NBA Basketball

I think his defensive intensity is what set him apart from other great scorers. I have told the story of a playoff game where the Bulls were playing the Jazz, and we had seats five rows back of the Jazz basket, when I saw the most remarkable play I have ever seen at any level. Jordan goes to double team the mailman who was cutting down, and he purposely left his man unguarded and just when the guard lets go of the pass to Jordan's man, and without looking at the passer he stops and as quickly as I have ever seen somebody move on a basketball court he cuts back and steals the pass in mid air and runs the court for a dunk. I simply have never seen somebody who had that timing or another set of eyes in the back of his head. I have watched James play in Chicago when he was first with Cleveland as a young player, and he simply is the mailman, but the mailman never got LeBron's offensive foul calls. Both players exceptional. Soft touch for big men. Quick on their feet. Able to guard multiple positions, and basketball smart, but not a Goat.

http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/19496748/nba-betting-nuggets-2017-nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-cleveland-cavaliers

Wow. you would lose money betting on James in his career, and it was money in the bank with Jordan. I do not sport bet. It always seemed like a sucker bet.

This is too long a break before the final.

Anxious for the start.

First possession by James he drops his shoulder and charges through.

He pushed a player to the floor, and no call. However, he was fouled twice and no call, so I guess they are letting them play. It just is not fair. James and the Cavs are so inferior to the Warriors that folks will be watching something else by game three.

James finally got charged with a charging foul.

Mrs. Seaoat said it perfectly.....He is not a basketball player, he is a football player. James just gets away with offensive foul after offensive foul, and the fans in cities where he plays, know that he does not get called for knocking people over. At least the mailman would finesse with his size advantage off the pick and roll with Stockton.

The gs defense is really on tonight. They literally have the Cavs trapped beyond the 3 point line.

The Warriors ran circles around the Cavs.

The Fluke of last year, will not be repeated. Last year two of the three offensive weapons just went cold. This year Thompson went cold and they still had three players who dominated the Cavs. How can you be the goat when you cannot win rings and are the Buffalo Bill? Hell, James will not even break into the top five players as he is the mailman. A great player, but just a Jim Thome where longevity and stats substitutes for greatness. The Mailman was incredible and his stats as the number two scorer is as good as it gets, but not once has he been discussed as the goat anymore than Jim Thome grinding out incredible stats has been discussed as the goat.

The Warriors defensive alignment was interesting. They virtually left James alone and focused on the best player on their team by shutting down Irving. They attacked high, but collapsed on the ball and Irving was shooting over a seven footer. I think in the next three years we will be looking at the best NBA team in history. I also think that two players in that game will pass James on the top players list. Curry and Durant are clearly better than James right now, and if they have good health they each could easily have over four rings in the next few years, and continued stat grinding. Winning is what it is about.

James had points but he missed 5 or more simple shots in the paint. Several times as he charged the basket...he was stripped of the ball.

I think that unless something dramatic happens... fight/suspensions... that it'll be 4-0.

The Cavs don't have the stamina....that may have something to do with a game every 3 days. Ridiculous.

It's not over yet.  The Cavs looked just as outmatched in first two road games from last year's Finals, but then LeBron churned out the greatest performance in NBA history - cementing GOAT status.  It is very unlikely LeBron will be able to do that again this year given the addition of Durant, but it isn't impossible.  

When a 73-9 team - the greatest in NBA history - acquires an additional player who is better than everyone on that team, of course they're going to be nearly impossible to stop.  Again, this 73-9 team didn't just get another really good all-star player.  They got a player who is better than anyone on the squad - a squad that was already stacked.

But this is what players like Durant have to do if they want to get a ring in the height of the LeBron era.  Gather all the best players in the West onto one team and hope for the best. I think it was Pippen the other day who said that Durant joining the Warriors is like a kid becoming friends with the school bullies so he won't get messed with anymore.

BS....Durant joined a team that plays as a team.

cementing GOAT status.

