NBA Finals 2014: Spurs vs. Heat vol. 2

[benji]

[Andrew]

Can't blame them, the Spurs were cheesing throughout the first three quarters.

[Lean]

He's just not good anymore.

I think that has something to do with LeBron being in the team.

[NovU]

Nah. Wade's decline is entirely his fault and has nothing to do with LBJ.

Wade maintained same level of load offensively even with LBJ in their first year and was just as productive as in his previous seasons. Even in his next season, he played at a superstar level despite lingering knee issues. This season, he's an average joe. Lackluster defense, lost lift and explosiveness. It's his knees and age catching up to him. Lance Stephenson looked more like Wade we know in the previous series.

I actually want to blame Chalmers more because he eagerly tried to be the man over Wade whenever LBJ went to the bench.

[Kevin]

Why would you blame that poor little child? Blame Oden, he hasn't scored 100 points and the Heat needs him

[Jackal]

[Jeffx]

If any, Wade has to leave or take a significant paycut. He's just not good anymore. But I doubt any of that happening. He's been the Heat Heat forever and has special place in Heat organization. Bosh? Bosh is still effective so I can't envision him opting out.

But this team is still a serious contender. For that they will remain together for another season. You don't break up the team that made to the Finals. Make an adjustment and hope for the weakened opponents next season. I mean the Spurs this season are at their peak.

They need a legit PG, size up front, a lights-out scorer to play with LeBron, and a stronger bench.

[Dc311]

So I have been gone from here for a little while.It is just because I was or am superstitious for some odd reason.I told myself not to post anything here or on my facebook about the spurs playoff match-ups.So I maybe jinxing them right now.I'm pretty confident though that the Spurs will not lose this series now so I don't mind.I also missed you all.Awwwww.

All I could say about the Spurs play is beautiful.I hope they end it here at home.Kawhi Leonard is my mvp right now,Diaw is my sixth man of the finals(Even though he has started the past two games),and Tim Duncan needs to stop dating Vanessa Macias.

VanessaMaciasmug.jpg

2 more years for Duncan.
1 more year for Ginobili.
3 years for Carmelo Anthony.

[Patr1ck]

Why? Aint nothing wrong with her(Except them crazy eyes). He upgraded.

[JoeJames]

LeBron has done his part, but this is like he was in Cleveland he doing everything and nobody supporting him.

But also, Spurs quickness is brilliant, pass--pass--dribble--pass--pass--shot (do this several times), just amazing.

This is over.

Maybe NBA will do everything in its hands to make Heat wins game 5, but I thinks will do what they're doing to provent it.

[[Q]]

All I could say about Tim Duncan's girlfriend is "beautiful"

fixed.

DON'T HATE... APPRECIATE!

[Sauru]

LeBron has done his part, but this is like he was in Cleveland he doing everything and nobody supporting him.

But also, Spurs quickness is brilliant, pass--pass--dribble--pass--pass--shot (do this several times), just amazing.

This is over.

Maybe NBA will do everything in its hands to make Heat wins game 5, but I thinks will do what they're doing to provent it.

people keep saying james gets no support but i see it different, i see it as james just does not make the players around him better. all of the all time greats just made people play better. the guy is probably the most physically gifted player ever but his heart is no way near that of a legend


also the spurs has a coach thats about 1000 times better than the heat coach

[NovU]

James is one of the best players in league history. He makes the team better. Wherever he goes, the team becomes the championship contender instantly. But you need more than one superstar to get the job done. Ideally you need two and one all star. Then you need depth, possibly one key bench player that's as good as any average starter in the league. Nearly all champions follow this format otherwise you need all above average players then some ala Billups's Pistons. This is problem because Wade and Bosh aren't superstars. Not necessarily because of LeBron but they simply aren't at this stage in their career. Wade was close to being a superstar statistically in last three seasons though. This season, he's just awful and is no factor whatsoever and his legs needed rest regularly. As you saw in his last game, he had no lift nor any explosiveness in his legs. 3 games in 5 nights proved to be too much despite all that careful GP management during the regular season. In his shoes, other lesserings were asked to step up and do more than what they ideally are capable of. Only reason the Heat are still able to contend is because they have LBJ in prime. But what people are overlooking is the fact how disgustingly good the Spurs are. This isn't the team you can beat on single player's greatness. Look at what the Heat are up against:

The Spurs are at their best when Kawhi Leonard gets his. They go from being a great team to a historically great team.

