NBA 2010

[Ingmar]

Yeah this may be the first (and last) time I'll ever be rooting for a Texas team in anything. Helps that they have Kidd too.

[Jeff Kelly]

The only thing going for the Heat is Wade he made 33 Points in game 4. LeBron was awful and has been the entire final series (Karma is a bitch apparently and I suppose quite a few Cleveland fans are rooting for the Mavs right now).

Ever since the Supersonics played the Bulls in 1996, this is probably the closest a German player ever got to winning an NBA ring and I hope they will pull though and win game 5 and 6.

Dirk was simply awesome, broken finger, 104° fever and still the boss on the court.

If only the games weren't on at 3 a.m. Central European Time.

The refereeing so far has been truly awful, though. I get that NBA finals are competitive but the amount of defensive and offensive fouls and interferences the refs have allowed so far is ridiculous, the Heat should lead on fouls by quite a margin in my book.

[caladein]

A star player in the NBA pretty much has to attack someone with an angle grinder to get called for a foul.

[Paelos]

Dallas is locked in right now. They need this next game to establish momentum. Force Miami to win 2 at home to take it.

[ghost]

Dirk was simply awesome, broken finger, 104° fever and still the boss on the court.

There's a lot of talk about Koby and Wade and James, but Nowitzki is the best player in the NBA right now.  His cast is, and has been, dismal compared to the surrounding teams of these other guys, but he still manages to pull his team along. 

[ghost]

Charles Barkley is fucking awesome. 

"Listen, if the Miami Heat were playing the Washington Generals I would pick the Washington Generals," Barkley said with a chuckle. "It's something about that team that annoys me.

"They just a whiny bunch and I can't root for them."

[Ingmar]

I've always <3ed Sir Charles.

[Ozzu]

The Mavs pretty much have to win tonight. If they go down 3-2 and have to win 2 in a row in Miami to take the series? I don't see that happening.

[ghost]

Yep.  Tonight should be an awesome game.  I recommend tuning in.

[Paelos]

I think this game comes down to two players, and they aren't the stars.

Jason Terry and Shawn Marion need to be effective for the Mavericks in order for them to claim a win. Terry needs to get some steals, play solid D, and get his assists. Marion needs to get 5 rebounds, a block, and put up at least 10 in the paint. They both need to combine for at least 30 points.

When they both live up to those expectations, the Mavericks win games. When they don't, the Mavs are a mediocre team that Dirk can't carry.

[ghost]

Don't rule out the contribution of Tyson Chandler.  When he scores double digits the Mavs often win.  He's an important defensive/rebounding presence, sure, but when he's having a good game it opens thing sup more for Terry and Marion.  The Jet and The Matrix......what a couple of stupid nicknames. 

[Hoax]

Really? I'm pretty sure this is Lebron's game to win long before it comes down to the contributions of those three or hell anyone on the Mavs. He's either going to complete some kind of confidence meltdown tonight or take the game over and I don't think there is much the Mavs can do to influence which happens short of Stevenson saying something dumb during the game and making LBJ go all hulk on his ass.

[caladein]

Yeah, I think you guys are giving the Mavs a bit too much credit.  The Heat have simply collapsed near end of games and reverted into their early-season hot-potato style of offense.

The Mavs have played well enough to be able to capitalize on Miami's collapses, but without them this series would have been over already.

[Paelos]

Yeah, I think you guys are giving the Mavs a bit too much credit.  The Heat have simply collapsed near end of games and reverted into their early-season hot-potato style of offense.

The Mavs have played well enough to be able to capitalize on Miami's collapses, but without them this series would have been over already.

I don't think so. There's a pattern here about Lebron, and it has nothing to do with how well he plays. In fact, he's been getting progressively worse throughout the series, yet they are still 2-2. I'll go as far as saying he's a non-factor so far.

Lebron has 24 points and 9 rebounds = win
20 points and 8 rebounds = loss
17 points and 3 rebounds = win
8 points and 9 rebounds = loss

[Threash]

Yeah, I think you guys are giving the Mavs a bit too much credit.  The Heat have simply collapsed near end of games and reverted into their early-season hot-potato style of offense.

The Mavs have played well enough to be able to capitalize on Miami's collapses, but without them this series would have been over already.

This.  This series was a sweep if it wasn't for about 12 minutes of horrible basketball by the Heat.

