23 final thoughts on the NBA Finals: Has LeBron James now soared even higher than Larry Bird?
Also: Kevin Love should still have great interest to the Celtics.
COMMENTARY
Twenty-three closing thoughts on the Warriors, Cavaliers and an NBA season that gave us a fantastic final scene …
1. Trust me, I hate myself as much as you’ll hate me for saying this, but I don’t know how anyone can put Larry Bird ahead of LeBron James on an all-time great players list without parochialism and nostalgia being the fundamental factors.
2. LeBron has now been in the league as long as Larry was, 13 years. He has 5,042 more points and 1,120 more assists than Larry. Larry has LeBron by 1,907 rebounds. Then there are the stats that really matter: LeBron has won as many championships (3) and been to more Finals (7 to Larry’s 5) … and generally did it with less-talented rosters.
3. Bird played with four other Hall of Famers in ’86, as well as two other players (Danny Ainge and Scott Wedman) who had been All-Stars. No, LeBron did not have a rival quite like Magic Johnson and the Lakers, but he did defeat Tim Duncan – an all-time top-10 player – as well as Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant en route to his championships. At the very least, they’re equals. And, you better believe that might be a copout from a writer who knows his audience.
4. I do understand why some fans are still reluctant to give LeBron his due. He’s narcissistic beyond belief, even for someone who was dubbed “The Chosen One” by a national magazine as a high school junior. He always thinks the song is about him. (It usually is.) He seems to be a decent, generous human being in general, yet he tries so hard to seem authentic that he comes across as utterly fake.
5. He also can’t help but embellish the already brilliant and suspenseful. After Draymond Green knocked him to the floor on his dunk attempt in the final seconds of Game 7 – what an all-time posterization that would have been – LeBron writhed around like he was going to need his shooting hand amputated before he shot his free throws. The replay showed … well, nothing that looked any worse than a skinned knee.
6. Over the last three games of the Finals, the Warriors’ Harrison Barnes shot 5 for 32, which roughly equates to the length in years and total salary that his next contract should be.
7. It’s hard to figure what to make of Barnes. He has that Jeff Green shriveling gene, and that he shot so terribly in this series while holding one of the sweetest no-pressure gigs in sports (fourth wheel on the Warriors) suggests it won’t go well when he has more responsibility. But he’s more talented, a conscientious player and teammate, a far better defender than Green, and he’s just 24. He’ll get a max deal, and it will probably be regrettable.
8. Only three players in Game 7 shot 50 percent or better: Cleveland’s Tristan Thompson (3 for 3), and Golden State’s Draymond Green (11-15) and Leandro Barbosa (1-2).
9. Thirteen players shot under 38 percent, including LeBron (9 for 24, .375), Stephen Curry (6-19, .316), Klay Thompson (6-17, .353), and Kevin Love (3-9, .333).
10. I’m not sure that confirms that superb defense was being played all around. I think it’s more of a reflection of the physical nature of the series catching up to both sides. The teams combined to shoot 1 for 17 in the final 4:39, with Irving’s go-ahead three being the single make.
11. It’s not just that the Warriors missed the habitually unsung Andrew Bogut. It’s that they probably would have repeated as champions had he not injured his knee when J.R. Smith hurtled into him in Game 5, even if he’d played just OK over the final two games.
12. Bogut’s replacements were the equivalent of a Patrick O’Bryant tribute band. In Game 7, Anderson Varajao and Festus Ezeli combined to play 19 minutes and 14 seconds. In that time, they scored one point, shot 0 for 5 from the field, totaled a rebound, two assists, and five fouls. They were a combined minus-18. Woof.
13. Hell, Robert Parish could have given them more than that from the center spot, and he’s 62 years old and last played for the Warriors in 1980.
14. The Warriors’ offense had no flow or precision when Varajao was on the court. He’s chaos in human form, topped off with a Sideshow Bob hairdo. I half-expected him to careen across the television screen during the Cavs’ postgame celebration as he flopped his way back to the losing locker room.
15. Inevitable question that comes after the Cavaliers beat the Warriors with a healthy Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving: Would the Cavaliers have beaten the Warriors last year with a healthy Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving? I’m inclined to say no. I think they needed this year to further mesh their skills, especially the LeBron-Kyrie dynamic. They didn’t even get it exactly right until, what, Game 5 of this series.
16. We must salute the Warriors, my favorite team to watch since the ’86 Celtics. They embraced the challenge of trying to win 73 games and a championship, pulled off the first feat, came up a made shot or two away from fulfilling the second part, gave us an all-timer of a series with the Thunder along the way, and were remarkably gracious in defeat, especially Green and Curry. Nothing but respect.
17. They’ll look somewhat different next year – they have seven potential free agents, the most important being Barnes – but I can’t wait to see them again. This is a team to be celebrated, even if, like so many of their late 3-point bombs, they came up just a little short.
18. It’s going to be fascinating to see how Curry, who was stunningly careless with the ball and erratic with his shot Sunday night, responds to this unfinished business. Same for Klay Thompson, whose confidence became more and more evident as the season went on. They’re both sneaky-tough and strike me as the types to turn disappointment into fuel for improvement.
19. James Posey, so important on the court and off to the Ubuntu Celtics, now has three championships to his name: one with the 2006 Heat, one here in ‘08, and now this one as a Cavs’ assistant.
20. The comparison is an easy one, but the Warriors are not equivalent to the 2007 Patriots, a regular-season record-setter that failed to punctuate the feat with a championship. The Patriots lost one game in the final moments; the Warriors lost a grueling seven-game series. I’m not sure the Giants were better than the Patriots; they were just better that day, and certainly luckier. The Cavs are better than the Warriors. The larger sample-size proved it.
21. When LeBron references the “man above” as giving him the “hardest road” is he referencing the moves of LeBron the general manager? He’d best get working on that draft board. It’s hard to believe teams will be on the clock on Thursday night.
22. I think the Celtics will keep the No. 3 pick and take Cal’s Jaylen Brown. I will change this prediction at least four times between now and the moment they are on the clock.
23. Kevin Love averaged 26/12/4 two years ago. He’s 27, miscast but capable as a stretch four for the Cavs, and showed up big-time in Game 7. Hell yes, I’d take him on the Celtics. Brad Stevens got the most of out of Evan Turner and his oddball skill set. Imagine what he’d get from Love just by playing to his many strengths. C’mon, GM LeBron. Trade him this way.
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