Phlip

As much as I would hate to talk about a not-yet-eliminated #1 seed in any playoffs series, it looks as if Miami has Chicago figured out. Miami dodged a bullet when Boston did all their heavy work for them when they stupidly shipped off Perkins, which did the same thing in the end for both teams anyway, lol.
It is so unlikely that Chicago figures a way out of this one that I am gonna go ahead and write them off for dead in this one, they can chalk it up to experience. They need a viable #2 scoring option, maybe they should make a move for James Harden, who deserves to START somewhere.
(^^^ only half that sentence is serious)

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Gnnr

Are those supposed to defensive advantages or offensive ones?

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tricky_ab

After OKC hands Westbrook a max contract, they'll have injury concern issues to deal with (Perkins), bad contracts (Perkins, Westbrook), and me-first players (Westbrook).



Rapper’s curse dooms Thunder | Blog Archive | The Basketball Jones | Blogs | TheScore.com

Oh snap...

Riq

I really wanted this series to go 7 but it doesn't seem possible especially since Rose confermed that he can't beat LeBron one on one. One good thing for Chicago is that D-Wade is playing hurt. If they can take advantage of that tonight, this series could be headed back to Miami. That being said at the start of the playofs I picked my team to make it to the finals but not win it this year because our core roleplayers had been hurt. Now that they're play well I feel that we can win it all if we make it there. Dallas although a good team, has not met anything near what Miami/Chicago are in these playoffs. Deep or not, it won't matter when you're only going 8 deep. As far as the "lone Mav fan" that just decided to show his team colors goes, keep thinking this Heat team is only 3 deep. I guess it shows that you only watch Mav's games and have no clue how other teams play. Also keep in mind that Dallas has been scoring 105 ppg against teams that can't spell defense. Miami on the other hand will hold your team to 90ppg at best if their defense keeps clicking the way it has against Boston and Chicago.

"Tricky ab" I don't think giving Westbrook a max deal is a bad contract. He's a great player in the making but he's not a PG. It's kinda like D-Wade he was drafted as a PG but got moved to SG because he played the 2 better then the 1. If OKC go out and get a good PG, they can move Westbrook to the 2 and will become a dangerous. My problem is with Durant, he doesn't look like a guy that should be the leader on that team. He's way too passive when asking for the ball. There is no excuse for Maynor to be going iso on Dirk when the game is on the line

Phlip

I should qualify those as "potential" advantages...
And there is a combination mixed within the assessment.

While maybe giving Westbrook a max contract is not a wholly bad idea in general, OKC giving him one is a HORRIBLE idea.
I am tired of non max contract players getting max contracts; Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh and the ghost of Alan Houston's knees included.

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dontxploitme

cool story bro

LoneStarSilvia

Harden had them cats in overdrive when he was running it, I haven't followed the Thunder all that much, but I wonder how much they've experimented with having them both on the floor. It might've been quite a few times and I just missed it.

Some food for thought on Westbrook, ala Marion:

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...o-pg-they-need/


I was one of the guys bashin' on Westbrook too, but the whole tea mis damned young, who knows what he'll develop into. But if they did try to move him, CP3 would make a HELL of a deal for them.

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tricky_ab

Series would tied right now if Kurt Thomas had Boozer's minutes. No lie.

WERDdabuilder

wow. really rose? again? missing clutch fts will be the story of your life.

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LoneStarSilvia

Holy....damn.

I don't think any of us saw that one coming.

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KiLLeR2001

Horrible. Bulls don't deserve to advance after a choke like that. Well played, Miami.

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SimpleS14

Wow...what a game and what a great comeback for the win. Great series and I look forward to see the NBA Finals.

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Riq

No worries, the Bulls are a great team. They play awesome defense, I see them being in the ECF again next season. I can't say that they choked they were just locked down but who knows what happens.I remember back in '04 we came close to the finals and it took one more season of adding pieces. The Bulls are at the door, they will be a problem next season in a big way. The only problem with the Bulls is, they overpaid for the worst "star" in FA last summer. Had they gone after Amar'e, this series goes 7 easy. They have to find a way to unload Boozer but at this point it's impossible.


Great time here in Miami, can't wait till the finals begin. Sadly I will be stuck working in North Carolina for a month starting Monday so I won't even get the chance to make it to game 1 or any game for that matter FML

frsh4

haha cooooooool.

Gnnr

Well played series by Chicago. Hardest fought I've seen in a long time.

On to The Finals!

Heat in 6

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theronin

well played Miami. these finals should be amazing. can't wait. i'm pullin for Dallas, but at this point it's anyones series.

