Tag: Michael Jordan

Saturday we will witness the Greatest Match in Basketball History

su da Ennio Terrasi Borghesanin Basketball, Westminster UniversityLascia un commento

Op-Ed written as an Assignment for my University of Westminster Sports Journalism Module. Written on March 16th, 2016.

When we cover sports, we are always fascinated by the ‘glorification’ of the past.

Maradona is better than Messi, Jordan is better than Bryant or Schumacher is better than Hamilton.

The 2015-16 edition of the NBA, the most spectacular Sport League in the World, is teaching us that New could be better.

Saturday night will mark Round Two of the ‘Warriors – Spurs Showdown’, a matchup that is rewriting several statistical and history books.

Basketball fans are starting to compare this duel to others that have made sports history.

Like England – Germany in Football or New Zealand – Australia in Rugby or Federer – Nadal in Tennis.

This new edition of the ‘NBA Saturday Primetime’ between Golden State and San Antonio will mark the Greatest Regular Season Match in NBA History.

Warriors and Spurs this season have won, combined, 88% of the games they have played.

Something that has no equal in the League’s 69 years of existence.

San Antonio is the ‘Tradition’.

A ‘Tradition’ that, as of today, is unbeaten in its own court.

No one, before them, had won their first 34 Home games in a NBA Season.

They have dominated these last two decades, pursuing perfection both on and off-the-court.

Since their Franchise Player, Tim Duncan, joined the team in 1997, they have the best winning percentage in all the four American major sports (Basketball, American Football, Hockey and Baseball).

Duncan, in these years, has led the winningest Trio in NBA History.

An International one: he is from the Virgin Islands, and his sidekicks have been the Argentinian Manu Ginobili and the French Tony Parker.

Tim, Manu and Tony have won together almost 700 NBA Games.

Better than any Trio in League History.

Where there is tradition, often there is continuity: since December 1996 the Spurs are led by Gregg Popovich, one of the two coaches in NBA History to have won more than 1,000 games with the same Franchise.

The Spurs Legacy is something that goes beyond simple matches: today’s NBA is filled by Coaches or Managers that somewhere have written, in their CVs, ‘Employer: San Antonio Spurs’.

That is because the Texan Franchise is able to plan and build with an incredible cleverness.

An example of that is Spurs’ next Franchise Player.

Despite being only in his 5th season in the Association, Kawhi Leonard is already one of the three men to have won both the Defensive Player of the Year Award and NBA Finals MVP.

Leonard is in an elite company: the other two in that category are Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan, the Greatest Player of All Time.

Tim, Manu, Tony, Gregg and Kawhi, together with other great Spurs players in multiple-time All Star LaMarcus Aldridge, veterans David West and Boris Diaw or key players as Danny Green and Patty Mills,  will approach Saturday’s game with one desire: Revenge.

In their only matchup so far in the season (Spurs and Warriors will meet twice in the Regular Season final week in mid-April), Golden State have forced their opponent to their worst loss of the season with a final score of 120-88 that leaves no objections.

This is one of the reasons why, after Leicester City in Football, the Golden State Warriors are now the best story in Sports World.

Because they are simply changing the whole concept of Basketball as we know it.

Today the Dubs can exhibit the best start in NBA history after the first 67 games, with 61 wins.

It may seem redundant, but the superlative has been used quite often in this 2015-16 season for the Californian team.

Best Season Start in NBA History, Best Record at the All Star Break, Best Record for a debutant coach in his first two seasons.

And, last but not least, the Best Player in the NBA today in Stephen Curry.

Many people thought that, after an MVP Season last year, he had reached his peak.

But as we are now seeing, the sky is the Limit for Dell Curry’s son.

As of today, Warriors’ iconic guard has converted 330 3-Pointers. Before Stephen Curry, no player in NBA History had scored more than 270 long-distance shots in a Full Season.

But Steph’s historical run is not only made by his shooting ability.

As of today, Curry is having the best ‘after-MVP’ Season in NBA History. His Player Efficiency Rating, a Statistic that measures the successful impact of a player in a team, has no comparison in Basketball’s History.

No Basketball Team is great for having just one legendary player.

For that reason, Warriors’ true success is explained by the so-called Splash Brothers. Klay Thompson, son of former NBA Champion Mychal, is the perfect ‘Robin’ to Bat-Curry, or Dr Watson to Stephen Holmes.

His constant shooting and scoring effort played a huge role in making Golden State’s backcourt into one of the Greatest in NBA History.

As we have seen before, NBA’s Legacy is made by ‘Trios’, or Big Three.

The third, in Warriors’ case, is Draymond Green.

First time All Star this year, Golden State’s big man is the best forward in all NBA for assists, and his efficiency and versatility makes him a hard matchup for the other 29 League teams.

Golden State is on the run for beating the NBA All-Time Winning Record for a Season, established by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls with 72 wins (and 10 losses) exactly 20 years ago. San Antonio is on the pace too for a 70-wins season.

Task will be harder than the usual for the Dubs, due to the injury to their reigning Finals MVP in Andre Iguodala, the perfect veteran player.

