Chris Broussard: “The guy whose reputation is most on the line is Giannis. He’s a two-time MVP and he hasn’t been to the NBA Finals yet. He’s still in that period where he’s not being destroyed yet, LeBron was in that period for a little. Nobody killed LeBron when he got swept by San Antonio in 2007 and nobody killed him in 2008 when they lost to the Celtics. Of course, he got some criticism but nobody was writing his obituary as a superstar and an all-time great. But there comes a point after a while where people do say ‘CAN HE WIN?? IS HE A NUMBER ONE?? WAS HE OVERRATED??’ He’s not there yet but this will be another step towards that place. He’s probably got two years left of this. The bar to me isn’t high for Giannis because I got him losing in the second round to Brooklyn, and there is no shame in losing to the freakin’ Brooklyn Nets.” (Full Segment Above)
Listen to Rob Parker and Chris Broussard discuss a recent HoopsHype.com article that listed the nine NBA players facing the most pressure to win in these playoffs, and whose reputations are most at stake.
The list included Rudy Gobert, Joel Embiid, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Paul George, Donovan Mitchell, Ben Simmons, James Harden, and Giannis Antetokounmpo
Both Chris and Rob both took exception with HoopsHype including Booker and Gobert on the list. Booker is in his sixth NBA season at the age of 24 but is playing in his very first postseason against a Lakers team who Vegas has labeled as the favorites in this series.
Gobert is playing in his eighth NBA season and is 2-4 in playoff series with zero trips to the Western Conference Finals, but Rob and Chris both argue that Gobert is a 7’1” two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and a throwback ‘true’ center, making it hard to believe he’d be facing pressure to win a series and 'carry' Utah deep into the playoffs.
Check out the rest of their analysis above as the guys discuss the other seven players on the list.
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