(Circus Music playing) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU LOST IN THE FIRST ROUND! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THAT’S THE MOST DELICIOUS SERVING OF HUMBLE PIE THAT THE NBA HAS SEEN SINCE THE NETS GOT SWEPT BY THE CELTICS 3 YEARS AGO! HOLD UP! WE GOT LUKA! WE GOT THE GOAT! (Michael Jordan would have never suffered this bounty at any point of his career) WE GOT THE BEST THIRD OPTION IN THE WHOLE DAMN LEAGUE! WE GOT THE SECOND COMING OF STEVE KERR AS OUR HEAD COACH! (JJ Redick is nowhere near Kerr in terms of experience and championships) JAXSON HAYES IS ABOUT TO BE THE NEXT PAU GASOL IN NO TIME! NO ONE IS BEATING US IN A 7 GAME SERIES! HAND US BANNER #18 THAT’LL TIE US WITH THOSE LEPRECHAUNS! LAKERS IN 5 FOR THE WHOLE PLAYOFFS! (BOOM!) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES! YES! SEND THOSE PRETTY BOYS TO CANCUN RIGHT FREAKING NOWWWWWWWWW! (Blame Jack Black showing up to Game 1 all you want, what difference would that have made) PAUSE.
I told you, I Told You! I! FREAKING! TOLD YOU! This outcome was something I saw coming from a mile away. The Lakers completely crapped the bed in every sense of the word in this series. The crazy thing about this was that every single thing I questioned about them was proven right. Without the aid of Staples Center this team was cooked from Day 1. (With how bad they were on the road this year, that was a giant red flag) I knew once they lost Game 1 that it was going to be a long series for LA. And it was. The bizarre thing was that it wasn’t even Anthony Edwards doing most of the damage in this series. It was Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. Yes you heard that right. Two of the biggest playoff chokers in recent memory, two men who Lakers fans were bashing during the lead-up to this series, suffocated them like a rag doll. Randle outperformed Luka for crying out loud. Hey Nico, are you feeling better about giving up a guy who has no defense and is constantly out of shape? You are? Then good because you dodged a major bullet. Doncic was dragraced on defense all series long by both AntMan and DiVincenzo. To be honest there was no way that I thought the Lakers would do anything in the playoffs. Why? Because of who they have behind the bench. If this series is any indication, it’s that JJ Redick is literally on his way to becoming Steve Nash 2.0. Look at some of the decisions he made. Austin Reaves guarding Edwards? Not double teaming Gobert? Leaving Luka on an island defensively? No subs in the 2nd Half of Game 4? If Darvin Ham is still coaching this team and they don’t trade away Anthony Davis for Luka, LA probably has a fighting chance. But let’s not ignore this, the Timberwolves have won 21 of their last 26, made the Western Conference Finals last year, and in terms of depth got much better compared to last year. They were the hottest team in the NBA going into the playoffs. They were better by a significant margin. How did any of the major sports networks not realize this? OH RIGHT BECAUSE THEY WANTED LAKERS-CELTICS IN THE FINAL WITH LEBRON WINNING RING #5! And from how I see it this may have been LeBron’s last great chance of overtaking Jordan as the GOAT… hold on a second I need to call an audible. PAUSE.
Call me a biased Dubs fan all you want but from how I see it, LeBron is not the most recognized player of this generation. Yes he holds the all time scoring record as well as countless other records and has had a prime that rivals Tom Brady but here’s my counterpoint. This man only went to 8 straight finals from 2011-18 in both Miami and Cleveland because the Eastern Conference was an absolute trainwreck. And outside of the COVID year he hasn’t even come close to winning a title with the Lakers. If you thought that was bad it gets even worse. How many times has he either forced his way out of a team, fired a head coach and GM, handpicked his roster, and even convinced the NBA to have his son drafted is completely borderline. You wonder why the NBA has seen a decline in ratings over the last few years. It’s because the game has gotten incredibly soft and LeBron plus Adam Silver have been the ringmasters of this nonsense (Case in point their stance on the NBA All Star Game). Think about this, if David Stern was still alive and in office, he would hold every star player accountable for their actions. He never let Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or even Magic and Bird have this much influence on the direction of this league. But here’s the reason why I don’t consider LeBron to have this era all to himself. Stephen Curry. Think about this. Curry never had to change teams in order to win a championship, Steph didn’t need to overly stack his roster with tons of top outside free agents and trades. “OH BUT THEY SIGNED KD!” Well that’s because the offer he got from Golden State was an offer he couldn’t pass up and if he had a choice to go anywhere it probably would have been the Wizards. Also look at the NBA and where it is right now. Why are so many teams shooting 3s? Why are there so many smaller guys getting drafted now? Why are so many youth coaches emphasizing a high flying offense over physicality? It’s all because of Steph. When you go to arenas across the league, the most common jersey you see from little kids is not LeBron. It’s Curry. (Steph won a title with Andrew Wiggins as his 2nd option, LeBron lost in 5 with Luka by his side, WOOF!) And the fact that the NBA hasn’t acknowledged it is ridiculous. Which leads me to this. You wonder why the Warriors have been getting REFBALLED so much over the 2nd Half of this season and so far in the playoffs? (Don’t tell Rockets fans about how Game 4 ended) It’s because Silver and company are doing everything they can to make sure Steph doesn’t have more rings than LeBron. They want to protect King James hell even the Lakers brand as much as possible. And from how I see it this won’t work. (If Golden State gets Giannis this summer, RIP Mainstream Media) If you’re going to showcase someone as the face of the league over the last decade, you should spotlight the guy who is likable and is the definition of being a loyal servant. LeBron in all due respect is not Steph Curry when it comes to his influence on the game and his loyalty towards the team that drafted him. The fact that Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka have fallen for this is bonkers but then again, the Lakers have been known for nepotism ever since they arrived in LA back in the 60s. It serves King James, the Lakers organization, and that insufferable fanbase right. This series loss further proves that the Lakers are going to be stuck in Basketball Hell for years to come even with Luka and a ton of young pieces around him. With the way they run things, talent isn’t going to be enough to bail them out. Anyways, I’ve had enough of rambling about these boys. Excuse me for a second… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! “FLINT LOCKWOOD WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR NINKUMPU BLEH!” PAUSE.
Bragging Rights Sports 