NBA PLAYOFF THREAD

[TruffleShuffle]

jordan-esque

 

i don't really get the point of these comments. people have this memory of jordan who would singlehandedly will his team to victory in the playoffs - and yes, he usually took the last shot - but he had good players around him and that's why they won. lebron has mediocre players around him and doesn't win. maybe he's not as good as jordan but it's dumb to denigrate him against a guy who clearly had a better supporting cast.

The comparisons to him were dumb to begin with, so we are taking the stupidity to its logical conclusion.

 

BTW, MJ never failed to win a championship as the #1 seed and LeBron has now done it twice. (He deserves some credit, of course, for getting to the #1 seed to begin with considering his supporting cast, but still.)

 

right but how does this reflect poorly on lebron? once the cavs get deeper into the playoffs they start facing teams whose #2-12 players are better, and they lose. all it says is that one-man teams don't win championships.

[17 Seconds]

mike brown just said "we fought til the end" in the postgame

[Careless]

jordan-esque

 

i don't really get the point of these comments. people have this memory of jordan who would singlehandedly will his team to victory in the playoffs - and yes, he usually took the last shot - but he had good players around him and that's why they won. lebron has mediocre players around him and doesn't win. maybe he's not as good as jordan but it's dumb to denigrate him against a guy who clearly had a better supporting cast.

Well, you can argue that the other Cavs players weren't good, but most of the NBA talent evaluators wouldn't agree with you. Obviously, none of them are the Pippen level, but the general feeling seems to be that they had a few guys as good or better than Grant.

[Keener98]

LeBron James. Known as Cleveland's savior but turned on us when we needed him most.

 

Wow Cleveland fans are not happy with LBJ lol

[TruffleShuffle]

jordan-esque

 

i don't really get the point of these comments. people have this memory of jordan who would singlehandedly will his team to victory in the playoffs - and yes, he usually took the last shot - but he had good players around him and that's why they won. lebron has mediocre players around him and doesn't win. maybe he's not as good as jordan but it's dumb to denigrate him against a guy who clearly had a better supporting cast.

Well, you can argue that the other Cavs players weren't good, but most of the NBA talent evaluators wouldn't agree with you. Obviously, none of them are the Pippen level, but the general feeling seems to be that they had a few guys as good or better than Grant.

 

well then nba talent evaluators have a poor grasp of talent evaluation and no concept of advanced basketball statistics.

[Careless]

well then nba talent evaluators have a poor grasp of talent evaluation and no concept of advanced basketball statistics.

Certainly possible. I have to remain completely agnostic on the subject, as I don't know enough to have an opinion.

[TruffleShuffle]

well then nba talent evaluators have a poor grasp of talent evaluation and no concept of advanced basketball statistics.

Certainly possible. I have to remain completely agnostic on the subject, as I don't know enough to have an opinion.

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/grantho01.html

 

stats would indicate that during his bulls years, he was one of the best offensive rebounders in the league, one of the best defensive power forwards in the league and was really good at not turning the ball over. plus he shot very well from the field. the cavs don't have anyone who fits that profile as being one of the best in the league at their position, besides lebron anyway.

[17 Seconds]

avery johnson is just so adorable

[JonJayCutler]

In the drivers seat now with home-court for the ECF and the Finals if necessary. Not to mention the freshest team left in the playoffs. Don't pull a Cubs, please.

 

I wouldn't say you're in the driver's seat. Orlando does have home court, but I don't think they're a huge favorite or anything.

 

Not a HUGE favorite, but they have home-court and just beat the 3-seed by a combined 101 points in 4 games. So they should be the favorites. They're also 28-3 since February 28, but that stat actually worries me. Should be a good finish to the playoffs regardless.

[SpongeWorthy]

The Cavaliers are making history at winning so many games in the regular season and not even appearing in the Finals the last couple years. How bad is their supporting cast really to easily clear 60+ wins two years in a row? It's mental/coaching, not talent.

 

You win 60+ games you're talented enough to at least MAKE the Finals.

[SpongeWorthy]

A team with a truly wretched supporting cast and totally relying on one player is like Kobe in 2006. The Cavs have good players. They just choke.

[Magnetic Curses]

I've never been so disappointed with a team, an effort, a coach, or an individual player in any sporting event I've ever watched.

 

Congrats, Sulley. You were right. Credit due and whatnot.

 

This sucks. The Brown and Indians are both at least 2-3 years away from making a fake championship run. The Cavs could possibly be done for the next decade or so if LeBron leaves.

 

This sucks more than I can possibly describe. I'm not really all that big of a LeBron fan right now.

 

i've been there a million times.

[RedFlash]

Am I the only one who thought it was strange fans were chanting New York Knicks when LBJ was at the line? Don't the Celts fans know the Knicks play in the same division as their beloved team, and would be rooting for him to NOT sign with the Knicks, who they would have to play at least 4 times a year? Boston fans are strange bunch.

[TruffleShuffle]

The Cavaliers are making history at winning so many games in the regular season and not even appearing in the Finals the last couple years. How bad is their supporting cast really to easily clear 60+ wins two years in a row? It's mental/coaching, not talent.

 

You win 60+ games you're talented enough to at least MAKE the Finals.

 

they easily cleared 60 wins this year? they won 61 and their pythagorean wins were 59.

