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Message: [QUOTE="champs99and04, post: 2741092, member: 488"] Yeah. The nature of the sport - any sport, really - is such that we tend to remember the things that just happened, and because of the way the tournament is designed, those memories are almost always born from defeat. It's self-fulfilling. Those two series against San Antonio - 2012 and then 2015 - are page one on KD's bio, even ahead of last year's finals, IMO. Those teams were both behemoths that people forget because of what came later. To go for 30, 7, 5, 2, and 2 on 53/36/91 shooting splits against that team is the theatre of the absurd. And then to do it again four years later - it's worth mentioning that they were only healthy for one of the seasons between those points - against what was I think the best defense in the league with really no infrastructure (the spacing on that team was horrific) is probably something only a select few could pull off. Those Spurs fly under the radar because the Warriors won 73, but any other year they would have been the prohibitive favorites. +10.6 point differential (the Dubs were +10.8) and 40-1 (!) at home. And KD beat them twice in three tries. I wouldn't say I have less respect for KD now, but the way I'll put it is that I definitely don't think more of him as a player than I did then. Even as I watch the finals this year with a gross taste in my mouth, I find it hard to blame him because he's just a creation of the things we claim to want in an athlete. We can't have it both ways where context doesn't matter one moment - "no rings!" - and then the moment you do win them it does. If the people who have a problem with KD jumping to Oakland want to prevent such things from happening in the future, then their best option is to respect the talent from jump street. That's not to say criticism is off limits but don't be stupid and start telling me Kobe's better than LeBron (we heard that a lot before LeBron went to Miami). The alarming part shouldn't be LeBron and KD leaving as much as it should be the validation they've received for doing it. [/QUOTE]

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