Heat or Mavericks

[jcdavey]

Best tweet of the night... Tonight we are all Mavericks...

I know folks resent us because we win, but fans literally resent LeBron because he is...

What will be interesting now is to see what happens to the Heat if the NBA locks the big three out in order to achieve a hard cap...

who tweeted that, sarah palin?


anyway, it's kinda funny, that people are celebrating lebron losing, and really all he is was a guy who took his free agency decision to new lows via espn/nike commercials

but celebrating jason kidd finally winning a title, a guy who beat his wife

 

[BradyManny]

I don't like Jason Kidd, but there probably isn't an NBA team in the league without a douchebag on it. This Celtics team is pretty clean - Delonte has gotten into trouble, but everyone knows he's trying to do right. But most NBA teams have a bad apple. I do not like Kidd at all.

It was a pretty epic series, which featured 4 extremely good games, which is rare. Start to finish this will go down as one of the better postseasons, with a lot of great storylines and a lot of good, close games, amazing comebacks. It's what the NBA needed right now.

And even moreso, they need Lebron to lose. The Heat are now a team you want to watch whether you are a Miami fan or not - you want to tune in to watch them lose, and that's very valuable for the NBA.

 

[ausbacker]

I don't like Jason Kidd, but there probably isn't an NBA team in the league without a douchebag on it. This Celtics team is pretty clean - Delonte has gotten into trouble, but everyone knows he's trying to do right.

It was a pretty epic series, which featured 4 extremely good games, which is rare. Start to finish this will go down as one of the better postseasons, with a lot of great storylines and a lot of good, close games, amazing comebacks. It's what the NBA needed right now.

And even moreso, they need Lebron to lose. The Heat are now a team you want to watch whether you are a Miami fan or not - you want to tune in to watch them lose, and that's very valuable for the NBA.

I agree with this post BradyManny. Minus the Celtics untimely exit it's been one of the better NBA post-seasons to watch. There were so many plot lines that eventuated as series unfolded.

 

[BradyManny]

I agree with this post BradyManny. Minus the Celtics untimely exit it's been one of the better NBA post-seasons to watch. There were so many plot lines that eventuated as series unfolded.

And the Finals didn't even need shenanigan star-friendly-refereeing to stay interesting...maybe David Stern will finally get it.

 

[randomk1]

F Miami...lechoke was amazing..walking off the court and not congratulating them at all...loser

Didn't BB do something like that after the 07 loss?

 

[Boston Boxer]

Didn't BB do something like that after the 07 loss?

no...he tried to meet at the 50 yard line but it was just chaos...so he left the field

 

[Kontradiction]

Honestly, I bet these two guys are the biggest d-bags on the planet and everyone around them and on that organization probably can't stand them. Their arrogance is appalling. We know Lebron was not well-liked in Cleveland, so I imagine combining his douchebaggery with Wade just makes them even more insufferable.

Meanwhile, DeShawn Stevenson can mock his opponents on every made three pointer and can badmouth his opponents through the media and get away with it, scot free. Nice double standard amongst the Heat haters out there. If LeBron or Wade had done any of the stuff that Stevenson got away with, they'd be crucified. And if you can't agree with that, you should probably just stay away from any conversation pertaining to Miami because you've clearly got too much of a bias.

That said, what Wade and LeBron did was simply punk sh!t. They just need to cut that crap out and get back to playing the game of basketball. The explanation for it was even more lame.

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

I honestly have been too busy to keep up with all of the hate or even watch Game 6. Work has been killing me lately. With all of that said, I recorded Game 6 and saw the rest of the series, and I only have one thing to say: Touche', Dallas. Dirk put the entire team on his back during that playoff run in a way that I haven't seen since Dwyane Wade in 2006 and Jordan in the 90's. They have a great, complete team and are a classy bunch (for the most part). Aside from DeShawn Stevenson, they deserved to win one. Stevenson, meanwhile, can get hit by a bus for all I care.

