april 16th wizards vs.sixers

[scubilete]

Andrew, if you bring facts to the table, I don't think the Celtics have any team, I don't even know how the hell they win games. The Wiz have 4 potential players who can average 20+ points per game, it's just that they are not organized. The Wiz have a better team than the Celtics, in other way, I agree the Magic got better in the mid-season but still they had a chance to get to the playoffs last year.

Ohh, Stevan, Those 2 took won a pleasure of competing in their last year playoffs.

[Stevan]

Well I didn't know people could win pleasure, but thanks for the enlightenment.

[Andrew]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree about the whole greatness issue. All I was saying in the first place is Kobe has quite a few more marks to beat and records to secure before he becomes a member of the "could be greatest of all-time" club.

[scubilete]

I know Andrew, I'm not arguing that, that's clear, Kobe hasn't done anything yet but right now he's the best with T-mac.

But after all, I'm starting to think I'm more a MJ fan than you guys, I still love to see him playing when you guys don't want him to play any more, that's strange.

[Andrew]

I guess it's just the fact he can't play the way he used to, which is difficult to watch for longtime MJ fans. It's not that we don't like watching him, it's just that when he retired in 1998, he did so without much decline in his game (statistically speaking). A 21 point game would have been considered a quiet night for him back in the day - this season, it was more or less an average night.

Likewise, 30 points was nothing all that special (well, yes, it was special for MJ fans to watch a 30 point game, but you know what I mean), but this season, it was a rarity.

I understand that when a player can no longer play at a level he's satisfied with, or when he desire to continue playing expires, it's time for him to step away from the game. With MJ, I think it's a combination of both - he knows he's accomplished enough to, in his words, be "at peace with the game of basketball", and he knows he can't do all the things he used to.

Also, we MJ fans are used to the NBA without Jordan - so it's something that's easy to accept.

[Stevan]

I would have like to see him play on, but I'm one of those people who just can't let go *sigh*... I wouldn't appreciate the game if it wasn't for MJ so that's why it's hard to let go: MJ is basketball

Scubi... you are not a Michael Jordan fan at all and you said it yourself, so stop lying and pretending.