Five Reasons Kyle Korver Was Right To Run Away
/I can't blame Kyle Korver. While regarded as the best spot-up three-point shooter, rim-protection isn't exactly a secondary skill of his. Three sentences is too long without watching the video again. Here you go:
Fly, You Fools!
In the final minutes of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Korver sees James rounding the screen, and starts to crash on the paint and offer help defense. What he also sees is his power-forward and center well behind James, meaning he isn't just helping someone else. He is the defense. He stops his motion to the paint. Time freezes. He has a decision to make, and he chooses health over immortality through posterization. Even if he did challenge LeBron, there was absolutely no way LeBron wasn't going to get that ball in the bucket. He made the right call. And here are five reasons why:
LeBron Dunks on Kevin Garnett in 2008 Playoffs
The LeBron pick-and-roll drive with one-handed tomahawk finish is his signature dunk. It's raw, powerful, and makes it look as though he's floating in midair. This particular version is one of two LeBron dunks that I will never forget. He fights through a screen, dribbles around James Posey, and then posterizes Kevin Garnett, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and eventual NBA Champion. He's too quick, too strong, and too athletic for anyone to stop him. Garnett can't even go up to challenge the block, instead only getting a shove in. The refs don't even call a foul. Probably because it looked too easy. How could Korver have done any better?
LeBron Dunks on All the Detroit Pistons
In the last minute of Game 5 in the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, and while scoring 29 of Cleveland's last 30 points, James dunks on all of Detroit two times in a row. Tayshaun Prince, one of the best wing defenders in the game, pulls a Korver and ducks out of the way the first time James comes charging through. The second time, he stays on James' hip all the way to the bucket. It didn't matter. The other dunk that I will never forget.
Kyle Korver Has Already Seen This Moment
In a tense game last season against Miami, Korver saw his fate. After seeing LeBron break down Al Horford and rise above Paul Milsap, Korver knew a dunking LeBron was an unstoppable force of nature. And he's done everything in his power since that day to alter reality and avoid posterization.
LeBron Can Leap Over NBA Players to Dunk
Unlike Korver, John Lucas doesn't even have the luxury of choice. He didn't know another man could leap over him, grab the ball in midair, and finish at the rim. Everyday, Lucas turns around to make sure another man-God isn't soaring above him. Korver didn't want that life.
LeBron Dunks on His Mom's Boyfriend
This is what Korver would have looked like had he decided to challenge LeBron. It would have been awkward, hilarious, and he probably would have hurt himself in the process. And it would have been a three-point play.