I don't buy into the fact that LeBron lost the Heat the championship. He didn't. But he didn't do anything to help them, either. Time after time, I saw him standing still at the top of the key with one man in front of him (usually Jason Kidd) watching the offense unfold around him. It was like he was content to just sit back and watch Wade try to get him a championship. The problem with that, though, is that the Heat no longer have a Shaq under the rim that can grab rebounds if Wade is off and distribute it out to the shooters. The Heat have a 6'9" guy who is a very hard worker and is a defensive presence, but, in the end, is no Tyson Chandler. LeBron needed to do a better job at just about every area of his game: shooting, ball-handling, penetrating, and crashing the boards. I said this before, but I'll say it again: LeBron looked like D-Rose did in the ECF... not ready for the moment.

For the Heat, defense got them to the big dance and defense cost them in the big dance. Dallas was taking what they pleased from the field and they did so with excellent ball movement. In the first couple of games, you could see the Heat defenders try to cover that ground after the ball would go out to the Dallas shooters. In the last couple of games, it was almost like they quit trying because they didn't want to expel energy trying to stop something that they had no control over. For that matter, LeBron's defense was terrible on Jason Terry down the stretch too.

Going into the offseason, I expect the Heat to dump Mike Miller's salary and go after a free agent C. I would love Tyson Chandler, but he's a Finals winner and will cost a nice chunk of change. The Heat will not be able to afford him. I would expect for them to take a look at options like Nene, Marc Gasol, or even Greg Oden. Obviously, I'd rather have the first two.

 

[Kontradiction]

And the Finals didn't even need shenanigan star-friendly-refereeing to stay interesting...maybe David Stern will finally get it.

Dirk says hi. The Heat couldn't so much as fart on him in the paint without getting whistled for a foul. Of course, I don't want to go overboard in blaming the referees as I've always contended that it's a lame **** excuse. But the officiating was still bad. It just wasn't bad in the Heat's favor. Coming in, I expected Dallas to get more calls. This surprised most, but I had a pretty easy explanation for it. The viewership and ratings were through the roof to watch LeBron get his first ring, right? So if you're David Stern, why not have the refs call it more toward Dallas' way and postpone that ring chase into the next season? Makes sense if you're a believer in conspiracy theories (and I know you are).

 

[BradyManny]

Dirk says hi. The Heat couldn't so much as fart on him in the paint without getting whistled for a foul. Of course, I don't want to go overboard in blaming the referees as I've always contended that it's a lame **** excuse. But the officiating was still bad. It just wasn't bad in the Heat's favor. Coming in, I expected Dallas to get more calls. This surprised most, but I had a pretty easy explanation for it. The viewership and ratings were through the roof to watch LeBron get his first ring, right? So if you're David Stern, why not have the refs call it more toward Dallas' way and postpone that ring chase into the next season? Makes sense if you're a believer in conspiracy theories (and I know you are).

Kontra, I think you really got used to the physicality with which Miami has been allowed to play all season, and in particular in the post-season. If I look at the series as a whole, I think Miami had the benefit of the officials, overall. Not by a huge margin, but still a slight bias in their favor.

I mean, in game 6, the Heat suddenly shoot twice as many free throws as Dallas? The fact is, Dirk generally earned his trips to the line by going up against physical players, whereas I lost count of the number of times Wade or Lebron got bailed out. But it's just we are used to seeing that. Wade, specifically, all he had to do was look at the officials and get calls.

 

[BradyManny]

LeBron needed to do a better job at just about every area of his game: shooting, ball-handling, penetrating, and crashing the boards. I said this before, but I'll say it again: LeBron looked like D-Rose did in the ECF... not ready for the moment.

Re: Deshawn Stevenson, I mean look, the guy is a bit player on that team. What he does is not going to draw attention either way. Chalmers is clearly a bit of a punk, too, and even Wade/Lebron try to rein the kid in, but nobody talks about him either b/c he's just a bench player.

The face of the Heat franchise is Wade/Lebron, they acted like children. Stevenson is not the face of the Mavericks.

As for Lebron not getting blame for their losses - I disagree. If Lebron plays to even 75% of his capability, the Heat win that series without question. And that's the scary thought. If Lebron just gets out of his way, at some point this Heat team will win multiple championships.

The disappearance of his 3-point shooting was huge. I've always said he's not truly a skilled offensive player - can't dribble, can't post up, can't shoot. He has no real offensive moves. All he can do is run over people and get away with it. As soon as he added a 3 point shot, that changed. But when that goes away, he's back to being a one-dimensional player.

