Photograph by Chuck Burton / AP Dribbles. Post up! Sky hooks. Now that you know I understand basketball, let’s get right to it: Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James—who’s really the greatest of all time (GOAT)? Even if you don’t care about the sport, I’m here to give you all the information you need to pick your side in this intense debate. First off, you have to remember that LeBron is playing in a totally different N.B.A. than the one Jordan played in. In some ways, the defense is more, but in other ways it’s, like, where did the defense go? So, that’s a lot to think about. M.J. came to the N.B.A. after three seasons of college ball, but LeBron joined right out of high school. That sounds like it might go in LeBron’s favor, but you know what it actually means: LeBron probably spent his whole first season saying things like “Man, I know I graduated, but I keep feeling like I have a Social Studies paper due tomorrow!” and that must have been super annoying, so, clear point for M.J. Now, think about both players in their prime. Who would you rather have playing on your team? BEFORE YOU ANSWER, let me FINISH and say what kind of team I’m talking about. O.K.? O.K. Thank you. Now, to be clear, I am talking about a basketball team. Real talk, guys: I grew up in Chicago, but it’s getting harder and harder to insist that Michael Jordan is still the GOAT! This may or may not be true, but trust me and walk around repeating that sentence. If you’re trying to get cast in a movie in the role of Guy from Your High School Who Writes Long Facebook Posts About Sports in a Tone That Implies “I Clearly Believe That One Day Someone from ESPN Is Going to Read These and Hire Me on the Spot” Even Though They Get at Most Three Pity Likes—you’ll get the part. But back to the debate: Who would you rather have putting baby powder on your baby? Your first instinct is LeBron, right? Because of that whole chalk-clapping thing he does? But consider this: What if that means LeBron would try to keep all of the baby powder for himself, to practice his clapping? As you can see, there are no easy answers here. And, look, if we’re talking about who is the most self-conscious about his forearms (and so is always hiding them in those tight sleevies), then LeBron is the clear winner. But, as every sports editor I have ever worked for has reminded me, that is literally never what we are talking about. Quick interjection: if the argument ever gets too heated, you can always ease the tension by saying, “Hey, at least we can agree that ‘Space Jam’ was amazing!” If this seems to make your interlocutor angrier, look more closely at his face. Whoops. Are you talking with Anthony Minghella, the director of “The English Patient”? Well, no wonder he’s mad—“The English Patient” came out the exact same day as “Space Jam,” so of course it’s a sensitive subject. Point: LeBron. Off-the-court stuff matters, too. While LeBron is socially active, M.J. is seen as the guy who just wanted to play basketball, avoid controversy, and do that thing where he stuck his tongue out a lot. But what they don’t tell you is that M.J. was secretly politically active. During local elections, he would stick out his tongue either left or right, to indicate the candidate he supported. Once, when his favored candidate lost, he spent a week with his tongue out halfway, out of respect. Another time, when a teammate’s pet lizard died tragically, he darted his tongue out several times in rapid succession, as though to say, I’m sorry your lizard can no longer do this. Here’s something else: we spend all this time fighting about whether M.J. or LeBron is the greatest that we completely forget about Tim Duncan! I’m not saying anyone thinks he’s the greatest, I’m just saying we completely forgot about him. To really have this debate be fair, you need to imagine each player in the other’s era. Take LeBron in 2018, and then rewind—suddenly, it’s 1998. Then 1988. 1958. Wait, 1588?! Your rewinding machine is broken! LeBron is disappearing into deep time! Fast forward again to 2018 to get help. You scream and scream, and, finally, someone comes. Who is it? It’s me, in my annoying voice, saying, “Why do we still call it ‘rewinding’ when we don’t use tape and so are not technically ‘winding’ anything?” Now it’s too late. LeBron is somewhere in dinosaur times, somehow leading a team of microraptors to their first N.B.A. Finals. As you can see, there are really no easy answers here. There is a legitimate case to be made for either player, and that’s why this debate is so good. It may just be the Michael Jordan of debates.