[ghost]

Games are 48 minutes though.  And a great team doesn't tank two games in the final minutes (almost three).

[Paelos]

Miami collapses, so the Mavs win?

I think you're giving the Mavs no credit personally. Let's look at game 2. The Heat are up 15 with 7:11 left. Look at how many outside shots Miami is forced to take, and look how many times Dallas misses. Dallas went 10/11 in the last 7 minutes, and forced Miami to take nothing but outside shots. That's not a collapse by Miami, that's domination by Dallas.

Dallas forces Miami to take a 3 pointer, they miss. Dallas makes a jumper. Down 13.
Dallas forces Miami to take a 3 pointer, they miss. Dallas makes a layup. Down 11.
Lebron misses a driving layup. Dallas gets fouled, makes both shots. Down 9.
Dallas forces Miami to take a 21 foot jumper, they miss. Dallas makes a layup. Down 7.
Lebron fouled, makes both shots. Dallas makes a 3 pointer. Down 6.
Lebron misses a 16 footer. Dallas makes an 18 footer. Down 4.
Miami turns it over out of bounds. Dirk makes an 18 footer. Down 2.
Miami misses a 15 footer. Dallas gets blocked and turns it over. Still down 2.
Lebron misses 3 pointer, offensive rebound, Lebron misses 3 pointer, offensive rebound, stolen by Dallas. Dallas makes a layup. Tied
Dallas forces a 3 pointer, Miami misses. Dirk makes a 3 pointer. Up by 3.
Miami makes a 3 pointer. Dirk makes a driving layup. Dallas wins by 2.

[ghost]

And besides, how many times had Lebron done this in his career?  I think that we've moved beyond the "he's mailing it in" phase to the "he just can't do it" era.  He's not mentally tough enough to seal the deal.  Wade is, but he's bringing along a simpering crybaby and an overblown "star" in Bosh. 

[Mosesandstick]

Seriously? Before the finals Lebron was one of the top if not the best player in the playoffs. Matchups and defensive schemes matter.

[Paelos]

Lebron's a great player. He is one of the best in the league in terms of talent. He is not consistent, though.

I also don't think Miami dictates this series. I think Dallas does.

[Rasix]

He's just a polarizing figure, now especially.

People like to forget he won 55-60 game a year on Cleveland with a bunch dead weight around him.  Those teams were never going to win a championship.

He has bad games.  All of them do.  Just when he does it, it seems like it's an invalidation of his entire career every time it occurs.  Nobody shrug a shoulder when Wade throws up a stinker in the previous series. Wade just murders Dallas.  I don't know what it is about this team, but he just gets nutty.

Lebron doesn't seem like more a crybaby than every other player in the NBA.  All of them whine and bitch that they were fouled on every single shot they miss and most they make.  Just look at Dirk, Wade or even JJ Barea (if you can find him on the floor).  Kobe? He'll cry and then throw the entire team under the bus when he's done (had every right to, his supporting cast played like garbage this playoffs).

I suppose I'm a Lebron defender, but I don't find him any more odious than any other player in the NBA.  They've almost all got issues and unlikable aspects depending on where you stand.

edit: As for the series, I think Dallas is a better team when they play well.  Their ball movement and floor spacing can be incredible at times.  Plus, they've got some serviceable big interior players, which Miami lacks. I think Miami is poorly coached as well, their offensive sets disappear at times and that has to be on the coach.

[ghost]

Lebron is a very, very good player.  Then again so were Karl Malone, John Stockton, Allen Iverson and Charles Barkley.  They didn't have what it took to win a championship.  Lebron is in the prime of his playing days.  Age 26-29 is when most athletes are at their physical and mental best, yet he still can't get over the hump in the finals.  If they win this year it certainly isn't because of him, but because of the excellent play of Dwyane Wade.

[Rasix]

Iverson had a shit cast his entire career. Plus, he seemed to be unwilling to be less selfish.  I wouldn't put him with Malone, Stockton, Barkley (or Ewing, Miller, etc).

Stockton, Malone, Ewing and Barkley ran into Michael Fucking Jordan.  In a game of "rock, paper, scissors" Jordan is a nuclear bomb being lauched from orbit.

