Top three ish.
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I hope it's not the Warriors & Cleveland again - just friggin boring
#LeBronto is ridiculous though
Ya. Good job not getting swept 76ers. Come on Toronto. But LeBron is you can tell your great grandchildren that you saw him live on TV.
I thought you died in a grammar accident.
#OshbaulWinsAgain
Well.....maybe 99 years
I wonder how his physical approach would play in other eras?
To be honest, I haven't watched much NBA the past few years, but whenever I see L.James, it looks like he initiates a lot of contact on offense.
good point. I wonder how he would do playing against the Pistons of 87-91 era. There were a few brutal defensive games then. The refs allowed a lot more stuff to go on.
But, he still would've ruled even in that era, too.
With his size, fitness, strength, attention to training, leadership ability and last but not least skills he would have done just fine.
No Kevin Love tonight. What's the over/under on LeBron's points tonight? 50?
James played 46 minutes and scored 46 points in game 6 of a conference final in his 15th NBA season.
Those numbers make no sense.
MichiganPacker2 posted:No Kevin Love tonight. What's the over/under on LeBron's points tonight? 50?
Well, he will be putting up some shots....I don't see a triple double.
ChilliJon posted:James played 46 minutes and scored 46 points in game 6 of a conference final in his 15th NBA season.
Those numbers make no sense.
He hasn't come out tonight. He's played 41 minutes and has 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists (and if his teammates were shooting better than 5-24 from 3 he'd have an easy triple double).
LeBron in Game 7 at Boston
35 points (50% FG), 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 blocks. Played every second. The Cavs had 30 FGs, Lebron scored or assisted on 21 of them. I'd be willing to bet he had the "hockey" assist on at least 4 or 5 of the other 9.
The bench for the Cavs had 5 points and 3 rebounds.
The rest of the team shot was 6-27 from 3.
The other 4 starters were Jeff Green, Tristan Thompson, George Hill, and JR Smith.
**** Boston you pieces of ****.
You couldn't play that bad vs. Milwaukee right?!?
Couldn't be more boring seeing Cleveland in the finals.
I am in shock that LeBron James got this team to the Finals. In the last 72 hours, a 15 year NBA vet averaged in two elimination games:
47 minutes, 40.5 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, 1.5 blocks, 1.5 steals. He shot over 50% from the field and 50% from the 3 point line. He had to have handled the ball for at least 80% of the Cavs offensive possession times.
And Harden is supposedly the MVP of the league?
Brainwashed Boris posted:**** Boston you pieces of ****.
You couldn't play that bad vs. Milwaukee right?!?
Couldn't be more boring seeing Cleveland in the finals.
If the Warriors end up playing the Cavs, this could be the most lopsided finals in history. The Cavs without Kyrie do not match up well with the Warriors at all.
If the Rockets play the Cavs, I think the games will be closer but it will still be a sweep.
It wouldn’t be lopsided if they played A short handed Boston team? Don’t kid yourself.
You knew the league wanted to see Lebron in the Finals even if the Cavs are a schit team this year. 23 gets the ratings.
Tschmack posted:It wouldn’t be lopsided if they played A short handed Boston team? Don’t kid yourself.
You knew the league wanted to see Lebron in the Finals even if the Cavs are a schit team this year. 23 gets the ratings.
It's lopsided either way, but at least Boston has some guys that have a chance to guard Klay/Steph or Harden/Paul. We are going to be treated to George Hill and JR Smith trying to guard those guys?
Boston played sloppy and rushed (and took) too many 3s. I don’t know WTF Stevens was thinking. They should have pounded it inside to draw fouls and get to the line but they just kept jacking up shots instead. Live by the 3 and die by the 3.
Brown and Rozier were a combined 3-22 from 3 point range. Morris and Smart shot 6-24 from the field.
Tatum was the only guy that did anything
MichiganPacker2 posted:Brainwashed Boris posted:**** Boston you pieces of ****.
You couldn't play that bad vs. Milwaukee right?!?
Couldn't be more boring seeing Cleveland in the finals.
If the Warriors end up playing the Cavs, this could be the most lopsided finals in history. The Cavs without Kyrie do not match up well with the Warriors at all.
If the Rockets play the Cavs, I think the games will be closer but it will still be a sweep.
I couldn't help thinking of the 2014 Spurs team. I thought they swept the Heat, but no. I just looked it up.
at Spurs : Spurs 110-95 (+15)
at Spurs : Heat 98-96 (-2 for Spurs)
at Heat: Spurs 111-92 (+19)
at Heat: Spurs 107-86 (+21)
at Heat: Spurs 104-87 (+17)
That was a nice team. Wonder how they would have fared against the Warriors.
I don't see Jeff Green doing what he did last night on a consistant basis, get Love back and I think they have a shot to make it a series. Say what you will, LBJ has been a tough out and I think he will be again.
I admit that I do not like Lebron. I don't know what it is. I know I don't like his emotional displays. What a contrast to other great players who were so much more understated.
But, I sure have to give him kudos for this year. No doubt about it.
What I would be interested in seeing would be a comprehensive examination of his play during clutch moments. Now I know he has his share of excellent play during such times, but he has also (at other times) not done a whole lot when it matters most. He didn't do much the last 5 minutes or so of the Game 7 win against the Warriors (and neither did anyone else). I swear I have seen him pass up the big shot. It looked to me like sometimes he really did not want to take it. I know Ray Allen saved his ass one time. Can't remember if he missed the needed shot before Allen hit the 3 in the corner.
