May 31 2008
Classic NBA Matchup
David Stern couldn’t be any happier. The two most storied NBA franchises have risen again to the top and are playing in the Finals once again.
Kobe Bryant is close to being a legitimate threat to Michael Jordan as King of the NBA. Bryant will be gunning for his 4th title. The biggest difference between Jordan and Bryant is that Kobe is missing the signature moments in the playoffs that Jordan had. Jordan had the push off series clincher versus Utah, the shot over Cleveland and the half where he couldn’t miss 3 pointers against Portland amongst numerous others. Jordan had a distinct flair for the creating the moment. Jordan in his prime would likely have dismissed Bryant in a final much like he did Clyde Drexeler.
Bryant has his opportunity now to create his moment. Think a game six last second shot over Paul Pierce in Boston to win the title wouldn’t put Bryant into the same stratosphere as his tongue wagging idol? The momentum for that seems to be building.
No, this isn’t a repeat of Magic verses Bird. However, there is an interesting matchup in this series. Bryant verses Kevin Garnett. They are the poster children for HS to NBA. They made the Lebron James, Amare Stoudemire types popular and gave them a chance to make the move.
Garnett, however has been mired with teams lacking the overall talent to become champions, while Kobe won championships but was overshadowed by the presence of Shaq. Now they face off in the biggest moments of their careers. For Garnett he has his chance to finally cry with the trophy, rather than cry with an empty Gatorade bottle after a playoff defeat. For Bryant he can cement his name in the books with the greatest players of all time.
The critics will say this series is nothing like the old Magic-Bird days. To me, that is just bitter old guy talk. The NBA is clearly a different league, for one there are more teams. This dilutes the opportunity to build teams that have 3 or 4 hall of fame candidates. Second, there are more foreign players than ever. While this brings in new talent, many of these players don’t bring fans to have the affection for them like Boston has for a tall, big, slow white guy from Frenchlick, Indiana. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have proven to be great NBA players, but how many kids do you see with their jerseys?
Third, the college game has changed so much, with the exodus of younger players and more mid-major teams breaking through to cause tournament havoc. When Magic and Bird first met it was actually in college for the national championship game. Their meeting led to a building of anticipation for future NBA wars. Previously, it was the norm to have your best college players around for 3 or 4 years to establish themselves as legends, and generally, they’d be surrounded by other quality players.
Nonetheless, classic NBA series are built when superstars meet in the biggest moments, at the height of their primes. All season Garnett has had the Finals on his mind. It was the Celtics goal, anything less was a failure. The moment Ray Allen and Garnett joined Paul Pierce there was no doubt the Celtics were favorites in the East. For Bryant, he’s spent the last off season worrying about where he’d be playing and his future in the NBA, however, his team stepped up and brought him back to the pinnacle.
Garnett v Bryant….the next NBA classic series.
