2017-18 NBA Basketball

I can definitely see why the Cavs coach is having anxiety attacks. James is not an easy person to coach and have fit into a game plan. Fifty points. It might as well be seventy. They cannot win with James. Nobody can. I just want the playoffs over because I am sick to death hearing about James and his offensive stats when he is killing team play and cannot play a lick of defense. I am so bored by his bully ball play and horrible team play. However, the Warriors have gotten quite arrogant. I wish they lost tonight because sloppy passing and turnovers are mental errors. They must be as bored with this finals as I am.

The Warriors have to be the luckiest team of all time.  

 -  They won their first ring because two of the three star players on the opposition were injured.  Nevertheless, LeBron still pushed the series to six with a team of scrubs.  

 -  They lost the next year when the Cavs were healthy, in spite of having home court.

 -  Then they go out and get the second best player in the league in Kevin Durant and complete the super team to get their second ring.

 -  They only reach the finals this year because the best player on the opposition during the Western Finals was injured, and a normally solid 3-point shooting team has a 0-27 stretch through the 2nd and 3rd quarter.  They still don't win in convincing fashion.

 -  Once again facing a Cavs team that might be the worst roster LeBron has ever carried to the Finals, they escape with a Game 1 win at home after 1)  three terrible calls that swing the game by six points in the final two minutes, 2) an 80% free throw shooter can't make his second foul shot, and 3) JR Smith didn't know what the score was after getting the rebound and dribbled it out with 4 seconds left.

All that said, the Warriors may be the best NBA team ever assembled.  It is a testament to how great LeBron James is that this is even a rivalry at all.  

I predict the series will be over in either 4 or 5.  

It must be hard to watch the playoffs if you're a Jordan fanboy.  Pretty much all we have heard this year is how historic everything is.  How great LeBron is.  How he may be the GOAT.  It seems like every time LeBron takes the court a new record is broken.  We have simply never seen a player like this.  There is no longer a GOAT discussion.  Jordan was a good player who happened to be in the right place at the right time.  Had he ended up anywhere else, his career would have tracked just as any other player of his caliber would have tracked:  he would have continued to struggle to get out of the first round of the playoffs and maybe with some luck would have eventually had a supporting cast good enough to reach a Final or maybe even a ring, but no more.  Never forget, Jordan couldn't even make varsity in high school. LeBron was NBA ready at that age.

We can pencil LeBron into the finals no matter who the coach is, who his teammates are, are who the opposition is.  He is just that dominate of a player.

Ha Ha Ha.......thank you......I needed more of your delusions before I pass from this world..........the team of the ages....... and now the Warriors are lucky, and poor Lebron has nobody around him.......damn......it may be infrequent now, but when you talk basketball.....I smile. Buffalo........and of course the Mailman......good...second most points...but just never could be Michael. Ten years from now little Boards is sitting on the couch as Lebron has cobbled another team together in 2028 and Papa Boards is explaining to son..... Oh, the greatest just lost another championship series......but daddy, how can you be the greatest when you cannot beat your contemporaries(its Bds kid.....so he uses words like contemporaries) no son.......any team with Lebron on it is the team of ages......later in the kitchen while little boards is talking to mom, little boards asks......mommy was daddy whacked before you met him?

The goat can't be absolutely terrible at half of the game.  His d likely isn't in the top 500 all time.

The only thing he does worse is coach.

Boards talking points are from the morning sports show. The one that refers to James as the greatest player in the world.

To me it is like the talking heads telling the world how great Kelly is as a quarterback going to the superbowl four times. It is like saying Don Beebee was the greatest receiver ever because he played on those four teams which lost the super bowl. The whole stat thing without winning is hilarious. The mailman is the second on the scoring list....he too would bulldoze people to the basket, but could never win.....he was a great player. Lebron is a great player on offense and an incredible human being.....but in the end.....you got to beat your contemporaries to be compared to people who were not your contemporaries. It is just that simple. However, it is good to see boards pumped on Lebron again. Hell, the warriors are just dicking around and almost lost that game......I do not like the arrogance, but they privately think James is a joke......Steph with a sly smile congratulating Lebron on a great game.....too funny, but they better knock it off because they could actually lose one game.....legitimately......oh the shame.

