Ice Cube identifies what’s needed to spark Warriors-Lakers rivalry

Ice Cube identifies what’s needed to spark Warriors-Lakers rivalry originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – For much of the last dozen years, the Warriors had two legitimate rivals. Both were easy to identify and just as easy for much of the planet to ignore.

Nothing against the Cleveland Cavaliers (2015 through 2018) or the Los Angeles Clippers (2012-2017), but neither had the global reach to engage fans from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

Only a Warriors-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry could do that. The Lakers long have had a massive and vocal fan base, and the Warriors now have enough followers to compete. Among the global popularity of NBA teams, they rank Nos. 1 and 2 – and the order is variable based on data.

What’s needed to solidify a Warriors-Lakers rivalry? There is, according to one devoted LA fan, a simple answer.

“I think all the rivalry stuff will happen if we meet in the Western Conference finals,” Ice Cube, the rapper, actor and co-founder of the Big3 basketball league, said as a guest on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Dubs Talk” podcast.

“Right now, it’s just the teams respect each other and want to beat each other.”

No argument here. There is plenty of juice when the teams meet, but no hint of menace in the air, as there was during the Warriors-Clippers games. Technical fouls expected and given. Ejections were on the table, as were postgame confrontations in the hallway of the downtown LA building then known as Staples Center, now Crypto.com Arena.

There is something gentlemanly about the way the Warriors and Lakers compete. Maybe that is traces of Golden State’s Stephen Curry and LA’s LeBron James, two of the three 30-somethings (along with Kevin Durant) that have spent most of the past dozen years sharing the unofficial title of the NBA’s best player. Curry and James are, by nature, men of professional conduct.

Then, too, the relationship between Draymond Green and LeBron has much less vitriol now than it did when James was with the Cavaliers.

Still, the Lakers were the last team to oust the Warriors from the NBA playoffs, sending them home in six games in the 2023 Western…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ice-cube-identifies-whats-needed-174644810.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-06-18 17:46:44

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