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Phlip

Wow...
I apparently dozed off and didn’t notice I had until my power blinked in a thunderstorm and the TV went off at 12:47, so I missed the particulars.
But before I moved to the couch, a friend IM’d “wow, Chicago came to play tonight,” to which I responded “you know that last gasp someone takes on their deathbed?”
He understood. I wake up this morning to the email “damn dude, you weren’t playing!” and I had to look and see, I AT LEAST gave them the game last night as their death rattle, I didn’t have them pegged for finished until game 6.

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Riq

Yeah I have to admit 3 minutes left and 12 points down, my wife and I were talking about game 6 on Saturday. D-Wade once again woke up late in the game. That 3 pointer and 1 was huge. I have not seen him hit many of those, it was James Jones like. LeBron once again was clutch. I still can't believe that Boozer is so useless in this series. Dude got sat down for the whole fourth.

Phlip

Yeah, I never gave Chicago a chance after losing games 2 and 3… My FB status before the game was “Chicago ain’t coming back from this, much like LeBron’s hairline,” and this to the laughter of a group of friends who actually like the guy for whatever reason, but have no choice to accept that I have not and will not.
Coming into the series, I said Chicago was the last team with a realistic chance of beating Miami, and I am still of that opinion.
Though I hope lightning continues to strike for Dallas. History has told me they’re playing with borrowed time, though, lol.

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Riq

wow Scottie Pippen just droped a bomb on Mike and Mike in the Morning.

Pippen: "Jordan best scorer ever but I may go as far as to say LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game."

I can't say that I agree with him this early in LeBrons career but I can understand what he means. Jordan was never the Passer, Robunder, Defender or floor QB that LeBron is and Jordan wasn't 6'8 1/2 270 and able to guard all 5 positions. But I can't put LeBron there just yet. Then again, Scottie is a top 50 player that played with MJ so his opinion holds a little water if any.

Phlip

I would not task LeBron with this mystical ability to “guard all 5 positions,” as so many people seem to want to do here…
1-3? DEFINITELY, for profit.
4? perhaps, but leave it to some fine details.
5? not when they're where they're supposed to be on the court

The Center position is a dying breed in the NBA. Everyone seems to have moved down a notch (Power Forwards are playing like Small Forwards, Small Forwards like Guards, etc…), so it is only natural that a wide-framed small forward could guard a “higher” position, and even then it is not in the as-defined roles of that position. You damn right he will guard a 4 or 5 who is trying to put the ball on the floor and shit. I’ve yet to see him ATTEMPT to guard a back-to-the-basket 4 or 5 with any success.
Right now, there are 2-3 “real” centers left in the league worth their salt – Dwight Howard (and his offensive chops are still questionable), Andrew Bynum and Andrew Bogut (both of whom are questionable health-wise). One might include the ghost of Greg Oden, but his health is a punchline.

Maybe it is the historian in me, but it is hard for me to compare players drafted since 2000 with the greats of the eras before them. Yes, it remains to be seen what they pull off, but I’m of the inserting an in-his-prime Jordan, as we knew him, in the league as we see it now would be like an open vagina for him, since defense is less skilled and offenses less hindered by those defenses. A 35+ppg average for Jordan would be more like 45, lol.
In a league of pussies who can’t take a punch for the most part, his size will make him a better rebounder, and his size and convenience of having the ball in his hands will make him a better passer (see Magic Johnson for why this can work). This takes nothing from him, he is a 3-times in a generation physical talent (D. Howard, Blake Griffin), and has made the most of his generation of it thus far. I cannot take that from him.
But, if his name was to be mentioned near Jordan’s, he will need some jewelry, 3 or better.

The fact that he seems to personally buy the hype that everyone sells on his behalf is what bothers me the most about him.

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Gnnr

Jordan is the GOAT and no one will come near that. What he did for the game and how he elevated it to a World level. Changing the culture of the NBA, and it seems like the Nation. The Dream Team. The Shoes. The aura around him. Etc. Etc. Plus, like Phlip said, he played in an era that was much more physical when he attained all those accolades.

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tricky_ab

Rose struggled the entire playoff run not just against the Heat, so the Heat's defense can't take full credit for Rose's poor performance. Rose simply didn't step up for whatever reason or he let the MVP award/discussion get to his head.

The Heat have just been in 5 game series so far. They've been tested but haven't really faced adversity in the post-season. Dallas had the biggest choke job against Portland in the first round and had a tight 6 game series, and then overcame it to sweep the defending champions. So IMO, Dallas is more ready for a tough series.

