I’d like to point you to the following two stat lines:
Both pushed series to the brink against suffocating defenses, even in the absence of key players alongside them. One invited rapturous praise and logical leapfrogging to a championship that made the transitive property chuckle. The other has elicited respect, admiration, modest debate and, I think finally, acceptance.
Player A is Giannis Antetokounmpo during the Boston series.
Player B is Kevin Durant during last year’s Bucks-Nets series.
For much of last offseason, a tidy 1A/1B argument was used to keep Giannis and Durant atop the league’s best players ranking.