GYK wrote:JN61 wrote:rtiff68 wrote:Ive always thought of Steph and LeBron as Bird and Magic 2.0
-East vs. West
-One is an athletic phenom, while the other dominates with finesse
-Met 4 times in a row in the Finals— it felt like an inevitability every year for a time
Etc.
Random fact: they were both born in the same hospital in Ohio
LeBron vs Durant you mean? Curry was never the best player on the court. It was always LeBron or Durant.
I don’t care to get into who was better or not but agree Durant was more Lebron’s narrative rival than Curry was. Especially for how long they were pitted against each other. Couple of 2nd place finishes(mostly Lebron). 10, 12, 13, and 14. The 2012 Finals. Then the Dubs era. Now possibly more.
More MVP races than others and just as many Finals matches already.
I’d counter with this: the rivalry of the ‘10’s was Warriors/Cavaliers, just like the rivalry of the ‘80’s was Lakers/Celtics.
The players most associated with those teams are as follows...
Lakers: Magic
Celtics: Bird
Warriors: Curry
Cavaliers: LeBron
Magic had Kareem. Curry had Durant. Kareem and Worthy won Finals MVPs for Showtime. Durant and Iguodala (which was a joke, but I digress) won Finals MVPs for GS. Cedric Maxwell won a Finals MVP for BOS, and McHale lead the Celtics in scoring during one Finals. Cooper won DPOY for the Lakers. Draymond won DPOY for GS. Kyrie played out of his mind in the 2016 Finals, almost averaged as many points as LeBron, and made the most important shot of the series.
There were lots of great players on all of those teams, and lots of guys who stepped up in big moments, but at the end of the day it was Steph vs. LeBron 4 straight times in the Finals— Durant was only involved in half of those series, and might not even be remembered most as a Warrior.