NBA Playoffs 2012

[BunniesMan]

smh

Don't ever talk about Jordan you douche. The parralells between Jordan & Lebrick ended when Lebrick ran from the spotlight and preasure of being the dominant force on a team. Once Krause put Phil Jackson & a decent support cast like Grant & Pippen it was over, Lebrick ran to ride off Wade.

If the Cavs gave Lebron the best coach in the world, a DPOY and another all star it would have been all over too.

Jordan struggled for years to break through to a championship win because he didn't have the necessary pieces around him. Jordan only won his first title at the age of 28. He didn't just show up in the NBA and start winning constantly. There was years of failure. You ignorant fool.

When he finally did win he had a lot more than Mo Williams and Zydrunus Ilgauskus.

The Cavs drafted woefully, they traded poorly, they signed terrible free agents. And Lebron still got them to a finals series when they wouldn't have got past the 2nd round with any other player.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Pippen never won DPOY.

But I think the point TT was making was that Jordan stuck around and eventually willed his lesser teammates to perform at greater heights than they were otherwise capable of. Yeah he had shitty teams and didn't win a title until his seventh year. But he also didn't take the easy way out during free agency and team up with Chuck or Ewing or Dream.

 

[BunniesMan]

Pippen never won DPOY.

But I think the point TT was making was that Jordan stuck around and eventually willed his lesser teammates to perform at greater heights than they were otherwise capable of. Yeah he had shitty teams and didn't win a title until his seventh year. But he also didn't take the easy way out during free agency and team up with Chuck or Ewing or Dream.

I meant Rodman as the DPOY.

And Pippen and Rodman are better than any teammates Lebron had until Wade.

But the Cavs situation was not getting better, they were stuck with awful contracts, they had no trade assets and they had no cap space.

But we're getting off topic. On topic, Lebron is 7 wins away now.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Well Rodman never won DPOTY with the Bulls and most people who observed Rodman at Detroit and later in his SA and Chicago days would pretty much state that he was half the defender he was after he left Detroit. Anderson Varajao was (and is) a pretty handy defender and I would happily compare his defensive value during his time with LeBron to Rodman's defensive value during his time with Jordan.

The point TT made still stands - LeBron sold out, Jordan never did. Instead of leaving for greener pastures, Jordan willed his teammates to improve their standards and won 6 championships in 8 years, during one of the most competitive stretches in NBA history. Let me know when LeBron wins 6 in 8.

Overall I would say Jordan had better teammates than LeBron. But I would also say that overall Jordan shits all over LeBron individually.

So are you a bandwagon Heat fan or a LeBron fan?

 

[Mr Saab]

I dont know why people want to compare any player with Jordan. He is above them all and i am a Pistons fan and hated Jordan his whole career....but i appreciated how GREAT he was.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Pretty sure I said MJ had help when Phil & Pip arrived lol which is exactly what he wanted. The others get it. Lebrick doesn't have the heart to be a franchise player so he can never be a great in my book.

If MJ doesn't retire and Krause doesn't let personal feelings get in the way in the late 90's the Bulls win all titles bar 1 in the 90's. Lebrick isn't that man. Look at the Pistons & Celtics teams that blocked MJ in the 80's, I think 5 titles between them that decade. The compare that to the Magic and Celtics teams that blocked Lebrick :lol:

The Cavs were making moves for a while. Mo went cold towards the end. They tried to get the last out of Shaq. They went mobile. Tried adding scoring depth. They were a ECSF-NBA finals team for years. FFS they had the best record in the NBA in 2009.

 

[HowHigh]

Lebron shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Jordan.

 

[BunniesMan]

Pretty sure I said MJ had help when Phil & Pip arrived lol which is exactly what he wanted. The others get it. Lebrick doesn't have the heart to be a franchise player so he can never be a great in my book.

