Kaman for Iguodala? If that happens... wow, such a steal. That's such an obscene combination of athletic talent.
I really think they could use a pass-first PG with that lineup -- they should trade for Nash!
If that lineup really did happen (crossing fingers) then a pass-first PG wouldn't be very important because of how well Gordon, Iguodala and Griffin handle the ball and pass for their respective positions. All three can create and set up their teammates, and that will more than make up for MoWill not being a true PG. MoWill's ability to stretch defenses with his perimeter shooting would be very useful with guys like Gordon and Griffin who can demand double teams.
On June 08 2011 14:45 ilikejokes wrote: Spoelstra's coaching inadequacies are masked by the fact that Wade, James, and Bosh are three of the smartest players in the league at their positions.
Two things I'm loving about tonight's game:
1. From now on when people mention "the Flu Game" they'll have to clarify if they meant MJ or Nowitzki, and
2. From now on when people try to suggest that LeBron is better than Jordan I can point to this game and laugh at them
1. No. That notion is Laughable. Jordan's game was ~ 95% better 2. Most likely.
On June 08 2011 12:55 LeBroom wrote: Finals-MVP is pretty clear. If MIA wins, its Wade. If DAL wins its Dirk.
I hope DAL pulls this one out and wins it.
However, interesting topic I heard earlier on the radio. IF Mia wins and Wade is the MVP, does this bump him into a serious candidate for best player in the NBA? I think the general opinion right now is LBJ is taking that mantle from an aging Kobe. However, Wade would have 2 rings and be the MVP of both finals. Thoughts?
I don't think so for a few reasons.
#1. Kobe hasn't been the best player in the league for a few years now. #2. Wade was pretty quiet (relatively) in the Bulls series when he was being guarded by Bogans/Rose/Brewer. #3. Wade is facing an incredibly favorable matchup against Dallas. He's basically being defended by the children of the poor 90% of the time.
There aren't many tougher matchups than Bogans/Rose/Brewer. Are you saying that you think Wade should have gone off on them?
No, I'm just saying that when good players are guarding him he can be contained so his switch with Lebron in this series is explicable (although Deng is a pretty damn good defender as well).
On June 08 2011 14:45 ilikejokes wrote: Spoelstra's coaching inadequacies are masked by the fact that Wade, James, and Bosh are three of the smartest players in the league at their positions.
Two things I'm loving about tonight's game:
1. From now on when people mention "the Flu Game" they'll have to clarify if they meant MJ or Nowitzki, and
2. From now on when people try to suggest that LeBron is better than Jordan I can point to this game and laugh at them
1. No. That notion is Laughable. Jordan's game was ~ 95% better 2. Most likely.
I should have clarified 1) with "and the Mavs win the series," and this will certainly be the case in Dallas. There is an entire generation of fans who were not around/not aware when the original Flu Game happened, yet they saw this one in real time.
On June 08 2011 14:45 ilikejokes wrote: 2. From now on when people try to suggest that LeBron is better than Jordan I can point to this game and laugh at them
Why are people so fickle about this one game? Do you really think by the end of his career, Lebron is going to be defined by this game?
Did people forget that Jordan occasionally had off nights during playoffs games as well? 19 points on 8-22, 8 turnovers when they lost to the Magic. How about Kobe's 11 points on 4-13 against the Pistons? Or his 16 on 4-19?
THE NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN AND HEAT'S STAR CHAMPION who scored 2 points and 6 TOs in a playoff game against the Hornets?
On June 08 2011 14:45 ilikejokes wrote: 2. From now on when people try to suggest that LeBron is better than Jordan I can point to this game and laugh at them
Why are people so fickle about this one game? Do you really think by the end of his career, Lebron is going to be defined by this game?
Did people forget that Jordan occasionally had off nights during playoffs games as well? 19 points on 8-22, 8 turnovers when they lost to the Magic. How about Kobe's 11 points on 4-13 against the Pistons? Or his 16 on 4-19?
THE NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN AND HEAT'S STAR CHAMPION who scored 2 points and 6 TOs in a playoff game against the Hornets?
How many "off games" did Jordan have in the finals? He couldn't have had many, he averaged what ~34 points/ 5 assists/ 6 rebounds in every finals series.
On June 08 2011 14:45 ilikejokes wrote: 2. From now on when people try to suggest that LeBron is better than Jordan I can point to this game and laugh at them
Why are people so fickle about this one game? Do you really think by the end of his career, Lebron is going to be defined by this game?
Did people forget that Jordan occasionally had off nights during playoffs games as well? 19 points on 8-22, 8 turnovers when they lost to the Magic. How about Kobe's 11 points on 4-13 against the Pistons? Or his 16 on 4-19?
THE NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN AND HEAT'S STAR CHAMPION who scored 2 points and 6 TOs in a playoff game against the Hornets?
Where did I say anything in that post about Kobe and Wade? It's not the statline that I'll be pointing to. It's the fact that Lebron, by the end of that game, had completely checked out. He was a virtual non-factor. I almost forgot he was in the game. That NEVER happened with Jordan, especially not in a Finals game.
On June 08 2011 14:45 ilikejokes wrote: 2. From now on when people try to suggest that LeBron is better than Jordan I can point to this game and laugh at them
Why are people so fickle about this one game? Do you really think by the end of his career, Lebron is going to be defined by this game?
Did people forget that Jordan occasionally had off nights during playoffs games as well? 19 points on 8-22, 8 turnovers when they lost to the Magic. How about Kobe's 11 points on 4-13 against the Pistons? Or his 16 on 4-19?
THE NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN AND HEAT'S STAR CHAMPION who scored 2 points and 6 TOs in a playoff game against the Hornets?