My intuition tells me his clutch play is good, but not great and that he has positively sometimes mentally wilted in the most important of moments. I'd like to see how that compares to the likes of Jordan, Bird, Magic, and others. Then again, maybe I am unaware that at times those greats wilted as well. I sure know they did not pass up the big shot though.
I still tend to think his clutch play throughout his career drops him out of the Top 5, realizing this is sacrilegious to the mainstream.
I also know full well that the fact he has at times wilted and even not wanted the big shot is NEVER mentioned by the pundits who constantly laud how great he is.
The story of Lebron will always be tainted by how he abandoned Cleveland to align with stars in Miami. He gave up on Cleveland because he was “entitled” to a better situation. In some ways, he was duped by Wade to come to Miami, and he only returned to Cleveland when he saw he could compete there. Wade will always be able to say he did it without Lebron. Through all of it, a weak EC to rule.
So no- James is not worth of the same mention of players like Magic, Jordan, or Bird, who were the men who created the league and the game we see today. I have always felt that people forget what made them great- their unstoppable desire to compete. They never quit on their teams, they endured defeat, and persevered over failure. This will always be what made them great- and something that James will never be able to say over these men. He chose the easy path- join Wade and Bosh to get “not 1 not 2...”
That will haunt him forever, IMO.
I’ve never been a LeBron fan for many of the same reason that others have already stated but I have to admit the guy is earning my respect for what he’s doing on the court with little to no talent around him. Forget Harden it’s LeBron for MVP this year.
If 23 can somehow will him and his team to a title this year it will go down as one of the greatest playoff upsets of all time. It would be such an NBA storyline that it’s almost predictable. People are shocked they came back 0-2 against Boston but not me. The league would love nothing else than to see his Cleveland swan song to be a title before he heads to the LAL to resurrect that franchise.
By the way - looking back at his departure to Miami I have to say that Durant chickened out more than LeBron did simply because of the talent around him. OKC was a legit contender when Durant was there and I’m not sure the same could be said of James in Cleveland. If anyone took the easy way out it was Durant but yes I was annoyed as well with James going to Miami.
MC:
So no- James is not worth of the same mention of players like Magic, Jordan, or Bird,
Man!!!
I see parsing this into three facets. One, what kind of cast did these players have where they stayed put? Two, would they have stayed put if they did not have such talent with them? Three, had they stayed put with much less talent than they had, how many rings?
Magic - Jabbar, Worthy, Byron Scott, Norm Nixon, Wilkes.
Bird - McHale, Parrish, Dennis Johnson, Ainge, Walton.
Jordan - Pippen, Kukoc, Rodman, Cartwright (I think)
Sure they stayed put. And their teams were loaded. Not so with LeBron in Cleveland.
Pikes Peak posted:Say what you will, LBJ has been a tough out and I think he will be again.
Is that like last year when the Cavs got beat in 5?
There are no bigger Rocket fans, than L'Bron Hubbard & the Cavs today. I assure you he wants no part of the Warriors
Tschmack posted:
By the way - looking back at his departure to Miami I have to say that Durant chickened out more than LeBron did simply because of the talent around him. OKC was a legit contender when Durant was there and I’m not sure the same could be said of James in Cleveland. If anyone took the easy way out it was Durant but yes I was annoyed as well with James going to Miami.
I bet if OKC doesn't lowball Harden and then decide to trade him (and eventually Ibaka), then I bet Durant stays. They traded Harden because he wouldn't take 4.5 million cumulatively under the max over 4 years (1.125 million a year).
The Thunder offered Harden $55.5 million over four years -- $4.5 million less than the max deal Harden coveted and will get from the Rockets, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard.
I think OKC ownership was basically saying they weren't going to spend the money to keep that team intact. That Harden trade should be an embarrassment to that franchise forever (and probably karma for the move from Seattle).
Brainwashed Boris posted:Pikes Peak posted:Say what you will, LBJ has been a tough out and I think he will be again.
Is that like last year when the Cavs got beat in 5?
There are no bigger Rocket fans, than L'Bron Hubbard & the Cavs today. I assure you he wants no part of the Warriors
LeBron is better than Durant, but not by much. They cancel each other out. Plus, Draymond and Igoudala match up better on defense versus LeBron better than almost anyone.
The rest of the lineups are a massive mismatch. Draymond, Steph, Klay, Livingston, and (presumably) Iguodala versus Love, JR Smith, Korver, Hill, and Tristan Thompson. They'd need a mercy rule for that matchup.
Don't underestimate what Looney & Jordan Bell are bringing to the table too.
Been interesting watching their development.
Basically it ended up being Steven Adams for Harden. I like Adams, but this might be the worst trade in NBA history for a guy (Harden) who didn't want to leave (unlike Kareem, for example, who basically forced his way out of Milwaukee). However, Ray Allen (who also would have stayed) for 3 months of ancient Gary Payton and Desmond Mason is close.
https://thunderousintentions.c...de-five-years-later/
The Rockets received Harden, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward.
The Thunder received Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, a 2013 first round pick that became Steven Adams, a 2013 second round pick that became Alex Abrines, and a 2014 first round pick that became Mitch McGary,
Letting Harden walk was a mess that’s for damn sure. It actually reminded me a lot of the Brewers many years ago when they lowballed Paul Molitor and dude went on to win a title with Toronto. Inexcusable.
That team of Durant, Harden, and Westbrook might be the greatest “what if” in modern sports history. They had 3 of the top 10 players in the league on the same team.
