Official 2012-2013 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Corporate Thug]

The just went to their third NBA championship in 3 years, winning 2 of them, and he's best buds with Lebron. I think it makes sense to get more revenue, rather than breaking things up.

Bosh is simply not worth the pay.

 

[Corporate Thug]

That's the end of SA big 3 IMO. Duncan and Ginobili should retire. They don't have another finals run in them. They can hang on and be shells of themselves or retire after what was a successful season.

Ginobili, yes. Duncan had an great season, relatively injury free. He's got at least one more in him.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

How did they tank? Robinson hurt his back then broke his foot, a problematic injury for big men. Sean Elliot missed over half the season. All they had was a 37year old Nique. Of course they would be bad.

But the Spurs didn't even have the worst record, they had the 3rd worst. Statistically they didn't have the highest odds of the pick, Boston did. They just got lucky.

robinson sat longer than he had to after he recovered from injury. remainder of the team put in less effort. trying to improve your position in the draft by losing is still tanking.

 

[bigpimpatl]

Ray Allen didn't kill anybody, but he was friends with those who did. Roethlisberger probably raped a girl, though, so yeah.

Lebron's only crime is getting the fuck out of Ohio and leaving a TERRIBLE team. If the cavaliers had been run even half as well as the Spurs, LBJ would have won a championship there. But, the owner was a fucking idiot, and after re-signing with them once, Lebron wisely moved on. He could have done it better, sure, but his main mistake was not leaving cleveland after his rookie contract was up, really. If he had gone to a competently run team first chance he got, he might have more than 2 rings right now.

If leaving in a bad fashion after giving a team 7 years to craft a good supporting unit is the worst thing LBJ does, he'll be a fucking saint by NBA and pro sports standards.

I want to believe your post, but the reality is we don't know the whole situation. We know after Dwight Howard left that he wanted xyz, like coach fired, turkoglu back, etc. For all we know Lebron was running the team while Mike Brown and company stepped out of the way (certainly looked that way in 2009 series vs. Orlando). It wouldn't surprise me at all if Lebron wanted some of the things the Cavs team did. It was purposefully built around him, for him to be the man.

And it's hard for a player to leave after the rookie contract unless he demands a trade. You become a restricted free agent and the team can just match any offer.

 

[bigpimpatl]

robinson sat longer than he had to after he recovered from injury. remainder of the team put in less effort. trying to improve your position in the draft by losing is still tanking.

is that just your opinion or a fact? Let me remind you, 37 old Nique, Vinny Del Negro, and Carl Herrera.

Brook Lopez broke his foot and was out for quite a while. It's a tough injury for a big man.

 

[HendrixFan]

you're forgetting the elbow "injury" and the rumors and overall quitting on the team in 2010 (Celtics series).

He still wears an elbow sleeve alot of the time, a residual from the sprained elbow.

What was wrong with that Celtics series? He put up 27-19-10 in the elimination game. Not bad when the best defensive team is keying in on you.

 

[momeNt]

Just to summarize...

In the last 2 seasons the Heat have played five elimination games. They won all five and LeBron James has been the best player by far in each of them, including a performance in Game 6 of the 2012 ECF that was simply legendary.

2012 - NBA MVP
2012 - NBA Finals MVP
2012 - NBA Championship
2012 - Olympic Gold
2013 - NBA MVP
2013 - NBA Finals MVP
2013 - NBA Championship

This is a sublime moment in basketball. James does not turn 29 for another six months!



Jordan also never carried a team on his back to the finals, he always had Grant and Pippen, and later Rodman.

And btw,

'91 to '94 Pippen and Grant >>>>>>>>>> Bosch and Wade this year.

Just to be clear, Jordan is still well ahead of Lebron in the GOAT conversation. I'm just pointing out that that the standard James is held to is asinine.



Superteam? Is it a "superteam" because it has Mr. 0/6 Chris Bosch? Or Dwyane Lemme-Show-Up-For-Like-Three-Games-This-Postseason Wade?

No one had a problem with the Celtics or Lakers building teams through free agency.

How is 41ppg in Bulls/Suns not carrying a team?

How quickly people forget. Did you think you used to change your own diaper as a baby or did you lose just your memory of basketball's age of greatness?

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

is that just your opinion or a fact? Let me remind you, 37 old Nique, Vinny Del Negro, and Carl Herrera.

Brook Lopez broke his foot and was out for quite a while. It's a tough injury for a big man.

"tanking the season" is just my opinion but it's shared by many even spurs fans. celtics were tanking that season also they just didn't get the first pick.

 

[QueBert]

How is 41ppg in Bulls/Suns not carrying a team?

How quickly people forget. Did you think you used to change your own diaper as a baby or did you lose just your memory of basketball's age of greatness?

He said carry to a team to the finals, not in the finals. People give Jordan way too much credit, he was great but he had a great team to back him up. Like I said, time machine back to the year he started and put him on the Clippers and keep them him until he retires. He now has zero rings.

