Every season, sports talking heads prescribe a series of platitudinal milestones and classifications that certain players need to live up to in order to be worthwhile. “So and So isn’t a good basketball player until they defeat The Monstars.” “LeBron James couldn’t have survived back in Vietnam.” “They had too many shooters.” Whatever. You get the idea. All of that is a testament to the power of narratives. For one reason or another, every player has something to prove. But hyperbolic bullshit aside, why wouldn’t they? As extreme and unfounded as they can be, not all narratives are BS, and it really is time for some folks to step up. After a while, not being able to show up in big moments does matter. Sometimes, sports clichés are sports clichés because they are kind of true. Rather than relying on vapid catchphrases, you just have to do the analysis to get to the truth of it and see what player’s done what and what they still need to do.…