<doc-sep>Ben Margot/Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. — Twenty years ago Sunday, Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls lost Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals in Utah, going down much more conventionally than LeBron James and the Cavaliers did at the hands of the Warriors in Game 1 of the 2018 Finals. Back then, there was a concept known as the "Jordan Rules," a series of principles pioneered by the late, great Chuck Daly in an effort to hold the greatest player of the era in check. In a nutshell, Daly—and later, Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy—lived by the notion of running a variety of double-teams at Jordan. The purpose was to get the ball out of his hands, disrupt his rhythm and force him to do what was not instinctive to His Airness—pass the ball to someone else. If Jordan somehow escaped and darted toward the rim, the counter move was simple, as Daly once described in an article written by Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum. "The other rule was anytime he went by you, you had to nail him," Daly said. Fred Jewell/Associated Press Video Play Button Videos you might like With James facing a 1-0 deficit against Golden State for the fourth straight year in the Finals, the debate will rage on as to who—Jordan or James—has a better body of work, a more legendary resume. But there can be no disagreement about one similarity: Just as with Jordan, a philosophy of defensive basketball has emerged in an attempt to counteract the most potent offensive player of this era. So what, exactly, are the LeBron Rules? "I don't think there are LeBron Rules," James said Saturday. "I think for me personally, a coaching staff puts together a game plan that best suits their team, best suits the individual when going against myself and my teammates, and they try to be successful with that. "Obviously, we've all heard of the quote-unquote 'Jordan Rules,' or whatever the case may be, and whoever decided to bring that notion up as a way to stop Jordan," James said. "But I think more importantly, this is a team game, and coaching staffs put together game plans that best fit their teams to stop that dynamic player, but also the rest of the guys on the floor as well." And if you ask the men of this era whose job it is to design defensive schemes to deal with James, therein lies the fundamental difference. James' natural instinct to be not only a willing, but also a lethal passer, makes defending him literally a five-man job. And the fact that, unlike Jordan, James is surrounded on any given possession by three and often four three-point shooters alters the landscape even more. "Historically, few teams have had success putting two people on LeBron," Ron Adams, the Warriors' lead defensive assistant, told Bleacher Report. "You've got to be aware of the fact that he's so good at finding other people. "We have a few ideas and rules on how to slow him down and we try to follow that," Adams said. "But it's really a five-man effort, and you've got to be aware of their other shooters, too. The three-point shot has changed everything." Michael Conroy/Associated Press Van Gundy, a disciple of the Jordan Rules, has openly questioned in his role as broadcaster the unwillingness of teams to double-team James. From the Pacers in the first round to the Raptors in the second round to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and now the Warriors, playing James straight up, switching every pick-and-roll and having everyone else stay home on three-point-point shooters has been the common refrain. "The difference would be, Michael was never playing with five out," an Eastern Conference head coach told B/R. "Michael never had Kevin Love at the 5 with a lineup of, say, [Kyle] Korver, JR Smith and [George] Hill, where every guy could shoot threes. To blitz now, particularly in the middle of the floor, is very difficult. It's totally different. "If you want to go back to when Michael played, teams like New York and Miami blitzed every pick-and-roll and that was their primary coverage, because everybody was playing three-out, two-in [the paint]," the coach said. "With the new spacing, it's not impossible to blitz, but it's very, very difficult." Another Eastern Conference head coach told B/R his approach is to mix in an occasional double-team—perhaps out of a timeout—just to show James a different look. But it's not a diet you can feed James consistently if you want to have a chance. James' size and intelligence—"He's always one move ahead of you," one of the coaches said—makes it nearly impossible to gain a physical or tactical advantage when defending him. The only element that has consistently thrown James off over the years is an agitator with nothing to lose, hounding him and getting under his skin. "The thing that seems to affect him more than anything is, you almost have to have a guy who's