Unlike Tim Duncan, I actually like Christmas Day NBA basketball. I think it gives players and fans alike an opportunity to make some mid-term observations about each conference and the league as a whole with fifty or so games remaining in the regular season.
These would be some of my observations after yesterday.
Golden State and Cleveland should both return to the NBA Finals because they each have an MVP in Steph and LeBron, each play solid team defense, and each have deep supporting casts. Sidenote observation: does coaching really even matter in the NBA with Luke Walton coaching the Warriors to a 28-1 start and David Blatt coaching the Cavs to an NBA Finals appearance last season?
I love Steph Curry, absolutely love Steph Curry, but Draymond Green is my favorite Warrior player and in my mind the Underground league MVP. Draymond Green gets it. He understands the game. Understands what it takes in teambuilding. If you traded Draymond Green for Serge Ibaka — the OKC Thunder would be a serious NBA title contender.
Cranky Tim Duncan says he doesn’t care for NBA Christmas basketball, and since he’s won five NBA championship rings– I’m okay with that. Spurs should be the second best team in the West because they have a nice roster and maybe the one coach in the league who makes a visable difference to his team night in and night out.
Don’t discount the quirky-goofy Houston Rockets just yet as a top four team in the West. I have them at No. 4 in my Daily Thunder Western Conference bracket and actually feel pretty good about the Rockets since the return of Terrence Jones. They should deal Ty Lawson, but otherwise, I’d keep an eye on the Rockets.
My Oklahoma City Thunder…what to think? Here’s what I think–I consider the Thunder an extremely entertaining team to watch with Durant and Westbrook, but I don’t view OKC as a serious title contender because for one thing Kevin Durant is 4-16 lifetime against a guy named Lebron James. Secondly—there’s no way I could see OKC winning four games against the Golden State Warriors in a two week span because Oklahoma City refuses to buy into the proven axiom defense wins championships, plus OKC has a penchant for making dumb plays at just the wrong time.
Moral of the story in Oklahoma City—teams which don’t play defense every night and don’t play smart don’t win championships.
Otherwise–as a fan of the NBA in general beyond OKC, I would be very excited about seeing either a Golden State-Cleveland or San Antonio-Cleveland NBA Finals.
Mike Jackson