Beginning the East Semis, our hero Kawhi started expanding his reputation as he was willing his squad to a tough 7 games against the star studded 76ers & bullying Ben Simmons games 1-6. With Simmons in captivity, 76ers other star Jimmy Butler was cooking Toronto, so of course Kawhi switched onto him for game 7 & the end result was a 5/14 16pt performance. Kawhi wasn't done there he capped off an epic 2way series by nailing a series ending shot over the outstretched arms of NBA social media king Joel Embiid.
Riding off thoroughly dismantling the dysfunctional Celtics the Bucks were being compared to the 2015 Warriors as they overnight turned into a top 5 offensive and defensive team with a media darling MVP leading the way. Through 2 games it appeared as if the Raptors with Kawhi as lead dog had hit their ceiling to most as he was now hobbled and the Bucks crushed them in game 2. Game 3 Kawhi on 1 good leg decided to change the series by becoming the primary defender of Giannis. The Bucks unstoppable player suddenly became ordinary & was airballing awkward 8ft turnaround jumpers. With Giannis in check now the Bucks offense crumbled and the Raptors ran off a tough gentleman's sweep in route to the NBA Finals.
After winning the toughest Eastern conference in 2 decades a large chunk of the attention was thrown in Golden State's direction as majority of pundits and Las Vegas had them as heavy favorites despite Thanos (Kevin Durant) being absent. Media went lazy & decided to use the history of both teams to come up with narratives while ignoring Kawhi Danny Green and Marc Gasol giving pre-Durant Warriors all types of hell in the past. Kawhi came out stiff in game 1 yet led his team to an impressive game 1 win that was immediately shrugged off as GS being rusty. Game 2 again featured a stiff legged Kawhi and GS managed to squeak out a late victory and the national media going overboard with GS love and stupidly questioning the heart of Kawhi's team (looks over at Paul Pierce). Game 3 saw the return of spry legs Kawhi as he was efficient and dominant as his teams smoked GS despite Steph's 47pts but the attention was then on Steph all of a sudden being elite (c'mon man) & GS not having Klay. Klay Thompson returned for game 4 on fire in front of a loud Oracle crowd. Warriors jumped all over the Raptors but Kawhi wouldn't let GS runaway as he scored 16 1st quarter points. GS led at the half the patented Warriors 3rd quarter was predicted but Kawhi came out with a 3 over Draymond a steal then another 3 over Draymond as if he were saying"NOT TODAY". Raptors admittedly sparked by Kawhi went on to dominate the rest of the game. Now up 3-1 the national media is teary eyed having to give Kawhi and his squad their just due after blatantly ignoring them in favor of page clicks. Kawhi's epic playoff run should culminate in a championship very shortly and it should be a lesson to the media to stop ignoring on court play. All hail King of the North Kawhi Leonard who is in a rush to give up his crown like his throne counterpart Aegon Targaryen.
Lebron was championed for his words throughout social media for "speaking the truth" but I saw it as another statement being thrown from the NBA's glass house. The NBA beats its chest about it being so diverse and not tolerating ignorance at all unlike the NFL but its indeed eerily similar to the NFL. The NBA is 75% black and the NFL is 70% black yet both share a combined ONE majority owner. With so many black players one would think that hiring coaches and execs who looked like the players would be trendy as they would be able to relate to them but the NBA only has 8 black head coaches out of 30! The executive ranks in the NBA is worse as there are only 5 black general managers and 3 black president of basketball operation. Those numbers don't look the most diverse to me.