2seaoat wrote:To me it is like the talking heads telling the world how great Kelly is as a quarterback going to the superbowl four times.   It is like saying Don Beebee was the greatest receiver ever because he played on those four teams which lost the super bowl.  The whole stat thing without winning is hilarious.  The mailman is the second on the scoring list....he too would bulldoze people to the basket, but could never win.....he was a great player.  Lebron is a great player on offense and an incredible human being.....but in the end.....you got to beat your contemporaries to be compared to people who were not your contemporaries.  It is just that simple.   However, it is good to see boards pumped on Lebron again.  Hell, the warriors are just dicking around and almost lost that game......I do not like the arrogance, but they privately think James is a joke......Steph with a sly smile congratulating Lebron on a great game.....too funny, but they better knock it off because they could actually lose one game.....legitimately......oh the shame.

While I like and respect you Mr. Oats I must say you are sounding like Donald Trump and I say that only because it is the most dead cinch correct analogy I could muster. YOU don not decide the parameters of a NBA players' prowess and, likewise, neither do I or pkr or anyone for that matter.. If you choose to use number of rings as your metric so be it but your attitude towards LJ is hilarious or at least in my mind and in the minds of most NBA fans. Your fidelity to MJ is admirable and I too recognize his legacy. LJ has been breaking the records of MJ on a regular basis so we could perhaps agree they were both GREAT but if the Cavs lose this in a sweep it will not diminish the accomplishments.

It is worse than just MJ. I think Bill Russell was light years better than James. I believe Karem was in another galaxy than James. I believe Kobe made James look insignificant during his first years in the league. I think Magic is so much better than any version of Lebron. I think Wilt was a man while James a mere boy. I think Larry just knew how to win. I think shaq had it all compared to James. I put James and Karl Malone the mailman about the same, but Karl could play defense. Donald Trump does not know chit about basketball......Seaoat is a fountain of wisdom about basketball......no....more like a Volcano spewing hot knowledge everywhere. Lebron James is Kelly, but in the decade absence of talent in the east.....like the AFC.......you got to hype Buffalo, and when the Volcano erupts and says......are you kidding me, you actually believe these talking heads who get compensated by creating an illusion that James has been playing good teams......too funny......it is going to be HUUUUUGGGGEEEEE when the Warriors sweep.

Michael Jordan.....6-0 in Championship games......Lebron James with a loss will have lost 6 championship series which he lost to his contemporaries......you know the better players and team.  I will be shocked even with Klay and Mr A not playing that the Warriors do not sweep.  With Klay hurt, maybe they will quit dicking around.  One more spew about what a great team the Buffalo Bills are and how they have made four super bowls....the talking heads tried to sell that load of crap year after year, and finally the truth raised it ugly head.....Buffalo was never that good and was coming from a half decade of weak AFC teams.  James has had a decade plus of absolute mediocre in the East at best, or probably the worse the East has been in NBA history.  I understand they have to peddle that chit to keep interest in the league, but you sure do not have to believe it.

Even though the Warriors are not near a 100%, they could win 90 of the next 100 games against the Cav defense. How does such a horrible team on defense even get to the finals. I would like to see if in the last fifty years there has ever been a worse team defense in the finals. I mean is anybody speaking the truth. The warriors are wounded and not at full strength and they cut through the cavs like a hot knife through butter.

James did not even bother to run down and play defense as McGee had another uncontested dunk. Where is the truth. What would any high school or college coach do when a player repeatedly does not even bother to run back on D. Crickets in the broadcast booth because they have to make America believe that James is great.........dear god will somebody please start telling the truth. Hell NBA viewership hit records this year and this failure to tell the truth needs to stop.

Durant just blew by James who was guarding him......like a swinging gate. Something is really more off tonight than normally. He is as the announcer said a bulldozer going to the basket on the offense side, but what the hell is he doing tonight on defense......crickets from the broadcast booth.....usually van gundy will speak the truth, and has hinted twice that James is not getting back on D....no chit.

Where can James go next year without hurting a team? He is a team killer, but now he is not even trying to pretend that he is playing defense. If he goes to Philly he will kill those young players and the momentum they are building. If he goes to LA, he will kill those young players development. He needs to find a good defensive team like Boston to make a contribution, but there is no way Stevens is taking James.......So now we will listen for another year about how great Buffalo was to make the super bowl, and how James just needs to find the right fit with another team......no Lue does not have anxiety because he is coaching the goat.....he has the anxiety because obviously he is not, and this team killing player which kyrie could not wait to escape and as Bosh said......it is hard. Oh, in the last five years James has not even been top five among his contemporaries as Steph reminded him tonight.

I think Houston would be the best fit. They don't play much d during the regular season. But they showed that they can in the playoffs. I was listening ESPN radio yesterday morning while running an errand and they were doing the MJ vs lebron goat debate. Defense wasn't even mentioned. Imo you can't even be considered without a complete game. He might be the most complete offensive weapon... but probably not the most dominate. That would probably go to some of the centers you mentioned. They need to just put this argument to rest. Lebron in a great player... nuff said.

