurs defeated an eighth-seeded New York Knicks team to win the franchise’s first trophy. Bottom line is whoever won the title in this campaign was going to get grief simply because it wasn’t the normal 82-game format. It just happened to be the Spurs. Being a teenager who was growing up in San Antonio at that time, I can say first hand the fans down there didn’t care about the way victory was claimed by their team.

2012 Miami Heat – Like the ’99 season, the 2011-12 was also shortened by a work stoppage. The difference is the powers that be were able to salvage a 66-game season instead of 50, with the games starting Christmas Day. The Heat, with the “Big 3” of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, were coming off of a crushing loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals. With everything on the line, they were able to come through and get the elusive title James sought after in coming down to Florida from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2010. Having said that, the championship didn’t come without its doubts. Besides the season being 66 games, people wonder to this day whether or not the Heat even get to the Finals if the Bulls, who had the best record in the Eastern Conference that year, didn’t lose point guard Derrick Rose to a injured knee in the first round of the playoffs. In the conference finals, Miami needed all seven teams to get by a Boston Celtics team that had Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all on the downsides of their respective careers. With the team the Heat had, it was not a huge surprise seeing them win, but for the haters out there, these are the excuses they put in front to justify the asterisk.

2015 Golden State Warriors – Unlike the first two case studies, the Warriors actually played a full 82-game season. They also had the league’s best record at 67-15 and the Most Valuable Player in guard Stephen Curry. On the surface, this is the team that should have won it all with all things considered, but the argument comes against them because of their opponent in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers. It was the first year in James’ return to Cleveland after being in Miami for the last four seasons, and he had another version of the Big 3 in the form of himself, guard Kyrie Irving and forward Kevin Love. On the way through the East, Love suffered an injured shoulder and was lost for the rest of the season, and Irving hurt his knee in Game 1 of the Finals. Now here come the questions. What would the result have been if Cleveland was healthy (One can ask the same question in reverse when it comes to the Cavs’ title win the year after)? It’s always tough because injuries are part of sports, and we never know when, where or who they can happen to. It’s probably fair to say it’s often not the best team who rises to the top, but the healthiest. For LeBron (and the few remaining Cavs) fans everywhere, health will always be a question, but isn’t that the case for many teams in the history of sports?

2019 Toronto Raptors – In a time where we are always looking a story to captivate us, this version of the Raptors was one a person can get behind with ease. Forward Kawhi Leonard was traded to Toronto from the Spurs before the year started, and with that move, the whole country of Canada was being carried on Leonard’s back. The end saw the Raptors winning the title, defeating the Warriors, who were trying to become the first team since the Lakers in the early 2000s to win three straight league championships, 4-2. With this run, there are two glaring points some fans and media will point out to take away from Toronto’s accomplishment. One, James left the Eastern Conference to sign with the Lakers, and teams that had him playing for them had made the Finals eight straight times. Two, the Warriors saw Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson go down to catastrophic injuries. Yes, Golden State was favored to win it all going into the season, but to say they would have won just off of projections ignore the original reason why games are played. It just goes to show why there is an element of luck, good or bad, that goes with the skill, and for the people in the city of Toronto, I struggle to see any evidence of care about how the Raptors brought a title back to not just that metropolitan area, but the country as a whole.

2020 Lakers – I probably don’t have to explain why this case is questioned, but for research purposes, here it goes. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season, and sports in general, stopped as we know it, and there were questions about the season being canceled altogether. From March 11 to July 30, the season was in limbo, but it did return to resume playing in Orlando, where teams met to play in the NBA bubble. Needless to say, the circumstances the players were facing were unlike any they have faced before. So with that being said, mental and emotional toughness was going to be key for the team that could rise to the top. It ended up being the Lakers, but people would be quick to point out how the “break” really helped James and newly-acquired forward Anthony Davis by helping their bodies recover from the grind of the regular season. Davis has a detailed injury history, and James, as great as he is, was showing signs of the wear and tear of a long career that has seen countless runs to the Finals in previous years. In other words, critics say L.A. would not have won the title if it wasn’t for the pause in action.