Since Kawhi became a Spur, San Antonio has gone 125-39 (76% win percentage or about 63 wins in an 82 game season) in regular season games where he's played 20 minutes or more. For the playoffs, they've gone 37-16 for a 70% win percentage and made the conference finals once and the Finals twice.

This series boils down to a simple truth, we are seeing the best basketball player alive (and perhaps the greatest of all time) and the best basketball team in the world (and one of the all time great teams) face off. Lebron can keep any team in any game but the Spurs aren't just any team. Lebron had an insane, pantheon level, game 2 but even with that we are a couple of missed free throws and a Bosh three from Miami being down 4-0.

Everyone needs to throw out the notion that the Heat can simply win the series with LBJ playing great and making teammates better. It's an over simplification. You just can't have Bosh having 4rpg, Wade shooting low percentage with high Turnover ratio, and rest of team throwing bricks and giving up interior D and rebounds.

So I have been gone from here for a little while.It is just because I was or am superstitious for some odd reason.I told myself not to post anything here or on my facebook about the spurs playoff match-ups.So I maybe jinxing them right now.I'm pretty confident though that the Spurs will not lose this series now so I don't mind.I also missed you all.Awwwww.

All I could say about the Spurs play is beautiful.I hope they end it here at home.Kawhi Leonard is my mvp right now,Diaw is my sixth man of the finals(Even though he has started the past two games),and Tim Duncan needs to stop dating Vanessa Macias.

VanessaMaciasmug.jpg

2 more years for Duncan.
1 more year for Ginobili.
3 years for Carmelo Anthony.

Great to see you buddy. I told you we'd meet again in this thread this time around.

And thanks for jinxing your team. I now have hope.

EDIT: now where is that SoF'awesome guy?

[benji]

people keep saying james gets no support but i see it different, i see it as james just does not make the players around him better. all of the all time greats just made people play better. the guy is probably the most physically gifted player ever but his heart is no way near that of a legend

lol

The Heat have made four straight runs to the NBA Finals. The last team to do that were the 1980s Celtics who had shorter playoffs to get through and still were burned out by the end. Those minutes all add up. LeBron's practically the only Heat player still standing at this point other than Ray Allen who's also inhuman.

[Patr1ck]

Basically the entire Heat team is stagnant, except LeBron. They really need one other player to step up, which I think is Bosh like he did in game 2. They just need to stop playing one on one, and closeout after they collapse. The Spurs ball movement is fatiguing the Heat, and they need to do the same on the other end because the old Spurs will tire out.

[shadowgrin]

The Heat offense mainly suck.
If consider everything being equal an excellent offense (Spurs) will always win against an excellent defense (Heat, when they feel like it).

[Andrew]

As noted during Game 4, the Heat have as many turnovers in the series as they do assists, highlighting their one-on-one play and overall lack of ball movement.

[Kevin]

EDIT: now where is that SoF'awesome guy?

Probably still crying because y'all kicked his butt in the other topic about batman and shit.

[Lean]

I don't agree with NovU on the Heat needing a stronger bench. In fact I think Miami's bench look better than that of any team... on paper. What the Heat need is an effective offensive system. The Spurs destroyed them in back-to-back games with their system. The Heat is just LeBron, and as Pdub said: his teammates are stagnant. After seeing game 4 I've noticed how the other Heat players on the floor aside from LeBron are just standing there (with the exception of Allen who still finds his way around to get open).

What they need, I believe, is a new coach. Or for Spoelstra to come up with a better system aside from LeBron LeTanking.

[NovU]

I never said the Heat needed a stronger bench. Maybe you meant to disagree with Jeffx.

[Sauru]

James is one of the best players in league history. He makes the team better. Wherever he goes, the team becomes the championship contender instantly.

making a team better because of your talent level and making the players around you better is 2 very different things

[benji]

I don't agree with NovU on the Heat needing a stronger bench. In fact I think Miami's bench look better than that of any team... on paper.

In other words, they need a stronger bench. Churning through every 35+ year old veteran you can get your hands on is a rough way to win even when you have the best player on the planet who makes everyone around him better.

[Lean]

I never said the Heat needed a stronger bench. Maybe you meant to disagree with Jeffx.

I'm now thinking twice if I should edit my post.

[Kevin]

A new coach would be good.

[NovU]

Any predictions on tomorrow's game? I say the Spurs by blowout.



Please remind me not to listen to Sauru next time. This man is suffering from alzheimer and cannot be taken seriously for basketball reasons.