The four-time MVP a free agent again in 49 weeks and will look for the best place to win another NBA title. At the moment, that place isn’t ClevelandThe matter of LeBron James v Michael Jordan has been debated once or twice before. This column will not be another entry into that genre. That’s a promise. But maybe we can all briefly agree on just one thing about those two esteemed basketball gentlemen before moving on: Michael Jordan is much better than LeBron James at holding a grudge. Twenty-three years ago, when Tim Tebow was just a six-year-old attending homsechool in Florida, Michael Jordan tried his hand at baseball. It didn’t go too well. Sports Illustrated wrote about his foray...
The Cleveland Cavaliers forward is a four-time All-Star but cannot escape his biggest crime: not being LeBron James or Kyrie IrvingThe NBA offseason is in full swing, which means it’s peak season for dumping on Kevin Love. The NBA finals lead to the NBA draft, which leads to the start of free agency, which leads to the opening of the NBA summer league in Las Vegas. And in between all of it is discussion and rumors about what the Cavaliers might be able to get, if anything, for Love. It’s the modern NBA offseason life cycle. The latest rumor was Love being dealt away from the Cavaliers in a three-team deal that would have sent him to Denver, enabling Paul...
The Warriors are probably the best team the NBA has seen in 20 years, but the defending champions showed in Game 4 they’re more than afterthoughts The Cleveland Cavaliers are still the NBA’s current champion with essentially the same team from last year’s title and it was particularly cruel they had to spend three days at home enduring a debate about whether these Golden State Warriors are the greatest team ever. What happened Friday night with Cleveland’s 137-116 Game 4 trampling of the Warriors shouldn’t be a surprise.Did everyone really think Golden State – as good as they have played – are that much better than the Cavs? Related: NBA finals Game 4: Golden State Warriors 116-137 Cleveland Cavaliers –...
The Cleveland star’s greatness created an arms race in basketball, and it has reached its apotheosis in the Golden State WarriorsLeBron James’ basketball career has played out like the story of a comic book superhero, so it’s only fitting that his downfall should have a fittingly dramatic twist: that which he created became that which destroyed him. James ushered in the modern NBA “superteam” in 2010 (distinct from the past eras of the Lakers in the 80s and Bulls in the 90s) when he signed with the Miami Heat to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. There he won two titles in four years and then returned to Cleveland for a new superteam with Kyrie Irving and Kevin...
If the Cavaliers keep turning in inexplicably soft performances like Thursday’s Game 1 laugher, their NBA finals rematch with Golden State will be a short oneOn television it must have looked like the Cleveland Cavaliers were fleeing like frightened rats when Kevin Durant stormed through the lane for dunks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Who could blame them if they were? Once Golden State’s superstar forward gets running down court, all 6ft 9in of him, few players are willing to jump in his way.The truth was that Cleveland’s players were striking their own losing bargain in their 113-91 loss to the Warriors: either stop Durant on the fast break and leave Steph Curry and Klay Thompson open for...