half-crazy," one of the coaches said. "Like Lance Stephenson, or DeShawn Stevenson when he was with the Mavs, poking the bear. There have always been certain guys he doesn't enjoy playing against." Mark Humphrey/Associated Press As for switching—a tactic the Warriors' Adams popularized—it's the only way to defend James when he is in the middle of the floor and has options on either side. A side pick-and-roll for James is the only one where it's reasonable to accept the risk of having the defender fight over it, as opposed to switching. "Even then," one of the coaches said, "when Korver, JR and Love are rolling and hitting shots, it's over." When you factor in that James knows the switch is coming—and knows how to get the matchup he wants out of it—there's almost no way to win. "If you watch him in the phases of all the playoff games where the other team is switching, he'll call guys up and make sure he gets the matchup that he's looking for," one of the coaches said. "You switch, and he takes advantage of matchups.<doc-sep>The Telegraph Two of the surprise packages of this clay-court season have been British – initially Dan Evans, who made a deep run in Monte Carlo, and more lately Cameron Norrie, who played his second final in three weeks on Sunday. Unfortunately, Norrie wasn’t able to land a maiden ATP title in Lyon. But then he was up against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been the dominant force of 2021 outside the slams, and now stands at No 1 in the table of most rankings points gained since January 1. Nevertheless, it had been a hugely creditable effort for Norrie to go this far, especially when you consider that he took out top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday, and then trounced big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov in Saturday’s semi-final, losing only two games in the process. Norrie has come to clay late in his career, but it feels like this is developing into his favourite surface. He has one of the heaviest left-handed forehands in the game, loaded with top-spin, and uses it like a miniature version of Rafael Nadal. The result has been a tally of 14 wins and only four losses since he began his European clay-court swing in Barcelona. So while the French Open, which starts next Sunday, has traditionally been a graveyard of British hopes, there are reasons to hope that this year’s event could deliver some more positive results. Norrie’s previous final in Estoril had been a nervewracking affair which he eventually lost on a deciding-set tie-break to the more experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sunday was more straightforward for Tsitsipas, who needed only 69 minutes to hammer home a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It was Tsitsipas’ second title of the clay-court sequence, after he won Monte Carlo in mid-April, taking out Evans in the semi-final along the way. He has become a serious contender to upset the establishment – specifically Nadal and Novak Djokovic – at Roland Garros over the next few weeks. “I felt in good shape from the beginning of the tournament,” said Tsitsipas afterwards. “I am proud of today’s match, I knew it would be a difficult one against Cameron, who has been showing great tennis this week. He has been winning against good players and showing what the left hand can do on clay. “It was not an easy match today. I had to handle the nerves and I am proud of my performance and the way I stayed focused towards my goal.” On this year’s results, meanwhile, both Evans and Norrie stand among the world’s 20 most successful men. Evans is at No 16 and Norrie No 14. The next challenge for them both is to convert that ATP Tour form into a deep run at a major.<doc-sep>Kobe Bryant decided to weigh in on the Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James debate after James reached his eighth-straight NBA Finals on Sunday night. (Getty Images) LeBron James was one assist shy of a triple-double on Sunday night, dropping 35 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals and reach his eighth consecutive NBA Finals. Naturally, this sparked up the never-ending debate as to whether James is better than Michael Jordan. It’s a debate is as old as time — well, since James was drafted into the league, at least. And there will likely never be a true answer to determine who the best basketball player of all time is. Sure, James has been to eight straight NBA Finals and has won three championships with two different teams. Michael Jordan has won six NBA Championships with just the Chicago Bulls — including three consecutive. While basketball fans, analysts and seemingly everyone in the basketball world will keep on debating the endless question, Kobe Bryant — who arguably is No. 3 on the