If you didn't notice last night, Phillies ace Roy Halladay tossed a no hitter in his first ever post-season start. It's only the second no-no in postseason history (Don Larsen – Perfect Gae in 1956 World Series).
Amazing feat. And ESPN's Tim Kurkjian has been all over the TV saying you wouldn't get this kind of story in any other sport… naming the NBA in particular.
Now… I know Timmy is a baseball purist and loves the game more than anything. So I'm not gonna outright bash the guy for loving an amazing moment. But I am going to call him out for being overzealous and saying the NBA is not capable of producing a similarly transcendent performance in a first round game.
I asked the question on Twitter… wondering what it would take to match Halladay's performance in an NBA first round playoff game?
I got 2 answers that struck me: A quadruple-double… and Kobe's 81 point game.
Could an NBA player drop a quad-dub in first round game? Absolutely. I'm sorry if this pisses some people off… but LeBron is the first name that comes to mind when I think that. Isn't it possible that LeBron could take Miami… probably a 1 or 2 seed this year at worst… for a quad-dub ride against a crappy 7th or 8th seed? Likely? No. But possible? Yes.
Same with 60 or 70 point game. Can't you see Kevin Durant catching fire and going for 50 or 60… or more in a transcendent first round game?
What Roy Halladay did was so amazing, it was only the second time it happened in the sport's history. But to flat out say that the NBA is not capable of such a performance is a little overboard.
So what do you think? Is the NBA capable of matching Halladay? What kind of performance would it take to present to Kurkjian and change his mind?
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