***Official NBA Thread***

[Anil]

They are my team's biggest rivals and have handed us our asses plenty of times, yet the Spurs are the team I most admire in the NBA. They have built a model that any rival fan would be envious of. They don’t get featured in ESPN’s plays of the day and none of their “stars” are marketable and ***y like Lebron/Durant/Paul/Griffin etc, but damn do they know how to win. Rick Carlisle has stated that Pop is the greatest coach in NBA history. That’s not a slight at Phil or Auerbach, but just a reflection on how much Pop is respected in the league. I thought surely they were done after their last championship but here they are again. It boggles the mind, but Duncan is almost a forgotten ATG player. Considering the position he plays, to me he is the greatest player of his generation and next (with all due apologies to Shaq and Kobe). Lebron may surpass him eventually, but right now Duncan is the true King. Now excuse me while I go throw up for praising the hated Spurs!

agree with pretty much everything you said except i would say duncan never was and never will be "The King"...it just doesn't fit his persona to be called that...

i hope indiana wears the heat out before the finals...

 

[Jono]

Re: #4; I don't think I've ever had a bet on something paying 2.20 unless I thought it was more likely to happen than not. I make a ****load of bets on things I don't actually think are likely - I'm not a favourites chaser by any stretch of the imagination - but I don't really think 2.20 presents great value unless you reckon it should be the favourite.

Great value is different to value.

In any case bet on Pacers again at 2.40 pre-match and they've won this time. Mate said both matches were 50/50 yet odds had Miami about 60-65% in both matches. Hence value. Only needed one win to come out on top.

Where the difference lies is dcye believed miami were far more likely to win game 3 than game 4 whereas my friend did not distinguish.

 

[Fusion]

"Lets call real fouls on the Heat tonight, then go back to never calling them. This way, we can always point to this game."

- Stern to Refs

 

[nightprowler10]

I didn't watch the game, but the way Heat fans are whining all over the net is lovely. Just means there'll be more of this in the next games though.

Face of the league right there. West tried to follow but he was too much in awe I'm guessing.

 

[nightprowler10]

Of course, according to Wade, there'd be no NBA if he didn't do that.

 

[Ikki]

What a game by Lebron, taking over in the 3rd. Haslem and Chalmers stepping up. Wade and Bosh sucking.

 

[andruid]

My goodness this week's edition of NBA action has been so much about Lebron James that now I can't stand the prospect of them in the finals.

 

[Ikki]

Barkley came out saying for Miami to progress they needed Lebron to carry them for 4 nights. He's not been off the mark.

Also to DCYE: who you got, Spurs or Miami (if they finish the Pacers of)?

 

[nightprowler10]

My goodness this week's edition of NBA action has been so much about Lebron James that now I can't stand the prospect of them in the finals.

Stars make money. There was a post on IH that really summed up my feelings.

"Lebron tainted his "brand" with the decision, so when the Mavs won, ESPN must have been thrilled because they could play up the "underdog beats the superteam!" angle.

Last season it was all Durant vs. Lebron. Lebron had a historic season, so now it was possible to hype him up as the second coming of Jordan. This is the angle they've gone with since then, since now it's OK for everyone to love Lebron again. Now they're trying to make it seem like, just because Bosh and Wade aren't playing as well, that they're somehow compatible to the Mo & co. in Cleveland, even though Wade and Bosh easily demand attention on defense and absolutely cannot be taken lightly due to their reputations as great players.

The announcers in general have been playing this **** up ever since Westbrook went down. Did anyone catch during one of the Thunder's games against the Grizzlies, when one of those dip**** announcers said, "now Durant probably knows why Lebron went to Miami!" It was clear at that point that they've gone past being objective to openly promoting their star like Will Smith pumping up his idiot kid during a media circuit promoting his ****ty new movie."

 

[nightprowler10]

When LeBron plays like he played in those 8 minutes, and a couple of his teammates are hitting his shots, he's incredibly tough to stop. This has always been my beef with the guy for some time now as the playoffs are concerned. He's the most naturally gifted basketball player in the world surrounded with immense talent yet has the tendency to mail it in during the playoffs unless he's got the right mix of motivation and intensity (see game 6 against Boston last year). On paper, his stats always look great, but he has the propensity to lay back and take the easy plays given to him by the opposition. He gets in that mode and just cruises and doesn't know how to shift into the next gear mid-game most times. This is when he has those games where it seems like he's not trying hard enough. Being the leader of his team, I feel the rest of his team start taking a similar approach.

Can you imagine if this team played as hard as the Bulls for example, night in night out? 72-10 would be in danger for real. But that won't happen. They're just not that hard working. This is why, while I've always hated Kobe, I respect his work ethic. The guy shows up every night and plays his ass off. You can question him on his game IQ with the terrible shots he takes... often, but you can't talk **** about the guy's work ethic.

/pointless rant

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

When LeBron plays like he played in those 8 minutes, and a couple of his teammates are hitting his shots, he's incredibly tough to stop. This has always been my beef with the guy for some time now as the playoffs are concerned. He's the most naturally gifted basketball player in the world surrounded with immense talent yet has the tendency to mail it in during the playoffs unless he's got the right mix of motivation and intensity (see game 6 against Boston last year). On paper, his stats always look great, but he has the propensity to lay back and take the easy plays given to him by the opposition. He gets in that mode and just cruises and doesn't know how to shift into the next gear mid-game most times. This is when he has those games where it seems like he's not trying hard enough. Being the leader of his team, I feel the rest of his team start taking a similar approach.