He completely got scared in the last few games, he passed up open shots, stopped going to the hoop, made bad passes and bad decisions. He got called for a travel once for going up in the air and landing (and attempting to toss the ball to a teammate as he landed), but I remember two other instances where he got away with it. That's purely indecisiveness. His problems were clearly in his head.

 

[Kontradiction]

Kontra, I think you really got used to the physicality with which Miami has been allowed to play all season, and in particular in the post-season. If I look at the series as a whole, I think Miami had the benefit of the officials, overall. Not by a huge margin, but still a slight bias in their favor.

I mean, in game 6, the Heat suddenly shoot twice as many free throws as Dallas? The fact is, Dirk generally earned his trips to the line by going up against physical players, whereas I lost count of the number of times Wade or Lebron got bailed out. But it's just we are used to seeing that. Wade, specifically, all he had to do was look at the officials and get calls.

Still unsure how you can say that Dirk earned his way to the free throw line when he got away with doing a lot of the same stuff that you complain about LeBron doing. Does Dirk not lower his shoulder and knock someone back? Is it really that different that, when Dirk does it, he steps back into a jumper whereas LeBron takes it to the hole? Both are fouls. The difference is that the Heat were getting called for it. Nowitzki was not. Still, like I said, complaining about officiating is a lame **** excuse. While I will complain about the double standard, I won't blame it for the loss. The Heat did plenty on their own to lose that series.

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: Deshawn Stevenson, I mean look, the guy is a bit player on that team. What he does is not going to draw attention either way. Chalmers is clearly a bit of a punk, too, and even Wade/Lebron try to rein the kid in, but nobody talks about him either b/c he's just a bench player.

The face of the Heat franchise is Wade/Lebron, they acted like children. Stevenson is not the face of the Mavericks.

DeShawn Stevenson is a starter, so I'm not sure how you can say that he's a "bit player". He also played a very big role in them winning this series. Dismissing his actions as tolerable while LeBron and Wade get strung up on a cross for coughing a few times just because he isn't the "face of the franchise" is a failure in logic. He was still acting like a douche, but didn't get called for it by the fans or the media because he was doing it toward the Heat.

Let me frame this using a situation you're familiar with: Does Terrell Suggs not deserve to be publicly called out for being a douche when he slams Brady verbally in front of the press? Of course he does. But he doesn't. The reason? Many people hate the Patriots and are willing to let that pass. However, when Brady comes out and says something back to Suggs, people are quick to jump on Brady for being a "classless douche". Do you see how these two situations are similar?

As for Lebron not getting blame for their losses - I disagree. If Lebron plays to even 75% of his capability, the Heat win that series without question. And that's the scary thought. If Lebron just gets out of his way, at some point this Heat team will win multiple championships.

And if Bosh was a presence in the paint the way he was in the Chicago series and if Joel Anthony was able to get rebounds and if the Heat's role players were able to knock down wide open jump shots in a timely manner, the Heat would have won the series without question too. Does LeBron deserve a lot of the blame? Sure. It seems as if EVERYBODY elevated their offensive games during the Finals except him. But he doesn't deserve all of it. Their team defense, collectively, failed. That was the major reason for losing the series.

The disappearance of his 3-point shooting was huge. I've always said he's not truly a skilled offensive player - can't dribble, can't post up, can't shoot. He has no real offensive moves. All he can do is run over people and get away with it. As soon as he added a 3 point shot, that changed. But when that goes away, he's back to being a one-dimensional player.

It's called confidence. All of the great players have it. LeBron somehow lost his during the Finals. That's why I'd put LeBron in the "very good" level right now, but I wouldn't put him as a "great". Dwyane Wade, however, I would label "great". His numbers in the two Finals that he has participated in have been jaw dropping.

He completely got scared in the last few games, he passed up open shots, stopped going to the hoop, made bad passes and bad decisions. He got called for a travel once for going up in the air and landing (and attempting to toss the ball to a teammate as he landed), but I remember two other instances where he got away with it. That's purely indecisiveness. His problems were clearly in his head.

Agreed. Anybody that has a history in basketball could clearly see that his confidence wasn't there. Once again, he simply wasn't ready for the moment.

With that said, though, the Heat got to the Finals and took a 2-1 lead with an aging PG and a 6'9" C. Imagine what they could do with Chalmers (who I saw take that step during the playoffs, not sure about everyone else) starting next year and a seven footer in the paint.