 

and they were only 2-2 against boston and orlando during the regular season. lebron and mediocre cast can beat up on bad teams but teams with more depth can play with the cavs during the regular season and then game plan to force guys like mo williams and varejao to beat the during a long playoff series.

[Careless]

Am I the only one who thought it was strange fans were chanting New York Knicks when LBJ was at the line? Don't the Celts fans know the Knicks play in the same division as their beloved team, and would be rooting for him to NOT sign with the Knicks, who they would have to play at least 4 times a year? Boston fans are strange bunch.

Look to earlier pages. Bill Simmons set up a Twitter feed designed to create chants at Celtics games. He decided that would be best to screw with LeBron.

Edited May 14, 2010 by Careless

[Careless]

their pythagorean wins were 59.

I'd be shocked if pythagorean wins in the NBA were a good predictor of success. Anyone have a study?

[Guest]

In the drivers seat now with home-court for the ECF and the Finals if necessary. Not to mention the freshest team left in the playoffs. Don't pull a Cubs, please.

 

I wouldn't say you're in the driver's seat. Orlando does have home court, but I don't think they're a huge favorite or anything.

 

Not a HUGE favorite, but they have home-court and just beat the 3-seed by a combined 101 points in 4 games. So they should be the favorites. They're also 28-3 since February 28, but that stat actually worries me. Should be a good finish to the playoffs regardless.

 

They're obviously the favorite, but they've also had a much easier road than Boston and I think people are putting too much stock into that. That's not to say that Boston would have beaten Atlanta the way Orlando did (they wouldn't, as Orlando's sweep was one of the biggest in NBA history) or that Orlando wouldn't have beaten Cleveland. I think Orlando's a good team, but they played a crappy Bobcats team and an Atlanta team that wasn't as good as it's record and looked like it quit.

 

Both teams are peaking at the right time and as you said, it should be a good series.

[SpongeWorthy]

The Cavaliers are making history at winning so many games in the regular season and not even appearing in the Finals the last couple years. How bad is their supporting cast really to easily clear 60+ wins two years in a row? It's mental/coaching, not talent.

 

You win 60+ games you're talented enough to at least MAKE the Finals.

 

they easily cleared 60 wins this year? they won 61 and their pythagorean wins were 59.

 

and they were only 2-2 against boston and orlando during the regular season. lebron and mediocre cast can beat up on bad teams but teams with more depth can play with the cavs during the regular season and then game plan to force guys like mo williams and varejao to beat the during a long playoff series.

 

They lost their last 4 when Lebron was sitting so I'd say so.

[17 Seconds]

The Cavaliers are making history at winning so many games in the regular season and not even appearing in the Finals the last couple years. How bad is their supporting cast really to easily clear 60+ wins two years in a row? It's mental/coaching, not talent.

 

You win 60+ games you're talented enough to at least MAKE the Finals.

 

they easily cleared 60 wins this year? they won 61 and their pythagorean wins were 59.

 

they lost their last 4 games of the season because lebron wasn't playing

[JonJayCutler]

I wouldn't say you're in the driver's seat. Orlando does have home court, but I don't think they're a huge favorite or anything.

 

Not a HUGE favorite, but they have home-court and just beat the 3-seed by a combined 101 points in 4 games. So they should be the favorites. They're also 28-3 since February 28, but that stat actually worries me. Should be a good finish to the playoffs regardless.

 

They're obviously the favorite, but they've also had a much easier road than Boston and I think people are putting too much stock into that. That's not to say that Boston would have beaten Atlanta the way Orlando did (they wouldn't, as Orlando's sweep was one of the biggest in NBA history) or that Orlando wouldn't have beaten Cleveland. I think Orlando's a good team, but they played a crappy Bobcats team and an Atlanta team that wasn't as good as it's record and looked like it quit.

 

Both teams are peaking at the right time and as you said, it should be a good series.

 

The Magic played like crap against Charlotte, but swept them without any contributions from Howard. Atlanta is also a better team than what they seemed, but Joe Johnson decided not to show up for the playoffs. But I agree that the Celtics obviously had a tougher road. The question will be does an aging Celtics team have enough gas left to knock off both of the top seeds in the East? I'm going to go with no, but of course as a Magic fan I'm probably biased. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[Guest]

I'm trying to figure out who would be the better matchup for the Lakers, assuming they get by the Suns.

[illiniguy]

THAT'LL DO PIG, THAT'LL DO

 

Its your time to shine lol

 

it IS my time to shine, isn't it?

I just hope you get Luther Vandross singing in your one shining moment and not Jennifer Hudson.

[hawkeyecub]

Remember a couple of years ago when everyone started freaking out that LeBron, Kobe, Wade, etc. could/would go over to Greece or somewhere else in Europe because of the money?

[UMFan83]

I hate when everyone tries to compare a player to Jordan, they use Jordan's exact career arc for comparison purposes, like you have to win a title before your 7th year, or "Jordan's team never did this". Every career is different, and every players circumstances are different.

[Magnetic Curses]

I hate when everyone tries to compare a player to Jordan, they use Jordan's exact career arc for comparison purposes, like you have to win a title before your 7th year, or "Jordan's team never did this". Every career is different, and every players circumstances are different.

 

but you're also missing that fact that i was right about everything.