ESPN First-Take pointed out something very intriguing this morning, pointing out that the best stars in both the NHL and NBA will be squaring off against each other tonight. That's right, the Lebron's Cavs are knocking hardwood with Kobe's Lakers, while Crosby's Pens are icing it out with Ovie's Caps. Jay-Z and Nas must be rap battling somewhere out there tonight-anyways...
These match-ups lead to the inevitable comparison between these heated rivalries, which First-Take will be doing within the hour, and which I intend to within the paragraph. Let's start with some similarities.
Although both of these sports, hockey and bball, are "team sports," the intimate nature of the respective leagues allows individual performances to shine, and great players to excel. NBA and NHL arenas are smaller than football and baseball stadiums, and they only play 5-6 players at a time in both leagues. Even the crowd can pinpoint what players are faster, who has "the ups," who has the killer slapshot. As soon as I turn on a game, I can pinpoint Crosby and Ovechkin because of their speed and puckhandling, while Kobe and Lebron stand out mostly because of their strength and precision.
It's fairly obvious that these four players are the dominant forces in their leagues. Crosby has already won a cup with his team in his fourth year, while Lebron carried the Cavs to the 07 NBA Conference Finals in his fourth year. Both are arguably playing at their
best level at this point in their careers.
Kobe and Ovechkin are on opposite sides of this comparison. Kobe has already won 5 championships, and has proven himself as one of the best players of this decade, yet he had the strong support of O'Neal, Derrick Fisher, etc while Lebron's Cavs are still looking for championship level support. . Ovechkin has yet to win a championship, but doesn't have the support of Malkin, Staal, Fluery, etc. to win a cup yet, but things could very well change this year. Kobe and Crosby may very well win another championship, while it's very clear that Ovechkin and Lebron are heading toward trophies of their own in the near future.
It's clear that each player has a different style, with Lebron and Crosby being the court-vision, assist-prone, makes everyone around them better-players and Kobe and Ovie being flashier, higher scoring, shoot the the lights out-guys. (this is arguable) Still, whatever they do leads them to consistent success with their teams, and constant attention for their leagues.
As for their respective rivalries, they are very different. Yet both make strong cases for being the better of the two.
Sid and Ovie match up alot more than Kobe and Lebron, because they are in the same conference. Because of this, it's more likely that the two will face each other in many a playoff series. Last year's 2nd round was one of the most exciting match-ups the NHL cup playoffs has witnessed in a long time, and they owe it all to Sid and Ovie. Meanwhile, Kobe and Lebron haven't had an intense match-up of any similarity. They have yet to meet in the championship, and have yet to have a big game come down to the wire with both guys scoring high numbers (you know, the equivalent of Crosby and Ovie getting hat tricks on the same night..in the playoffs...)
Still, there are benefits to not playing each other a lot. It means anticipation. It means predictions. It means when they do the NBA is going to wet themselves. Constant comparisons are made between the two-hell, they even have puppets for it. I guess that when they meet it's going to be a very special event, because it IS going to be a championship, with the highest stakes possible. Sid and Ovie will never play at those high of stakes (except maybe in this year's olympics..heehee)
That being said, there is no guarantee that they will ever meet up in an NBA championship. Kobe is much older than Lebron, and because of the age difference, there isn't as much time for the NBA to cherish this rivalry..
Seeing Sid matchup with Ovie consistently may lessen the wow-factor a bit, but the truth is, these players put on a show every night, and playing against each other is never a downer. I don't think this rivalry will ever wear out. We can only hope that Lebron and Kobe match-up soon, because seeing both players in their prime is an anticipation that fully fuels this rivalry. It's something that needs to happen for the NBA.
Regardless of the differences between the rivalries, it's clear that both have fueled their respective leagues' successes in the past few years. In both the NBA and NHL, having these individual rivalries is a special opportunity for fans to witness elite competition and amazing performances. Kodak moments all around.
