NBA Basketball

Boston did it. Wish I could have been there.

Boston with a high first round this year, and a high first round next year, will be attracting free agents. They are going to be very good for a long time. I like there coach, and I like their team chemistry, but the reality is that had Rondo not gone down with an injury, the Bulls would be playing the Cavs. The Bulls, the Cavs, and Boston simply are second tier teams. I would put the Cavs as the sixth best team in the NBA. It will simply be a boring championship, unless by some fluke Boston wins against the Cavs. You beat the Cavs with your bigs and good defense. We will see how bad the Cavs defense is, but I expect they will win the series.

The Warriors are very good, but when the Spurs lose two of their top players to injury it is hopeless.

Warriors looked great.

I really like the Butler coach.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19411097/indiana-pacers-unlikely-extend-paul-george-missing-all-nba-qualifier

Tonight's game was a complete mental collapse by Boston. They think they cannot beat the Cavs and that became a reality in ten minutes.

2seaoat wrote:Tonight's game was a complete mental collapse by Boston.  They think they cannot beat the Cavs and that became a reality in ten minutes.

I had to turn it off.

2seaoat wrote:Boston with a high first round this year, and a high first round next year, will be attracting free agents.  They are going to be very good for a long time.  I like there coach, and I like their team chemistry, but the reality is that had Rondo not gone down with an injury, the Bulls would be playing the Cavs.  The Bulls, the Cavs, and Boston simply are second tier teams.  I would put the Cavs as the sixth best team in the NBA.  It will simply be a boring championship, unless by some fluke Boston wins against the Cavs.   You beat the Cavs with your bigs and good defense.  We will see how bad the Cavs defense is, but I expect they will win the series.

Good call Mr. Oats . . . . . . GO CAVS!!!

Total fluke tonight. Smart had a career game, but the Cavs were the better team until the fourth quarter. I cannot figure this one out.

2seaoat wrote:Total fluke tonight.  Smart had a career game, but the Cavs were the better team until the fourth quarter.  I cannot figure this one out.

Boston has been shooting 20-30%....they started playing like a real team and hit the three's.

I cannot figure out Boston. The Bulls blew them out the first two games, and yes Rondo went down, but Boston does not give up. I like their coach. He was miked, and said that we have been down to the cavs by more and came back. He is calm.

I honestly thought the Cavs played the best team ball the first three quarters this year in the playoffs, and I have NO explanation what Boston did in the fourth quarter. The Cavs were simply the better team, and Love had an incredible first half as the team ball movement and passing was incredible. I did not see glaring errors on the Cav defense. Flukes happen.

Injuries are part of NBA basketball. I think the Bulls with Rondo would eat up the Cavs, but it is all fantasy. He went down, and the Bulls went down. The Spurs are simply going down in flames as they have lost two of their top five players. Now Boston has lost the heart of their team with IT out for the balance of the playoffs.

Boston has a huge upside with the draft, and now free agents are going to want to be in Boston. The Cavs had a fluke last year beating the best team in the NBA which has only gotten better. Their defense in the fourth quarter has them near the bottom of defenses in the NBA and I still expect them to beat the Celtics without Thomas. I sense the finals are going to be incredibly boring. It would be nice to have a little excitement in the semi finals, but I just do not see a collapse on defense this bad again by the Cavs. I guess flukes do happen.

No doubt the Cavs will beat Boston. But, they are running and gunning hard... can they go the distance? Probably not.

I think the Michael Jordan Bulls were the best team in basketball history, but in about two years I will concede that the Warriors have taken that crown. But for a fluke last year, they would be three peating with this championship. I just do not see any team in the east or west which is at their level. They have depth off the bench and four all stars. I just do not think we have ever seen somebody shoot the basketball better than Curry and in my opinion, he is still the league MVP, but some other players had great years and deserve to be looked at.....

