Game 14 of the Regular Season is Not Game Seven of the NBA Finals
I made a big mistake tonight, so I will apologize in advance if that mistake affects the quality of this article.
I watched ESPN's NBA pregame show, and I am afraid that I lost basketball IQ points while listening to "Screamin' A" Smith provide some of the most bizarre opinions since the last time he confused loud volume with deep thinking (which would be whenever was the last time he opened his mouth). "Screamin' A" asserted, among other nonsense, that Kevin Durant is going to be remembered more for the decision to team up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn than for winning two championships and two NBA Finals MVPs as a Golden State Warrior.
It is difficult to think of a better example of a blurted basketball hot take devoid of any meaningful connection with evidence or reality. Here are just a few reasons this hot take is foolish:
1) Six players have won consecutive NBA Finals MVPs since the award was first given in 1969: Michael Jordan (1991-93; 1996-98); Hakeem Olajuwon (1994-95); Shaquille O'Neal (2000-02); Kobe Bryant (2009-2010); LeBron James (2012-13); Kevin Durant (2017-18). It is possible that Durant will add more Finals MVPs to his resume, but even if he does not win another Finals MVP his decision to play in Brooklyn will never overshadow the rare level of championship greatness that he has already achieved.
2) Before Durant joined the Warriors, Curry and crew had won one title and then lost in the NBA Finals after posting the best regular season record in NBA history. The Warriors did not become a dynasty until they added Durant and until Durant emerged as clearly and without question the team's best player (as signified by, among other things, the two Finals MVPs that he won while outplaying LeBron James on the sport's biggest stage).
3) The Warriors' dynasty was interrupted when Durant got injured, and--until proven otherwise in the playoffs (not in one regular season game in November)--the dynasty ended when Durant left for Brooklyn; since Durant's departure, the Warriors have not even qualified for the playoffs, while Durant bounced back from a ruptured Achilles to lead the Nets to a hard fought game seven second round loss to 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee.
4) Curry has yet to win even one Finals MVP--let alone matching Durant's two--and during the NBA Finals he has repeatedly been outshined not only by the best player on the opposing team but also by one or more players on his team.
5) The final result of Durant's decision to go to Brooklyn has not yet been determined. The Nets may win multiple titles, they may win one title, or they may win no titles. Until we know how that story ends, it is premature to assert that this chapter of Durant's career will be remembered more than his back to back Finals MVPs--particularly when the implication is that Durant's Brooklyn career will end in failure. Even if Durant does not win a title in Brooklyn, that would not overshadow the titles he won in Golden State--and if he wins a title in Brooklyn then that just adds to his legacy.
I did not like Durant's decision to flee Oklahoma City to join the Golden State team that he had just lost to in the Western Conference Finals, and I did not understand his decision to flee Golden State to play in Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving, but I will never confuse my personal opinion of his business decisions with an objective analysis of his basketball legacy.
So, contrary to what "Screamin' A" appears to believe, Stephen Curry did not win his first Finals MVP last night, the Golden State Warriors did not win the NBA Finals, and Kevin Durant did not permanently damage his legacy. Curry and the Warriors played very well while dismantling the Brooklyn Nets 117-99, but regular season games in November do not become bullet points on anyone's Hall of Fame resume.
It must be emphasized that--as noted above--Curry and the Warriors have not qualified for the playoffs, let alone won a playoff game or playoff series, since Durant left. The closest that the Warriors came to the playoffs was losing a Play-In Tournament game at home to the Memphis Grizzlies. Curry shot 5-14 from the field in the first half of that game as the Warriors fell behind 62-49 by halftime. Curry played better in the second half, but that proved to be too little, too late.
Curry is a great player, but undersized players like Curry tend to wear down/break down as the playoffs progress, so a big performance in a November regular season game does not prove that Curry is going to play at this level in the NBA Finals--assuming that he can lead his team that far without Durant carrying most of the load.
"Screamin' A" has narratives about Durant and Irving that he is going to keep spouting regardless of what happens, but the biggest story of the season for either team--if not for the entire NBA--is that James Harden's counterfeit numbers are being exposed. It is fascinating to watch the 2018 NBA MVP struggle to score now that defenders are permitted to guard him closely. Harden has had some decent games this season, and he was not terrible last night (24 points on 6-13 field goal shooting, four assists, five turnovers) but even the delusional Daryl Morey is not going to call this version of Harden the greatest scorer in NBA history. Perhaps Harden will adjust to playing basketball instead of "Flop and Flail," or perhaps the NBA will feel sorry for Harden and stop officiating him correctly, but 14 games is a large enough sample size to recognize that Harden is simply not the player that he has been falsely promoted to be. He is an All-Star caliber player, but most certainly not one of the NBA's 76 greatest players of all-time, and if he had been officiated correctly for the past several seasons he would not have posted the counterfeit numbers that fooled too many people into ranking him much higher than he should be ranked. This is just one example of why I evaluate players based on skill set analysis and not just based on statistics.
Golden State's win over Brooklyn may have foreshadowed what will happen in the 2022 NBA playoffs for one or both teams, but it may have just been an outlier for one or both teams during a long regular season. Any rational person understands that we will not know what to make of this game until we see how the whole season unfolds.
By the way, Giannis Antetokounmpo is a mobile seven footer who plays at a high level at both ends of the court. He won back to back regular season MVPs, and he is the reigning NBA Finals MVP. He is playing at his usual elite level this season. For a brief moment after Antetokounmpo's historic 2021 NBA Finals performance, media members seemed to understand that he is the best player in the world--so how is it possible to rationally believe that anything that happens in the first 14 or 15 games of this regular season undermines the status that Antetokounmpo attained after excelling for several regular seasons, culminating in last year's championship run? Curry is great, Durant is great, but nothing has happened to change the correct evaluation from last summer that Antetokounmpo is the NBA's best player.
Labels: Brooklyn Nets, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Golden State Warriors, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry
posted by David Friedman @ 9:22 PM
