Treat Kawhi Leonard’s final run the same as Allen Iverson’s
By Troy Hanning
Whose competition was tougher?
We could look at each team’s journey to the finals. Things like Leonard hitting the first Game 7 buzzer-beater against a stacked 76ers team. Or when Leonard exposed MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, winning four consecutive games after losing the first two.
Other things could include Iverson finally taking down the Indiana Pacers after losing to them for two consecutive years while playing 46.0 minutes per game. Or Iverson’s 16 assists in Game 7, where Philly beat Vince Carter’s Raptors by one point, forcing Iverson to play every second of the game. Again, we could look at the journey, but let’s just dive into the Finals.
Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant coming off their first championship together or Stephen Curry, less than five games of Klay Thompson and 12 minutes of Kevin Durant in their fifth consecutive Finals appearance. Tough one. Shaq was unstoppable, period. The Warriors were deeper.
The Lakers had not lost a single game all postseason until they met Iverson, who dished them up for 48 points in front of a Lakers home crowd. Even without Durant, the Steph and Klay Warriors were coming off sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers in the conference finals. They were also dealing with an array of illnesses and injuries to their top three players, all happening in the Finals.
The Warriors might have had a certain mystique that comes when having a two time MVP, but they didn’t have Kobe and Shaq. Final score: 7/6 Iverson. (Iverson: 14, Leonard: 11)