LeBron James and Stephen Curry are arguably the best NBA gamers of the final decade, they usually’ve lastly struck up a rivalry, to not point out a friendship. The 2 have met within the NBA Finals 4 straight occasions, with Curry’s Warriors of the Golden State defeat James Cleveland Cavaliers in three of those confrontations, and after James joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, this rivalry was lastly resurrected.
Its closing chapter unfolded Wednesday in a Christmas recreation for the ages. James scored 31 factors and dished out 10 assists, whereas Curry had 38 factors and practically saved the day for Golden State with a pair of 3-pointers within the closing moments. However Lakers guard Austin Reaves stole the present together with his game-winning layup simply earlier than time expired and gave the Lakers a bonus. Victory 115-113.
On ESPN’s “First Take”, the query of whether or not the James-Curry rivalry is the perfect in NBA historical past was requested. Author David Dennis Jr. claimed it was the best rivalry not solely in basketball however in all of sports activities historical past, however Bobby Marks refuted that declare. Marks stated this rivalry lacks one thing that earlier ones had.
“I believe after I hear the phrase rivalry, I hear the phrase dislike. I see two gamers who actually love one another, definitely off the sector and on the sector right here. I am going again as much as these Magic [Johnson]-[Larry] Chicken groups, Lakers-[Boston]Celtics groups.
“I’ll even throw away [New York] Knicks-[Chicago] bulls, [Patrick] Ewing-[Michael] Jordan. These are groups that do not like one another. I simply do not see that right here, even with LeBron in Cleveland and now with the Lakers right here. I simply do not see that aversion on the bottom right here.
“Keep in mind, of all of the video games they performed over Christmas, that is the one one which was aggressive in these video games right here. For me it is not, it goes again to the 80s with that Celtics-Lakers and positively like I stated that Knicks-Bulls rivalry that we noticed.
Dislike definitely makes a rivalry much more intriguing and intense. Although Johnson and Chicken finally turned associates amid their rivalry, they nonetheless sought blood every time they clashed in courtroom.
Possibly James and Curry simply aren’t as a lot killers or sharks as Johnson or Chicken, or for that matter, Jordan and Kobe Bryant had been. That is maybe the central factor lacking from this rivalry, nearly as good as it’s.
Then there are these 4 NBA Finals matchups that includes the 2 superstars. Whereas James’ Cavaliers turned the 2016 collection right into a traditional by overcoming a 3-1 collection deficit, the following two matchups had been very one-sided in Golden State’s favor. When Johnson and Chicken met 3 times within the finals, every collection lasted no less than six video games, and there was no less than one stretch in every collection the place nobody was fairly positive which staff would win the world championship.
This text was initially revealed on LeBron Wire: ESPN Analyst Says LeBron/Stephen Curry Rivalry Is Lacking One thing