If you’re wondering if there has ever been an NBA Season with two teams winning at least 70 games, the answer is simple: Never.

Round one of this incredible matchup, played in January, marked historical television viewing numbers in the US.

Round two, at this stage of the season, with these records on the line and the current teams form, could turn out into the Greatest Basketball Game Ever Played in History.

5 (+1) reasons why I will miss Kobe Bryant

su da Ennio Terrasi Borghesanin BasketballLascia un commento

With a wonderful letter on The Players’ Tribune, NBA Legend Kobe Bryant has announced that he will retire from Basketball at the end of this season.

He has surely been a unique player in Basketball History, capable of generating a variety of strong feelings, both positive and negative. It’s hard to recall an athlete of such level able to cause both extreme loyalty or ferocious hater-ism.

His style and his legacy has influenced today’s generation of NBA Stars through their maturation as players and as adults.

Kobe has been able to win in extreme fashion but also to ‘lose loud’.

We are going to miss him, mostly because our passion for the NBA has grown up alongside his career.

I’ve admired Kobe Bryant’s career although he hasn’t been one of my favorite players.

Here are five (+1) reasons why I will miss him.

1. His Finals Appearances

Having played the NBA Finals for 7 times (winning 5 of them), Kobe currently leads the league in this stat between active players.

From the Three-Peat to start the decade with Shaq to the Back-to-Back titles with Pau Gasol as his sidekick, but also going through the heartbreaking losses against the Pistons in 2004 and the Celtics in 2008, each one of Bryant’s career Finals Series is special in its own way.

His Finals Career Stats may not be the greatest possible (roughly 24.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.0 apg, 40.8% FG), but he was surely able to leave his indelible footprint in each one of this series.

2. The 2005/06 Season

In my humble opinion Bryant’s peak isn’t represented neither by his ‘sidekick three-peat’ or his ‘MVP back-to-back’, but by the 2005/06 NBA Season, one of the single greatest in NBA history.

It’s not only about his impressive scoring display that season (his career best 35.4 PPG that year is second only, in the last 40 NBA seasons, to Michael Jordan’s 86/87 season), but his ability to bring a less talented roster (Kobe’s main teammates were Lamar Odom and Smush Parker) one shot away from the Western Conference Semifinals.

His win share of 15.3, another career high, gives an idea of Kobe’s impact in 2005-06 Lakers.

It is also worth it to review some of that season amazing performances, first of all the 62-in-3-quarters against the eventual NBA Finalist that year Dallas Mavericks.

Before I mentioned the fact that those Lakers were one-shot-away from the Conference Semifinals. Kobe’s series against that powerful Suns team was definitely something to remember. Between all the moments, the two Game 4 clutch shots are the best highlight.

Last but surely not least… The 81 point game against the Toronto Raptors. One of those cases where you leave the images speaking for themselves.

3. Michael Jordan

Kobe Bryant is probably the most dedicated player of his generation.

His love for the game and his hunger to improve still are an example to young basketball players.

His career was undoubtedly marked by his rivalry with Michael Jordan, something that went on also after MJ retirement, in 2003.

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“I like Kobe, we talk a lot, I hope he comes back healthy. I think he’s one of the great players of the game, that he’s done a lot for it, and that he has a true love for basketball. I absolutely have high regard for him. Even though he stole all my moves, I still love him like a brother” – Michael Jordan, August 2015.
His duel with His Airness is something worth it to be kept in a glass case and displayed in a museum.

Jordan’s last ASG, Atlanta 2003, might represent the most unforgettable moment of this long feud.

4. Love for the Game

To express that concept, I will go with a personal Kobe memory, from my first interview with Federico Buffa in 2013.

For English-native speakers, a good will of Kobe’s devotion for basketball is his ‘retirement poem’ on the Players’ Tribune.

5. Italian Kobe

Between Bryant’s fans, Italian ones deserve a distinction.

Kobe’s relationship with il Bel Paese goes through the years, to the time when his father Joe played for seven seasons the Italian Basketball League with Rieti, Reggio Calabria, Pistoia and Reggio Emilia.

It is in Italy where Kobe Bryant has learnt to play basketball, and his bond with my home country is something that goes beyond sport.

Bryant’s relationship with Italy is something quite known inside the NBA, as we can see it in one of his funniest moment in an All Star Game.

(+1): Yesterday’s Kobe vs. Today’s Bryant

After having broken the internet with his ‘retirement poem’, last night Kobe Bryant played his first game after the retirement announce.

The atmosphere in Staples Center was more special than the usual, mainly due to Kobe’s announcement.

With the game being battled in crunch time, there was room to experience some bits of Yesterday’s Kobe, despite the fact he’s playing what it could be expressed as the “worst season of all time”

After this shot and a couple of free throws made by the Pacers, the stage was set for a possible Kobe Bryant Instant Classic.

But history does not always repeat itself.

Last NBA season won’t surely be Bryant’s best one.

But one thing is absolutely sure.

On April 13th, after a season-long farewell tour, the eyes of all basketball world will be pointed to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where Kobe Bean Bryant will play the last (probable) game of his distinguished career.

And, in spite of these tough last seasons, it will be a moment to remember.

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