NBA Thread 2013-2014

Danny1982

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Every time Pop takes a timeout SA come back with a mini-run.

Miami just go home, rest, and prepare for next season. 4 trips to the finals were bound to have its mental and physical toll on everybody.

Congratulations SA. You deserve it.
 

Danny1982

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On one hand this game might increase the chances of Lebron leaving a little bit, but on the other hand it will make it much easier to convince Wade and Bosh to take a big pay-cuts, and in Wade's case to convince him to start from the bench, which will eventually allow the possibility of adding another good player, and thus increase the chances of Lebron staying..
 

PvsNP

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Spurs have been absolutely outstanding the last two games. Their first half last game was the most beautiful play I have seen in years.
 

Utd7

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I get the feeling that van Gaal and Pop are similar in that they are system coaches. If you put a player in their system, the player benefits and plays at a high level. Danny Green for example was a bench warmer with Cleveland, then he goes to the Spurs and plays in Pop's system and he has an impact. Hopefully van Gaal's system can have a similar impact with players like Cleverley.
 

adexkola

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I get the feeling that van Gaal and Pop are similar in that they are system coaches. If you put a player in their system, the player benefits and plays at a high level. Danny Green for example was a bench warmer with Cleveland, then he goes to the Spurs and plays in Pop's system and he has an impact. Hopefully van Gaal's system can have a similar impact with players like Cleverley.
:lol: Steady on. Pop's track record is way better.

I watched game 4 last night, next to a fellow Knicks fan who just happened to hate the Heat. He was obnoxious all night.

The Heat have been down in games before, but you knew they would flip that magical switch that turned them into swarming beasts defensively, and Lebron would draw double teams and kick the ball out to Miller/Battier/Lewis/Bosh/Allen, and it was a wrap before long. The Spurs have made a mockery of such schemes. They've confused the hell out of the Heat defense. Lebron is losing his man again and again. Wade just doesn't care. And the rest of the team is too slow to react. Offensively Lebron has been decent at least, but Wade was diabolical, and only Allen has been consistent with the 3s. Birdman looks overweight. Battier has one foot inside the commentator booth. Bosh used to be one of the best power forwards in the league. Now he's just meh. The offense is too one-dimensional, and Kawhi has done a great job limiting LeBron.

Going forward, the Heat need to convince the big 3 to sign on for less money (substantially less for Wade), relegate Wade to a bench role ala Man Utd Ginobili, make Bosh a pivotal player in the team, and cut the deadwood. There aren't many players who would turn down the chance to play with LeBron and have a decent chance of winning a ring for below market value IMO. They are a shoe in for the Eastern Conference finals next season at the very least with Lebron, beyond that they need to retool to compete for another ring.

San Antonio have been excellent. They have a solid future with Leonard and Green.
 

Utd7

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:lol: Steady on. Pop's track record is way better.

I watched game 4 last night, next to a fellow Knicks fan who just happened to hate the Heat. He was obnoxious all night.

The Heat have been down in games before, but you knew they would flip that magical switch that turned them into swarming beasts defensively, and Lebron would draw double teams and kick the ball out to Miller/Battier/Lewis/Bosh/Allen, and it was a wrap before long. The Spurs have made a mockery of such schemes. They've confused the hell out of the Heat defense. Lebron is losing his man again and again. Wade just doesn't care. And the rest of the team is too slow to react. Offensively Lebron has been decent at least, but Wade was diabolical, and only Allen has been consistent with the 3s. Birdman looks overweight. Battier has one foot inside the commentator booth. Bosh used to be one of the best power forwards in the league. Now he's just meh. The offense is too one-dimensional, and Kawhi has done a great job limiting LeBron.

Going forward, the Heat need to convince the big 3 to sign on for less money (substantially less for Wade), relegate Wade to a bench role ala Man Utd Ginobili, make Bosh a pivotal player in the team, and cut the deadwood. There aren't many players who would turn down the chance to play with LeBron and have a decent chance of winning a ring for below market value IMO. They are a shoe in for the Eastern Conference finals next season at the very least with Lebron, beyond that they need to retool to compete for another ring.

San Antonio have been excellent. They have a solid future with Leonard and Green.
Not necessarily. They are both champions in their respective sports and they both have a career winning percentage in the 60 percent range.
 

Danny1982

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:lol: Steady on. Pop's track record is way better.

I watched game 4 last night, next to a fellow Knicks fan who just happened to hate the Heat. He was obnoxious all night.

