LeBron v Steph has been the defining rivalry of my basketball life. Their latest chapter did not disappoint, but it’s clear their special rivalry is nearer to the end than the beginningThere are certain constants in our lives: north stars by which we can measure and trace the changes that occur around them as time passes us by. For the better part of the last decade, the steady fulcrum around which the NBA has revolved has been the special ongoing rivalry between future first-ballot Hall of Famers LeBron James and Stephen Curry.Some basketball fans grew up at a time when they watched Magic Johnson and Larry Bird duke it out year after year, and other fandoms were formed during the...
The modern-day uptick in team-switching has made for less of the classic rivalries that defined previous eras. But matchups like Zion v Ja and Celtics v Bucks are bursting with promiseThe NBA’s ever-changing nature means that rivalries are fickle. When Philadelphia traded picks with Boston to take Markelle Fultz with the No 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, and the Celtics selected Jayson Tatum third, the teams’ proximity and prior history had all the makings of a classic. But while Tatum is a perennial All-Star, Fultz soon developed the shooting yips and was quickly shipped to the Magic.The modern-day uptick in team-switching has made for less of the classic rivalries that defined previous eras, such as Magic Johnson’s...
Golden State’s two-time MVP was a shadow of himself in last year’s NBA finals. But now he is making the team his own againThe obvious reaction three games into an NBA finals the Golden State Warriors are almost certain to win is that Kevin Durant is the series MVP. After all, he is averaging 34 points and 10 rebounds a game and pulled out Game 3 for Golden State with a three-pointer that clinched the 118-113 victory over Cleveland. Most will say he is clearly the difference between the 2017 and 2016 finals, which the Cavaliers won in seven games.But they forget that the Warriors also have Stephen Curry back. Related: Warriors one win from NBA title after late rally...
The Golden State Warriors superstar guard’s ability to annoy basketball fans has given him the most undesirable of auras: that of a Duke playerBasketball fans were first introduced to Steph Curry 20 years ago the same way we learned of Riley Curry two years ago: he was the cute child a famous NBA father occasionally brought to work. A decade later we saw him again, knocking down jumpers for tiny Davidson College in the NCAA tournament and delivering hopelessly dorky rap verses about the campus dining hall. College Curry was the same kid we met in the 90s when Dell Curry was still in the league, just taller and with more range. But today that kid has turned into, well,...
The Kings’ gifting of their star center to the Pelicans has been hailed as the worst trade in NBA history, but might there be a method to their madness?The Sacramento Kings have completed a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad trade. A trade that, by large consensus, is being called one of the worst in NBA history. A trade so bad that the artificial intelligence in NBA 2K17 won’t allow it to go through. A trade so terrible that in his press conference discussing the deal, Kings general manager Vlade Divac took on the hopeless appearance of a man held against his will, saying he had a better offer two days ago. For all of Divac’s many failings, a list...