Can you imagine if this team played as hard as the Bulls for example, night in night out? 72-10 would be in danger for real. But that won't happen. They're just not that hard working. This is why, while I've always hated Kobe, I respect his work ethic. The guy shows up every night and plays his ass off. You can question him on his game IQ with the terrible shots he takes... often, but you can't talk **** about the guy's work ethic.

/pointless rant

Lebron James works harder on being professional a basketball player than you have ever worked on anything.

 

[Ikki]

Come on NP...watch the games, the others have been trash. Heck, the real big 3 this series is Lebron, Chalmers and Haslem. Even in the regular season, the guy is consistency personified.

 

[nightprowler10]

Lebron James works harder on being professional a basketball player than you have ever worked on anything.

If I had his physical gifts and worked as hard as I do at everything, I'd be flopping so well the league would never catch me. Another example of LeBron mailing it in.

 

[nightprowler10]

Come on NP...watch the games, the others have been trash. Heck, the real big 3 this series is Lebron, Chalmers and Haslem. Even in the regular season, the guy is consistency personified.

Oh absolutely. The point that post was making was not that Wade and Bosh haven't been trash or that LeBron isn't carrying this team right now, but Wade and Bosh demand a ****load of attention even when they suck and their bench has enough players who can step up when needed. This team is stacked yet ESPN wants to sell us Miami Cavaliers. It was the same deal when Kobe was winning in '09/10. Its the story that matters, this is why Dallas was America's team in '11, this is why Rose won the MVP, and this is why Miami is all of a sudden Cleveland this year.

 

[Fusion]

If I had his physical gifts and worked as hard as I do at everything, I'd be flopping so well the league would never catch me. Another example of LeBron mailing it in.

 

[Jono]

Pacers!

My Asian mate rocks. Another win, and considering the underdog odds Pacers have had in each match, I have come out well on top in this series. Value betting on Indiana has worked, I owe him an apology.

 

[Jono]

1) Yeah, they're undersized. That's their thing. They have been undersized all season and they were undersized when they won the title last year. They play a style of small ball that's almost impossible to stop, high screen and roll with Lebron/Wade/Chalmers and a Bosh pick, Bosh will pop and Ray Allen and Shane Battier will be in the corners. If you help on the ball-handler coming off the pick then you leave one of the three point shooters open, if you switch on the pick then the ball carrier is guarded by a big man and can drive or they can kick to the small man on Chris Bosh, who's one of the best mid-range shooters in the game. It's a pick your poison scenario.

2) Um what? Firstly, Indiana have one centre, Roy Hibbert, and at his absolute best he's probably the 5th best centre in the league. What? :S

3) Roy Hibbert is a good defender and has lessened his tendency to get into foul trouble this season significantly, which is a very good thing. David West is strong, but a pretty average defender and Paul George just got decimated in the post by Lebron. Indiana are a good defensive unit but the Heat are an amazing offensive force, as good if not better on offense as Indiana are on defense.

Asian:


1) The Miami offense is not an unsolvable, unstoppable puzzle. Undersized can work during the regular season when you have lebron and wade and bosh and 3 point shooters, but the playoffs are all about matchups and adjustments. Expecting the same stuff to work against Indiana over the course of a series is a mistake.

2) From your response, I think I was misquoted. I said Indiana have one of the best front courts in the league. Hibbert is extremely underrated in both defense and offense. He is definitely not just "the 5th best center in the league at best". At the very least, Miami makes him look like the number 1 center in the league simply beacuse they are undersized against him.

If you watch the plays this series, Miami struggles to defend against Hibbert on the inside. They usually resort to just fouling him. And he's no slouch at the free throw line (.741% in the regular season).

It doesn't matter how much Miami can score, in the long run defense wins championships. And Indiana has strong inside and outside defense.


3) Indiana is not as bad at matching up to the heat one-on-one on defense as you make them out to be. But even if no one player can defend lebron (which is not surprising - it is lebron) my whole point is that Indiana is a much more balanced team than miami and their team defense can hold up. Even if West is the weak link in their defense, he more than moves up for it in the spacing he provides on offense due to his range and size.

On defense Lance Stephenson is extremely athletic. I've already talked about Hibbert's inside defense, and George Hill and Paul George are not bad defenders at all.

 

[Jono]

"From your response, I think I was misquoted."

WAC he is.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I don't necessarily disagree with him on any points (except that Hibbert is underrated on offense, I'd honestly say he's overrated at this point) but it doesn't change the fact that if they both play well Miami is the better team, significantly. "Play well" being the key words there.

Miami's biggest problem this series has been the disappearance of their three point shooting from the corners (which Indiana has taken largely away). Especially Battier and Allen. Look what happened when Mike Miller hit two threes in a row yesterday, Miami nearly took the lead in a 2 minute stretch. They miss that shooting more than they miss Wade and Bosh IMO, though they link to each other in ways. If George Hill knows that he doesn't have to worry about helping on Wade he can stay with Allen, Battier, or Chalmers and make sure they aren't getting clean looks. Bosh was never going to be successful in this series, his game isn't inside and he's too small to compete with the strength of Indiana. Vogel has been smart to take away the three-pointer, and if the Heat win tomorrow (I don't know if they will) it will be because Lebron James was the best player on the court.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Anyway, enough of this "serious" posting, back to the main reason for posting in this thread, trolling nancyprowler10 and not addressing the legitimate issues he brings up.