So there are five cases detailing why some fans and media want to put an asterisk on these title runs, but to be honest, the people who have these opinions sound dumb and jealous. If their favorite team, or in the case of the media, their pick to win, came through for them, they are not complaining or talking about the perceived pitfalls they want to throw on the winners. They would put a more positive spin on it, saying how their team was tenacious and showed the heart and grit necessary to complete such a task. Also, it’s quickly forgotten all of the other squads had the same circumstances to deal with. It’s not like there was a different set of rules put together for the team that hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy. To sum it up, the asterisk argument holds no water with these scenarios, and it won’t when the Bucks or Suns get their moment to shine sometime this week. That does not mean people won’t try to fill the broken cup with BS. We’re just left to decide if we want to take the cup, and that decision should be easy if things are looked at by principle instead of who is involved.

Time to answer the annual best player in the NBA (world) question

So the free agency period in the NBA has come and gone, and what a period it turned out to be. This class of free agents was one of the most star-studded in recent memory, and the results of the moves has turned the league into a place where, dare I say it, parody, might be the theme of the upcoming season. Through all of the moves, there has been a lot of debate (as usual) in regards to which player holds the title as the best basketball player in the world. Obviously, this answer varies depending on who you talk to, but for me, it’s between four men. Before I dive into the debate, I want to send my apologies to fans of Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (this season’s regular season Most Valuable Player) and Houston Rockets guard James Harden (not really), because they aren’t on this list, but here are the four dudes that are:

Could it be Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard? Most players who come off of an NBA Finals MVP instantly become part of this conversation, and the same is true in this case. Leonard is coming off of a season where he led the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA championship, and he was traded to them by the San Antonio Spurs before last season. In his only season in a Raptors uniform, Leonard quickly reminded all of us how good he is, and the run he went on during the playoffs can compare to some of the all-time great runs we’ve ever seen. Going to the hardware count, he has two titles, two Finals MVPs and is also a two-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner. Maybe there is a little bit of prisoner of the moment energy when it comes to Kawhi, but this man was always among the best in the league.

Might it still be Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James? I say still because in the estimation of most fans and analysts, James has held this title for quite a while. Even though we didn’t see him in the playoffs this season, the “Chosen One” has more than enough to back up his claim for the world’s best. He is a four-time regular season MVP and a three-time NBA Finals MVP to go along with his three championships. To go along with all that, James has been on a team that has made the Finals eight straight seasons (four with the Miami Heat and four with the Cleveland Cavaliers) before the miss with the Lakers. Say what you want about LeBron, but it’s hard to ignore the man has been historically good for a decade and a half.

Maybe it’s Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant that takes the vote. The instant boost into the best player discussion from winning Finals MVPs was mentioned earlier in the article. Durant was the beneficiary of that boost in 2017 and 2018, where he won the award on the Golden State Warriors’ title teams. We all know Durant is already one of the best scorers ever to play the game, and he has four scoring titles to back that up, and he has a regular season MVP award by his name also. Because of the Achilles injury he suffered in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Raptors, it’ll be a while before we see him on a basketball court, but don’t be surprised if KD comes back to remind us of how potent he can be.

Perhaps it’s Warriors guard Stephen Curry who claims the best player award. Curry is already widely known as the greatest shooter of all-time, and he still has some years left two play. He has two regular season MVPs, and is the only played to win that award by a unanimous vote (2015-16). He’s also a three-time NBA champion, and is also given credit for revolutionizing the game because of his shooting ability. Unlike the other three players mentioned above, there’s nothing physically imposing with Steph. He can dominant a game entirely with skill.

There are my four player who are in the running for best player in the world. Of course, I can’t complete this article without actually listing them, right? On my rankings, I would still have to give a slight edge to James. LeBron has been on the top of my list for a while, and it’ll take more than a season to knock him off the No. 1 spot. Leonard would be second, followed by Curry, then Durant. I would love to hear who you have as the best player in the world. Is one of my four, or do you have Antetokounmpo? Maybe Harden, or perhaps Russell Westbrook? Let me know, then let’s debate.

