NBA BATTLES

I picked up a pretty sweet magazine the other day,  NBA Battles by SLAM.  I was hoping it would wet my appetite for there being no NBA, unfortunately it had the opposite effect and made me jones for it more.  Well crap it's out of my hands, so I'll just get back to the mag.

In a nutshell it's fantasy match ups that either: A. didn't happen or B. Didn't happen in the respected players primes.  There is also a couple of dream match ups between legendary championship teams. 

Here's how it breaks down:

Magic vs. LBJ

Isiah vs. CP3

Kareem vs. Hakeem

Bird vs. Dirk

Baylor vs. Dr. J

Ewing vs. Yao

Wilt vs. Shaq

Stockton vs. D-Will

Oscar vs. Kidd

Russell vs. Howard

Malone vs. Stoudemire

West vs. Wade

Iverson vs. Rose

Pippen vs. Durant

Jordan vs. Bryant

'86 Celtics vs. '00 Lakers

'89 Pistons vs. '03 Spurs

'65 Celtics vs. '83 Sixers

'70 Knicks vs. '87 Lakers

'72 Lakers vs. '96 Bulls

There are some obvious match ups listed, but there are a few that I never thought of before, I found very intriguing.  The Pippen vs. Durant immediately jumps to mind.  Anyway here's how SLAM predicted it would end, and of course how I thought it would as well.

Magic vs. Lebron: Any sane man would tell you Magic on this one, and fortunately SLAM is sane.  If this were a straight up one on one game, Lebron may take it, but basketball is a team game and Magic is the ultimate team player.  Magic all the way here. 

Isiah vs. Paul: SLAM has Thomas winning it for now, but once Paul's career is over it may be another story.  I agree 100%.

Kareem vs. Hakeem: I'm sure some of you are saying, "Wait, this match up really did happen!"  Well you are forgetting Abdul-Jabbar was nowhere near his prime once Olajuwon came into his own.  Anyway they take Lew Alcindor.  I would like to add, this would be a hell of a match up.  I probably would take Kareem too, but not by much.  If they played 10 times it may be 5-5. 

Bird vs. Nowitzki: Let the comparisons roll in.  This is a hot topic since Dirk won the big one.  I understand it to an extent, but Dirk wasn't the well-rounded player Bird was.  Yes Dirk is ridiculously skilled for a big, but not to the extent Bird is.  Sorry rant over.  Anyway SLAM says, "Nowitzki could never give an in-his-prime Bird a true test on the court."  That is my sentiment exactly.  (I may be a Laker guy, but dammit I love Larry!)

Elgin Baylor vs. Julius Erving: I will admit to not being all that familiar with Baylor.  The mag gives the nod to Dr. J due to his superior athleticism (not that Elgin was a slouch by any means).  That's good enough for me. 

Yao Ming vs. Patrick Ewing: This match up seems odd to me.  Ewing may have taught Ming early on in his career, but their styles are so different it just doesn't seem like a fantasy match up in any one's imagination.  (Maybe it's just me?)  Either way, Yao's biggest adversary was himself.  Injury upon injury.  Not to mention that he was even a finesse guy!  Ewing would take advantage of this, and aside from a few swats Yao would get, Ewing and the Knicks would have no problem with any of the Yao Rockets teams.  If you don't believe me ask SLAM they say so too. 

Shaquille O'Neal vs. Wilt Chamberlain: This one gets brought up every time there is a dream match up.  Apparently you pick this due to your age, anyone under 45 picks Shaq, and over picks Wilt; or so SLAM says.  I can see that thinking.  Here's a quote from the magazine though: Yes, Shaq played with some great players, but on the low, so did Wilt.  The difference?  O'Neal frequently made players around him greater than they would have been without him, and that's not as clear when speaking of Chamberlain.  So that pretty much sounds like they pick O'Neal right?  Wrong!  Three sentences later they say Wilt is the pick.  To me, that seems totally contradicting.  I agree with the logic, just not their pick.  I'm going with Shaq.  As strong as Wilt was, Shaq would simply overpower him.

Deron Williams vs. John Stockton: The trumpets blare in the battle of the Jazz guards!  This is a cool little match up.  DWill obviously has the athletic advantage, but Stockton was so crafty and tough, with plenty of big-game experience (That being something Williams doesn't have as of yet) and would beat Williams a majority of the time. (For now)  SLAM what do you think?  SLAM: I second the motion.

The Big O vs. JKidd: The triple double machines do battle with Oscar Robertson coming out with the edge, if nothing else but due to his athletic advantages over Kidd, in an otherwise fairly even match up.

