***Official NBA Thread***

[Fusion]

Championnnnnnnnnnnnnnsssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dontcloseyoureyes]

So happy for J-Kidd and Dirk.

[nightprowler10]

Congrats Fuse. Yeah so stoked for J-Kidd and Dirkules. Dallas had such a great championship run this year. Took out three very overrated teams on their way to a dream run.

What a pathetic performance in an elimination game. Makes me feel better about ECF game 5...slightly.

[Fusion]

Soooo happy for Dirk and Kidd. They are class acts. I feel more happy for them winning a ring, then my team winning it all. Dallas is going crazy tonight. There are over 5000 people gathered outside the American Airlines Center and downtown Dallas is going nuts. This is an amazing feeling.

[Sanz]

Well Played Mavs. Very happy for Dirk, Kid and Cuban. Also very happy for coach Rick Carlisle, It has been a long wait for him since the Pistons. I have always believed that Larry Brown stole his title @ Detroit.

[duffer]

Funny how the two games JET and JJ step up the Mavs stroll through. To do it without Caron and Roddy, man that team is stacked. LOB staying in the West = **** yeah! Can see the Mavs having another run next year as well. Great stuff.

[duffer]

Heh, and great press conference too. Pretty much every question was a variation on "did you choke?"

[Fusion]

Did anyone hear LeDouche basically say how all his haters are going to wake up tomorrow morning to their sad pathetic life compared to his?

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I think it's funny how people say he'll never be MJ etc. I grew up watching Jordan, if he played today in the 24/7 media climate we're in now, he'd have killed someone by now. I'm no Lebron lover, but this ridiculous media pressure cooker he's had to live through since he was 16 (he was on the cover of SI ffs!) is something above and beyond what every other player has ever had to live through. More than Kobe. More than Jordan. More than anyone. I truly feel for the man. He had a triple double with four 4th quarter assists in Game 5, and was pounded from pillar to post as though he'd just had the worst game of his career. What kind of standard is that to set for someone? He was absent in the third today and looked genuinely scared to shoot the ball at points in the fourth, but can you blame him? every person in sports would criticise him whether he takes it or whether he doesn't.

Yeah, the guy has an ego and a swagger that people don't like. You would too if you were followed by national media since you were 15 years old. Criticising his personality is fine, but the way it's crept into criticising the way he plays is stupid. Two weeks ago he was one of the greatest players of all time after dominating Boston and Chicago. Now he's a terrible player. The daily re-writing of the legacy of someone who's not even close to 30 years old yet is amazing in it's ridiculousness. I had someone try to argue with me that he's not the most talented basketball player in the world, I asked him for a list of who in the league was better. Russell Westbrook, Amar'e Stoudamire, Blake Griffin were three names on his list.

WTF. Sums it up for mine.

In any case, I'm so happy for Dirk especially. Was a teary moment to see him leave the court after the buzzer went. Deserved it more than anyone.

[duffer]

He did puss out during the big moments of the Finals. No denying that, Jordan had humility beat into him by the Pistons before he became a true great. Lebron doesn't look like he has it in him to accept that and go and make the necessary changes to do the same. Still relies too heavily on his athleticism and the whistle to win games. 8 years into his career and you'd think a guy as beastly as him would have a post game or a jumper he can be confident in.

Nike has owned him since he was a High Schooler but it has nothing to do with his development as a ball player. Him and Wade were both arrogant as **** this whole playoffs and the Dirk coughing thing was a good reflection of that. Shame the rest of the elite teams in the league are either on the downside or not complete enough to launch an immediate challenge because these guys will win a few titles while everyone is sorting themselves out.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I don't disagree with you at all, it's just such an interesting discussion on the way people view him and his game as compared to his personality. People forget Jordan was an arrogant **** without any rings until Bill Lambieer and co. basically gave him a concussion every game until he channelled his ego into his game properly, but who's to say that would happen the same today? I certainly don't think it would. Lebron's ego will be the reason he doesn't reach the pantheon of his sport, maybe that will change like it did with Kobe once he reaches his early thirties, maybe it won't. That's not relevant to the point I'm making in any case.

I hope he gets one next year to be honest. This needs to stop before it just gets way too out of hand.

[duffer]

If there is a season next year then we're going to see a lot of teams retool and a lot more zone in play. The elite teams have a blueprint for shutting down the Heat now, Miami really needs some knockdown shooters if they want another title and Lebron and Wade need to really need to work on their perimeter shooting as well. I don't think either of them have it in them to take the second banana role and become better off ball players, definite alpha issues on the team. Without the whistle, you saw how flawed that team is in this series.

I'm happy they didn't win, not because I hate Lebron or any of the team but because it goes against how I like basketball being played seeing a team with so many chemistry issues and no semblance of a system or philosophy winning purely on talent. I hope they keep getting beat until they form some sort of identity as a team other than being the big three with a bunch of scrubs.

Actually think this was as good an opportunity for them to win a chip than any other point in time. The league is going to be a completely different place after the new CBA and they might be hamstrung as **** by any new salary rules and no hope in hell of scoring in the draft.

[duffer]

On your point about whether any athlete has it in him to make the adjustments and stay humble. Derrick Rose? Durant, Kobe before them. Don't think it's in his genes, he's a mental midget who's freakishly talented. If he doesn't develop a post game or a mid to long range jumper he'll be washed up in 4-5 years once he isn't twice as athletic as all the guys defending him.

[Sanz]

Kobe was humble ? You must have missed NBA for last 15 years then.

[Fusion]