Two players, two reminders of greatness

In sports, there are times where a player reaches a level of greatness, go off the radar for a little bit, then rise back up to let people know they’re still around. Most of this can be attributed to the way society is, especially with us being in the “What have you done for me lately?” attitude that has taken over. Another part is people just didn’t realize how good a player was when they were destroying everyone in their path, and when they do it again, it’s some sort of coming out party. The “surprise” of what’s going on is what dominated the airwaves when it comes to discussing Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard, who are duking it out in the NBA Finals. Honestly, this isn’t any sort of coming out party, nor should anyone be surprised at the high level these two are playing at. What both are doing is reminding everyone how great they were, and still are.

Of course, while Curry and Leonard are sharing the biggest stage in basketball, the paths the two used to get there this season are drastically different. Let’s start with Curry, who is making his fifth straight NBA Finals appearance with the Warriors. The seventh pick in the 2009 NBA Draft was the league’s Most Valuable Player two seasons in a row (2014-’15 and 2015-’16), and became the only unanimous winner of the award the second time (not to mention winning one league title and being seconds away from making it two during this span). After forward Kevin Durant joined the Warriors in the summer of 2016, Curry became a very potent sidekick in many’s eyes. Through it all, the shooting never left, then Durant goes down with a calf injury in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Houston Rockets. The injury to Durant was supposed to spell doom for Golden State, but Curry said not so fast. From that moment, to the completion of a sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers in the conference finals, the son of sharp-shooter Dell Curry went on a tear that quickly reminded people what he’s capable of. After Game 5 of the Rockets series, Curry scored 33 points or more in each game. Suddenly, analysts and bloggers were acting like this was a shock. I guess people forgot how great Curry was before Durant even entered the equation.

While Curry’s road wasn’t exactly easy, it was nothing like the route Leonard took to get to this point. The 15th pick in the 2011 draft (traded from the Indiana Pacers to the San Antonio Spurs on the same day) came into the league know as a great defender, but worked to improve his game in some form every year he’s been in the league. The hard work cumulated in the form of an NBA Finals MVP in 2014, and two Defensive Player of the Year awards in the years that followed. It seemed like the sky’s the limit for Leonard, then came the 2017-’18 season, in which he only played in nine games for the Spurs. There was a lot of controversy in regards to a quadriceps injury Leonard was nursing. The Spurs medical staff cleared him to play, but his team was saying he wasn’t ready to return. Regardless of what happened or what side a person is on, the bottom line is the dispute led to a serious disconnect, and ultimately, a broken relationship that was beyond repair. Leonard would be traded to the Raptors, and what followed him was a reputation (in some’s eyes) of someone who quit on the Spurs. With his new team, Leonard would quickly reminded people how good he is, leading Toronto to a 58-24 regular season record, and the franchise’s first Finals appearance. During the playoffs, Leonard had plenty of scoring outbursts, prompting analysts to ask where is that coming from. Again, how quickly people forgot this man was the best “two-way” player in the league.

Both Curry and Leonard have interesting stories that have seen the highest of highs, and some low points. Everyone who plays sports will experience peaks and valleys, but for those players who have achieved a certain level of greatness, it’s hard to imagine them becoming sorry all of a sudden unless unforeseen circumstances happen. Both of these men never lost their skill, or work ethic. They were just put in situations where their individual excellence was forgotten. For Curry, he sacrificed his own status of being the man for the Warriors to make room for Durant and put titles over personal fame. For Leonard, he didn’t (or at least his team didn’t) think he was healthy enough to play. At any rate, both are back to doing what they do, and doing it at a high level.

For more context, we can’t forget how historically good these two were, and are. Curry, with his shooting ability, has literally changed the way the game is played. Leonard is a rare player who can score with the best, and can also guard all five positions on the court on defense. How quickly people forget how good players were. It’s so bad, people will be the talk of the day one minute, and forgotten about the next. From here forward, Stephen Curry and Kawhi Leonard should be mentioned in the best player in the world conversation, and what they have done in the playoffs should serve as a reminder. The problem is these names should have never left that conversation in the first place.

