[Basketball Season Roundup] Durant vs. LeBron. The best team beat the best player. Photo. Erik Drost-Flickr.
It is hard to say which offseason chatter would have been more deafening, Golden State star Kevin Durant coming up short in his trophy pursuit or LeBron “King” James coming up on the wrong end of a sweep! Thankfully, we’ll never know.
However, there are several things we do know:
The best basketball player in the world versus best team is most likely to yield a 4-1 outcome; there’s absolutely no getting away from the importance of eve-ry-bo-dy on the roster in team sports. That’s why even Michael Jordan didn’t begin to win his championship rings til a team was built around his super skills. And, in the case of the Warriors, when the value of arguably one of the league’s top players is added to an already potent roster, it is tough for opponents to develop & execute an equally potent game plan. Even in the world of Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda the Warriors still prevail. Cavs Coulda won the first matchup, had it not been for injuries to Kyrie & K-Love….
The Warriors Shoulda kept their collective feet on the gas & not blown a 3-1 lead last year.
Throw in this year & the Warriors Woulda been 2-1 in the historic 3peat either way….
Things we also know:
The occupants of Oracle Arena have established themselves as the blueprint, THE team to beat. It will indeed be interesting to see the strategies invoked by others to try and disrupt the Golden State formula.
To many, offseason trades have become more exciting than the regular season itself.
As the championship series unfolds so does the speculation on who will soon be donning another uniform on another team; a less than stellar performance will get your name popping up in conversations like a verbal whack-a-mole game. Case in point for all the second guessing around the best player in the world passing the ball to a teammate and said teammate missing the shot. What was missed far too often? THAT was THAT guy’s shot—the very reason he found himself in the enviable position of going from a middle of the pack team to one well poised for a run at the title. Not saying he’s gone; I’m just sayin…..
Speaking of that notoriously middle of the pack team, can’t say I’m surprised to see the Hawks traded their hometown player after only one season. A 7 footer who plays as a 5 footer ain’t exactly hard to walk away from.
Was surprised to see Chicago trade its face of the franchise. The feeling that the front office has zero idea of what it is doing, ought to strike fear in the hearts & minds of its fans. Poor decisions by folks in suits have the tendency to linger far longer than the suits themselves.
The trading block whirlwinds are far from over–buckle up!
Aside from well wishes for draft participants, I routinely stay away from the hype of young fellas who’ve yet to have the paint dry on their locker room assignments!
Right now, I’m still relishing in this year’s win. Placed several bets; an unwavering Golden State in 5—congratulations to them. No time like the present to start collecting!!
Honorable Mentions to my Lady Sooners softball team and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins for holding down their back to back titles!
