[Ed: This is in response to This post]
By Bobby Lull:
Chris Paul is an excellent basketball player. One of the best. But “the best”? I (and most, if not all sensible NBA fans) beg to differ. He’s an excellent player who can control a game and is certainly leading the Clippers to new heights. His presence on the Clippers will be an absolute boon to the development of Blake Griffin, and the potential for a truly captivating Lakers/Clippers rivalry is definitely exciting.
He is the best point guard in the NBA, despite Derrick Rose’s immense skill set. But there’s another player in the league, one whom you are slightly too hasty to dismiss, who deserves the crown of “best.” “LeBron can’t control a game the way Paul does”? Come on, man! Let me steer your attention to something that happened before you began diligently watching the NBA, before this alleged era of Chris Paul and “Lob City” (a phrase whose sudden and violent death I fully support, by the way) came upon us:
Yes, that is LeBron dropping 48 on the Pistons in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. Twenty-nine of the Cavaliers’ last 30 points, and all of the team’s last 25 points. I rest my case. And this comes from an absolute LeBron hater. A spurned and heartbroken Cavaliers fan who wants to see nothing else but the Heat fail and LeBron to be the underperforming reason for that failure. And to be fair, LeBron has underperformed several times thus far in his still young career. But he is still the best basketball player in the NBA. He can and does control games when he feels like it. He possesses a combination of strength, speed, vision, and focus that we have never seen before. The video posted above attests to that. LeBron’s two MVP awards (to Paul’s zero) also attests to that. Chris Paul is an excellent basketball player and certainly one of the best. But he’s no LeBron.
[Mike's Response: I'm happy enough having a Cleveland fan defend Lebron. Totally worth it. Also, wait for my own video breakdown of CP3 putting on his carrying pants against OKC.]
No comments:
Post a Comment