Yep, like he cemented the team of the ages.....you just cannot make this up. James was the worse defensive player on the floor last night. He looked like an old man, and today the sports channels are just roasting the wannabee Goat. He will NEVER be the goat. As one former NBA player said, when is James going to pass Magic, Russell, Kareem, Kobe, as he does not think James will ever get higher than sixth on the list.

I had picked up on how easily folks were going around him three years ago, as it is clear he just cannot play defense any more and the Cavs being second from the worse defense in the NBA at the end of the season. Last year was a total fluke. James played well, but the Warriors had two of their players go ice cold, and the chances of that happening were such a fluke that it will NEVER happen again. They owned James on defense in the second half, and like he has done his whole career, he took the air out of the ball movement in the first half taking all the shots and hogging the ball. Irving is the best player on the Cavs, and the Warriors just shut him down. If this series does not go 4-0, I think the warriors would just be pulling the wings off the fly to watch it suffer for another game. The East the last decade has easily been the worse division in NBA history, and from that division James got to the finals. He is buffalo. He is Tome. He will NEVER be the goat. Cannot even win a Championship as he brought three all stars to the cavs.....too funny now to hear about how good the warriors are when the team of the ages was pronounced just three years ago. Miami was not even in the same zip code as the Warriors and Bulls and two of the players on the court will pass James on the all time list. Guaranteed. They will get five or six rings.

BS....Durant joined a team that plays as a team.


He had his fill of hero ball in Ok.  He also has a laid back personality and the folks which make up the Warrior team are winners.  Just because James failed stacking another team to make up for his deficiencies in Championship games, does not make Durant the bad guy.....just more in demand than James.

The Warriors are on their way to be the greatest team in NBA history.   I could see six to eight rings from this group, and Durant is certain to pass James on the Goat list.  The buzz all day has been how James cannot guard anybody.  Nothing new, and all five who are ahead of him could play defense.   James is done.  Durant is going to get four rings as he passes James.

How do flip the switch on defense. You do not.

Curry was nose to nose w LeBron last night in the fourth quarter. Curry literally took one step to his right and put up an uncontested shot... one step. No candidate for goat is that bad on the defensive end.

Period.

I agree with both of you!

Disappointed in James with his whining about calls. My grandkids think is a cry baby.

It is a joke to talk about James as the Goat. It was the same thing when Kobe got his last championship. It is a waste of energy and it was the rave at the time. It just happened that time was when James was playing. James has been the bridesmaid almost his entire career, and with the decline in his defense the last five years, he will NEVER be considered the goat by knowledgeable basketball people any more than Miami was the team of the ages......they were a mediocre team with an incredible weak division, yet some thought them an all time great team. Two of the Warriors starters could go fishing playing that Miami team and they would win by double digit, and the remainder of players would just fake, and go around James. At least sports media is stopping the Goat conversation in light of his defensive deficiencies last night, but the sad thing is this has been going on for almost five years, and all today they were laughing at how bad his defense was........it has been that way for years, and his being the bridesmaid his entire career confirms the obvious.

Stats aside....Jordan has the charisma James will never have. The public loves him.

In my opinion, LaBron's media stunt, regarding his move to Miami backfired.

Jim Thome
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/appreciation-of-thome-and-quietest-600-hr-career-of-all-time/ar-BBBPOK2

Great stats just always the bridesmaid, of course when James tried stacking the deck, he still barely won but for Allen's three pointer, and the fluke last year, this man's career would have been one ring. I personally think he is a better role model than Jordan, and a great human being, but a goat......I feel sorry for him when the uninformed opinions try to advance that argument only to be buried in an avalanche of "are you joking", which then begins to look like anti James. I think he said it best that who is the goat is always an opinion and comparing players is silly. He knows he is not Jordan. He knows the comparisons hurt his perception in the public, like calling Miami the team of ages was just fan love and utter idiocy when you look just three years later at a team which could have beat that Miami team with two of their starters fishing.

There have been very few athletes in any sport that were as good when it mattered most.

LeBron isn't even in that conversation.