Heat @ Pacers...an ugly game!

[magius]

stealing shaq from the lakers for the small price of odom and butler was a huge steal for the lakers. case and point - odom helped lead the lakers to absolutely nothing last year, and butler, well, he's in washington. wade would not be the player he is without shaq, just like kobe wouldnt be, just like penny wouldnt've been for these reasons:

1. shaq commands the double, triple team, even at this age, opening up the game immensely. even when he doesnt have the ball he changes the game and demands so much attention.

2. whatever team has shaq will always be in a game until the end, like mentioned in 1, shaq commands so much attention, he also allows his guards to play with less effort through the first three quarters, conserving energy to turn it on the fourth.

3. when the guards do turn it on the fourth with ease, and eventually gets those game winning or game changing shots or plays they plain feel swell. do not underestimate how much simply feeling good makes the game easier, and more importantly, fun. young players who have fun, work harder. young players who have confidence, develop consistency.

in my mind any young talented guard coming into the league should consider it the grace of god that they are playing with shaq. i would've loved to see ray allen get a chance to play with shaq earlier in his career...

on topic, shaq even changes the way the league works..... he gets traded to the east, and suddenly the west is not the best anymore, in fact most would say the east is more top heavy than the west now, but what has changed? detroit is the same, indiana is the same..... thats right, shaq. one of the greatest players ever who is underrated because he doesnt play a pretty game.

[Jackal]

I've said it all along, Shaq is the pwn.

[Andrew]

The turnovers aside, it wasn't such a bad game in my opinion. I thought Zo was going to get a triple double until he had to take a seat after he picked up his fourth foul. It might not have been the finest basketball from start to finish, but it was competitive to the end with some good back and forth. Better to watch than the Spurs/Cavs debacle last week.

[putodelagoa]

Well, Wade was more valuable to the team last season, and he is yeat more valuable now. The heat should have gotten something better in return for all those good players. .

1.Wade blossomed into something thanks to the guy you believe to be nothing but a fat ass. He wasn't more valuable to the team, Shaq was.

2.Shaq carries the load during the game only relinquishing to his sidekicks in the end of the 4th quarter, where his FT% makes him vulnerable.

3.Make no mistake, if Shaq and Wade are on the same floor, Wade IS the sidekick, not the other way around.

4.You can't build a championship team around Odom. Hell, you can't build that around Odom, Butler, Grant and Bryant, for that matter. Shaq made a team featuring a guy called Rasual and two joneses look like probable champions. Had they put the damn ball in his hands in that game seven, and they might have been champs, but Wade felt it was much better to shoot his fallaways with a bruised rib.

5.Without Shaq, the Heat will be 2nd round fodder this year, at best. With him they may be finalists. Simple truth.

6. Shaq was worth the whole Miami team.

[Drex]

i can never understand that logic of saying it should be a concern. indiana won and miami lost.

Well, Indiana won by 5 points, against a team whose biggest threat on the paint was Antoine Walker They were losing 'till Miami wasted a 12 point lead.

Anyway, I don't really care, Indiana won, Miami lost. Go Philly

[air gordon]

Well, Wade was more valuable to the team last season, and he is yeat more valuable now. The heat should have gotten something better in return for all those good players. .

1.Wade blossomed into something thanks to the guy you believe to be nothing but a fat ass. He wasn't more valuable to the team, Shaq was.

2.Shaq carries the load during the game only relinquishing to his sidekicks in the end of the 4th quarter, where his FT% makes him vulnerable.

3.Make no mistake, if Shaq and Wade are on the same floor, Wade IS the sidekick, not the other way around.

4.You can't build a championship team around Odom. Hell, you can't build that around Odom, Butler, Grant and Bryant, for that matter. Shaq made a team featuring a guy called Rasual and two joneses look like probable champions. Had they put the damn ball in his hands in that game seven, and they might have been champs, but Wade felt it was much better to shoot his fallaways with a bruised rib.

5.Without Shaq, the Heat will be 2nd round fodder this year, at best. With him they may be finalists. Simple truth.

6. Shaq was worth the whole Miami team.

just keep in mind, the miami heat in 2004 came awfully close to upsetting the pacers in the conference semifinals. dwayne wade became a household name playing with the likes of lamar odom & brian grant in the post. had Riley not try to swing for the fences and trade for shaq, the core they had there could have very well developed into a perennial eastern conference powerhouse

and remember it was shaq missing key ft's late in the 4th qtr in game 7. those were equally killer as wade missing the perimeter shots. both guys deserve the blame

[Matt]

The turnovers aside, it wasn't such a bad game in my opinion. I thought Zo was going to get a triple double until he had to take a seat after he picked up his fourth foul. It might not have been the finest basketball from start to finish, but it was competitive to the end with some good back and forth. Better to watch than the Spurs/Cavs debacle last week.

todays Lakers-Philly game had plenty of TO's but i found it very entertaining.

[putodelagoa]

had Riley not try to swing for the fences and trade for shaq, the core they had there could have very well developed into a perennial eastern conference powerhouse

A pretender? Maybe.
Contenders? Never. That's the difference Shaq provides.

and remember it was shaq missing key ft's late in the 4th qtr in game 7

I stated that

2.Shaq carries the load during the game only relinquishing to his sidekicks in the end of the 4th quarter, where his FT% makes him vulnerable.

But still, I would rather throw the ball into Shaq's hands in the waning minutes rather than trying to beat people from the outside. That's what teams that don't have a center of his caliber do, and look how it worked for the Lakers yesterday.
Even if he gets the foul, Shaq has been known to be able to hit some clutch FTs.

[Riot]

The Heat will never win a championship because they will never stay healthy. Whether it's Shaq or Wade.

[air gordon]

had Riley not try to swing for the fences and trade for shaq, the core they had there could have very well developed into a perennial eastern conference powerhouse

A pretender? Maybe.
Contenders? Never. That's the difference Shaq provides.

and remember it was shaq missing key ft's late in the 4th qtr in game 7

I stated that

2.Shaq carries the load during the game only relinquishing to his sidekicks in the end of the 4th quarter, where his FT% makes him vulnerable.

But still, I would rather throw the ball into Shaq's hands in the waning minutes rather than trying to beat people from the outside. That's what teams that don't have a center of his caliber do, and look how it worked for the Lakers yesterday.
Even if he gets the foul, Shaq has been known to be able to hit some clutch FTs.

never? lol really? it was odom's and wade's 1st year with the heat and they almost beat indiana, which probably was their best team (in the past 3rs. last year doesn't count since the artest incident)

you mention shaq's free throws but you place all the blame on wade

[Andrew]

todays Lakers-Philly game had plenty of TO's but i found it very entertaining.

Agreed. I only got to see the latter part of the second half live because I work 9-1 on Saturdays, but I caught the rest of it on the 8 PM replay...which isn't quite the same with all the "time constraint cuts". They seem to have enough time for all the commercials and to start the next program 10 minutes early. I really don't care for how they handle the replays most of the time.

[Matt]

in Perth we get everything 3hrs early, so i get my games 8:30am which fits in perfectly to my schedule.

[Andrew]

Way to rub it in. Still, beats not being able to watch games at all. I make sure to only check the Livescores for the Bulls on days when there's a game on Foxtel. Even though it's already been decided, at least I don't know the result.

[J@3]

I get 1 or 2 games every day now

[Laxation]

I get 1 or 2 games every day now

how?

[J@3]

http://www.nbaliveforums.com/ftopic31417.php

[Laxation]

ah yeh... forgot lol