Yes a pickup truck that drinks a lot of gas. As I said before its simple physics. Lebron is damn near 300 lbs and chases around 180lb point guards. Is it any fucking surprise he's totally out of gas by the fourth and can't even put up more than 5 shots?
It's tough to say. I think Pops is the master at roster resting. And has been fined accordingly by Stern for it. He'll conceded regular season wins to give a little extra spring to his guys in April/May/June. When Miami was pushing through a 25+ game winning streak SA's big three were not even dressing.
SA plays a finesse game that isn't about pure athleticism. Pick and rolls and excellent passing. Low TO's so you aren't constantly rushing back on transition defense. Parker is the one guy that SA needs to be concerned about he's the one that really motors for them and most prone to being gassed late in the game. If they can get serviceable minutes out of Neal so Parker can rest it's going to be a rough series for Miami.
Also, is Ginobili really that hurt or just that old? Or both. There were at least 2 drives that he had that should have been a classic drive and dunk for him. First one he tried to elevate and put the ball on the front of the rim. The other he went for an awkward layup. He has no lift at all. That guy use to be on a pogo stick. Sad to watch him grounded. Still fun to watch with his crazy passing though.
*ahem*
Doesn't really resemble a flop, looks like he stumbled to me. Hell Duncan fall in in a game against the Grizzlies with nobody even close to him. He was jogging down the court and just fell.
Lebron admitted in his press conference he needed a breather (as to why wade and lebron were both out at the same time). So there's no more "He's young, he can play the whole game" type of thing, they're expending energy on D and running up and down the court. I'm not sure all fans realize that about lebron (he gets tired).
When he was younger, in the 4th he'd explode to the hole and dunk like crazy. The Pacers 7 game series has had some minor affect on them, just enough to lose game 1. I wonder if the Spurs will tire out as the series goes on and the athletic advantage the Heat have will show.
im gonna have to disagree slightly. i remember reading a couple weeks ago about how the spurs are BY FAR the best conditioned team in the league. like they go way above and beyond all other teams as far as conditioning goes. and it's not like duncan, parker, and ginobli are fresh out of college either, and look at those guys keep it in first gear all the way into the 4th quarter.
of course these guys will get tired, but "needing a breather" can be overcome by preparing better and conditioning. again, not saying it is easy to play 48 minutes in first gear at the nba level or anything, but i think that it shows in the spurs just how conditioned the team is.
There's no getting around the fact LeBron is damn near 300lbs. There's a reason you don't see bicyclists or endurance runners carrying a lot of excess muscle.
There is no reason to have him running around chasing the small guys. That's what there are defensive specialists for.
There is also a much bigger drop off in talent when Miami goes to their subs vs SA. Miami can't afford to give Lebron or Wade much rest otherwise they'd be down 10 every time they come back in.
It looks like the new cba has helped level the playing field. Want to pay 3 superstars? No problem you just can't afford a great supporting cast.
being a big buy myself (205lbs muscular build) i do know what you mean. but it's stupid to compare professional basketball players to bikers and endurance racers. totally different training and conditioning for both of those. one is high intensity vs low intensity (comparable). at least compare lebron to a sprinter, which many of them are very muscular, just not nearly 7 feet tall.
I'd say basketball is closer to endurance running or bicycling than sprinting. I play full court basketball every week. The amount of energy expended is insane. On defense you're going left going right trying to stay in front of your guy. Sometimes fighting through picks. Or they pass the ball and you're in a full on sprint to close on the shooter and jumping as high as you can to contest the shot. And at the nba level I promise you none of this is half speed.
Lebron's playing weight is most likely 260...with probably 0 chance he's >265. Commentators suggesting he's near 300lbs is like how people would say Barkley is 6'4" every time he got a rebound in traffic.
The 300lbs is an exaggeration but the point stands. I've been harping on the LeBron tiring out issue since 2011. In the finals the big deal was Lebron was shutting down Terry with his defense. And sure it worked for around 4 games then the dam broke. I knew he wouldn't last chasing Terry around fighting through screens, trying to close on all the shots, etc..
At no point should he be guarding Parker unless it's on a defensive switch.
Yes James is a testament to modern "medicine". The Soviets would be proud.
He's a freak like adrian peterson, he would recover from injury and I think he's extremely not injury prone. Fatigue can cause injury.
Look at people like Kobe Bryant and Duncan, Lebron is probably doing similar things to maintain himself.
My Bengals just got James Harrison from the steelers, this guy gets 6 hours+ of massage a day. To maintain himself at his age.
Nadal is a good example, but tennis has more pressure on the knees. Minimize motion, things that look smooth and easy (federer) are indications of probably the best motion.
I wonder if all that muscle and movements that are a-typical to a human body can create too much torque on joints that are not meant. Especially if you're on a supplement?
he started the league at 250 (at 18 years old). He's clearly at 265-70+ if you look at his rookie year. He was still huge back then.
For comparison, Tim Duncan is 6'10-6'11, listed at 255. Shaq, who's 7'-7'1" had a playing weight at lsu of 294. No way is Lebron 270. Right now James is listed at 250 on nba.com and espn.com, and that's probably pretty close.
/edit: Meta World Peace is listed at 260, an inch shorter but is thicker than james.