CLEVELAND: Where is he? Draymond Green. You only have to shake that guy and a notepad full of stories come falling out.
He's over there, calmly sitting in the corner of the court surrounded by a groaning pack of reporters and cameramen, boom microphones fighting for the airspace above his head.
LeBron James and the rest of the Cleveland team have come and gone.
Having refused to leave the locker room following the Cavaliers' heavy loss to Golden State in game two in Oakland, James on Tuesday fronted a half-full media conference at the main podium at his home arena and barely looked interested, picking at his fingernails as he answered questions.
"Yeah, I mean, some of these questions are kind of out of my hands, as far as when you talk about line-up changes and what y'all should do offensively," James said. "I'm one of the players on the team. I'm a big piece of the team, I know that, but I'm not in control of who should be in inserted into the line-up, who shouldn't be."
Golden State coach Steve Kerr has also knocked off his media commitments. So, too, star players Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
But now the most quotable player of the NBA finals series has the floor. In fact, it's on the actual court at Quicken Loans Arena where the Cavs will on Thursday morning (AEST) attempt to turn back the tide of what feels like an inevitable Warriors sweep.
We all love to compare players and teams of different eras but in American sport it's almost an obsession. And, in this series, the narrative has changed dramatically in the space of just two games.
The question is no longer about whether James will go past Michael Jordan as the best player of all-time, but if losing this series will now damage his legacy?
It seems grossly premature with the best-of-seven series still alive and given what happened last year when the Warriors blew a 2-0 and then 3-1 series lead. And, well, we're talking about LeBron.
It doesn't end there: is Durant currently the best player in the world? Is Curry?
And now this one: if the Warriors become the first team in history to finish the post-season undefeated (16-0) would they surpass the record-breaking 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team spearheaded by Jordan? Five of six Las Vegas bookmakers said they would.
Just to mess it all up, Magic Johnson weighed in on Monday night when he said on stage at an American Express event that he and the rest of the "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers team of the 1980s would "sweep" the Warriors.
"They're too small," Johnson said as he shook his head. "I'm sorry. Too little."
When Green was told of Johnson's remarks, he didn't utter a word. Instead, he just belly-laughed; long and loud and you could've heard it in the nose-bleed seats.
"What are your thoughts on that?" he was asked when he finally stopped.
He laughed again and then said: "That's my thoughts ??? first off, the game is completely different than it was back then. Nowadays, if you can't shoot a three, you're a liability on the floor. That wasn't the case back then. So I never understand when people try to compare eras and say, oh, this team could have beat this team or they couldn't have beat that team or this player is better than that player. It doesn't make sense to me because you're kind of talking two different games, for real."
Another comparison that has been made is whether Curry and Durant - who are averaging more than 30 points each across the two finals games so far - are the best duo in history.
Former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy threw that one in during his call of the game, sending social media into meltdown. Jordan and Scottie Pippen? Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?
Others argue that Durant and Curry don't work in tandem much on the court at all.
"I can't stand that guy, man," Curry said, jokingly, when asked about his relationship with Durant, who controversially joined the Warriors from Oklahoma this season. "No, for real ??? no, I'm just playing. I've known him since 2009 basically, so I wouldn't say - we're not at each other's house every day, we're not that type of thing, but when you go through these battles, and from October to now, I definitely feel like I know him a lot better than I did. And that will hopefully continue as we hopefully go forward in our careers. But he's a great dude. He has a great sense of humour. I feel like I'm on dating show right now."
Curry laughed and we all laughed along with him. James wasn't in the mood for jokes.
The beat reporters here tell you he has a near-photographic memory when it comes to recalling previous plays. He gave us a small snapshot of where game two was lost.
"We had an opportunity, last game, we cut it to four, and then they made a couple plays here, I think," he said. "If I remember, it was ??? I think it was 86-82, they come out, I did a stupid strip foul on [Shaun] Livingston, he hits two free throws, we come down and turn the ball over, and then they hit a three and it went from a four-point game to a 10-point game that fast. So you just can't make bad plays against a team that's that great."
The author is covering the NBA finals as a guest of ESPN. Game three will be shown on Thursday at 11am AEST.