No single man can ever win a ring, James was on a shit team, Jordan wouldn't have had any more luck with the same Cavs squad either.

The season after Jordan left the Bulls did really good and still made the play offs without him. When Lebron left the Cavs they went from last round of the playoffs with him to the 2nd worst record in the eastern conference without him. It's not like James abandoned a team that was borderline elite and just needed time to mesh. He left a team that was bottom of the barrel shit and would never amount to anything.

 

[Blackjack200]

How is 41ppg in Bulls/Suns not carrying a team?

How quickly people forget. Did you think you used to change your own diaper as a baby or did you lose just your memory of basketball's age of greatness?

Sorry, I phrased it poorly. Jordan never had to do it alone like Lebron did in '07.

And as I pointed out in that very post, I'm not comparing LBJ to Jordan, they're not even in the same conversation. My point is that the criticism LBJ takes is often ridiculous. So relax with the diaper talk.

 

[bigpimpatl]

He still wears an elbow sleeve alot of the time, a residual from the sprained elbow.

What was wrong with that Celtics series? He put up 27-19-10 in the elimination game. Not bad when the best defensive team is keying in on you.

are you purposely ignoring 8-21 shooting and 9 turnovers?

game 5 he went 3-14 only 15 points.

There were rumors surrounding the team. Clearly he wasn't focused and/or quit on the team.

And lots of players wear elbow sleeves for the heck of it, don't make me laugh.

 

[momeNt]

Pippen is bizarrely underrated. He was so incredibly good. Players from that time often say Scottie was a better defender than Michael because he was bigger, and that Scottie could finish with the left better than Michael.

During the 1992 Olympics, Chuck Daly was noted as saying that "as long as Scottie and Michael were out there, it didn't matter who else was on the floor."

Jordan made Pippen into the player he was. If Pippen didn't have Jordan to practice against, his defensive skills would have been incredibly less than they were. He played against Jordan every single practice, compare that experience with Pippen maybe practicing with the Seattle Supersonics, and having to wait until 1990 to start guarding Gary Payton in practice. The development curve would have had him as a starter to be sure, but he never would have been standing on the stage of the 50 greatest.

 

[Blackjack200]

Jordan made Pippen into the player he was. If Pippen didn't have Jordan to practice against, his defensive skills would have been incredibly less than they were. He played against Jordan every single practice, compare that experience with Pippen maybe practicing with the Seattle Supersonics, and having to wait until 1990 to start guarding Gary Payton in practice. The development curve would have had him as a starter to be sure, but he never would have been standing on the stage of the 50 greatest.

Stop.

 

[Red Storm]

Jordan made Pippen into the player he was. If Pippen didn't have Jordan to practice against, his defensive skills would have been incredibly less than they were. He played against Jordan every single practice, compare that experience with Pippen maybe practicing with the Seattle Supersonics, and having to wait until 1990 to start guarding Gary Payton in practice. The development curve would have had him as a starter to be sure, but he never would have been standing on the stage of the 50 greatest.

That's a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

 

[darkewaffle]

How is 41ppg in Bulls/Suns not carrying a team?

How quickly people forget. Did you think you used to change your own diaper as a baby or did you lose just your memory of basketball's age of greatness?

He played great but his teammates were far from underperforming. In that same series Grant averaged 10pts/10rebs and Pippen was not far off from averaging a triple double, not to mention Paxson and Grant being the ones to really seal the game in the final seconds of Game 6.

 

[HendrixFan]

are you purposely ignoring 8-21 shooting and 9 turnovers?

game 5 he went 3-14 only 15 points.

There were rumors surrounding the team. Clearly he wasn't focused and/or quit on the team.

And lots of players wear elbow sleeves for the heck of it, don't make me laugh.

He averaged 27-9-7 for the series. In game 5 they got blown out by 40 points, if he put up 30 points it was still a laugher.

I don't care what rumors you heard or who was your inside source of the Cleveland locker room. Delonte West? Nobody in the history of the NBA has ever averaged 27-9-7 for a series, against the best defensive team in the league, all while mailing in games.

 

[momeNt]

Stop.

That's a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

Oh, yea I forgot, we're talking about practice. Nobody has ever gotten better through practice. My guess is Pippen got so good from layup drills anyways.

 

[preslove]

Oh, yea I forgot, we're talking about practice. Nobody has ever gotten better through practice. My guess is Pippen got so good from layup drills anyways.

Nope, you were just talking about some idiotic shit you made up. Just stop, you know next to nothing about the NBA.

 

[bigpimpatl]

He averaged 27-9-7 for the series. In game 5 they got blown out by 40 points, if he put up 30 points it was still a laugher.

I don't care what rumors you heard or who was your inside source of the Cleveland locker room. Delonte West? Nobody in the history of the NBA has ever averaged 27-9-7 for a series, against the best defensive team in the league, all while mailing in games.

The Lebron love is strong in this one.

