| 09 May 2010
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Orlando Magic 105, Atlanta Hawks 75
By this point, you know the drill.
Recaps of blowouts are completely stupid. One team played extremely well. In this case it was the Orlando Magic who are now the dominatrix to the Atlanta Hawks’ middle-aged white male who can’t stand his wife but needs to do something extra kinky during business trips to make sure he doesn’t leave his family for his secretary or something. Basically, the Magic have the title and deed (are those the same things?) to the Atlanta Hawks franchise.
So instead of keeping you up on the asinine action from Saturday’s Game Three, I thought I’d start talking about the way basketball fans are slowly driving me insane.
For some reason, we’ve reached a point in our sports loving culture in which we constantly have to make lists and tear players apart and pick a side when there is a discussion of who is possibly better than the other. For team sports, I’ve gotten to the point in which I simply won’t answer questions about one-on-one comparisons.
Do you want to know why the Suns have owned the Spurs this time around? Great.
Do you want to know if the Magic still have the upper hand against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a seven-game series? I’m here for you.
But if you want to know whether I’d take Derrick Rose or Rajon Rondo to start my fictional team then I’m going to have to ask you to hit yourself in the head with a hammer.
I just don’t understand why we compare players to no end when there are eight other guys on the court. Is it fun to debate if a 25-year old LeBron James is better than a 32-year old Kobe Bryant? I guess so but I’m not quite sure. They’re completely different players in completely different systems with completely different teams at completely different points in their careers. They have different individual and team goals outside of win an NBA championship this year. Asking me which guy I’d rather start a team with or which guy I’d rather have taking the last shot just seems senseless and completely arbitrary to me.
I’d like to have either of them taking the last shot in a game for me. I don’t care if Kobe has more game-winners or if LeBron can get to the basket easier than anyone in the league. In fact, I’d like to have a lot of guys taking the last shot. I’d love for guys like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Ray Allen, Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili or even Eddie House taking a last second shot for me.
You know why? Because they’re all FREAKING good at their jobs!
The problem with comparing guys one-on-one instead of comparing teams is that you inevitably end up having to hate the other guy. You can’t just throw two players out there and appreciate the beauty and wonder of the way they play the game of basketball. I have to think that LeBron isn’t clutch or Dirk isn’t tough or Stephen Curry isn’t a legitimate adult. I have to say that someone can’t do this or someone can’t do that. I have to say the guy I’m not defending actually sucks at his job. There has to be a level of hatred involved.
This idea would make sense to me in golf or tennis or bowling or racecar driving or even competitive dart throwing. Those make sense to me to hate one guy and love the other. But in basketball, you never have the scenario of guys going one-on-one. Sure, there are isolation sets that semi-pit guys against each other in an island setting. But on the reef just outside that island are usually two or three help defenders ready to force a pass then rotate in a systematic way to the next open shooter.
Instead of hating certain players and lauding the others, we should try to be more intelligent with the way we discuss basketball. Just because you think Kobe is more clutch “whatever the hell that means” than LeBron doesn’t mean that LBJ isn’t clutch. Being second to someone in the NBA is never a bad thing unless you’re second to Ryan Hollins on the depth chart. Then you should probably kill yourself.
You can go ahead and think Dirk isn’t clutch in the playoffs but if you do so, you better have more evidence than one bad series against a Warriors team that had enough posse members and shady hanger-ons around the roster to scare the living crap out of the Mavericks.
I’m not asking fans to know everything about anything in the NBA. Just have a clue about what you’re discussing. Don’t ever resort to the line, “you’re just a [fill in the name of a player you abnormally love]-hater.” When you’ve called someone a hater then you’re officially out of argument and have no chance of winning that debate. We all need to be open to our side of the discussion not being correct and we all need to be open to the idea that there can be room for both players.
I don’t want to pick between Chris Paul and Deron Williams. I don’t want to choose between Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry. I don’t want to decide between Brian Scalabrine and Matt Bonner.
I just want to enjoy the beautiful game of basketball in front of me and try to figure out why everything is unfolding the way we see it. And if you ever decide to use the "no rings argument" to try and refute something someone is saying, do me a favor and jump off a bridge.
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