Dwight Howard vs. Bill Russell: This is another match that I never really thought about before.  The comparison being that they both were/are the premiere defensive centers of the time.  My initial thought is that D12 may rack up a couple of quick points/boards/blocks, but at the end of the day Russell would out-fox him and of course the Celtics would get the win.  Can Dwight take his place among the all-time greats?  Sure, but not as of yet. 

Karl Malone vs. Amare: Much like Dwight Howard, Amare may posterize the Mailman at the beginning of the contest, but in the end Malone would out-shoot, rebound, and just plain outwork the always underachieving Amare Stoudemire.     

Dwyane Wade vs. Jerry West: The other two elite shooting guards not named Mike or Kobe lock horns in this intriguing match up.  West could score like crazy, but Wade has wicked "D" not to mention the size on West.  I'm sure this would be a great battle, but I just can't see West being able to go toe to toe with Wade for the duration of the game. 

Derrick Rose vs. Allen Iverson: This would probably garner the most attention other than MJ/Kobe.  Maybe not on the marquee, but after it was all said and done, this would be one of the most entertaining battles from a fans standpoint.  Two explosive uber-athletic point guards who were/are unlike anything their era had ever seen.  SLAM gives the one on one edge to Iverson, but for a 5 on 5 setting it goes to Rose.  After much thinking, I will agree with that.  However this may be the most even of all the proposed match ups here. 

Scottie Pippen vs. Kevin Durant: This would be plain amazing if you ask me.  The article starts with the phrase, Look at these long-armed SOB's.  You got that right.  Pippen has got it for now.  But not for much longer, I would bet money on that.   

 

Michael Jordan vs. Kobe Bryant:  Everyone is now drooling over the thought of seeing this match in each man's primes.  I would first like to point out, that a different man did each article in the SLAM mag, and the dude that did this one had a really strange layout for his.  So Mr. Lang Whitaker, you really lost some points with me on the main even match up.  That rant aside, this is the one match that probably would have the two opponents throwing punches at each other.  Mr. Intensity vs. Mr. Intensity.  Say what you want about either, no one can sanely deny the fact that want to win at all costs.  I'm throwing numbers out the window.  No one cares how many assists they averaged.  No one cares what they shot from the free throw line.  The one question you have to ask is, "Was the man at least for the time being, the unquestioned greatest basketball player on the planet?"  The answer for both is yes.  Secondly, "Did the man lead his team to the promised land, and win the championship?"  The answer is obviously "YES x 6" and "YES x 5, and maybe more?"  Now before someone says, "Hey discount 3 of Kobe's cause he had Shaq!"  I understand that, however for those three championships his playoff averages (I know I said throw them out the window, but I need them just this once)  25.7 ppg, 5.87 rbg, 5.03 apg, 1.5 spg.  Not only are those All-Star numbers, they are top 5 player in the league numbers.  So yes Kobe did have Shaq, the greatest center in the league.  But Jordan had Pippen the greatest defender in the league.  So no more arguments concerning the supporting players.  So each man during his prime was the unquestioned ruler of the basketball world, and would stop at nothing to get the W.  I will give Jordan the edge.  If only by a championship.  That's somewhat kidding, I think... I will say Jordan never seemed to lose focus.  Kobe on the other hand does seem to have momentary lapses of sanity.  That being said, I remember Kobe alot  better than Jordan so maybe he did too.  (Let's face it, youtube doesn't show MJ looking crappy so how would anyone under 30 remember THAT much?  Hmmm that sounds like a good project for my youtube blog!)  This match up really isn't as ridiculous as some may think.  If they played 10 times it may be 6-4, or dare I say 5-5?  I think it's fair to assume that most people are assuming this is championship Michael vs. championship Kobe (which it is) but wouldn't it be cool to have afro KB8 Kobe that did things like this.  vs. chain wearing, little fade hair cut Mike that did this.  I'm pretty sure the whole top 10 on Sportscenter the next day would be from those two.  Regardless of era, this clash of the titans would leave no man, woman, or child unhappy. 

So as for the team dream battles, I think I'm just going to tell you to go buy the magazine for yourself.  Why?  For two very good reasons.  Number one and most importantly, this blog entry has gone on way longer than I thought it would, and odds are most people aren't still reading it.  And number two, all this basketball hoopla has really got me yearning for some NBA action which as of today looks like it's not going to happen this season, and it's getting me really pissed off.  How about you?  Try and tell me those Kobe and Jordan videos didn't get you fired up?