While technically a Game 7 in the world's premier basketball league should be considered the pinnacle of professional basketball, in actuality they rarely feel that way when we come upon one. After experiencing six games between the same two teams, rehashing each individual match up over and over again, and having useless facts like "Gary Neal's dad is watching at home" thrown at us multiple times by ESPN announcer Mike Breen, the lead up to game 7 has really felt more like a sigh of relief than a two day stretch filled with anticipation. In other sports we have two weeks of analysts and reporters building up the Super Bowl, in NCAA Men's Basketball we have a week of previews to the Final Four and possible Championship match ups, and in Baseball or Hockey, the majority of the country waits until game 7 of the World Series or Stanley Cup to even bother caring about the sport (apart from the real fans of the various regions of course).
Game 7 is the final game in a series of blowouts (aside from Games one and six), leading to a real lack of anticipation in relation to the meaning of the event. There have been few memorable heroic moments for your average fan to hang his or her hat on apart from Ray Allen's game tying three pointer in the dying moments of game 6, yet I'm here to inform the average fan of magnitude of tonight's event. If you aren't in front of a Television to witness (No Lebron reference intended) game 7 at 9 pm, eastern standard time, then you should be viewed as equivalent to someone who chose not to watch the Super Bowl.
Depending on the outcome, tonight marks the culmination of one NBA all time great's career or the crowning achievement of the other's. The two athletes I speak of are of course Tim Duncan and Lebron James. Polar opposites when it comes to playing style and even lifestyle. Duncan has been the consummate pro and model of consistency during his 16 year NBA career. After spending four years honing his game in college at Wake Forest he emerged as the number one pick of the Spurs in the 1997 NBA Draft and almost immediately found success thanks to his excellent fundamentals (I'm still bewildered as to how the "Big Fundamental" never caught on as his nickname), calm demeanor, and of course his elite role players. Timmy has known nothing but success throughout his career, winning championships in his second, sixth, eighth, and tenth NBA seasons, the last of which came against a young Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007.
Meanwhile Lebron, as many of you may already know, was deemed the next Michael Jordan and "the King" ever since his sophomore year of high school and has gone about attempting to emulate MJ's style and charisma on and off the basketball court ever since. Though Lebron has obviously achieved All-Time Great status among the pantheon of NBA greats, no one would ever associate him with the term "winner". Despite his four MVPs, countless All Star appearances, and last year's triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals, status of "winner" has eluded Lebron throughout his career. He has been a player known as well for his highlight dunks, assists, and blocks...
as he is for his fun loving, jokester personality...
As "boring" as Tim Duncan has been throughout his career, Lebron James has been as exciting and thought provoking, but without the same championship success, losing in his first two NBA Finals appearances. Yet tonight could either change 10 years of criticism and public opinion on the much-debated topic that is Lebron James' career, or it could reinforce Duncan's status as one of the greatest winners in professional sports history. Win, and Lebron deals Duncan his first defeat in an NBA Finals, topples the greatest all around team in the NBA, silences his "Can't Come Through in the Clutch" critics, and puts himself on a list including among others Russell, Havlicek, Larry, Magic, Kareem, Hakeem, Kobe, and of course Tim Duncan, of players who won game sevens against future Hall of Famers. Lose, and Lebron cements his status as the great player who couldn't quite shoulder the load and come through in the clutch when it mattered most. Understandably, if Lebron completes the apex of his career with four or five championships, many might forget this game seven. However, basketball purists will always look to tonight when inevitably the argument is made that Lebron's achievement's bested Jordan's and claim "Jordan never would have let his team lose, no matter the opponent."
It may not be fair, but public opinion sometimes fails to live up to our standards of righteous.
Finally, Liam Regan knows absolutely nothing about sports.
as he is for his fun loving, jokester personality...
As "boring" as Tim Duncan has been throughout his career, Lebron James has been as exciting and thought provoking, but without the same championship success, losing in his first two NBA Finals appearances. Yet tonight could either change 10 years of criticism and public opinion on the much-debated topic that is Lebron James' career, or it could reinforce Duncan's status as one of the greatest winners in professional sports history. Win, and Lebron deals Duncan his first defeat in an NBA Finals, topples the greatest all around team in the NBA, silences his "Can't Come Through in the Clutch" critics, and puts himself on a list including among others Russell, Havlicek, Larry, Magic, Kareem, Hakeem, Kobe, and of course Tim Duncan, of players who won game sevens against future Hall of Famers. Lose, and Lebron cements his status as the great player who couldn't quite shoulder the load and come through in the clutch when it mattered most. Understandably, if Lebron completes the apex of his career with four or five championships, many might forget this game seven. However, basketball purists will always look to tonight when inevitably the argument is made that Lebron's achievement's bested Jordan's and claim "Jordan never would have let his team lose, no matter the opponent."
It may not be fair, but public opinion sometimes fails to live up to our standards of righteous.
Finally, Liam Regan knows absolutely nothing about sports.
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