If MJ doesn't retire and Krause doesn't let personal feelings get in the way in the late 90's the Bulls win all titles bar 1 in the 90's. Lebrick isn't that man. Look at the Pistons & Celtics teams that blocked MJ in the 80's, I think 5 titles between them that decade. The compare that to the Magic and Celtics teams that blocked Lebrick :lol:

The Cavs were making moves for a while. Mo went cold towards the end. They tried to get the last out of Shaq. They went mobile. Tried adding scoring depth. They were a ECSF-NBA finals team for years. FFS they had the best record in the NBA in 2009.

What if Lebron wins 5 in a row from here? Including 5 Finals MVPs in a row?

The exact same doubts people are raising about Lebron now, they raised about MJ in 1990-91.

People are judging Lebron at the half way point of his career, when it is only fair to judge a player when he's done.

Lebron shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Jordan.

Not to Jordan's entire career no. But at a similar point in Jordan's career, eg 1991? Absolutely.

7 wins to go.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Who gives a f**k if he wins 10 in a row? He ran to Wade & Bosh.

Nobody raised the same doubts about MJ in 90-91 because he stayed in Chi-town :lol: everyone knew he needed a coach & a cast to get it done. Krause gave MJ what he wanted. It wouldn't matter what the Cavs did Lebrick wanted the soft option. Lebrick wants Wade in the clutch.

@HowHigh, Lebrick is more like Scottie Pippen - not good enough to take the team by himself except they're in reversed - Scottie found out his years of whinging about being paid low when MJ retired. 50 win team, nothing came if it.

 

[HowHigh]

Who gives a f**k if he wins 10 in a row? He ran to Wade & Bosh.

Nobody raised the same doubts about MJ in 90-91 because he stayed in Chi-town :lol: everyone knew he needed a coach & a cast to get it done. Krause gave MJ what he wanted. It wouldn't matter what the Cavs did Lebrick wanted the soft option. Lebrick wants Wade in the clutch.

@HowHigh, Lebrick is more like Scottie Pippen - not good enough to take the team by himself except they're in reversed - Scottie found out his years of whinging about being paid low when MJ retired. 50 win team, nothing came if it.

:lol: that's actually a good comparisson

 

[Mr Saab]

Not to Jordan's entire career no. But at a similar point in Jordan's career, eg 1991? Absolutely.

This is LeBrick's 9th season and still no ring.
Jordan won his first ring in his 7th season.
LeBrick has been swept in a finals series and lost another
Jordan never lost a finals series

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Jordan had to get past a lot of 60 win teams. It's getting laughable at this point.

You think Larry Bird wanted to team up with Magic after losing to him in the NCAA final? Hell no! Lebrick has ushered in a new era of bitch mentality.

 

[abpanther]

Thunder making a run now

Thunder team (excluding Durant, Westbrook and Harden) have a combined score of 16 points

 

[edabomb]

Spurs will win it all. OKC can't win 4 of 5 - and the Spurs have waaaaay too much depth for the Heat IMO.

Seriously - this Spurs team is like last years Mavs on roids. You would need LeBron to go seriously Jordan on them in the Finals to even take it to 7.

 

[Tanner Ave]

Spurs, then daylight.
Loks like there will be a heaps of off season changes also, should be a interesting off season.

 

[abpanther]

OKC ain't gonna win this with 3 guys scoring 80% of their points.

Spurs team is just too deep IMO

 

[Tiger Hawk]

If the Heat make it to the Finals (and assuming the Spurs do as well), I like the matchup for them. Everything the Spurs do is predicated on dribble pentration from Parker or Ginobili, or Duncan posting up. The odd set is run through Diaw but fairly rarely, at least from what I've seen. Wade & Chalmers on Parker, James & Battier on Ginobili and Anthony, Haslem & possibly Bosh on Duncan. In theory, they matchup well. All well and good saying the Spurs are deep and have shooters etc, but those guys are only going to beat you if Parker & Ginobili are setting the table for them. Stay at home on the Matt Bonners, Gary Neals, Danny Greens and Kawhi Leonards of the world and you'll barely notice them.