list of greatest basketball players of all time — decided to weigh in. We can enjoy one without tearing down one. I love what he’s doing. Don’t debate what can’t be definitively won by anyone #enjoymy5 #enjoymj6 #enjoylbjquest — Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) May 28, 2018 “We can enjoy one without tearing down one,” Bryant tweeted after Game 7 on Sunday night. “I love what he’s doing. Don’t debate what can’t be definitively won by anyone.” Bryant — who won five NBA Championships over two decades with the Los Angeles Lakers — has a point. It’s pretty hard to compare two different players from two different decades in two completely different NBA’s. Why waste time fighting over something that will likely never be solved? Story continues Although, if James keeps playing the way he has this postseason and keeps reaching the Finals year after year, who knows? Maybe by the time he retires he’ll be able to settle the debate once and for all. More from Yahoo Sports: • ‘Born for it’: Klay saves the Warriors in Game 6 • Danica’s final race ends early after crash • No national anthem? Softball crowd sings it anyway • Chris Mannix: Celtics’ Horford tries to chase his Cleveland demons<doc-sep>
LeBron is the greatest! No, MJ was better! You’re both wrong, it was Kareem! Are you crazy? How can you forget Bill Russell? How about we all just relax? As much fun as it is to debate who is the greatest in NBA history, it’s pointless, a question for which there can be no definitive answer. For as many arguments as can be made for LeBron James — and that number keeps growing after he dragged a marginal Cleveland Cavaliers team to yet another NBA Finals — there are just as many that could be made for Michael Jordan. Or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Or Russell. Or Kobe Bryant. Or – well, you get the point. More:Warriors-Cavaliers, Part IV: Five things to know before NBA Finals More:Now is the perfect time to have the LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan GOAT debate The list of players who could be considered the G.O.A.T. is long, and each one is worthy in his own right. To settle the debate or come to a consensus, there’s simply no objective way of doing it. Even stats can be spun any way you want to make a case. You point to MJ's three-peats, I point to James' titles with different teams. Besides, trying to categorize players from different eras is like comparing apples and oranges. Oscar Robertson was an amazing player, and nothing can ever take away from what he did. Heck, that it took 50-plus years before Russell Westbrook joined Robertson as the only player to average a triple-double for the season shows what a force he was. But the game has changed — drastically — since Robertson played, and I doubt he would wreak as much havoc today. This is not meant to slight him. At all. It’s just that the competition is better and the rules are different. The same could even be said about Jordan, whose weakness as a perimeter shooter would be amplified by today’s defenses. The truth, unsatisfying as it might be, is that the G.O.A.T. is a matter of personal preference, with everyone having a different “answer.” If you grew up in the Jordan era, no one will ever top MJ in your mind. If you got hooked on basketball during the Celtics-Lakers heyday, it will be either Kareem, Magic, Wilt Chamberlain or Larry Bird, and no one is ever going to be able to convince you differently. If you think this is the golden era of the NBA, then LeBron is the man – though you might be willing to consider Steph Curry after another title or two. There’s another, unseemly side to this G.O.A.T. argument. In order to elevate someone to the highest status, you have to find reasons to diminish the others, too. James might be able to reach the NBA Finals with a team plucked from the Akron Area YMCA, but he’s got only three rings to show for his previous eight appearances. Jordan won six championships and a record 10 scoring titles, but he also had the game’s greatest sidekick in Scottie Pippen. Bryant is a five-time champion, but he had help from Shaquille O’Neal for three of those and likely would have won even more if he hadn’t run the Big Fella off. And on and on it goes. Bryant is by no means a disinterested party, but he had a point Sunday with his tweet in response to the renewed debate over where James should be in the G.O.A.T. rankings. “We can enjoy one without tearing down one,” Bryant Tweeted. “Don’t debate what can’t be definitively won by anyone #enjoymy5 #enjoymj6 #enjoylbjquest” That's the closest to an answer we'll ever get. LeBron isn't the best to ever play the game, and neither is MJ. Nobody is, because the G.O.A.T. doesn't exist. Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.