FANS who love to hate LeBron James really gave it to him for his disappearing act in Game 3, and some snickered that the panel was right in having excluded him in the top three for the regular season MVP.
My kababayan Harry, who doesn’t like LBJ, had a mouthful against the champ when we met for a few drinks with Eric and Erick.
Like me, Erick doesn’t really buy the whole LBJ-is-a-choke-he’ll-prefer- to-just-pass argument, while Harry—a mean point guard and goalkeeper two decades and 100 pounds ago--argued that if you’re the franchise player, you should take the shot.
He pointed out the great MJ, who would almost always demand the ball in crunch time.
“He’s not a clutch player,” Harry said, echoing arguments of guys who don’t like LBJ (and there are plenty, ever since the Decision.)
“But, Jordan also passed to Kerr to win the championship,” Erick countered, “What’s wrong with passing?”
In the middle of the discussion, Erick blurted out, “But I don’t really like the Cavs, Spurs man ko!”
Harry, to further press his point, rearranged the bottles and glasses to picture out a hypothetical scenario.
“Imagine this. Crunch time. You have the ball and a guard and there’s an open teammate here,” he said, while taking away the glass from Eric to place it in the corner.
“Pass or shoot?”
“Pass of course,” Erick said.
Eric, who also goes by the name Mark and George, interrupted the play and said, “Unsa man ni? Asa na tagay?”
When we explained the set up, he said, “Pass of course.”
It went on and on and I think, the same type of conversation will be played anew in a week’s time when Cleveland and Golden State face off for the NBA title. Yes, Boston took Game 3 but let’s face it, the Cavs making it to the NBA finals is as sure as the summer ending next week.
Which school of thought is right? None of course. Both are valid.
LeBron will never be MJ, he’ll simply be LBJ and whether people will talk of him as the greatest when he retires is an argument for the future. Now, that argument—at least in the Philippines—merely fatten the sports bar’s bottomline.
As for me, what LBJ and the Cavs did last year is something what the Bulls haven’t done (And yeah, you could say, the Bulls never trailed 3-1 in a series during Jordan’s prime but they lost to the Magic, 4-2, in his comeback.)
Will LeBron and the Cavs repeat or will KD’s gamble finally bear an NBA title? Let’s see what San Miguel has to say about it.