The Point-Fourward: It’s About Relationships

Four things I’m thinking about the NBA FINALS!!!…

1. On New Year’s Day 2005, I met a British girl who was visiting NYC for the holidays. She and her friend were born in Korea, so my dumb American brain didn’t anticipate the charming English literature course that came tumbling out of her mouth. She had a Minnie Driver in “Good Will Hunting” vibe, though I, in no way, resembled Matt Damon. Alas, we immediately struck each other’s fancy, deliberating the finer differences between British and American culture. Ya know, the “pissoir” variants and whether it’s better to accidentally sit on a cheesecake or a brownie. (Spoiler alert: it depends on what color pants you are wearing).

In any case, after our initial meeting, she returned to England leaving only an email address, and we became semi-frequent keyboard-pals. For whatever reason, I was between 15 and 4,000 percent funnier in those emails than I ever am normally. Verse flowed from my customarily dull wit with an ease that I have not attained in this particular paragraph. She was a sort of comedic muse, leading me far past my normal limitations.

I have a French friend here in Germany whom I only awkwardly enjoy. He and I force conversation in one-on-one settings, never really discussing the same topic at the same time. We smile and flail around different subjects from completely different angles until our patience runs thin. Why then do we spend time together? When we are together in groups, when we have an audience, we are completely on the same wavelength. All of a sudden we have a catalyst present that activates our reaction. We suffer through the awkward times just for a moment of ultimate glory. We become a team.

What does any of my uninteresting life have to do with the 2016-2017 Cleveland Cavaliers? Basketball is life and life is about relationships (well, it’s really about balance, but balance itself is simply a healthy relationship between contrasting things. Let’s leave that for the moment).

I was still me and the English girl was still her, but the relationship between the two of us positively influenced our comedic sensibilities. Perhaps we were mildly entertaining in other situations, but our emails were abjectly hilarious. Something about our interaction produced spectacular results that were seemingly beyond our normal capabilities.

When analyzing a basketball series, we often talk about match-ups without really talking about the human relationships involved. I don’t just mean whether guys like each other or any of that occasional nonsense. I mean, does an opponent bring out the best in a player? Or like with my French friend and me, does a teammate bring out the best in a player only in specific circumstances? In the NBA Finals, basketball is not about which team is better against the most number of teams in the most settings. It’s about the the relationships of the men involved in the specific setting of NBA championship basketball over a two week period.

2. Kyrie Irving has always been a guy who is at his best in big situations. Anyone who as followed basketball at all over the last five years knows that Uncle Drew has a flair for the dramatic. His series clinching right wing three in last year’s Finals was emblematic of his coolness under pressure. What more casual basketball fans forget is how much he has dominated Stephen Curry over the years. No one is saying that Steph is a bad player, waiting to get “Horforded”. But it does seem as though Irving takes special pride in destroying the NBA’s 2014-2016 golden boy.

Going back to the 2014 FIBA World Championship team, Irving consistently dominated Curry to such a degree that Curry got limited run in any important game. A Curry apologist would point out that Coach K was naturally going to favor a Duke Alum like Irving. Favored or not, Irving earned the minutes and eventually the MVP of the tournament. Fast forward to the 2015 Finals, and there Irving was again, making an epic block on Curry in crunch time before he went down with injury.

I will repeat this as long as people still doubt. Curry was not hurt during last year’s Finals. He was exhausted. The Cavs forced Steph to guard every possession, running him through countless screens until his ultimate reward was the opportunity to guard Irving or James one-on-one. That takes the offensive legs out of a smaller guy like Curry. The Warriors weren’t able to fatigue Kyrie in the same way.

Part of the reason the Warriors couldn’t tire him out in the same manner is because Irving is actually a better playoff defender than Curry. Curry is a far more disciplined and interested regular season defender than Irving. Really, Kyrie might be the laziest regular season defender in the entire Association. Yet, in a Finals setting, he is legitimately good. Kyrie has incredibly active hands, forcing steals and deflections, and his ability to leap off either foot with equal lift helps him block/contest shots as much as it helps him finish with either hand around the rim.

More than anything, he is simply a much stronger human being than Curry. Irving may not look outwardly ripped like a Derek Fisher, but he is incredibly powerful from a variety of angles. When engaged, Kyrie has a very strong base and wide shoulders to both withstand and dish out punishment. Steph Curry has done a remarkable job working to maximize his limited frame. Kyrie is naturally a strapping dude who is constantly getting stronger.

3. Speaking of strength, LeBron James remains an outlier in a league full of them. King James is legitimately a superhero. He is the type of man for which sonnets are written. LeBron might as well have a giant blue ox. Like Curry, Kevin Durant is player we should applaud for having worked so diligently on his body. It is very impressive to see his transformation from bony to, er…not so bony. In comparison to James, he is still a stick. It is a fundamental aspect to their relationship. There is a certain mental hurtle to leap over when the man Durant is trying to supplant as the greatest player on the planet is still so much more physically dominant.

Make no mistake. Durant is right there with Kawhi Leonard as second best player in the NBA. Durant might be even be better in more settings against different competition than James is at this point in their respective careers. Still, in the NBA Finals, with maximum rest and time to gameplan, there is no greater force than the King. I’m done questioning LeBron in this setting. Not in the Finals. Not against Kevin Durant. LeBron James simply enjoys playing Kevin Durant as much as he dislikes playing Leonard. It doesn’t matter that Durant is sublime against other players. Against LeBron, he is a merely great.

4. LeBron and Kyrie have a proven track record against their counterparts. Kevin Love does not. If I’m a Warriors fan, I’m hanging my hat on the hope that Green drastically outplays Kevin Love. There is plenty of evidence to support that hope. Draymond Green has been the most important player on the Warriors during this three year streak of excellence. His defensive genius combined with his varied offensive contribution has unlocked the Warrior’s play on both ends of the floor.

I don’t doubt that Green will have a great series. He had an epic Game 7 last year and seems to be the only guy on that team immune to pressure. The question is more dependent on Kevin Love. His relationship with LeBron, Kyrie and himself is what has most evolved over the course of this Finals trilogy. I have never seen a better version of Love than I have in these playoffs, including his Minnesota days.

Love has displayed a toughness and general edge that I didn’t know existed. When Lue called him out to be the “bad m-effer” that he is, I was more than a little skeptical. Is that really who Kevin Love is? Watching his physicality dominate the last two rounds showed me enough. Kevin Love doesn’t have to be better than Green for the Cavs to win this series. He does, however, need to be as physical.

Bonus Point 5: (What LeBron might play some in this series)

LeBron’s relationship with history/Jordan. If the Cavaliers win this series, it will be because LeBron James will have dominated the Warriors for a third consecutive year. The Warriors have had the best three year record in NBA history and have two NBA MVPs on the roster. LeBron joined the Jordan conversation after winning the 2016 NBA Finals. If he and the Cavs repeat this season, LeBron will officially jump Jordan on my list. I’m old enough to have truly appreciated Jordan’s greatness. I understand the magnitude of what I’m saying. I think LeBron does too. Cavaliers in 7.