“Epic” duel James vs. Curry
Lakers stun champion in first legends power struggle
By David Needy
5/3/2023 8:26 am
Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Stephen Curry vs. LeBron James: The NBA legends duel is much more than a playoff game. In the US they go crazy because it’s about legacy and last chances. The first power struggle is directly the “madness”.
It ends up being dramatic. Naturally. Even the basketball gods couldn’t have written the screenplay better. How else should it be when two NBA superstars collide. Two legends. LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers beat the defending champions Golden State Warriors with Stephen Curry 117-112 in the first game of the semifinals in the Western Conference. While Anthony Davis in particular dominates, Dennis Schröder also plays a leading role. With two ice-cold free throws sunk 2.7 seconds before the end, the German international secured victory for the Hollywood team.
Finally it’s running hot. This is what the 18,064 fans have been waiting for at the totally electrified Chase Center in San Francisco, California. Steph Curry sinks one of his inimitable three-pointers in the fourth quarter to make it 95-99 from his Warriors’ perspective after the best three-pointer in NBA history fell well short of his potential in the previous quarter. But LeBron James responded directly with a dominant move to the basket. Now it’s finally the duel of the icons that the viewers had hoped for.
Because all eyes in the US are on this game. Drama, spectacle, a historic duel: the defending champions against the largest and most glamorous team west of the NBA. San Francisco vs. Hollywood. Warriors vs Lakers. Pundits are expecting higher ratings than the later finals, and to all observers it’s clear this isn’t an easy playoff series. This is about a showdown between legends. For legacy. For dominance. To exclamation mark.
Intertwined since birth
Draymond Green had announced that it would be “epic”. “Don’t expect anything less than a classic,” predicted the US TV broadcaster ESPN. This is of course mainly due to two superstars. Two of basketball’s greatests ever. The top two players of this generation will battle it out for a place in the Western Conference Finals. James, 38, who has the most points in history in both the NBA and the playoffs, is a four-time NBA champion, having won titles with Miami, Cleveland and the Lakers. Curry has won four rings with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green with the Warriors in the past eight years.
You can’t talk about the size of either one without mentioning the other. Ever since birth, the paths of the two icons have been intertwined forever. A certain LeBron James was born in the Akron General Medical Center in Ohio in 1984 and would later become one of the best basketball players ever. Just four years later, the best pitcher in the history of the sport, Stephen Curry, was also born in this hospital. Now is the epic duel that dominated the NBA in the late 2010s (Warriors vs. Cleveland four straight; Curry victorious three times; James won once by comeback of all comebacks when he was trailing 3-1 after four games and still got the title), back.
A “mad game”
Back to the game. The Lakers lead by 12 points early in the quarter, but Golden State revs up. Mainly thanks to curry. The 35-year-old playmaker responded to a wide two from James with a layup and foul, seconds later counterattacked his “splash brother” Thompson, whose father was on the floor when the Warriors last made the playoffs in 1991 hit a Lakers team: The Warriors close their deficit to 104-112 with a three-pointer. There are five minutes left to play. It crackles in the hall. Everyone notices: Nothing has been decided here yet.
Curry tries to break the camel’s back with a spectacular move to the basket, but James makes an even more spectacular block. While fans are freaking out in Los Angeles, they’re tearing their hair out indoors. In the next direct duel with James, this time Curry has the upper hand. The point guard then crowned a 14:0 run with an unbelievable three-pointer to make it 112:112 a minute and a half before the end. “The magic of Stephen Curry” is commentator Brian Anderson on the US broadcaster TNT.
But because in the last few seconds the calm James converted a free throw and the cool Schröder two of them and also got an important rebound, the Lakers still grabbed the dramatic victory in the important first game. The home field advantage of the Warriors, who played inexplicably weakly away from home all season, is gone again.
Above all, Los Angeles triumphs because Anthony Davis dominates the entire game like Shaquille O’Neal in his Lakers prime. “AD” is already towering at halftime with a double-double, 23 points and 11 rebounds, a feat he has never managed in the playoffs before. In the end, he has an extraordinary 30 points, 23 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Davis is key for the Lakers in this series because he is unstoppable offensively by the undersized Warriors team. Although James is of course the bigger name, the Los Angeles team is now owned by the 208 centimeter tall giant in the middle.
“We can win in this building,” declared a happy Davis after the game. “It boosts our confidence.” But you can never keep the Warriors completely in check and be warned for the further course of the series. “You don’t stop moving, it’s like a track and field event,” says the power forward. He gives the always close, fast-paced and exciting game with many lead changes the title “madness game”.
Much more than reaching the final
Davis’ defense in particular made the difference tonight in San Francisco. Jarred Vanderbilt’s defense is also spectacular. The Lakers rightly give the aggressive forward the same minutes as Curry, whom he signs off for three quarters. The Lakers commit to three things: attacking across the zone to the basket, rebounding, and running back quickly so they can position themselves well defensively. The Warriors rarely score points at the ring and, despite Curry’s 27 and Thompson’s 25 points and a much better three-point rate (almost 40 percent) than the Lakers (LA only hit 12.5 at times and 24 percent from outside in the end), they have to get the first one hand over the game.
This is also due to a strong Schröder. From the second quarter he becomes more and more active. First the national player hits a jump shot, then immediately afterwards he steals the ball from Curry and completes the lay-up to give his Lakers the first lead. With 14 points, Schröder has the second most of the Lakers in the first half, in the end it is 19. He is particularly convincing on the free-throw line. The Lakers win the game there too: Schröder sinks nine of ten attempts at the line with the two important ones at the end and his team scores a total of 25 times, while the entire Warriors only manage five converted free throws (six attempts).
The TV channel TNT classifies the duel of the legends as “wild and entertaining”. The basketball gods mean well with the fans and, in addition to a solid James (22 points, eleven rebounds, five assists) and Curry, who ran hot at the end, also sent the outstanding Davis onto the floor. And so someone else decides the first power struggle of the icons. Six more trials of strength could follow and expand the legacy of “King” James or “Chef” Curry.
Because even if LeBron James continues to play superhumanly for his age: he will no longer have many chances to beat his old rival in a playoff series and have a chance to win the title. And while reports of the end of the Warriors era are grossly exaggerated, the squad could fall apart after this season due to aging Superstars and high salaries. In the end, Lakers vs. Warriors is about much more than making the Western Conference Finals. 1-0 for James and Hollywood.