I Knew MJ and You Sir Are No MJ

We've been pretty quiet about this NBA Finals here at The PineRiders. There are a few reasons for that. First, we live in New York and are genetically programmed to hate Boston and LA. Second, the New York Knicks have become one of the most irrelevant franchises in all of sports, leading us to kind of, maybe, hate the NBA. Finally, it's become clear over the last year, and even more so in the last week, that the NBA is being run by Italian soccer officials. I just saw a David Stern memo outlining the next 4 NBA Finals winners. With that said, someone has to talk about this "historic" NBA Finals. Kobe's tremendous season, and the Lakers' run to the Finals has been impressive, but if I hear one more person compare this guy to the greatest I am going to lose it. Has everybody forgotten who this guy is? Am I the only person who remembers what a terrible competitor Kobe Bryant is? Let me ask you this question: If Kobe could win the NBA title and $10 million in advertising money for himself, but had to step over everyone on his team including Phil Jackson to do it, would he?

In 2004, when the Lakers' Big Four collapsed to the Pistons, does everyone remember Kobe chasing that whole team out of town? How about the last two years when he was begging for a trade, openly pouting, and screaming at his teammates? Now because he's finally learned the right things to say when there's a camera on him, I'm supposed to believe that he really loves playing with these guys? Michael Jordan would have played second fiddle to Shaq for 20 years if he knew it would win him a bunch of titles. Oh not to mention Michael Jordan wouldn't lose a 20+ point lead at home during the preseason, let alone the Finals. Someone actually tried to tell me that the players Jordan had around him were better than the guys around Kobe right now. I couldn't believe it. The guys on those first 3 championship teams were absolutely terrible.Aside from Scottie Pippen, there wasn't anybody better than a glorified role player. And I think we can all agree, Scottie wasn't really as great as everyone thought he was. Jordan never had a guy like Shaq; never had a Gasol; never had a Bynum. His point guards were BJ Armstrong, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, and Ron Harper. Oh and in case you don't remember, Michael had that whole Flu game against Karl Malone and John Stockton, and he won the game.

The bottom line is this, Jordan would've broken this Celtics' team's back over the last two games. I saw him do it before down 2-0. Sure every Knicks fan thought they had a chance, but come on, we knew we didn't really. We're talking about a guy who did the three peat twice...with two separate teams! With that said, Kobe isn't even the closest thing to Jordan in the Association right now. Look at what Lebron is doing in Cleveland right now. Compare his team to Kobe's and then remember Cleveland took Boston 7 games. Lebron carried a GARBAGE Cavaliers team to the Finals last year. Oh yeah, and he's only 23. If people insist on comparing someone to Michael, please compare the right guy. I could talk about this all day but it just makes me angry. (Deep down inside, I hope Lebron finds this and realizes his true calling is to come to New York any way he can to save this franchise. Think of it like Princess Leia coming through R2D2...save us LBJ-Kenobi, you're our only hope!)

(honestly, how creepy but great does that picture look)