Because LeBron apologists are so eager to anoint him the greatest of all time before he's actually accomplished something outside of being the most gifted athlete in history. There are even some who point at MJ's 17 game season after taking 147 games off (not counting 93-94 playoff games) playing baseball to LeBron in his prime of his career as somehow being favorable to LeBron.
Michael Jordan sucked. At age 27, he hadn't even reached a single NBA finals. He choked every time vs the Pistons. No rings = overrated and crappy.
He was just a chucker who didn't make his team better and didn't give his team a winning record.
Rookie season: 38-44. Swept by the Bucks, first round. Second season: 30-52. They say the east is bad now, how does a 30 win team deserve to make the playoffs? The bobcats are better than this. Anyway, swept 1st round by the Celtics. Third season: 40-42. Playoffs, swept by celtics in the first round. Lebroom? How about Broom Jordan, because he's good at getting swept.
4th season: 50-32. Pretty sure Lebron had 60+ win seasons by that time and had reached the finals. Michael Jordan? Now that he got help, he managed ... to lose in the second round. In 5 games, to the Pistons. 5th season: Ok, the Bulls managed not to get swept. Let's see how the most competitive man alive, who fights to win every single game responds. 47-35. That's like the Hawks. Manages to lose in the EC finals to the Pistons. Again. Who's your daddy? 6th season: They have now Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson. They have their core. Should be much better than Mike Brown and Lebron in their heyday. Finals here we come, right? Nope, 55-37. Good, but obviously not championship caliber. Which is why they got denied, again, by the Pistons.
Stop right there. We can see how this is going to end. Jordan has loser in his DNA. He can't win regular season games like the great players did, never even made the finals, which Lebron did. Swept, swept, what a choker. Most overrated player ever.
On June 09 2011 11:44 igotmyown wrote: Michael Jordan sucked. At age 27, he hadn't even reached a single NBA finals. He choked every time vs the Pistons. No rings = overrated and crappy.
He was just a chucker who didn't make his team better and didn't give his team a winning record.
Rookie season: 38-44. Swept by the Bucks, first round. Second season: 30-52. They say the east is bad now, how does a 30 win team deserve to make the playoffs? The bobcats are better than this. Anyway, swept 1st round by the Celtics. Third season: 40-42. Playoffs, swept by celtics in the first round. Lebroom? How about Broom Jordan, because he's good at getting swept.
4th season: 50-32. Pretty sure Lebron had 60+ win seasons by that time and had reached the finals. Michael Jordan? Now that he got help, he managed ... to lose in the second round. In 5 games, to the Pistons. 5th season: Ok, the Bulls managed not to get swept. Let's see how the most competitive man alive, who fights to win every single game responds. 47-35. That's like the Hawks. Manages to lose in the EC finals to the Pistons. Again. Who's your daddy? 6th season: They have now Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson. They have their core. Should be much better than Mike Brown and Lebron in their heyday. Finals here we come, right? Nope, 55-37. Good, but obviously not championship caliber. Which is why they got denied, again, by the Pistons.
Stop right there. We can see how this is going to end. Jordan has loser in his DNA. He can't win regular season games like the great players did, never even made the finals, which Lebron did. Swept, swept, what a choker. Most overrated player ever.
Nevermind that season ending injury.
The reason people critisize Lebron is that he is XX/XX/XX good, but really, given his talent and era should be YY/YY/YY good. In a league where Derrick Rose can go 25/7/4 Lebron should be at 40/8-10/8-12. This is not me just talking about how much tougher the league is or was, it is a justifiable position to take.
I'm only going to look at this simplistically and on the offensive end, because otherwise I would have to edit and post about 20 hours of clips. Basically when you are on offense you either have the ball, or don't. If you have the ball you basically have three options at any time: Shoot, Pass, Dribble. When you don't you can: Cut, Post, or Screen. Obviously this is simplistic, but the principles always stay the same. Lebron is rightfully criticized because he makes the wrong decisions fairly often, and has not worked on the weaker parts of his game.
Theoretically there is a <5% chance that on any possession Lebron's best option is to take a 3/long 2. He should be posting, cutting, or driving on almost every play, currently when he is off the ball he usually is waiting to take a shot (his worst possible play).
Lebron's two greatest skills currently are driving (which he should do more) and passing off the drive (which he is outstanding at). But he lacks skills in the post, which is a serious detriment to his game, particularly when his outside shot is not falling. In the post he should command a double team every time he touches the ball (like MJ, Dirk, 03-07 Kobe) and if one doesn't come he should punish the defense by getting a high percentage shot (60-70%), or a layup/dunk.
However many free throws Lebron draws now (I think its about 8 per game) he easily should be drawing 5+ more. He should be driving 3,4,5 more times per game, on average, and should be posting up 3,4,5 more times per game as well. On this Heat team this sort of offensive production would be too tiring for him because of his heavy defensive load, that is the price you pay for assembling a team like the Heat did. However, there is no excuse for his Cavs days where he occasionally played lockdown defender, but more often played the roamer role and went for steals, blocks, and fastbreaks.
1. it's too early in lebrons career to decide if he's greater than jordan 2. noone will ever replace jordan as far as symbols go. everyone is being compared to michael jordan but they may get better stats/more rings then he does but they'll never quite the magnetic personality he is. lebron is the most gifted athlete probably of all time, but he'll never reach that level jordan was. theres an air of negativity whenever you mention his name. he may become a greater player than jordan but he won't be more important in the grand scheme of things than jordan.
Tonight's game should be great. I still think both teams haven't played to their full potential yet. The Mavs missing so many open looks, lot's of turnovers and bad rebounding, I somehow think a hot shooting night is overdue. And on the other hand Lebron probably won't play that badly much longer he's just too good for that. And honestly, the Miami bench hasn't been very impressive so far. Really curious how this will play out, game 5 might very well be the deciding match of this series.
EPT