Kelly got his Buffalo Bills to the finals four straight years. People were talking about what a great QB he was. Now, you do not even hear a whisper about Kelly being in the top ten. Super Bowl rings matter, except when a league is trying to mask how horrible the competition and talent had become in the East. This last year was the first year in a decade that some East teams were showing signs of greatness......It would be like Ted Williams not going to war and continuing to play baseball with the talent depleted as others left for war. There was no war, but historically during Lebron's career there never was a period in the NBA where the East for over a decade could not produce good teams. Defense is important, but not winning against your contemporaries repeatedly as the other teams which have beaten Lebron repeatedly had better talent, could play defense, and were well coached.

I have become quite strident on the lies of the media to sell something so they can get more revenue. For a decade we were sold a fantasy where the Mailman playing historically weak competition put solid offensive stats up, but failed to play a lick of defense which contributed repeatedly to the losing in Championship series. When will the first honest sports journalist tell the truth about the last decade. I agree Lebron is a good player, and a better human being, but so was Kelly, but if you cannot beat your contemporaries and you lost six championship series......which may be a record for all time chokes, you do not compare that player to those who actually played defense and went 6-0 in championship series.......but even after cherry picking players for the last eight years......he could not get it done because he IS the reason they lose.

2seaoat wrote:James did not even bother to run down and play defense as McGee had another uncontested dunk.  Where is the truth.  What would any high school or college coach do when a player repeatedly does not even bother to run back on D.  Crickets in the broadcast booth because they have to make America believe that James is great.........dear god will somebody please start telling the truth.  Hell NBA viewership hit records this year and this failure to tell the truth needs to stop.

James staying behind on defense...happens too many times.

James staying behind on defense...happens too many times.

He simply is getting worse on defense with every game. Five years ago it was his ego thinking he could guard 1-2-3, but those players were blowing by him even in his first year with the heat which I correctly pointed out was contributing to their losing because he could not be coached where he played his proper position and was not ball hogging. i get people attacking stars. Jordan was attacked. Kobe and Magic were attacked, but there has never been a player in the NBA where there has been a blind eye to that person's defense. James in the last three years has mastered from behind his player blocking the ball against the backboard. You hear this choir of admiration of the defensive prowess of that move, when every coach in America is going.......what.....letting your player repeatedly blow by you and then once every ten time there is a block from behind.....are you kidding me?

The simple truth is the era of mediocrity in the East is coming to an end, and talented kids are already better than Lebron. The Greek freak, Hardin, Curry, Durant, and Westbrook have been light years better than James and this has been true his entire career. There always have been one or two players better than him his entire career. Kobe, Dirk, Duncan, buried James, yet when a player cannot even shine among his peers, foolish talk of comparing that person to non peers amazes me. Get the broom out.

no surprise. A well coached team working in concert on both ends of the court, versus a player coach who gets his stats......as Pippen said......if you want to win.......maybe some other people in the current NBA need to be next to meet the goat challenge. James is done. Curry, Durant, Harden, and Wesbrook will pass him on the list.

Durant was awesome tonight.

the probabilities of Lebron winning a championship series are never good. However, this narrative that the Cavs have nobody. They have nobody because other players did not get minutes all season, and they had a power forward distributing the ball. I mean it sure gave the mailman the stats, but never the championships, and we act surprised that having the second worse defense in the NBA is not going to win a championship......ever. Durant has clearly passed James and Curry passed him two years ago. Champions get considered as great but the poor coach is so shell shocked from dealing with James that his career has almost been ruined. If James was so connected to the game, why did he NOT call a time out. He had time. He knew the clock. He knew the score. However, he goes to the bench and has a hissy fit. Great team player.

Too funny. Stephen Smith of ESPN says James has meetings with the Warriors, Boston, Philly, and Houston. The guy cannot win so he is looking to get rings by hopping on teams which will be in the finals in their division. It tells the whole story of Lebron James and his running up stats. It is not like he has not done this before. Any team which takes James will not win a championship. Unless he is coming off the bench and is in the fifteen minute range per game.....never will happen.

It'd be a shame to see him ruin the young and promising celts or philly. Hou would be fun.

He's a chemistry killa.

I think he has lost his mind if he thinks his reputation can be saved by joining q championship. The six lost championships are his scarlet letters which he must bear in history.

If he goes to a lesser team and gets some of these young people to join him and he works for a couple of years to build a championship caliber team, but he is desperate at this juncture.

James picked the players on his team...the Warriors certainly don't need him. the play as a team.