On the other hand, can Wade stay in front of Parker (and also resist the urge to take himself out of the play chasing blocks & steals), can James hang with Ginobili, can Haslem or Anthony trouble Duncan length-wise, or Bosh keep him from his spots?

A lot of questions. But the biggest would be, can both teams get there? Can't see the banged up Celtics lasting and the Thunder just don't have the defensive chops to get it done.

 

[edabomb]

If the Heat make it to the Finals (and assuming the Spurs do as well), I like the matchup for them. Everything the Spurs do is predicated on dribble pentration from Parker or Ginobili, or Duncan posting up. The odd set is run through Diaw but fairly rarely, at least from what I've seen. Wade & Chalmers on Parker, James & Battier on Ginobili and Anthony, Haslem & possibly Bosh on Duncan. In theory, they matchup well. All well and good saying the Spurs are deep and have shooters etc, but those guys are only going to beat you if Parker & Ginobili are setting the table for them. Stay at home on the Matt Bonners, Gary Neals, Danny Greens and Kawhi Leonards of the world and you'll barely notice them.

On the other hand, can Wade stay in front of Parker (and also resist the urge to take himself out of the play chasing blocks & steals), can James hang with Ginobili, can Haslem or Anthony trouble Duncan length-wise, or Bosh keep him from his spots?

A lot of questions. But the biggest would be, can both teams get there? Can't see the banged up Celtics lasting and the Thunder just don't have the defensive chops to get it done.

It's not as if the Heat are going to have an easy time on the other end against the Spurs. The games will be a completely different pace from the WCF so the Spurs will lock it down on defence too. I don't see anything to suggest Wade will shut down Parker - Parker is just too quick. He won't have his way, but he'll get into the lane on occasion.

The area I see the Spurs exploiting the Heat is when Wade and/or LeBron are sitting. The Heat have a massive issue scoring in the halfcourt against a set defence even with those two on the court - with the depth of bigs on the Spurs they'll have no trouble shutting down the lane and turning the Heat bench into jump shooters.

Miami dropped two games against the Pacers - they're definitely vulnerable to deeper rotations.

I'd be saying Spurs in 5 or 6.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

The Spurs are getting bench scoring, I think they're averaging similar to the 2003 in the mid 40's for Duncan/Parker/Ginobli scoring compared to 2007 when they relied so heavily on the 3.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

It's not as if the Heat are going to have an easy time on the other end against the Spurs. The games will be a completely different pace from the WCF so the Spurs will lock it down on defence too. I don't see anything to suggest Wade will shut down Parker - Parker is just too quick. He won't have his way, but he'll get into the lane on occasion.

The area I see the Spurs exploiting the Heat is when Wade and/or LeBron are sitting. The Heat have a massive issue scoring in the halfcourt against a set defence even with those two on the court - with the depth of bigs on the Spurs they'll have no trouble shutting down the lane and turning the Heat bench into jump shooters.

Miami dropped two games against the Pacers - they're definitely vulnerable to deeper rotations.

I'd be saying Spurs in 5 or 6.

Not sure "Spurs" and "lock it down on defence" belong together anymore. Thunder are crushing it offensively in this series, they just can't do anything at the defensive end of the floor to halt the Spurs - I just feel that the Heat have the personnel (on paper) to make the Spurs work harder for their points is all.

As for Wade or James sitting - like they're doing now - they will be be playing upwards of 44 minutes a game if they make the Finals, and I wouldn't be surprised to see tham play close to every minute if they had to.

"Depth of bigs on the Spurs bench" - Bonner, Diaw & Blair aren't shot-blockers, Duncan has lost a step, Splitter is still learning where to be so I can't see how packing the paint will impact the Heat personally. Thunder got back into this game at the start of the fourth by attacking the rim with Splitter and Bonner as the bigs for the Spurs - imagine what Wade & James would do?

I'm by no means a Heat fanboy I just look at the rosters and think they match-up as well with the Spurs as any other team, and better than this Thunder team.