Storyline: LeBron James is a Mount Rushmore-type of player. Stephen Curry is spectacular, but he will never challenge the greatness of LeBron James in his prime. Written by Mikal Dixon, Vermont. For more from Mikhal visit alternativebasketball.blogspot.com
The 2016 NBA Finals didn’t have one close game through the first six games. Each win had an exclamation mark on it. Each win was by a double digit margin and, in games 2 and 3, the two teams traded 30-point blowout victories.
Courtesy – Bleacher Report
However, the score differential in each game didn’t represent the closeness of the series as a whole. Both teams scored the same amount of points in the series through six games. The seventh game went down to the wire and accurately epitomized the series, even while emphatically defying the relatively one-sided storylines in each of the previous six games.
The competitiveness of the series was finally showcased–in a single game that would do the series justice and show the true overall parity between the opposing teams. The Warriors knew that their historic 73-9 regular season was meaningless without the validation of a championship; and they knew, without that final win, that their chance to be mentioned in the same breath as Jordan and Pippen’s Bulls would vanish.
Despite LeBron’s irrefutable dominance and reign over the league, he knew that the media would have a field day if he lost to their ‘Golden Boy’ for the second time in a row. The media loved Curry to the extent that they voted him MVP unanimously; and, at many times to further honor Curry’s spectacular season, they did so at the expense of his teammates–often nearly disregarding the depth of skill, and even the competency, of the Warriors as a whole.
Courtesy: bleacherreport.com
Many people didn’t understand that the Warriors had perhaps that deepest array of talented versatile wing players in NBA history. Many people disrespected Klay Thompson, labeling him a ‘sidekick; or simply a ‘common star’ (as oxymoronic as that sounds). When Klay went on one of his ruthless locked-in scoring sprees, t was often referred to as “Klay with his best Steph Curry impersonation.”
Klay Thompson is also an elite on ball defender. Klay Thompson bailed Steph out on multiple occasions, including in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals when he hit a playoff record 11 threes on the road in the deafeningly loud Chesapeake Arena in Oklahoma City. In Game 4 of the same series, Thompson scored 19 consecutive points for the Warriors in the 3rd quarter.
Klay Thompson is a playoff WARRIOR and I believe he’s a Top 10 player at both ends of the court. Steph is a slightly above average defender, who often escapes from the task of guarding rival, star point guards. However, Steph has notably great hands and defensive awareness. And we all know Stephen Curry has legendary handles and offensive creativity. In the regular season his field goal percentage was above 50%, which seems magical when you take into account the difficulty of an average Steph Curry attempt, and that he was a volume scorer who also led the lead in scoring.
Curry is also better than almost any other point guard at dictating the tempo of the game. Curry deserved heaps of praise and, yet, the media still reached … higher, higher, and higher … trying to make Steph’s success into something miraculous … heavenly. Elaborating on how he is a devout Christian as a way to hint that he may be a gift from above. The media simultaneously tried to make him out as this highly successful athlete despite his “very average natural athletic ability.”
Courtesy: Ibtimes.com
That was a tactic meant to glorify Steph. But I think it undermined his athletic gifts in an attempt to attach his success to an otherworldly or mythical force. Curry’s success isn’t accidental or as unlikely as it is often made out to be. Just because Curry’s style isn’t predicated on dominating with sheer athleticism, doesn’t mean that he lacks elite athleticism.
Curry is the child of a professional basketball player and he has had every resource at his disposal to help him develop. Curry may not be Russell Westbrook on the fast break, but Curry is still a lengthy guard with supreme quickness who has been videotaped during workouts performing windmill dunks effortlessly off of two feet hops to the rim.
The way Steph Curry dribbles and uses that deft touch to gun in jumpers and guide pretty high-rising floaters in the basket is not magic. Curry is remarkably cut physically, even though he lacks bulging muscles, which (by the way) would only hinder the fluidity of his shot to some degree. His conditioning appears to be extremely elite as is his ability to get up and down the court endlessly. That trait reminds me of Steve Nash (another back-to-back MVP) in his prime. Curry is more coordinated physically than perhaps any athlete I have ever seen grace a basketball court. And he understands and embraces his strengths with zero hesitation and with a killer mentality.
Klay Thompson and Steph Curry are likely the two best shooters of all time, and Steph is worthy of slightly more praise because he is the orchestrator of the rhythmic flow that the Warriors play. It combines a lack of hesitation and methodical focus with free-flowing creativity. It’s fun yet effective. Often deadly.
BleacherReport.com
But Klay was never a sidekick. Klay is Top 5 for his position, offensively and defensively. They are both superstars and future Hall of Famers. And while Draymond Green’s inconsistency prevents him from breaking into superstar territory, he’s a versatile star forward. Just as Klay relieved Curry from having to guard the opposing star point guards, Draymond relieved Curry from having to be the team’s primary setup man.
Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston were also elite defenders, all of whom possessed all-star qualities and played at all-star levels. They just didn’t have high usage rates or force their will offensively with high doses of shots on a daily basis. They didn’t because they played for the team’s success as a whole. That doesn’t mean they weren’t stars. They were essential to what the team needed.
After six games came GAME 7 of The Finals. A single game that was more important than any previous game ever–according to all the participants and the vast majority of the fans. There were 20 lead changes. Kyrie continued to outplay Curry in the series; he connected on a series of spectacular seemingly impossible shots that culminated in him hitting one of the biggest shots in NBA history–a 3 pointer over the outstretched hand of the 3-point man himself…Steph Curry. The irony.
The type of play many hopefuls anticipated Steph would make was on the other end–an end that nobody predicted. A decisive clutch 3 to win The Finals, which was released from the hand of his opponent. After a season where Steph Curry was undoubtedly the clutchest performer in all of the league, just before Kyrie Irving’s 3 pointer there was “The Block,” which will be LeBron’s career-defining play.
Courtesy: susanshan.com
What happened then was straightforward and important: order was restored to the league. Now the world would fully understand the obvious truth that LeBron is the best player. While Curry had an electrifying and outstanding 2015-2016–play that truthfully revolutionized the game–the media lived in the moment and tried to propel the relatable and ultra-talented Curry to a place that asked for things that were beyond his means.
Curry was the most outstanding player in the 15-16 season, and he is perhaps more skilled than any basketball player on the planet. However, LeBron can do EVERYTHING on a basketball court and is already a Top 3 player of all time. LeBron James led both teams in the 2016 Finals in every major statistical category (Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, and Blocks). No one has ever done that in any playoff series. He can play every position on either end of the court. He is on pace to challenge every conceivable record including most points scored ever and most points scored in the playoffs, a record that is rapidly approaching.
LeBron James is a generational Mount Rushmore-gracing type of player. Stephen Curry is spectacular and displays a game based more on elements involving skillful dazzling moves. But Curry will never challenge the balanced and overwhelming greatness of LeBron James in his prime.
