If not for Draymond Green’s suspension, the NBA finals probably wouldn’t have reached a Game 6. That they have enables us to re-engage in that longstanding discussion: What exactly should we make of LeBron James?
He’s the greatest player since Jordan. He’s among the five greatest ever. He has lifted if not dragged seven teams to the NBA finals. No team without LeBron has won the Eastern Conference since 2010. It would be wrong to say we the people don’t have appreciation/admiration for James: How could we not? But do we like him?
Sometimes we pull against the game’s best player – “Nobody roots for Goliath,” Wilt Chamberlain famously averred – because it’s human nature to prefer the underdog.