Thursday, May 21, 2009

Melo has Arrived

In 2003, the basketball world was anticipating the arrival of two young stars-to-be in the NBA. Some even dubbed this duo as the next Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry. A high school phenom that has a more NBA ready body than half of the league, and a college freshman that carried his team to the National Championship. Their names are LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. But after a year of pitting these two against each other, Melo disappeared. LeBron James continued to wow the basketball world. He would be included in MVP talks with Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, while Melo would fail to make the All-Star team every season. The rivalry was dead.

The NBA wants to see a Kobe-LeBron finals. But after seeing how Denver is playing this post-season, I think it is better for the NBA to see a Melo-Bron showdown. This is what they were dreaming of in 2003. And it is not like Carmelo is just chillin' like he did the past post-seasons. He is dominating the playoffs...especially the Lakers. If not for 2 bad plays by Denver in the end game of Game 1, the Nuggets might have been up 2-0 right now. Chauncey Billups has been a big reason for Denver's success, but in my opinion, its Carmelo's decision to be a "Superstar" that changed Denver's attitude. Now, the series is tied at 1 apiece. The series shifts back to Denver where Carmelo will announce to the people that he has arrived.