These are two of the greatest hoops players we'll ever have the privilege of watching -- so somewhat silly imho, but maybe inevitable that the perennial argument about who's the true alpha. I've posted a link of all their head to head games below -- one interesting perspective on this pair., because I believe we can assume that these two were checking each other most of the time in these games. I think this summary tells us what we already know -- these two players are very close in ability, although LBJ is often thought to be an order of magnitude better. Their reg. season scoring and rebounding is almost identical, and LBJ is a better passer. In the post season, KD is the better shooter and scorer, and LBJ's rebounding picks up over the reg. season, as we know.
Re KD in this series, he's outplaying LBJ, but not by much. Worth remembering that LBJ, at 32, is now a couple of years past his prime -- we can all see the decline in vertical lift, speed, and stamina. KD, at 28, is in his prime, at the peak of his career. Also, as cj pointed out, on such a stacked team, KD is much less pressured -- when before in his career did you ever seem get open looks, or passes for easy dunks in the lane -- never. For the same reason, he's also playing fewer minutes, and thus has greater reserves of energy throughout the game. OTOH, LBJ, is forced to expend huge amounts of energy, and he's clearly been gassed by the second half of both these games. Despite all, he's still playing at an amazingly high level.
So who is better? At this point, as pure player, KD is better -- he led the league in WS/48, the best overall indicator of the contribution a player makes to winning. But if you asked the question 'who do you want with the ball in his hands at crunch time' , that would have to be LBJ, whose hoops IQ is much higher. One of the best aspects of KD's move to GSW is that he rarely has to make any important decisions with the ball, (maybe the weakest part of his game) since Curry and DG do such a great job.
Wish this were a real series, but still great to be able to watch some spectacular play.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...01&idx=players
