There will be countless essays and analysis on the 2016 NBA Finals, so here are my quick-hit thoughts:
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Tag: NBA
Sports punditry and analysis is always full of bad arguments and poorly thought-out opinions. But the worst sports argument of the past decade concerns LeBron James.
LeBron has played in the NBA Finals nine of the last ten years and ten total. He’s led a team to the Finals in each conference. And critics point out that he’s won *only* four.
His record in the Finals is 4–6. And that means he sucks.
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The NBA Was Not Better in the ’80s
I just turned 36. For my generation, the 1980’s were a glorious time. We had Small Wonder and Mr. Belvedere, slap bracelets, and Skip-It. How could you not love the 80’s?
You can’t be the greatest player of all-time if you only play on one end.
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Week in Review (May 6, 2016)
I’ve written before about how over the past few years I’ve fallen out of love with sports and that’s still half-true.
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Week in Review (April 15, 2016)
After a dreadful season in which he was faced to confront his own basketball mortality, Kobe Bryant’s final game was the most Kobe Bryantest game possible. He scored 60 points! On 50 shots! In the locker room after the game, the Lakers popped champagne! This after a season in which they finished 17 – 65, the second-worst record in the league. That’s nutty.
Allen Iverson is a beloved, complicated figure. The poster child for the marriage of basketball and hip-hop, he was small, but played with a huge heart, won the 2001 NBA MVP, and did it all his way.
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Chris Webber’s Hall of Fame Résumé
There have been approximately a quadrillion articles devoted to the Fab Five of Michigan – interviews, reviews, praises, critiques, “should haves,” complaints, and memoirs – so I would rather devote my time to a cause I find far more interesting: Chris Webber’s case for inclusion in The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The NBA has a complicated history with hip-hop, but the sooner it embraces the fact that the two are forever entwined, the better it will be. My latest for The Musical Outcast.
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Christopher Pierznik is the author of eight books, all of which can be purchased in paperback and Kindle. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, and many more. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
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