Hold on, let me get my calculator...
Hip-hop and basketball are inextricably linked. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when this marriage of culture and sport occurred, but it's a known fact that basketball's Golden Era of the 1980s-early '90s intersected with the birth of hip-hop as a musical genre.
When young Bird and Magic began their long war of the hardwood in the 1979 NCAA Championship Game, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambataa and Kool DJ Kurt (aka Kurtis Blow) were already spinning records in the boogie down Bronx. But it was at the height of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry/Michael Jordan's rise that hip-hop began to take off. Now, the two cannot be separated, which is why it's hard to hear Rakim's "Don't Sweat the Technique" without picturing an NBA highlight tape going with it.
Wait, what, they actually did that? I had NO idea.
All the anthropology aside, both forms have given to each other over their histories. Basketball players dress like the rappers they listen to, while hip-hoppers wear throwback jerseys of the players they love. The oddest trait shared by basketball and hip-hop, however, lies in it's slang; specifically, the slang for what is considered "good".
In layman's terms, if something's bad, it's good. A nasty dunk, a sick pass, an ill crossover. Shots are deadly or cold-blooded. Countless times, I've said that Derrick Rose is disgusting. LeBron James' beard is disrespectful. (Sorry, that last one is true.)
The faces ballplayers and fans alike will make after a crazy dunk or shot are legendary: expressions of horror, disgust, or as Bill Simmons put it in his Book of Basketball: "A dunk that makes every African-American fan in the building stand up and make the face like they just smelled an extremely bad fart."
Yes, Joakim, that's the face I mean.
So it should not get lost in translation when I tell you the number one fact of the 2012 NBA season:
KEVIN DURANT IS A PROBLEM.
Making it rain among the Thunder
At some point last year, a question was asked in passing on ESPN: would you rather have Kobe Bryant or Kevin Durant?
The runaway answer, of course, was Kobe. KD was in his third season and while he was the leader of a good young Thunder team, he hadn't proven himself.
This year, however, Durant is proving himself, each and every game.
The numbers:
-Per game: 27.9 points, 8.4 rebounds (career high), 3.4 assists (career high), 1.2 blocks (career high), 51.3 FG% (career high)
-51 points in an overtime win against Denver
-36 points in West's 152-149 All-Star Game win
-Averaging 1.5 points per game more on the road
The greatest difficulty for MVP voters? All these numbers are either identical or comparable to the other front-runner, LeBron James.
A "heated" argument
While the animosity of "The Decision" and the Heat's coalescence has lessened immensely, people still don't like LeBron. He had big buckets late in the ASG, but cost his team with two late turnovers. Derrick Rose indirectly disapproved of LBJ's pre-game dance routine at the All-Star game. And people are still wondering what's up with his beard.
LeBron will always draw ire for leaving Cleveland for Miami. It was a move condemned by media, fans and players alike. But he's always scrutinized for being so incredibly good as well. His skill set has only been possessed by a handful of players ever, and hardly any of them have LeBron's size and speed. The only consistent knock has been his three-point shooting, and this year he's averaging a ridiculous 47 percent from beyond the arc. While Dwyane Wade's been injured, James has carried the Heat through stretches, albeit with some help from glue man Chris Bosh. Kevin Durant can't say the same, as he's had Russell Westbrook all season to play Robin to his Batman.
The main thing hurting LeBron's MVP campaign is that he's won before. The prevailing opinion is that writers will go with a first-timer to create a new story. This was one of the ideas presented for Derrick Rose's win last season when other players had considerably better numbers. The simmering hatred for LeBron is another possible reason he would lose out.
None of those should matter this year, though. LeBron is the frontman in this year's race. For how long remains to be seen.
The best in the business
Oklahoma City and Miami have been jockeying for the best record in the league all year. The Bulls are footsteps behind, but Derrick Rose has missed games and the Bulls are 9-3 without him in the lineup. Good odds say he won't be considered. This leaves James, Durant, Kobe Bryant, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, and Jeremy Lin.
All right, you've stopped chuckling, now back to reality. Tony Parker and Chris Paul are long shots, due to Rose's win last year and the writers' hesitancy to reward another point guard. Kobe's having another great season along with a beautiful ad campaign, but the Lakers are stuck with a bad bench and an underachieving third man. Plus, "Black Mamba" is a really stupid nickname.
This leaves James and Durant, and that's a numbers/crunch-time race. The award goes to whoever's team finishes with a better record and whoever measures up against conference opponents (Lakers, Grizzlies, Spurs, Clippers for Durant; Bulls, Magic, Celtics, Pacers, Knicks for James), barring injury. But the fact that it's a race in itself has thrown a monkey wrench into the plans of the basketball writers.
This was supposed to be LeBron's year. He was hungry to erase the memories of last season's defeat to the surprising Mavericks and outright flatten anyone who stood in his way. It was supposed to be a non-contest.
Kevin Durant has just been too much of a problem to ignore.
A nasty problem.
See you in the cheap seats.
JS
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