Battle of the K's

Kobe-KG Dream Matchup

Celtics/Lakers: Bird, Magic, Kareem, McHale, Rambis, Worthy, Parish, DJ, Coop, baby skyhook, Memorial day massacre, clothesline, no layups, Riley, Fitch, etc. And this is only the 80's. (Other blasts from the past include but are not limited to Russell, Cousy, Wilt, Baylor, West, JoJo White, Auerbach, and so on). Heck even the casual would know that this is a classic matchup. Nearly 20 years after their last meeting, these two historic rivals meet again, for the 11th time in the history. The hype is already almost at Super Bowl proportions.

The hope with any championship is, obviously, that it is competitive, exciting, just good sports. Unlike one game finals, the best 4-7 format gives the die-hard fan the hope that it will go the distance, that every game will be close, or if that’s not possible, that each team alternates winning so that the series can be prolonged. But while you often do get some good matchups, most often you also find some bad ones, and the result is that the hype supercedes the game.

The hype has centered on resurrecting the Magic versus Bird era in order to place this matchup in historical context. The two teams have their own megastars of their own and this latest chapter in the rivalry has some unique storylines that promises to place this particular series up there with the other great series between the two teams.

In the 1980’s, it was Magic vs. Bird. The NBA presciently began advertising the finals by imposing images of two players’ faces side by side as they each spoke a number of platitutes about winning. The image of Kobe and KG are splattered all over the sporting world and it is an accurate pictorial depiction of what will transpire on the hardwood. This is Boston versus LA after all. But as legendary soccer announcer Norberto Longo used to say, the best players playing for the best teams in the biggest games make for the best spectacle. This spectacle will truly be about Kobe versus KG, about who can best have their team exert their will on the other.

These two players matched up one time before, in the 2004 Western conference finals, but the Lakers were a vastly superior team and so round 1 of this matchup went to Kobe. I think it was somewhat of a miracle that the Timberwolves were able to win two games (more on that late). This matchup is fascinating because of the contrasts as well as similarities between the two superstars. In many ways these guys are alike (intensity, drive, talent, heart, athleticism) but they are also dissimilar:

Kobe tends to be very vocal about his views on management; KG tends to be quieter publicly. Kobe moaned and bitched just last year about wanting to be traded, about his and management’s philosophy being on divergent paths. Kobe’s outbursts are well known and documented. KG, on the other hand, never voiced his complaints too publicly about his unhappiness with the pathetic Timberwolves’ handling of the Joe Smith deal, the bad draft picks, etc. He just sucked it up and continued playing.

Kobe is willing and able to take over a game offensively. It’s downright travesty that Kobe hasn’t won an MVP before this year. Apparently Larry Bird was so incredulous at hearing this he offered to give back some of his 3 MVPs.

KG won an MVP but has had the “can’t take over the game” mokey his whole career and has been (correctly or incorrectly) defined by it. Bill Simmons’ article for ESPN magazine is just the last salvo thrown at KG:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3403820

But KG is probably the best defensive player of a generation. He has been an all-defensive NBA team for the past 9 years and this year was the NBA’s defensive player of the year. He has been singled for single-handedly transforming the Celtics’ defense this year. It’s not only that every player now plays harder and with better technique due to KG’s influence, it’s that the teams’ defensive schemes and rotations are better than the rest of the league. The result: Boston was the faraway leader in almost every team defensive category as ESPN’s Jim Hollinger overall team defensive efficiency (96.2) indicated. This was the 3rd best showing for an NBA team in the last 35 years. Individually, KG is also an exceptional one-on-one defender and he orchestrates Boston’s team defensive schemes. Chris Mannix. of SI called him probably the best “pick and roll” defender ever in the NBA. Watching him over the years, I’ve begun to learn how truly great he plays defense.

KG has always been a team first player. He tends to be too unselfish (i.e. on the offensive end). Kobe’s whole career has been defined by his uneasy relationship to the team concept. In the early years, he was clearly second banana to Shaq. Then he was the undisputed leader of the team but tended to be too selfish, which resulted in dramatic and spectacular performances (most notably his 81 points against Toronto) but his team overall suffered. In this his first MVP year he has finally figured out the delicate balance between self and team; his prize is his first trip to the Finals since the Shaq years. This leads me to the next point.

KG and Kobe share an almost otherworld type intensity as basketball players. A recent post in the www.rakemag.com/balls blog hypothesized that Garnett’s intensity may actually be a negative influence on teammates in that it burns them out over the course of a season. It’s an interesting point of view that I had never considered. On the other hand, SI has a piece on Kobe’s killer mentality that is equally fascinating:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/chris_ballard/05/27/kobe0602/index.html

In the 80’s (and evidently it still is today) the Lakers Celtics matchup was neatly packaged as the Bird versus Magic show. This was in someways unfair as both teams were loaded with other superstar players. But the lingering feeling of those confrontations always seems to boil down in its bare essence, to a style of play best incarnated by Magic’s versus Bird’s style of play. This series will be similarly defined by the Kobe versus KG style of play. Certainly of the players around today, only Kobe has the “Jordan thing”, an enfatuation to win and the will to carry it out that is supreme to any other player. KG has an “intensity thing” that is unmatched. Both players bring out the best in their teammates and that’s what makes them great. Something is got to give and it will be a beautiful thing watching it unfold.