Criticism of Greek Freak shows what’s wrong in today’s sports media

One thing I can’t stand about society these days is whenever something goes wrong, the instinct is to find something, or someone, to blame for the reason why it happened. The world of sports isn’t any different. As a matter of fact, players get their feet put to the fire, especially if the team they play for went through a monumental collapse at the moment of truth. We know the drill by now. If a team loses, blame automatically (in most cases) goes to the star player, and this is the reality that faces Milwaukee Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in the wake of what happened in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Even though the majority of the time is spent piling on the negative, I prefer to look at the positive and give credit to where it’s deserved. The Toronto Raptors were great in coming back from a 2-0 series deficit to win four straight and earn a trip to the NBA Finals, where they have a chance to dethrone the Golden State Warriors. The Raptors’ defense, particularly forward Kawhi Leonard, did a great job of forcing Antetokounmpo into jump shots, and making other players, such as guards Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe, into doing things they’re not as comfortable doing. Toronto’s bench, which was a strength during the regular season, had disappeared at times during the playoffs. In the conference finals against the Bucks, those contributions came back to life. If you ask me, this series was more about what the Raptors did right than what Milwaukee did wrong.

Having said all of that, I would be cheating if I didn’t look at both sides of the equation. Toronto was great, but there were times where it looked like the moment was too big for the Bucks. Antetokounmpo actually airballed free throws, and the crowd at Scotiabank Arena wasn’t afraid to let him hear about it. Yes, the Greek Freak wasn’t nearly as dominant against the Raptors as he has been all season and in the first two rounds against the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics. That much may be true, but to say he was practically a no-show in the latter part of the series is, for the lack of a better word, a lie. Looking at his numbers in the games, they were still decent. In Game 3 (for example), Antetokounmpo had 12 points on 5-16 shooting, but he also had 23 rebounds and seven assists. I bring this game up because the shooting percentage could have definitely been enough for most players to let the rest of their performance slip, but that wasn’t the case with the Greek Freak.

If anyone watched the coverage following Milwaukee’s dismissal, they would have thought Antetokounmpo didn’t do anything in the series at all. I even heard people (mostly from Houston) try to compare these performances to past playoff failures seen from Houston Rockets guard James Harden. I’m here to say those games aren’t even close to being the same. Antetokounmpo didn’t go 2-of-11 shooting with six turnovers in an elimination game, like Harden did in Game 6 of the 2017 Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs (a game the Rockets lost 114-75). The Greek Freak also didn’t have a game like Harden did in Game 5, another elimination game, of the 2015 West finals against the Warriors, where almost had as many turnovers (12) as points (14). All I’m saying is if we’re going to make comparsions, let’s at least be in the same ballpark, and putting Antetokounmpo’s performances side-by-side with Harden’s is nowhere near the same.

I think we can all agree the Greek Freak is an awesome player who can still get better. He’s only 24 years old, and the potential he can reach is downright scary. What the Raptors did was exploit one of the few weaknesses in his game but taking away the easy paint baskets, and that’s the lack of a consistent jump shot. It’s not that Antetokounmpo can’t hit from the outside, it’s just not to the point where teams are going to say they need to get out there before he releases. Just imagine if the Greek Freak does get a consistent mid-range jumper (doesn’t even have to be a three-pointer). If that happens, he becomes almost unguardable, and that might be something the rest of the league is not ready for.

For now, Antetokounmpo is more than pretty good. Keep in mind this is his first time getting this far in the playoffs, Before this season, he hasn’t made it out of the first round. While I don’t think anyone is above criticism, to crush him on his performance is over the top in my eyes. The Greek Freak wasn’t destroying things on the court, but I don’t think he vanished either, and for all of the hot take artists out there, it’s time to be realistic instead of trying to cause click bait. By the way, he’s probably going to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Players award later this month, so I think he’s doing okay.