On the current iteration of Bradley Zimmer
June 6, 2017Don’t Turn on These Cavs If They Can’t Beat the Warriors
June 6, 2017Going into the 2017 NBA Finals, it was obvious the Golden State Warriors were the better team compared to the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, I did not know that it was going to bother me this much.
Following Sunday’s 132-113 loss, my mind has been nothing but a storage unit for mass hatred. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning, and the first thing I thought of was how much I hated Steph Curry. I hate this Warriors team so much that they’re impacting my sleep. I hate it.
At this point, I have no idea if I’m rooting for the Cavs, or if I’m rooting against the Warriors. Everything the Warriors do drives me one step closer to the edge. I hate them. I hate them because they are cocky assholes, who never get criticism from the media. Every single thing that Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant do is adored to no end by ESPN.
For instance: Steph Curry “crossing up” LeBron James Sunday night. For starters, Curry double dribbled. I’m sure you have seen the video at this point; it was a blatantly obvious double dribble that even LeBron saw. Second, even with the double dribble, Curry never lost LeBron. James stayed with Curry the entire play and played him for a block off the glass. He missed by a split-second. Steph Curry made a lay up, and the world is going insane. Newsflash, America: I can make a lay-up, too. Channing Frye may not have been able to do it Sunday, but that doesn’t mean we should celebrate when someone else does.
Curry had to double dribble, just to be able to score on LeBron.
Stop hyping this play up. pic.twitter.com/6KGsZ6nTsv
— LeKing James (@LeKingJames23) June 5, 2017
Also, Steph Curry is sleeping in the middle of an NBA Finals game. If LeBron James took a nap during the NBA Finals, we would hear non-stop takes about how he doesn’t have the fire, passion, or competitiveness that Michael Jordan did. I wish I was Curry. I wish I could nap during a Finals game because that would mean I was getting some sleep. So far I have gotten, like, an hour of sleep since the Finals started Thursday. Sometimes I forget that I’m not actually on the Cavs, but the Warriors are getting under my skin. Call me mentally weak; if you want. I choose to call myself privileged with no idea of actual real world problems.
Paul Pierce called Kevin Durant the best player in the world last night. Durant, who has played unreal the first two games, is a fantastic talent, but if anyone thinks he is the best player in the world then they shouldn’t be speaking on live television. LeBron James has owned the NBA for the past decade, and he loses his crown as the king once Kevin Durant joins up with the best team in league history and wins two games. Umm…
There has been a lot of criticism of Durant for joining a Warriors team that beat him in the conference finals last year. Last night, though, I saw several people tweet that it was actually LeBron’s fault. LeBron is responsible for this trend because he decided to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. James’ team is getting torched in the NBA Finals by Kevin Durant, all while LeBron is tearing the Warriors up, and it’s actually his fault according to real, living, breathing people (or let us hope they are Twitter egg bots). If the Cavs lose this series it will be anybody but LeBron’s fault. If you lose to a team by 19 even though you took 11 more shots than them, I have a feeling it’s not on the shoulders of the guy who went for 29/14/11 on 12-for-18 shooting. Call me crazy, but I just don’t agree.
I am a LeBron homer; there is no debating it. LeBron could kill five people, and I would somehow spin it into a reason for him being the best player of all time. So call me biased. I think we spend too much time criticizing LeBron and not enough time appreciating him. It’s kind of the complete opposite of how Steph Curry gets treated.
Could you imagine if LeBron blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals after he won MVP and his team won 73 games, and then was OK with playing alongside Kevin Durant? He would forever be labeled a shadow. People tried to compare LeBron to Scottie Pippen when he teamed up with Wade, but when Curry does the above, no one mentions a thing. How come there has been no talk of Curry’s competitiveness? Why don’t we discuss how Curry “needs” three of the 15 best players in the league to beat LeBron? We love to burn LeBron for building “superteams,” but if Steph Curry is part of it, it’s fine because you think his daughter is cute.
LeBron complains about a lot of non-calls. He is a whiner, we are all aware. A lot of the time, though, I think it’s warranted. LeBron does get penalized for being so well built, which is stupid. Still, there is no arguing that he complains. But, could you imagine if he complained the way Draymond Green does? If he sprinted down court on every single foul call flailing his arms and yelling “that’s f#@$ing bulls*!@” after blatantly obvious fouls, then we would rip LeBron about how he has no composure. Every time Green is called for a foul he acts like a Kardashian when doctors refuse to add silicon to their curves. When Green knocks someone to the floor and finally gets called for it, he throws a tantrum and we talk about his “passion.” Screw that. He doesn’t play with passion; he’s a baby. He is mentally weak. It’s easy to pretend to be tough when you can afford to be invisible in the Finals because your teammates are going to pick up all your slack.
I’m not denying the Warriors talent – they are incredible. But, I am so sick of them getting a pass for everything. If we are going to criticize LeBron and penalize his legacy for getting beat by a team that many consider to be the best of all time, then we should start criticizing the Warriors for their flaws, and discussing the asterisks on their legacies.
If the Cavs lose and LeBron actively recruits players like Paul George and Gordon Hayward, it’s not fair to call him out for ruining the parity and competitiveness of the NBA. We will praise the Warriors for their greatness, but blame LeBron for his greatness ruining the league. Why? Because he started it? LeBron is in a lose-lose. If he loses to the Warriors and doesn’t try to recruit another star, he will continue to lose to the Warriors. If he loses to the Warriors and recruits another superstar, he will be scrutinized for “not being able to get it done alone.”