2seaoat wrote:I think the Michael Jordan Bulls were the best team in basketball history, but in about two years I will concede that the Warriors have taken that crown.  But for a fluke last year, they would be three peating with this championship.   I just do not see any team in the east or west which is at their level.  They have depth off the bench and four all stars.   I just do not think we have ever seen somebody shoot the basketball better than Curry and in my opinion, he is still the league MVP, but some other players had great years and deserve to be looked at.....

The bench is deep and the team plays like a well oiled machine. Excellent coaching and altruistic players.

But for green screwing up and having to sit g5... the Cavs were done. That changed the momentum.

I was out to dinner with the wife and just got back with two minutes to play in the first half. The Celtics are up by 10. I call BS. They said James has four fouls in the first half. So the NBA has decided that people are turning off boring playoff games so they finally start calling James on his usual bull charges. I have lost all faith in the NBA being legitimate. I knew James was not being called on his offensive fouls for the last ten years, but it was good for the NBA so he has gotten passes, now they decide to make this a series. I am sorry, but without IT the Celtics should have lost in four games. Total BS. I figure they will get bigger ratings with a David vs Goliath and the Eastern TV market because the warriors are going to win in four against anybody.

2seaoat wrote:I was out to dinner with the wife and just got back with two minutes to play in the first half.  The Celtics are up by 10.  I call BS.  They said James has four fouls in the first half.  So the NBA has decided that people are turning off boring playoff games so they finally start calling James on his usual bull charges.  I have lost all faith in the NBA being legitimate.  I knew James was not being called on his offensive fouls for the last ten years, but it was good for the NBA so he has gotten passes, now they decide to make this a series.  I am sorry, but without IT the Celtics should have lost in four games.  Total BS.  I figure they will get bigger ratings with a David vs Goliath and the Eastern TV market because the warriors are going to win in four against anybody.

Irving turned the game around with more than 40 points. Love 17 rebounds.

It turned out like it should have turned out. Some of the foul calls were obviously wrong. James has been coddled for ten years, but calling some of those fouls was not even close. If Boston had won this game, ratings would be up by thirty percent.

It is hilarious listening to the Jim Thome is the best baseball player of all time, and the Buffalo Bills are the best football team of all time. Yep, great stats and longevity when you start playing three years earlier than the greatest ever, but in the end he just cannot win even when he has spent a decade winning in the East which is the worse division in NBA history, and simply pads his victories....oh yea and please do not mention the change from a five game to a seven game playoff series which is just more Jim Thome stuff.

Now we get to witness possibly the best team in NBA team history with at least two players who will surpass James on the all time greats kick the Buffalo bills down the road. No flukes this year. James is a great athlete. He just cannot be the best at the championship level as he will have to pack his team some more to even have a chance playing the best team in modern basketball era.

LeBron is allowed to create contact facing the defender... it's an advantage i don't recall anyone else getting away with. I don't liked it... i hope it's not a new norm like all those steps driving to the hoop.

PkrBum wrote:LeBron is allowed to create contact facing the defender... it's an advantage i don't recall anyone else getting away with. I don't liked it... i hope it's not a new norm like all those steps driving to the hoop.

He has definitely taken advantage of his size, dropping his shoulder and driving through players has given him a definite advantage.

In any high school or college game his bull rush offensive foul would be called. He uses his forearm to simply push the defender out of the way, and only gets called about 1 out of 10 times as fans in every NBA venue laugh about the double standard of the James "charge" non call. However, the NBA needed James to be a star. The NBA fuels its revenues with the focus on stars in every era of the league. James in my opinion is the best off the court major star in NBA history. So when such a great role model for kids gets that extra call, and the league prospers, it is good for the NBA image. I never liked the "Jordan Rules" which were very similar to the James rules, but Jordan never pushed people out of the way on offense, rather it was his aggressive defense that people got angry for the lack of calls. Pip and Jordan beat people up on defense, and tic tac fouls were not so much the standard. I feel like James is the Mailman who is the second on the all time scoring list, but NOBODY would take stats alone to determine the Goat, and James has a path to the goat, but honestly it is remote, less than 5% depending on championships, and a few more performances like last year in the finals.

Jordan played in an extremely tough defensive era... and he was the toughest.