Everyone watched the games. We all saw Lebron, something was bothering him and he wasn't himself no matter how many points and rebs he averaged in the series (which is totally irrelevant btw when discussing the latter games, but nice try). I think it was around game 4 when all the rumors were coming out then game 5 with the supposed elbow issue.

but of course according to you that's why he still wears an elbow sleeve! lmao

 

[mkrohn]

I hate lebron as a person but The clutch argument is out the window till at least next year....

It was pretty funny how the entire series they played really far off of him and he couldn't hit wide open jump shot to save his life... BUT this game it mattered. Game 6 he did keep tossing up bricks so his late 3 is out of the discussion because anybody could sink one with enough attempts.

Duncan is fundamentally sound and could play another FIVE years. Retiring now? LOL you guys realize people with perfect technique can hang around far longer than guys with fatal flaws in their game. Lebron has to become more fundamentally sound or he won't be in the league at 32. Lebron needs to seriously buddy up with ray allen and improve is FT% and shooting. games 1-6 showed us his jumper is insanely unreliable. As it stands the second lebron can't overpower people he's done.

For all of you heat fans... If you weren't heat fans 5 years ago just go away. The whole world laughs at heat fans. They are ALL BANDWAGONERS! Either lebron bandwagon or well those miami Dbags that wont show up for a bad team. My red wings always make me proud but I loved my 0-16 lions and my 119 loss tigers...

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I hate lebron as a person but The clutch argument is out the window till at least next year....

For all of you heat fans... If you weren't heat fans 5 years ago just go away. The whole world laughs at heat fans. They are ALL BANDWAGONERS! Either lebron bandwagon or well those miami Dbags that wont show up for a bad team. My red wings always make me proud but I loved my 0-16 lions and my 119 loss tigers...

Why does the clutch argument only get shelved until next year? He's proven he's clutch time after time, but as soon as he misses a shot next year, "Oh, he's not clutch, see, I TOLD YOU!" That's absurd. Tim Duncan has made a career out of showing up big in clutch scenarios, and he missed a baby hook and point blank putback to tie the game in the final minute. Has his whole career been dismissed for that one mistake? Parker and Ginobili have been similarly reliable over the last decade, but they played poorly in the last two games. Are they no longer clutch? Of course not, that would be a stupid thing to say. But it's OK to do it for LeBron because you don't like him? Emotional responses are so much more valid than logic and statistics, amirite?

Bandwagon Heat fans are much better sports fans than bandwagon LeBron bashers who pick apart every single mistake he makes until he wins and then offer nothing but silence until he screws up again. Why is blind loyalty to a team better than appreciating a great athlete in his prime? Why does one automatically preclude you from the other?

 

[fustercluck]

Lebron's only crime is getting the fuck out of Ohio and leaving a TERRIBLE team. If the cavaliers had been run even half as well as the Spurs, LBJ would have won a championship there. But, the owner was a fucking idiot, and after re-signing with them once, Lebron wisely moved on. He could have done it better, sure, but his main mistake was not leaving cleveland after his rookie contract was up, really. If he had gone to a competently run team first chance he got, he might have more than 2 rings right now.

If leaving in a bad fashion after giving a team 7 years to craft a good supporting unit is the worst thing LBJ does, he'll be a fucking saint by NBA and pro sports standards.

That's how I've always felt about it. People absolutely HATE Lebron for leaving a shitty Cleveland team, and they act as if he opted out of his contract after 1 season there. But he wasted 7 years in Cleveland giving them everything and even somehow someway carried the entire team to a finals appearance. Dan Gilbert is a real shitty owner, too.

So I don't understand all the visceral Lebron hate. Why is he such a polarizing figure when he hasn't done anything horribly wrong? Not like he's Michael Vick anyways (whom by the way, people seemed to forgive pretty fast). Not to mention all the other NBA and NFL players with assault charges and worse, as pointed out earlier in the thread.

Plus, he's just great to watch - I've always been a Lebron fan. He was given unreal expectations coming out of high school and he exceeded them. All the butthurt Cleveland fans and people who seemingly hate him for no reason just made me become a bigger fan of his over time.

 

[darkewaffle]

My friend has lived in or outside Cincinatti for many years and loves the Bengals and loved Lebron being on the Cavs. But he still likes Lebron, rooted for the Heat and flat out told me he doesn't blame James for getting out because the Cavs were abysmal and he [my friend] thinks the fanbase is lousy.

 

[preslove]

The Lebron love is strong in this one.

Everyone watched the games. We all saw Lebron, something was bothering him and he wasn't himself no matter how many points and rebs he averaged in the series (which is totally irrelevant btw when discussing the latter games, but nice try). I think it was around game 4 when all the rumors were coming out then game 5 with the supposed elbow issue.

but of course according to you that's why he still wears an elbow sleeve! lmao

Take off the tinfoil hat, doofus. You're embarrassing yourself.

 

[Ban Bot]

Lebron has to become more fundamentally sound or he won't be in the league at 32.

See that shark over there? You just jumped it.