These 2022 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics, which tip off Thursday night in San Francisco, offer no shortage of basketball intrigue. Two dynastic franchises going head to head: the Celtics are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most NBA championships in history (17), and the Warriors have claimed three of the past seven NBA crowns. East Coast vs. West Coast. This is also a matchup of the two best defensive teams during the regular season. Grizzled veterans of Golden State—Stephen Curry (34), Draymond Green (32), and Klay Thompson (32), who each have a trio of titles to their games—facing off against Boston’s upstart All-Stars, Jayson Tatum (24) and Jaylen Brown (25), plus NBA defensive player of the year Marcus Smart (28), who are all squarely in their prime.
As attractive as Warriors-Celtics portends to be, many fans, pundits, and even players, have gathered in the obsessive town square, dubbed “NBA Twitter,” and refused to let go of the past. They’ve taken Golden State’s return to the NBA Finals, following two seasons marked by injuries and rebuilding, as an occasion to poke two future Hall of Famers. Can Curry truly be considered one of the greatest of all-time if he’s never actually won an NBA Finals MVP award? And did the winner of back-to-back (2017, 2018) Finals MVPs with Golden State, Kevin Durant, disproportionately benefit from Curry’s presence on the court? Or was it more the other way around?
Before you shout “who cares?” to the rafters, note that some principal players themselves have helped raise the volume on all this chatter. In an interview with Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports, Green praised Durant’s performances in the Finals wins, before arguing that he had it easier than Curry in those games. “Steph Curry got double teamed probably seven-times the…
Source : time
