***Official NBA Thread***

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Haha, I dislike Wade because he did well against my team? The line forms to the left of the list of players that have denied the Mavs a shot at the championship. The team that I respect the most in the league is the Spurs, who are their regional rivals and have dominated the Mavs over the years and denied them the Western Conference many times. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli are some of my favorite payers to watch.

It's a completely different situation. The Spurs have those rings because they were the best teams in those years, they beat you fair, and earned them. The Heat were gifted the Championship by awful, awful refereeing and Wade was the face of it. I find Wade eminently dislikable myself, and don't disagree that he acts like a douche, but I'd be very very shocked if you didn't resent him for what he was gifted when your side was clearly the better team.

As for the rest of your post, I'm not disagreeing with you and I think you took it as me accusing you of those things. I wasn't, I was really talking about the over the top hate that exists for the man that extends beyond his role as a villain in sports, which is why I mentioned his charity work. I don't have any problem with how you support or don't support a team, I respect you as a fan and (from what little I know of you) as a person.

--------------------------------------

In other news, I think it's funny how the Heat are cast as villains for a man leaving a town he was well within his rights to leave, when the team they face are cast as heroes after being stolen from a city they never should have been taken from. It;s funny how short peoples memories are, really. Bosh back and making shots makes these finals games much closer than people are willing to admit, but really, for Miami to win they need Lebron more on defence than they will ever need him on offense. He needs to keep Durant in his pocket as best he can, and hope Westbrook shoots them out of one or two games.

 

[Fusion]

It's a completely different situation. The Spurs have those rings because they were the best teams in those years, they beat you fair, and earned them. The Heat were gifted the Championship by awful, awful refereeing and Wade was the face of it. I find Wade eminently dislikable myself, and don't disagree that he acts like a douche, but I'd be very very shocked if you didn't resent him for what he was gifted when your side was clearly the better team.

As for the rest of your post, I'm not disagreeing with you and I think you took it as me accusing you of those things. I wasn't, I was really talking about the over the top hate that exists for the man that extends beyond his role as a villain in sports, which is why I mentioned his charity work. I don't have any problem with how you support or don't support a team, I respect you as a fan and (from what little I know of you) as a person.

Fair enough and I apologize if I took your post the wrong way. I will simply say that my dislike for Lebron/Wade is merely sports related and nothing personal. For me, it's fun rooting against them. That doesn't mean I don't respect their talent or that I will be devastated if they win the championship. Like I said before, it's just sports and I don't treat this stuff personally.

Anyway, we now have an awesome Finals matchup. Durant/Westbrook/Harden vs. Lebron/Wade/Bosh and the rest. I say OKC in 7.

 

[andruid]

In all honesty do the Heat really have the depth of talent to keep pace with the Thunder, who've got the likes of Harden and Fisher coming off the bench?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Hahahahaha.

 

[duffer]

The Heat when they're on stop slashing better than anyone in the league, which effectively takes Westbrook and Harden out of the equation, while the Thunder love funneling drivers right into Ibaka and Perkins who protect the rim better than anyone. How the refs call it will be the biggest factor here. And also if D-Wade decides to turn up for all 4 quarters.

Defensively it's all on the refs and I can see a free throw shooting contest happening. In which case the Thunder will win it.

 

[duffer]

Also wonderin what moves the Cektics can make now. They have two guys under contract for next season. This team could be so much different to the one now. Do they bottom out with Rondo and build through the draft and FA? Not seeing how they can add a young superstar to put next to Rondo with what they have now.

 

[andruid]

Also wonderin what moves the Cektics can make now. They have two guys under contract for next season. This team could be so much different to the one now. Do they bottom out with Rondo and build through the draft and FA? Not seeing how they can add a young superstar to put next to Rondo with what they have now.

Rondo's clearly the cap stone to build the Celtic's next Championship team. Perhaps they could use the cap space created by Allen & Garnett to bully medium market teams into releasing guys like Hibbert or Iguodala. Plus someone like Avery Bradley is really maturing nicely.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Iggy isn't bringing you anywhere near a championship.

They should definitely bring back Garnett though, let most of the rest walk. Maybe keep Bass. The big problem is that the free agent market sucks this year and no big star is going to come to Boston unless they know they've got a team to actually go to.

 

[duffer]

The Heat are so poorly coached its not funny. Thunder made all the adjustments at half time and it showed big time. Spo isn't going to last if he gets knocked out here.

 

[Ikki]

Wade with 12 in first 3 quarters and 19 all up. If he had contributed more the game would have been different. Miami could have been/should have been 10-15 points ahead at half time. Battier filled in for the scoring, somewhat, but Westbrook and Durant got too many between them in the end. Durant is ice cold at the end, a great shooter. But IMO Westbrook carried them till the end.

 

[nightprowler10]

But IMO Westbrook carried them till the end.

Durant was the only scoring in the first quarter! Russ played well aside from a few boneheaded plays that are par for the course for him and helped keep it close, but carried?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I was yelling at the tv for the Heat to stop ****ing switching and go back to trapping, which was killing the Thunder in the first half. For some reason they started to switch and got absolutely smoked by Westbrook. I'm usually on Spoelstra's side but that was awful coaching. They gave that one away.

 

[Ikki]

Durant was the only scoring in the first quarter! Russ played well aside from a few boneheaded plays that are par for the course for him and helped keep it close, but carried?

Sure, but Westbrook was doing so much more than just scoring. The momentum shift in the 2nd/3rd was down to him IMO and he ended up scoring more than Durant (by the end of the 3rd 21-19). Durant is a great scorer but somewhat passive elsewhere.

 

[Ikki]

I was yelling at the tv for the Heat to stop ****ing switching and go back to trapping, which was killing the Thunder in the first half. For some reason they started to switch and got absolutely smoked by Westbrook. I'm usually on Spoelstra's side but that was awful coaching. They gave that one away.

What do you reckon for the next game? Did you see anything to make you think that the Heat have enough to take this?

 

[Johnners]

Yeah Westbrook was immense in the 3rd quarter particularly.

 

[duffer]

What do you reckon for the next game? Did you see anything to make you think that the Heat have enough to take this?

They need Lebron and Wade to play balls out every quarter. Against this Thunder team no lead is safe so they can't afford sloppy stretches. They put points up so quickly. Miami's D has got to improve a heap though, the amount of easy buckets Ibaka got and the layups the Thunder got late in the game were too easy. I don't think Spo is a good enough coach to stop this though, Brooks has his number so far.

Heat need the next one, I can't see them holding 3 games in a row at home.

 

[Ikki]

From another forum, LOL:

"Space Jam, Dwyane Wade has been Space Jammed. He needs to call MJ, Bill Murray, and the looney toons to get his skills back for him."

 

[nightprowler10]

Anybody watching The Dream Team documentary?

 

[Riggins]

Want to see that real bad, trying to find a torrent of it as we speak.

edit: am i allowed to talk about torrents?

 

[Adamc]

Want to see that real bad, trying to find a torrent of it as we speak.

edit: am i allowed to talk about torrents?

ut00b

HD version