The Heat have been down in games before, but you knew they would flip that magical switch that turned them into swarming beasts defensively, and Lebron would draw double teams and kick the ball out to Miller/Battier/Lewis/Bosh/Allen, and it was a wrap before long. The Spurs have made a mockery of such schemes. They've confused the hell out of the Heat defense. Lebron is losing his man again and again. Wade just doesn't care. And the rest of the team is too slow to react. Offensively Lebron has been decent at least, but Wade was diabolical, and only Allen has been consistent with the 3s. Birdman looks overweight. Battier has one foot inside the commentator booth. Bosh used to be one of the best power forwards in the league. Now he's just meh. The offense is too one-dimensional, and Kawhi has done a great job limiting LeBron.

Going forward, the Heat need to convince the big 3 to sign on for less money (substantially less for Wade), relegate Wade to a bench role ala Man Utd Ginobili, make Bosh a pivotal player in the team, and cut the deadwood. There aren't many players who would turn down the chance to play with LeBron and have a decent chance of winning a ring for below market value IMO. They are a shoe in for the Eastern Conference finals next season at the very least with Lebron, beyond that they need to retool to compete for another ring.

San Antonio have been excellent. They have a solid future with Leonard and Green.
I think it was the combination of fatigue, and the effect game 3 had on them leaving them a bit demoralized. They looked like they had no belief. They felt like every shot SA will take is going in. Once they trailed by double digits, the shadows of games 3 were too much for them mentally to overcome.

Either way SA is the better team, and they are more motivated and more fresh than Miami, so Miami didn't really have a chance against them, especially in games where they had only 1 day rest.

Time to re-build for the next season.
 

Danny1982

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I get the feeling that van Gaal and Pop are similar in that they are system coaches. If you put a player in their system, the player benefits and plays at a high level. Danny Green for example was a bench warmer with Cleveland, then he goes to the Spurs and plays in Pop's system and he has an impact. Hopefully van Gaal's system can have a similar impact with players like Cleverley.
No way. Pop is SAF. Longevity. Building multiple championship teams. Good eyes for talent. Nurturing young talent. Depending on the team more than a single player. Won't tolerate any kind of lack of discipline, acts like a father for the players, tough on the journalists, always surpasses expectations, and got nearly the same stare when angry.

He's just SAF's clone. Or the American version of him.
 

adexkola

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I think it was the combination of fatigue, and the effect game 3 had on them leaving them a bit demoralized. They looked like they had no belief. They felt like every shot SA will take is going in. Once they trailed by double digits, the shadows of games 3 were too much for them mentally to overcome.

Either way SA is the better team, and they are more motivated and more fresh than Miami, so Miami didn't really have a chance against them, especially in games where they had only 1 day rest.

Time to re-build for the next season.
On the subject of fatigue, there was a graph on ESPN showing how Miami's big 3 played a shit ton more of minutes than SA's big 3. It's a factor. I expect Spi to start managing LeBron's minutes more, like he did with Wade. The East isn't as cut throat as the West, there is more leeway for coasting and conserving energy during the regular season.

Normally I'd give you stick for throwing in the towel this early :D ... But yeah, it's a wrap. The Spurs aren't giving up 3 losses.
 

Danny1982

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On the subject of fatigue, there was a graph on ESPN showing how Miami's big 3 played a shit ton more of minutes than SA's big 3. It's a factor. I expect Spi to start managing LeBron's minutes more, like he did with Wade. The East isn't as cut throat as the West, there is more leeway for coasting and conserving energy during the regular season.

Normally I'd give you stick for throwing in the towel this early :D ... But yeah, it's a wrap. The Spurs aren't giving up 3 losses.
Oh come on! Give me some credit! :lol:

I got the whole playoffs spot on!
 

PvsNP

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No way. Pop is SAF. Longevity. Building multiple championship teams. Good eyes for talent. Nurturing young talent. Depending on the team more than a single player. Won't tolerate any kind of lack of discipline, acts like a father for the players, tough on the journalists, always surpasses expectations, and got nearly the same stare when angry.

He's just SAF's clone. Or the American version of him.
Spot on. Parker agrees with you too.

http://www.bfmtv.com/sport/nba-parker-popovich-cest-sir-alex-ferguson-524738.html
 

Shinjisan

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Its a completely different thing when you're actually from the city rather than someone from out of town (much like with United). The success factor obviously makes them a target for the hate brigade (much like the Abu crowd who didn't like United during the last 15 years of Fergie's reign). With success comes jealousy, which tends to get magnified in the internet era.
I don't know why you mention the internet era or ABU crowd. I don't know or care how many internet fans Miami have developed since LeBron and the titles. Also, most neutral fans don't find Miami despicable because of their success, it's mostly because of LeBron and their in-house fans that come to watch the games.

