Because it is the NBA finals, let’s talk sports, and I will get to porn here in a bit.
I love football and love to watch the NBA come May. The basketball season is too long in my opinion, but the playoffs are great.
I grew up watching Jordan and all the talk about who is better then Jordan is pointless because there is no one better PERIOD.
On to Kevin Durant.
Last summer, Nolan and I went to game 7 at Oracle Arena and watched the Warriors come back from a 3-1 deficit in the series to beat KD and Westbrook and the rest of the OKC Thunder team in an epic game 7 of the Western Conference Championship.
The game was amazing, and all the talk after the game was “where was KD? Can KD ever win a championship?”
A few weeks later, I watched the Warriors on TV lose the NBA championship in a fantastic game 7 against the Cavs and Lebron James.
In the off-season, the Warriors knew they needed to get better to beat the CAVS.
Move on to football. I love the Packers. I was in Atlanta for that horrible game in the playoffs. The Patriots win the Super Bowl and what do they do in the off-season? They get better and better even though they are on top. I wish more teams in the NFL would look at what they are doing and say we need to get better.
The Warriors got better last summer. How? Kevin Durant signed with them.
Arguably, the 2nd or 3rd best player in the league joins a team of all-stars who won 73 games last year and were a few minutes away from winning back to back NBA championship, but they came up short.
Durant took all sorts of crap for joining a “super team.”
I listen to First Take Live. Steven A. Smith who I agree with most days kills Durant for taking the easy way out to win a ring in his opinion.
Durant’s move to join the warriors was selfless.
He wants a ring, and after years of not getting it in OKC, he saw an option that could get him there. How would he do it? By joining a team that had better players.
The Warriors slogan is “strength in numbers.”
Let’s be honest most superstars don’t want to join a team with this kind of slogan. They want to be “the guy.”
In the regular season, we saw James Harden, and Russell Westbrook put up some of the greatest numbers ever in basketball, and one of them will win the MVP award this month. But who cares. Basketball is a team sport, and those guys are the best players on their team, but their teams never stood a chance in the playoffs.
Would either of those guys take a position on a team like Golden State that potentially could mean their personal numbers would go down?
I doubt it.
So back to KD. Warriors are up 3-0 in the NBA Finals. They are now 15-0 and one game away from sweeping Lebron James and the Cavs and becoming the first team ever to go 16-0 in the post season. Do you know what I have heard all week on the radio?
“KD is now the best player on the planet.”
“KD is moving from the #2 player to the #1 player in the world, surpassing Lebron James.”
“KD is now better than Lebron James.”
I can’t stand Lebron. Just saying that so you know, but he is currently the best player in the NBA. Not better than Jordan but he is better than anyone currently in the league.
KD is the smartest player in the league, and because of that, he is now in the conversation of being the best player on the planet because he made the smartest move ever.
KD will be the MVP of the NBA finals on Friday night.
KD will be credited with being the missing piece the Warriors needed to win the championship.
KD will get a ring that he has been chasing for ten plus years and always came up short.
KD will get the ring because he joined the right team.
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I laugh at the comments about him being better than Lebron James. Basketball is a team sport, and individual accolades don’t mean anything.
I do think it is awesome that a move that most people criticized when he joined the Warriors is the same move that is now putting him in the conversation as being the best basketball player on the planet.
The Bible says “I must decrease so He can increase” and “More of You and less of me.”
I love that King James had to remind reporters that he is averaging a triple-double in this series before game 3. Guess what? Westbrook averaged a triple double all season long, and he got booted in the first round of the playoffs. KD is playing on a better team, and because of that, his game is elevated.
Run with people who can run faster than you.
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Lebron makes his teammates look better. Great players do that, but Lebron still has to carry the team and do way too much on the court.
KD doesn’t have to do it all. He doesn’t have to play the minutes Lebron does. He has way more options on his team that can close out the game or put up points.
Often I think we all want to be like King James and be the best player on the team. We want to be the smartest person in the room. We want to surround ourselves with role players and lead them rather than play with four other all-stars. You know what happens when KD plays with four other all-stars with a slogan that reads “strengths in numbers?”
The team wins, and in turn, KD wins.
Do I think he is a better ballplayer than Lebron? No. Smarter and selfless? YES, and that is what is needed to win in this league.
Can you join a superteam?
What would happen if Westbrook went to Celtics or the Cavs? He would have to decrease and take fewer shots but could he then actually become better? Possibly but we won’t know because he will stay on a team where his is the best and will keep getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs.
In your life. You and I might not be NBA all-stars or MVP of the NBA finals, but that is not why I am writing.
People need other people. We have said that a lot. Let me say it like this. People need better people.
Do you continue to struggle?
Do you continue to fall into temptation? Do you continue to try and do everything on your own?
Why not go about things differently?
Addiction breeds isolation.
Remember that. I would challenge you to surround yourself with a better team. Better players. Maybe that is a mentor, perhaps that is a group of people that are further down the road than you.
If you don’t know, we have a small groups ministry here for men, women, pastors, and spouses. Ten people and one leader that meet each week at the same time online. If you want to check it out and join a group for free, here is how:
1. Select the type of group you’d like to try.
- For My Pilgrimage (for men who struggle with addiction) Click Here.
- For X3groups (for men or women who struggle with addiction) Click Here.
- For Recover (for spouses of addicts) Click Here.
2. Select Register and complete the requested information.
3. When you go the checkout screen enter the coupon code SGOFREE and click Apply.
4. Once your checkout is complete, you will then be taken to the group selection page where you can pick a free group to try out.
Joining a new team is scary. Playing a team sport when all you have played is an individual sport is tough as well. I get it, but it is worth it.
Check it out and even if you don’t love basketball tune in tonight at 6 PM PDT and watch the Cavs get swept not by Kevin Durant but by a team built on the foundation of STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.