Stars like LeBron will always receive criticism, which is fair. It’s just time that we start treating Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant the same way. If people are going to make arguments that Steph and KD are better than LeBron, they should be held accountable when they fail.
Cavs in six.
37 Comments
Old school basketball Curry would have been laid out flat on the floor, or launched five rows deep before attempting to finish that layup.
Sigh, the good old days…time to put on the foil for game 3, boys.
I say start Dahntay and let him foul out before the end of the first. Start laying down some law.
A national radio pundit (whose name escapes me…) was comparing matchups between Oakland and the 95/96 Bulls. He actually said the Jordan v Curry matchup would only SLIGHTY favor Chicago. Jordan would make Curry curl up in a ball and weep.
What are these guys smoking?
And I hate their lifelong (since 2015) fans.
And I’m glad they lost their football team.
“LeBron could kill five people”
WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON ABC!
Old time hockey?
Yep. It’s time.
http://www.arcticblubber.com/gallery/d/1064-1/giphy_004.gif
People forget that Jordan played supreme defense too
I won’t go as far as the Raiders —
That’s some good Highly Extreme Recency Bias
I am.
And I hope they stink for their last 2 seasons.
https://media.giphy.com/media/l52CGyJ4LZPa0/giphy.gif
The Cavs better have brought their f’ing toys with ’em.
Putting on the Foil has been my fantasy hockey name for the past four seasons. Classic.
He’d get exhausted before he could rack up enough fouls.
They are smoking the good stuff that you can afford by having people listen it just to hear what they’ll say next. I’ve said it before, sports talk radio is a real as wrasslin’.
There is a lot of salt for stuff that if it went the other way, most of us wouldn’t give a crap about how it affected anyone else. We’re losing, sure, it sucks.
“LeBron is in a lose-lose”
This is pretty much how it works when you’re playing in the “greatest of all time” territory. No one actually thinks Curry or even Durant is at that level. People want to see Lebron attempt to achieve new heights.
Who’s Jordan?
Michael never faced a team as good as the Warriors in the Finals, ever.
Hell, Michael never had to face the ’14 Spurs either.
By my count LeBron has had 5 tougher trips to the Finals than Michael ever did; 07 Spurs, 14 Spurs, 15 Warriors, 16 Warriors and 17 Warriors.
“book it” or something.
Just my opinion; but Durant going to the Warriors is dude’s personal choice and yeah, good for him.
If you really want to get angry… do so when he takes less cash to stay with them. It’s also his personal choice to do so but that’s the deal breaker the NBA nor Union doesn’t want to see because it puts teams with max cap space desperate for stars really on the outside.
I think the frustration comes from LeBron clearly being in the greatest ever conversation but also dealing with “lose-lose”.
Most greats don’t get that baggage.
To the winners go the facile media narratives. And no, defending champs from June 19, 2016, haven’t been considered the “winners” since the Durant announcement a few weeks later.
Should the Cavs somehow win the next two the facile wheel will turn – into cliches like “Warriors panic” and “Goat LeBron.” We should be clear in our own minds: do we hate the Warriors, or what is said about them? If that org played here we’d love them. To death. All of ’em.
http://pa1.narvii.com/6269/36dd3b0967637696cf0c4a3e1d1d89600a9e2b05_hq.gif
Dan, enjoyed the honest reflection, but please don’t let this stuff affect your sleep. I order you to watch this 15 minutes a day until symptoms resolve https://media.giphy.com/media/xT8qBd0tFdFV7l0gr6/giphy.gif
Is Hank Fraley available?
Most greats didn’t live in the world of Twitter, or even 24/7 sports coverage. There is more talk because we need to fill tv hours, and internet columns, and we recognize it more because it’s so much easier to access. Many more players have more baggage now, and many more players have to deal with conversations that don’t have an end, but are designed to work people into a tizzy.
I’m not sure either side would hate it. The NBA can point out that “see, these guys make so much already, they turn down the max, we don’t need to make it go higher”, while the NBPA can see it as a way to get the rank and file guys the contracts/environments they want.
I don’t see any way the Union being okay with it. Their goal is to get all the players the most money possible. If teams can start signing Durant-caliber players without Super Max or Max deals it hurts their overall negotiations.
maybe she is the Bachelorette?
Machine took my quarter, Coach!
Right, it’s not ideal for the NBPA, but he’s taking 90%+ of what he’d get so that two of his teammates can stay and make a whole bunch of money. Considering the vast majority of the PA are those guys who stand to benefit from stars taking a little bit less, I think they might be okay with it in the end.
With Paul and Lebron being the group’s leaders, though, and having already shown a desire to increase salary for top end players, it will be interesting to see how a guy directly in each of their paths doing this gets treated.
or, think about D-Day, seasick 18 year olds just hoping to get off the Higgins Boats and into the water alive before trying to avoid slaughter on the beach. Steph double-dribble Michael v. LeBron whatever.
Sad thing is, if one NorCal team fails, the “fans” just hop to their other team nearby – 49ers, A’s – hell, Sacramento when GSW start falling in a few years. They are the cockiest bunch of assholes in any sport.
Thanks for sparing us imagery of Elway driving 98-yards
I kid you not, a relative of mine originally from Cleveland, but moved to NorCal about 15 years ago is all up in the GSW’s jock. He is in his 40s and basically picks out exact same outfits that Steph wears. It is the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. 5yr old kid? ok, fine. But an over-40yr old? WTF is wrong with you?
http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/47/26/30/10315320/3/1024×1024.jpg
I’d love to see LeBron play against man-to-man defense his whole career. And everyone in the league was terrified of the Stockton/Malone pick and roll.