east meets west
tonight, the NBA's best western conference team hosts the best eastern conference team in what may be a preview to this years NBA finals. but wether the cavs or the lakers are the better team wont be the real question tonight.
"whos the best player on the planet, lebron or kobe?" thats the never ending debate among nba fans, and even nba players themselves. and let me start off by saying this: you're not losing with either one.
still, there must be one. on one end of the scale you have kobe, who has won 3 championship rings and is the current MVP of the league. on the other there is lebron, who is 24 years young and is currently the leading candidate for this year's prized award.
theres the recurring question of wether kobe could have won those 3 rings without shaq and, so far, the answer is no as shaq has won a ring himself without kobe. and even with an equally supportive cast in pau gasol & lamar odom, the lakers were demolished by the celtics in 6 games. lebron and a much less stellar supporting cast took the eventual champs to the brink in 7 games.
or what about kobe's unbelievable 81 pt barrage vs. the raptors? impressive to say the least. but is lebron's takeover of the pistons any less impressive? 81 points is amazing, but its in a regular season game vs. the raptors. is 29 of the last 30 points in a hostile playoff environment against a defensive minded team not more meaningful?
and most would say they'd want kobe with the ball in the last seconds of a game, and i probably would too, but that doesn't mean he is a better player in the clutch. infact, according to 82games.com, lebron tops the league in crunch time. still, i'll give it to kobe to take my last second shot of a game. but to think a game is based on last second heroics is false fantasy and a mere hope from fans (myself included) wishing for a theatrical finish. it is a 48 minute game and cleveland rarely gets into those situations as they lead the NBA in margin of victory by averaging an 11+ point differential.
maybe a better way to guage who is better is not by stats, but by those who actually play against them. the denver nuggets picked james over kobe 3-0. chauncey billups, who was a witness to james' playoff takeover, mentions how the cavs have lost a lot of players to injury and yet lebron hasn't let his team miss a step. nene and anthony carter point out that lebron has done what kobe has done with the lakers, but with much weaker options surrounding him. so let me ask you this, if kobe was on the cavaliers, would cleveland be at 31-7? no. if lebron was on the lakers, would the lake show be at 31-8? no... they might be at 39-0.
but, that is why they play the game. tonights match-up is probably more important to the lakers than it is to the cavs. for one, its at staples center. and although lebron has won the last 5 against kobe, the cavs are even more undermanned as they have lost 3 of their starters to injury. so a laker win is almost expected, whereas a cavalier win would further tote lebrons impact on a team.
will the outcome of tonights game settle the debate? definitely not. and theres probably nothing that ever will. the closest shooting guard to MJ vs. a dynamic player the league has never seen. style and finesse vs speed and power. unstoppable shooter vs. unstoppable finisher. best player of the last 5 years vs best player of the next 5 years. pick your poison
key note: *cough*lebronhasdestroyedeverykoberecordoneyearearlier*cough*
"whos the best player on the planet, lebron or kobe?" thats the never ending debate among nba fans, and even nba players themselves. and let me start off by saying this: you're not losing with either one.
still, there must be one. on one end of the scale you have kobe, who has won 3 championship rings and is the current MVP of the league. on the other there is lebron, who is 24 years young and is currently the leading candidate for this year's prized award.
theres the recurring question of wether kobe could have won those 3 rings without shaq and, so far, the answer is no as shaq has won a ring himself without kobe. and even with an equally supportive cast in pau gasol & lamar odom, the lakers were demolished by the celtics in 6 games. lebron and a much less stellar supporting cast took the eventual champs to the brink in 7 games.
or what about kobe's unbelievable 81 pt barrage vs. the raptors? impressive to say the least. but is lebron's takeover of the pistons any less impressive? 81 points is amazing, but its in a regular season game vs. the raptors. is 29 of the last 30 points in a hostile playoff environment against a defensive minded team not more meaningful?
and most would say they'd want kobe with the ball in the last seconds of a game, and i probably would too, but that doesn't mean he is a better player in the clutch. infact, according to 82games.com, lebron tops the league in crunch time. still, i'll give it to kobe to take my last second shot of a game. but to think a game is based on last second heroics is false fantasy and a mere hope from fans (myself included) wishing for a theatrical finish. it is a 48 minute game and cleveland rarely gets into those situations as they lead the NBA in margin of victory by averaging an 11+ point differential.
maybe a better way to guage who is better is not by stats, but by those who actually play against them. the denver nuggets picked james over kobe 3-0. chauncey billups, who was a witness to james' playoff takeover, mentions how the cavs have lost a lot of players to injury and yet lebron hasn't let his team miss a step. nene and anthony carter point out that lebron has done what kobe has done with the lakers, but with much weaker options surrounding him. so let me ask you this, if kobe was on the cavaliers, would cleveland be at 31-7? no. if lebron was on the lakers, would the lake show be at 31-8? no... they might be at 39-0.
but, that is why they play the game. tonights match-up is probably more important to the lakers than it is to the cavs. for one, its at staples center. and although lebron has won the last 5 against kobe, the cavs are even more undermanned as they have lost 3 of their starters to injury. so a laker win is almost expected, whereas a cavalier win would further tote lebrons impact on a team.
will the outcome of tonights game settle the debate? definitely not. and theres probably nothing that ever will. the closest shooting guard to MJ vs. a dynamic player the league has never seen. style and finesse vs speed and power. unstoppable shooter vs. unstoppable finisher. best player of the last 5 years vs best player of the next 5 years. pick your poison
key note: *cough*lebronhasdestroyedeverykoberecordoneyearearlier*cough*
posted by jonas at
2:29 AM
2 Comments:
I too am a big lebron fan dont get me wrong, but when it comes down to it, it's all about winning championships right.? The main goal for every team and every player is to win. And kobe got three, granted shaq was there, but still. And if age is the factor, kobe was 21 when they won there first of three consecutive championships. That means by the time he was lebrons age he had three rings already.
I'm just sayin.
....The never ending debate to be continued.
and i am a kobe fan as well (i have more pairs of kobe's shoes than i do of lebrons). and i stated the fact that kobe has 3 rings.. i give that to him. but the question is of NOW.
i didnt state the age factor as to see who had more rings by set age. if you want to go that route, MJ didnt have his first ring until 28... does that mean kobe is better than MJ? not close. it was merely a testament to how scary it is for a still-in-the-developement-phase lebron at 24 to already be compared to kobe who is at his peak.
again, i'll give the championships to kobe. done.
but again, lakers with lebron would be unstoppable. shaq with lebron would be 4-6 rings ina row because he doesnt have the chemistry issue
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