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Dream matchup: LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry the best since Magic vs. Bird
James and Curry are 1-2 in jersey sales, and Curry edged James for most All-Star votes. Since October, they have combined for 28.8 million Twitter mentions.
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USA TODAY Sports NBA Insiders Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick break down why it’s easy to understand the popularity of MVP Stephen Curry and four-time MVP LeBron James.
USA TODAY Sports
LeBron James and Stephen Curry are the two most popular, marketable stars in the NBA.(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
OAKLAND — LeBron James is a four-time NBA MVP, two-time Finals MVP, is regarded as the best basketball player on the planet, might be the most polarizing player in the NBA and is a tour de force on social media with 21.5 million Twitter followers and 21.6 million likes on Facebook.
Steph Curry is the 2014-15 MVP, is the greatest shooter of his time and maybe even of all-time, has a dazzling flair that is incredible skill and entertaining showmanship, is only getting better and has exploded on social media, especially with the postgame appearances of his adorable daughter, Riley.
It’s LeBron James vs. Steph Curry, a dream matchup for the NBA, fans, marketers and all forms of media, including TV, online, print and radio.
USA TODAY
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Of course it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.
But James and Curry are the central characters in this play, and when the NBA sent out its “Finals by the numbers” email, the subject line was: “Cavaliers and LeBron James and Warriors and Stephen Curry set to take center court in the Finals.”
“These finals offer something for just about every fan – from the narratives behind the teams themselves to the players and their compelling stories,” said David M. Carter, Executive Director, Southern Cal Marshall Sports Business Institute. “The NBA itself has to be pleased to see arguably its two most prominent stars competing on the biggest stage – a stage that will be viewed worldwide, delighting James’ and Curry’s sponsors, as well as advertisers and the league’s media partners.”
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The NBA is thrilled with this pairing of superstars. If the NBA put two names on its marquee after this season, it would be James and Curry. It’s a matchup fans will swarm to watch, even though they will rarely be “matched up.”
James and Curry are 1-2 in jersey sales, and Curry edged James for most All-Star votes. Since October, they have combined for 28.8 million Twitter mentions.
LeBron James and Stephen Curry are providing a individual matchup on the scale of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. (Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein, NBAE/Getty Images)
Has there been a bigger two-star Finals since Magic Johnson and Larry Bird competed for the championships in the 1980s? Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan and Michael Jordan and Karl Malone in the 1990s?
While this is being billed as human (Curry) vs. cyborg (James), don’t discount the converse. Curry is the one with moves seemingly engineered by a gaming developer, and James is the one who sometimes shoots 10-for-30 and sustains debilitating cramps.
Both are must-see players, magnetic personalities and marketing machines, especially James, who has deals with Nike, Kia, Samsung, among others, has a TV production company and is a scene-stealer in the new Judd Apatow comedy movie Trainwreck.
James, who closely follows the NBA and college basketball, recalls watching Curry at Davidson.
“I just thought he was special. A special kid,” James said. “I’m very good at noticing talent, and I thought he was special then and he still is.”
James is also very aware of Curry’s rise to stardom, taking note of Curry’s All-Star votes and MVP. “I don’t think there’s ever been a guy in our league to shoot the ball the way he does off the dribble or off the catch, off the ball,” he said. “He just creates so many matchup problems for your defense and you just always have to be aware.”
Curry could be on his way to nudging James out of the picture as the face of the league, but James is providing resistance.
He is an amazing combination of grace, power, court vision and basketball IQ, able to play multiple positions on the court with admirable unselfishness.
LeBron James, shown here with the Miami Heat, backing down Stephen Curry. (Photo: Ben Margot, AP)
In making quick work of the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference finals, James almost averaged a triple-double: 30.3 points, 11 rebounds and 9.3 assists, becoming the first player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in a series, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
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This is not his most efficient postseason or his best but it might it still remains impressive, carrying a short-handed, tight-rotation squad to the Finals with buzzer-beaters and late-game dominance.
“As far as my mind, my body, my game, you put everything in one bottle, it’s probably the best I’ve been,” James said of his postseason.
So much of what James says and does is parsed for meaning, and he has gone from hometown hero to despised villain to hometown hero again.
The contrast between these stars is what makes this matchup so intriguing, as their styles both on and off the court are equally compelling yet so very different. Curry is the boy next door type, a 6-foot-3 showman whose nickname – “the baby-faced assassin” – perfectly captures all sides of his persona. Ironically, it seems the soaring interest in him as a person and a player is partly tied to the fact that he’s so very different from someone like James.
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“He’s a household name now,” Warriors center Andrew Bogut said. “I think people relate to him a little bit more because he’s not an overly strong or athletic guy. He’s very skilled, so I think the average Joe probably relates to Steph a little better … (And) he’s exactly the same as he was before that. It hasn’t gotten to his head, and I think that’s a big reason why he’s successful and why we’re successful.”
Yet while James has been a global sensation since his early teenage years, the fame has been an adjustment for Curry. He wasn’t heavily recruited out of Charlotte Christian High School, and even his entertaining Davidson college days weren’t enough to make him a top five pick in the 2009 draft (he went seventh overall).
Curry is routinely mobbed by fans these days, whether it’s in the San Francisco Bay Area or in his hometown of Charlotte where his father, Dell, played most of his 16-year NBA career and their family of five (mother Sonya, brother Seth and sister Sydel) spent most of his childhood. Sonya, who says like the rest of those close to Curry that he has maintained his humble character throughout, admitted she’s surprise by his popularity.
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“Yes, yes,” she said. “It’s moreso when we go back to Myrtle Beach (in South Carolina), where we go every year. We’ve been going since they were little. Now we go to walk down, and we can’t. That just blows our minds. We’re like, ‘These people know him. They’ve been seeing him (since he was a child).’ You can’t go in the candy shop. Some of that is a little hard to get used to, because we’ve just been used to doing it. So yeah, it surprises me a little.”
Bogut has seen similar situations in their many travels.
“There was a time (this season) in Charlotte – I had actually tweeted it out – where there was a fan who came up, and (Curry) had food on his fork, in mid-bite, and (the fan) wanted a photo at that very minute,” Bogut said. “(Curry) said he’d do it at the end of dinner. They grew impatient, and wanted it right then, so they ended up leaving and tweeting some abusive stuff (at him). I had to crack back at them and told them where to go, basically. That’s where it gets tough for a guy like that.”
On the court, of course, it’s James and Curry who are making matters tough for everyone else.
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