Starting a new series of webposts as The Tailgate Kings talk different topics! First, Lebron isn’t happy about the play-in tournament. Dr. D, Jason, and the Kid talk it up and wonder how Chef isn’t here screaming for Steph!
DD: We gonna get a LeBron Steph play in game?
The Kid: Maybe! I would love it!
JR: I haven’t watched any b-ball this year, but that would attract my eyeballs! Well, I guess I’ve watched a lot of highlights, but I haven’t sat down for a game in forever.
DD: #LeBronSoSalty
JR: LeBron is goofy.
DD: I haven’t watched a full game either. I’ve caught like the final 5 minute a few times, but…
The Kid: Lakers have lost 8 of their last 10, I think.
DD: #LukaWasRight
The Kid: AD not looking like the guy when LeBron is done.
JR: To his credit, LBJ rarely makes these big PR $%#@%*…. But then when he does, they really look bad! 
The Kid: Criticizing the play-in?
JR: Yeah…. Just sounds like sour grapes from a guy of his stature.
The Kid: Yeah, I can agree. Imagine if he just faced it head on.
JR: He should embrace it!
DD: Imagine if Lakers go out in play-in! #ADLeaves
The Kid: You lose, fans will still criticize, but at least you played. You win and make a run, your legacy is furthered. I think AD signed an extension. At this point, Lakers might be shopping him in the off-season.
DD: Did he? Well, we’ve seen what contacts are worth in the NBA when a star wants out.
JR: That’s a game that can make you legend though! Maybe you go out, but if you win? If you have the block like he did in the Cavs’ win or a clutch shot in the waning seconds? Huge!
The Kid: Yeah, I agree.
DD: Only way LeBron furthers his legend is winning another championship. Maybe making the Finals again would do it too.
JR: People idolize that MJ moment against a really weak Cavs unit in like, the first or second round? So, it’s not just titles that people love… A play-in gives the NBA those moments every year, and it let’s someone be clutch right when the playoffs start.LBJ is missing the point. This totally helps his legacy if he wins a play-in.
DD: I disagree. I think it only matters if he loses or if he goes to the Finals. He wins and then they lose first round, no one is going to care.
JR: “The shot” was a first round game against a weak team and MJ’s Bulls didn’t make the Finals that year, but MJ backers act like he pulled it off against the showtime Lakers at the exact moment an earthquake shook the arena and a bomb went off in the nosebleeds.
DD: Yeah. But that also was at the beginning of his career.
JR: So, people care about early and relatively meaningless games.
DD: MJ was a rising star. Not at the end. If Zion wins a play-in game, that bolsters his legend. If Ja wins a play in game…
JR: Justify all you want. It’ll be the same in 30 years. LBJ backers will be saying LBJ was amazing so late in his career! No one had the longevity he did! That makes him so much better and more valuable than player X (whoever is the person chasing LBJ’s ghost long after LBJ has won the GOAT debate). That’s just the way it goes. And for that reason, LBJ should embrace every potential moment.
DD: I doubt it. It’ll be an asterisk if he doesn’t make the Finals and if anything the excuse LeBron backers will make that he didn’t win the finals. So it could matter in that sense. But it doesn’t bolster his legend unless he gets to the finals. That’s why LeBron doesn’t like it. It hinders his ability to get to the Finals and bolster his legend.
JR: I disagree, obviously, but it will be moot in a decade anyway. MJ will fade away and LBJ will take his place for a little bit. Then, it’ll be onto the next great trying outdo LeBron. I’m excited to find out who that is in the years to come!
DD: No one remembers much of late Jordan with the Wizards. Or Kobe after his last title minus the injury and the final game. No one is going to remember who won the play in games next season. Casey, who played in them last year? Do you know without looking?
The Kid: I remember the Suns going undefeated in the bubble and still missing the playoffs. I do remember Portland ended up getting the 8th seed because they play LA in round 1.
JR: But I bet you remember the shot!
DD: Only because ESPN plays it all the time. And the only reason they do is because they didn’t have much else to show on Jordan as a Bull before that.
JR: Yep… And you just need a moment like that in play-in… They’ll play it over and over and over and over and over.
