***Official NBA Thread***

[duffer]

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Haha Mo.

Yesterday
"They deserve respect; they're a good team. But we're the best team in basketball."

How about shutting up and letting your play do the talking, Shmo.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

How long before Lebron starts taking some heat?

Lebron playing 1 on 5 against the Magic defence led to a bunch of turnovers in that game. They need more ball movement and West and Williams have to start knocking down shots late in the game.

 

[duffer]

Lebron playing 1 on 5 against the Magic defence led to a bunch of turnovers in that game. They need more ball movement and West and Williams have to start knocking down shots late in the game.

That's the only play Mike Brown knows. Guy would make a great defensive co-ordinator but he's clueless on devising ways to break a good team down. Very limited coach, but fits in well with the rest of the team riding on the coattails of Lebron.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

MJ could get his team over the line in these games.

 

[Hoggy31]

aw jeez.


Still think it'll be a Lakers/Cavs finals for quoting purposes, they showed glimpses of their best today.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

It'll be a Magic/Lakers final.

Lakers will roll at the Staples center, suck on the road in Denver and win game seven in a blowout. The Cavs will probably lose game 5 at home.

 

[Sanz]

The point which still remains that having Shaq in the team alters an opponents entire scheme of guarding a player like Wade. Watch any of the highlights of the game and you'll see almost all of Wade's penetration was accompanied by Shaq making a move along the baseline or pulling a post defender away from the rim which spreads the floor and creates a whole heap of lanes towards the rim.

Without his presence it's a lot easier for a team to set up a defence to tackle Wade, which is what we are seeing this season now that Dwayne's healthy again. He's a bit like Kobe for mine, get it done without Shaq and then we'll see.

Shaq failed to win one in 2004 with a better player (Kobe), a better coach and arguably a better team in LA. LA were beaten by Pistons in 2004 Finals 4-1, with Wade they beat the Detroit team 4-2.

I remember the entire playoffs and Shaq was harassed throughout the playoffs, first by Bulls, then by Pistons. It was he who who rode the championship on Wade's performance not the other way. Anyone who watched the series can tell you that Wade was unstoppable throughout the Playoffs despite being double teamed and even triple teamed a no. of times.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

He's not saying Shaq carried Wade, he's saying that because Shaq is in the team, the defence has to guard Wade differently because they can't leave Shaq at the post.

 

[Sanz]

Imagine how good MJ could've been if he had Moey instead of Scottie?

Common Now. You are getting ridiculous now. Without Jordan, Bulls failed to make the Eastern Conf Finals in 1994 and 1995 both. While Scottie Pippen was a good player, it was he who benefited from Jordan's presence not Jordan. His legend grew bigger because of Jordan.

Jordan was an exceptional Basketball Player and an exceptional leader on the court. His absence was fairly obvious in 1993-1995 Bulls team. Lebron is nowhere close to Jordan in either category, nobody is.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Didn't Scottie have his best season in almost every statistic in one of the years Jordan wasn't there, plus winning the All-Star Most Valuable Player (stupid bloody Survivor Challenge)?

Not saying I disagree with you, just interesting.

 

[duffer]

Shaq failed to win one in 2004 with a better player (Kobe), a better coach and arguably a better team in LA. LA were beaten by Pistons in 2004 Finals 4-1, with Wade they beat the Detroit team 4-2.

I remember the entire playoffs and Shaq was harassed throughout the playoffs, first by Bulls, then by Pistons. It was he who who rode the championship on Wade's performance not the other way. Anyone who watched the series can tell you that Wade was unstoppable throughout the Playoffs despite being double teamed and even triple teamed a no. of times.

Detroit in 2004 was an anomaly. That team played out of it's mind and no-one would've beaten them that year. They had the perfect players for their system and were the hungrier team by a long shot. The amount of hustle plays Big Ben, Sheed, Memo, Prince and Chauncey pulled out was off the charts. I loved that team. But you're being ridiculously disingenuous saying Shaq couldn't get it done that series when he was a 3 times Finals MVP already and none of his star studded cast of teamates bothered to show up all series.

You missed the entire point I was trying to make regarding Shaq's influence on the way teams defended Miami. They couldn't risk commiting everything to stopping Wade's penetration else they'd be giving up automatic dunks every possession down. We've seen the difference it makes having no post players with the way Atlanta were able to contain Miami in a lot of their games. Or what dcye said.