I still think Lebron becomes a big baby when things get tough and starts to choke and shy away from the pressure. Nothing I've seen so far this playoffs has disproved that. To the Heat's credit they have taken care of business, so they haven't had to be in really tough situations.

Phlip

I don’t think it is that the MVP talk went to his head, as much as it is that the MVP award in and of itself is JUST a regular season award. It is given based upon performance in the regular season – you know that time where you will play LITERALLY half of your schedule against non-playoff teams?
When the playoffs began, Rose had to learn the same thing that MJ learned, that Kobe, AI, LeBron, D-Wade, and now Dwight Howard learned/are learning.
YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE!!!

When the playoffs begin, the effort turns to neutralizing the best player(s) on the other team, and that is where you need a Steve Kerr, Derek Fisher, you get the point… Right now, the Bulls’ second option – contract wise – has NEVER been worth the money he has been making. Never more evident was that than in this series, and hopefully this is the last team Boozer fucks over like this.
No, I don’t blame Rose or the MVP award one bit, the fact remains that the “Baby Bulls” are still just that.
Charge it to the learning curve, make the right moves in the offseason and be ready for next year, a season wiser.

http://network.yardbarker.com/nba/ar..._video/4802361

^^^ Like I said, growing to do... No one on ANY of the teams knocked out of the playoffs pulled any shit like that.
Think he knows that Hollywood is just a few minutes from Miami?

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frsh4

really? this whole season [regular & post] has been tough for the Heat. everywhere they go theyre booed, remember the cleveland game?
its true that earlier in the season lebron wasn't efficient in clutch situatuions but ever since the boston series he's been turning that around. and especially after last night's game how can your argument be valid? im not trying to be argumentative lol and i'm trying to put aside my own biased opinions but your statements make no sense to me.
what has dallas faced? their collapse against portland? okay, what else.
they controlled the lakers, they beat the thunder 3-1..
i think the heat are much more prepared than the mavs. they were able to overcome chicago's defense.
it's gonna be a good series but i see it ending in 6 and a parade in south beach.

Gnnr

Umm. Ok.

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tricky_ab

My whole point was that Dallas had a competitive first round match with some major setbacks, which they were able to bounce back from. Please tell me the equivalent for the Heat. They've won 4-1 every series, no series has been tied beyond game 2, so no they haven't faced any real adversity yet. They've held homecourt and won on the opponent's floor. It means they've been taking care of business. And if they preserve their homecourt advantage against Dallas in the Finals, it wil also be a quick series. I'm just saying if it actually becomes a real battle (not a fake battle that Lebron keeps proclaiming the Heat have been in this post-season), then it's IMO the Heat could have some problems since so far none of the Eastern teams have been able to push them against the wall.

Gnnr

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Phlip

Revisiting this thought…

I could be wrong, but it feels to me that Pip is doing this kinda disingenuously to heap extra pressure on LeBron and pals at the edge of their most pressure-filled moment. No clear-thinking individual with any mind for basketball (except maybe LeBron himself, and even I don’t give him THAT much shit) would believe it.
But right now, the Heat are at the precipice (have I used that word twice in 3 days, sober?) of what COULD knock on the Bulls’ legacy in the East. Pippen couldn’t chide LeBron for chasing a ring, because Pippen did his own version of it, when he went on his “I’m the man” chase for one as the Spurs/Lakers dynasties proved him otherwise.
That said, he puffs up LeBron’s little ego… “shit, if Jordan’s best friend says I’m better than Jordan, maybe I am!”

[Phlip note – I know that Charles Oakley would be sooner classified as “best friend,” as far as league people go, but when a egomaniac has their heads filled with bullshit, they hear what they want to hear]

Miami Heat fans, I STRONGLY suggest not taking this bait. It is not something that can be claimed, and especially not at this point in his career. Fill his head up with that bullshit and he will go the same direction of EVERY other “next Jordan”-touted ballplayer (not named Kobe Bryant, and even he went as far as to drive the comparisons BACK to Jordan even though he was damn near universally hated) went.

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tricky_ab

Easy killer, I have Heat in six...

My friend mentioned this earlier today, and I'd like to hear what he actually said.check out the score behind Jordan, versus the Heat. Coincidence?! I think not!!!



Only in the NBA do people troll themselves like this.

It's preposterous to even begin a comparison to Jordan with LBJ. To me, Kobe shouldn't even be there...but at least he's achieved some measure of the things Jordan did, so it's quasi-plausible.

LBJ? Jesus.