No one hated the Marlins when they won their couple of titles in late 90's/early 2000's.

I started following the NBA closely in 2004, and became a Miami fan because of Wade. He was (and still is) by far my favorite player. I even hated Lebron at the time because I knew he was better than Wade and at some stage it looked like a three way race between him Kobe and Wade for best player in the league.

I don't hate him that much now though that he's on my team.
My posts weren't particularly directed at you or your posts on here, mate.
 

Mani

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Turnover in this final series is high from both sides compared the sides that played in the 90's and early 2000.At time it makes to think like game had gone too defensive now?
 

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At work so I'm not watching the match but the box scores are interesting. From what I gather LeBron had a hot start but the rest of the team hasn't been able to match it and Spurs are taking control of the game. Is that accurate?
 

Ole'sbodyguard

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Spurs running away with this.

Anyone who thinks Lebron is better than Jordan, or this Heat team are as good as Jordan's Bulls, and there's plenty of them on social media, needs to have a serious rethink.
 

Eboue

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Spurs running away with this.

Anyone who thinks Lebron is better than Jordan, or this Heat team are as good as Jordan's Bulls, and there's plenty of them on social media, needs to have a serious rethink.
Because of one game? A game where Lebron has 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 1 turnover? I don't think Lebron is better than Jordan but saying stuff like this is ridiculous.
 

Jerch

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Because of one game? A game where Lebron has 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 1 turnover? I don't think Lebron is better than Jordan but saying stuff like this is ridiculous.
James is good. Really good. But no Michael Jordan. And Heat are good. But not very good. Infact they were very lucky to win last year. They lost against Spurs for 15, 19 and 21 points and today they are loosing for 18.
 

Ole'sbodyguard

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Because of one game? A game where Lebron has 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 1 turnover? I don't think Lebron is better than Jordan but saying stuff like this is ridiculous.
It's not in the context of the series. When Jordan was going for his first threepeat, the Bulls faced the Suns who were having a magnificent season and he averaged 41 points in the finals and took over games when his team were faltering. That's the standard Lebron has to meet. It's that high.
 

Eboue

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It's not in the context of the series. When Jordan was going for his first threepeat, the Bulls faced the Suns who were having a magnificent season and he averaged 41 points in the finals and took over games when his team were faltering. That's the standard Lebron has to meet. It's that high.
Lebron has averaged 28/8/4/2 on 58% shooting. Not what Jordan did obviously, but it's not his fault that the Heat lost this series.
 

Ole'sbodyguard

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Lebron has averaged 28/8/4/2 on 58% shooting. Not what Jordan did obviously, but it's not his fault that the Heat lost this series.
I am not saying it's Lebron's fault they have lost this series. I am saying Lebron's not as good as Jordan who might well have won this series for the Heat.

Lebron being better than Jordan is something that plenty of people have claimed on social media and also something that has been discussed generally in Basketball this season with the Heat very much expected to have won the NBA finals and to have matched the Bulls threepeat. It's similar to the Kobe stuff that was going on a few years ago.
 

adexkola

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It's not in the context of the series. When Jordan was going for his first threepeat, the Bulls faced the Suns who were having a magnificent season and he averaged 41 points in the finals and took over games when his team were faltering. That's the standard Lebron has to meet. It's that high.
Pippen, Kerr, et al didn't disappear the way LeBron's team mates have.

I don't think LeBron is better than Jordan. I just don't see how one can point at this series and look at LeBron as a reason for the loss. The Heat are losing despite of LeBron.
 

adexkola

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I am not saying it's Lebron's fault they have lost this series. I am saying Lebron's not as good as Jordan who might well have won this series for the Heat.

Lebron being better than Jordan is something that plenty of people have claimed on social media and also something that has been discussed generally in Basketball this season with the Heat very much expected to have won the NBA finals and to have matched the Bulls threepeat. It's similar to the Kobe stuff that was going on a few years ago.
People on social media are dullards generally. In most basketball forums/circles it is accepted that Jordan has no peer in modern football.
 

Ole'sbodyguard

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People on social media are dullards generally. In most basketball forums/circles it is accepted that Jordan has no peer in modern football.
ESPN have been doing plenty of Jordan vs Lebron comparisons. They did the same with Kobe vs Jordan as well when Kobe was in his prime. It's something that has been discussed as debatable despite plenty favouring Jordan.