[ghost]

This is true, but out of a cast of the top 50 NBA players of all time very few do not have an NBA title.  I'm just throwing those guys out there as very good players who didn't have a title.  There are more than just those to pick from- Patrick Ewing, for instance.  And you actually make the point a little bit by showing that Lebron doesn't have a "Jordan" to go up against.  Koby is good, but he's not MJ and none of these teams, not even the Lakers of the past four years, can match up to the MJ teams of the 90s.  LBJ should have, by all rights, gotten himself a title by now.  And he probably would have one if he didn't choke so bad when the game got to the nitty gritty.  He just doesn't have the mental toughness of the true winners.  Of course if he can finish it up this year I'll take it all back and give him praise.  Still, he had to have Wade to make it happen......  This makes me think he's more the Pippin than the Jordan figure.

[Jeff Kelly]

Nowitzki is the far better player than LeBron. Without Nowitzki the Mavs would have never made it to the playoffs, without LeBron the Heat would have barely noticed a difference if you look at the stats.

Also I don't care for the Heat even if James were the best player since Jordan, he's still a ginormous dick and the Team is the NBA equivalent of a boy band with a cast of mercenaries that would sell their own grandmothers for a few dollars.

[ghost]

Dwyane Wade is a far better player than Lebron.

[Azuredream]

Dwyane Wade is a far better player than Lebron.

Dwayne Wade has more confidence/mental toughness/clutch/whatever than LeBron, but if we're just going on basketball skills the above statement is completely wrong. If you were defining player in a more rounded sense then I would agree.

[Hoax]

You guys are fucking jokers.

You can't have it every way. If he doesn't win it proves he doesn't have it if he wins its because of Wade even though he carried Miami to the finals and nobody in their right mind would say that he couldn't have been mvp this season if not for a lot of non basketball factors.

Does he lack the steel of MJ or Kobe? Sure seems like it. But he also has 2-3 games to find that and I really think that if he does find his edge and win this championship it will not be the first and that wont be because he has Wade.

[Threash]

Seriously? Before the finals Lebron was one of the top if not the best player in the playoffs. Matchups and defensive schemes matter.

Deshawn Stevenson did not hold Lebron to 8 points, nobody but Lebron did that.

[01101010]

You guys are fucking jokers.

You can't have it every way. If he doesn't win it proves he doesn't have it if he wins its because of Wade even though he carried Miami to the finals and nobody in their right mind would say that he couldn't have been mvp this season if not for a lot of non basketball factors.

I should preface this comment by admitting I loathe the NBA in all it's splendor. That said, LeBron dug his own grave. He left Cleveland because he couldn't do it all by himself and the Cavs were not putting the pieces in place to supplement him. He showed this "MIA" performance several times in the playoffs in Cleveland and it begs the question, now that he has his supporting cast, why is he still under performing in some of these key games and relying on his teammates to bail out his poor play. Same shit happened in Cleveland, only with what some would consider a second rate cast - now that he has a first rate class, why does it continue to happen? It's eerily similar to exactly what happened in Cleveland in the playoffs. I will admit, LeBron is incredible when he is in the mindset and damn near unstoppable on the court when that happens. However, even if he wins, it will tainted with the notion that he basically sold out for a championship. I can't argue with what he did since a championship really does define you as a pro-American athlete (looking at you Marino). But how he went about doing it was a huge black mark.

[ghost]

Until Lebron brings home some trophies he will always be under the microscope in a bad way.  These people that are comparing him to MJ or even Koby are full of shit until that happens.  And yes, if they bring home a title this year it will be because of D-Wade.  Just look at Wade's stat line from the series.  That's all you need to know.

Edit:  Here is James's, just for shits and giggles.

[Paelos]

See what I meant about Terry and Marion now?

Barea was also HUGE.

[ghost]

Note that Chandler had 13 points.  If he scores in double digits versus the Heat they win.  Marion had a good game but only had 8 points.  The whole team played well, which is really the big deal in the Heat versus Mavericks discussion.  The Mavs play as a team, the Heat don't. 

[Paelos]

Marion's contributions aren't as a points guy though. He's a defensive dude, and he was +17 on the floor. That's frankly amazing. Add in the 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals, and he was a force.

[Threash]

This is whats wrong with Lebron, the guy gets a triple double but his only two points in the fourth quarter come when the game is already decided.  Lebron James cannot score 2 points in the fourth quarter, i don't care how many rebounds or assists he gets.  Specially in a game that Wade is hurt.