IN A perfect world for Lebron James, he would have Steph Curry as a teammate. Being the embodiment of a Swiss army knife in a basketball court, his multi-faceted approach to the game would be benefitted most in having the best shooter the game has ever seen.
OLYMPICS. And there could have been no bigger stage to parade that scenario than the Olympics.
In the gold medal game against France, Curry shot four consecutive three pointers to seal the win for the US team.
James was his usual consistent self, but truth be told he didn’t play well in that gold medal game. In fact, he had a couple of costly turnovers in the fourth quarter. They were lucky indeed, that Steph was there to bail them out.
That would have been an embarrasing defeat to this iteration of the US team, one that had conjured similarities and comparisons to the original Dream Team led by one Michael Jordan.
MVP. Which is why I am quite perplexed that James was named the MVP. While indeed, he was probably the most consistent in terms of points, rebounds and assists, when it mattered the most, Curry shone the brightest.
In the semifinals against Serbia, Curry once again was brillant with James a close second. For me the bottom line is this - without Curry, the US team would have lost to Serbia in the semis and lost the gold medal game to France.
Isn’t that the metric of how we consider who was the the most valuable player on the team?
DREAM TEAM. And speaking of team, while we are on comparisons, had the original Dream Team played against the 2024 US team, I would readily pick Jordan and his crew.
While Curry would be the deciding factor—as he can get hot from the three-point range at any time and radically affect the outcome of any game, I just can’t see Lebron and his crew going over the likes of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Charles Barkley.
The key factor for me would be defense. Jordan would have been able to stifle Curry and affect his shot-making, while Magic and Barkley could physically handle James. Durant would be a problem too, but I think the 6’9” Scottie Pippen would acquit himself well guarding him with Clyde Drexler as a reliable back-up.
That team was so deep that they also had John Stockton and Karl Malone to contend with, and that two-man pick and roll would be a nightmare to defend for the 2024 team.
Lastly, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing would match up well against big men Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo.
LAST ROUND. It’s on my Subzilog buddy who fights hard and loves even harder, Prosecutor Benjo Luther Macion who recently celebrated his birthday. Cheers!