Written by Chris Barnewell at CBSSports.com
Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest to ever play basketball. As the winner of five championships, an MVP and many other accolades, it would make sense people give weight to his basketball opinions. In an interview with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan, Bryant talked about the negativity surrounding the likelihood of a third straight Cavaliers-Warriors Finals.
There’s a strong group of fans that believe the dominance Cleveland and Golden State have shown so far in this year’s playoffs have been bad for basketball. That the pointlessness of it all leading up to the Finals is hurting the league. Bryant strongly disagrees with this.
Bryant says he will watch the NBA postseason when time allows. He can’t understand why some believe a potential Warriors versus Cavaliers Finals matchup for the third time is a negative.
“Why is that bad for basketball? That makes no sense,” Kobe says. “Just because it’s preordained that’s a bad thing?
“I know I’m going to wake up in the morning. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think it is.”
Via ESPN
It’s worth noting that Bryant was part of a team that wont three straight championships so obviously there’s a little bias here. Still, as a student of the game it’s hard to not see why he would enjoy two teams playing their best basketball and possibly meeting up for a third time. He’s a competitor. He wants to see the best teams win.
While Bryant is right that not everything that’s expected should be considered bad, it’s hard to not believe that this year’s playoffs just don’t feel as fun as previous years. Is it bad for basketball to have two teams so incredibly dominant there’s not even a sense of an upset happening? That’s hard to say and probably won’t have an answer until a few years down the line, but it’s definitely not the most fun basketball.
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