Oh, and that Mo Williams comment was me taking the mickey. The joke revolving around how infalted Mo's head seems to be these days. Can't believe people would think I'd compare him to Scottie with a straight face.

 

[Sanz]

You missed the entire point I was trying to make regarding Shaq's influence on the way teams defended Miami. They couldn't risk commiting everything to stopping Wade's penetration else they'd be giving up automatic dunks every possession down. We've seen the difference it makes having no post players with the way Atlanta were able to contain Miami in a lot of their games. Or what dcye said.

They tried and it didn't work. Wade was unstoppable even when triple teamed. To me

When you say "Get it done without Shaq and then we will see" it is giving Shaq undue credit because Shaq never got it done by himself, he always needed a Kobe even when he was at his peak. I remember a much younger Kobe shooting clutch shots and bailing out Lakers in a lot of dificult situations. Shaq alone was worked out fairly easily by Hakeem during his time at Orlando. While I am not saying that Shaq was a non-factor, but just saying that he was not the Shaq that we had seen during Lakers' 3 title runs. He was just another big man and as Fusion said Alanzo was a bigger factor in that series than Shaq.

 

[Pratters]

Interesting discussion on Wade.

 

[nightprowler10]

at duff's slating of Mo.

Cut your teeth by playing as the help defenders first before going man defender. For guards it's pretty easy just hold back a little bit instead of being right in their face so you can cut across them if they go at the rim, if they have a great jumper it might hurt you a bit but try and get your hands up and into them if the launch one.

Big men if they get the ball too close to the basket then forget about it best you can do is push up into them hard and try and contest. Key to rebounding is boxing out, if you're the closest guy make sure you wrap whoever you're guarding up and more often than not another of your guys collects the board.

On ball steals are the key skill for D imo, if you get a lot of steals you can get a truckload of points on the break, most big men are susceptible to a help defender coming over and nicking it form them but you gotta watch out if they are good passers then it's an easy three for a shooter.

On offence you gotta learn how to use screens and learn some of your team's plays and it becomes a lot easier.

Sound advice that. Always had trouble with steals until recently when I started dogging the players, they'd eventually slip up and lose the ball. Actually going for steals never did much for me.

YES YES YES, know some people who say Lebron>MJ. MJ could get his team over the line in these games. Series far from over, Magic could be on the end of a few hidings if they keep relying on the jumper that much.

Agree that MJ>LBJ (obviously) but Jordan went through his fair share of tough times in the playoffs before the Bulls started winning.

 

[duffer]

They tried and it didn't work. Wade was unstoppable even when triple teamed. To me

When you say "Get it done without Shaq and then we will see" it is giving Shaq undue credit because Shaq never got it done by himself, he always needed a Kobe even when he was at his peak. I remember a much younger Kobe shooting clutch shots and bailing out Lakers in a lot of dificult situations. Shaq alone was worked out fairly easily by Hakeem during his time at Orlando. While I am not saying that Shaq was a non-factor, but just saying that he was not the Shaq that we had seen during Lakers' 3 title runs. He was just another big man and as Fusion said Alanzo was a bigger factor in that series than Shaq.

You make fair points but the comment I was responding to was that he was a one man team during that series and I believe that was simply not the case because the presence of Shaquille changes the entire dynamic of a match even at this age. Haven't seen anything to prove that if you replaced his teammates with a bunch of mediocre ones the result would've been the same; which is what such a statement is implying.

 

[duffer]

Ugh, Chauncey in foul trouble now. Watch this game will get hijacked in the 4th.

 

[Furball]

YES YES YES, know some people who say Lebron>MJ. MJ could get his team over the line in these games.

LeBron's averaging over 40 points for the series and last night shot 44 points despite in my opinion not playing particularly well.

What more can he possibly do? It's not his fault that the rest of the team goes missing in the second half of games, forcing LeBron to do absolutely everything in the second half.

Mo Williams contributed literally nothing to the Cavs in the 2nd half.

 

[duffer]

Heh, Nuggz still haven't gotten an inbounds play.

And scoring 40+ is the least you should expect when you're taking 30 shots a game. It's not his fault that he has a team of scrubs or Mike Brown doesn't bother coaching offence but up to a point you have to question how much a guy dominates the ball when his team ins't winning.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Ugh, Chauncey in foul trouble now. Watch this game will get hijacked in the 4th.

Yeah, it's one big conspiracy, we know.