Rivalry and revelry on a day fit for a King
Here we go, Warriors-Cavaliers! Random thoughts as we roast marshmallows over the dying embers of a great rivalry ...
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the Rev surely would appreciate the contributions of Stephen Curry and
LeBron James, whose Warriors and Cavaliers tee it up in Cleveland.
It was an all-time doubleteam when Curry went public with his determination to boycott the White House, then Trump
disinvited Curry, which prompted James to tweet, “U Bum ... Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!”
Rich, entitled athletes spouting off ? Or famous men using their public platform to express the outrage of voiceless millions — now billions? You make the call.
King didn’t get a lot of public support from famous athletes back in his day, when the norm was to shut up and play and don’t stick your nose into politics. So even though Curry and James didn’t exactly risk their lives to express their opinions, King would appreciate them. The most useless weapon in the fight against injustice and hate is silence.
I wonder if the visitors’ locker room at the Cavs’ arena still smells like Champagne? If not, I wonder if Steve Kerr, in homage to his former head coach, Phil Jackson, will perform a priest-like sprinkling of California Champagne-style wine around the Cleveland visitors’ locker room. (If so, might I suggest the Napa Valley’s own Domaine Carneros Brut Rose? Or a less-presumptuous Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Brut?)
Jackson, borrowing an old Lakota Sioux ritual, conjured up positive spirits and drove away evil ones by burning sage or sweet grass in the locker room.
One reason Kerr hasn’t gone that route, at least not this season: The need is not there. Jackson would do his incense thing when his team lost two or three games in a row. The Warriors haven’t done that. They haven’t lost two in a row this season. Every loss has been followed by at least two wins.
Maybe Tyronn Lue is burning some variety of Cleveland weed at midcourt in Quicken Loans Arena right now to keep away the Warriors.
You could almost hear the bugler playing “Taps” in the background when Lue said of his struggling Cavaliers, “We’ve got to get rid of our agendas.”
I’m guessing James’ comeback was, “Don’t look at me. I drive a Sorento.”
James did insist that he doesn’t have an agenda, so from the outside, it sounded a little like, “I have no idea what coach is talking about.” And when you’re the head coach of the Cavs and you’re not on the same page as LeBron, you are on the wrong page, and your Kindle is running out of battery.
Klay Thompson might deserve the NBA’s Unsung Hero Award, but you can hear the singing if you listen.
The Sporting Green’s Connor Letourneau rated Thompson the Warriors’ first-half MVP.
And all Kerr needs to sing the praises of Klay is a little background music: a guitar, banjo, sitar or sousaphone will do. Every time Kerr talks about Klay, he laughs at some point.
What could possibly harsh the harmonious, non-agenda vibe that the Warriors have going? (“Please shut up,” requests Kerr.)
The All-Star Game is coming, and the World’s Most Boring & Unwatchable Sports Event (sorry, figure-skating compulsories) suddenly might be worth watching. What if Curry and Thompson wind up on opposite teams? What if Klay guards Steph, and chooses to dishonor the ancient code of no-defense at the All-Star Game? Can the Splash Brothers’ bond survive that type of stress?
Or what if Curry is a captain? Surely he will choose a Warrior with his first pick, right? So whom does Steph snub?
If Draymond Green needed motivation to pick up his game, he got it from Marc J. Spears, who writes for the Undefeated. In Spears’ midseason awards, cleverly tied in with Denzel Washington movies, he gives his Best Trash Talker award to Green AND Joel Embiid. A tie!
Green and Spears are tight, so it has to frost Green to be relegated to co-winner of an award he thinks should be his alone as long as he laces up his sneakers and sprays his throat.
Embiid indeed! Look for Green to up his vocal game, starting in Cleveland.
Spears didn’t give a Most Underrated Trash Talker award, but if he did, it would have gone to Kevin Durant. In fact, if Jackson gave Durant a Native American name, it would be Underrated Trash Talker.
Not only does Durant relish trash-dishing with fellow players, most notably Russell Westbrook, Durant also wins the Reggie Miller Award for mixing it up with courtside celebs, like Drake and Rihanna.
Green and Embiid, please bring your finest trash talk to the All-Star Snoozeapalooza.