NBA: Magical or staged?

[Axel]

Stern was big on Wade, Lebron, and Mello winning a championship for next generation players. He even went to say that he wanted Wade to win the championship last year. They made it to the finals and Wade started getting superman treatment. Players would hardly touch Wade and get a foul called on them. Wade wins the championship and looks like a great player.

This year its the story of the villian Spurs vs the Superhero LeBron James. Im excited to see if the refs give lebron the wade treatment of last years finals, where he can get to the line as much as he wants. Personally i would like to see LeBron overcome the odds and win it all.

This finals series will be fucking ugly.

Lebron will travel about 23 times a game, and get countless ticky-tack fouls called against the Spurs.

Varejao and Ginobili will do their best to flop into the 2nd row.

There isnt any money in Duncan, he is too boring. To average. He never goes off for 50points, just a solid 25+10+3 in the playoffs.
Its almost worth betting on Cleveland in this series. They shouldnt win, but the refs shouldnt treat them like they do either.

True, but the Spurs seem to be immune from getting shit on unlike the Suns, Mavs, Pistons, etc.

This years finals will be the eiptome of boring. At least it won't be drawn out. Bowen will guard Lebron and force him baseline. Manu will occasionally aid Bowen with his flopping presence. The combination of the two (though Bowen will primarily guard him solo) will force Lebron baseline where Duncan will move in to block his shot. Lebron will struggle, the Cavs will miss wide open shots because they lack outside shooters, Z will be an utterly useless oaf similar to Mehmet Okur in the last series, and Larry Hughes will be left on the perimeter to launch bricks. The Cavs will struggle to score above 90 in any of the games.

Spurs in 4, although the Cavs will make it interesting by finishing within 10 in one of the home games. Then we can all pray that next year's playoffs will be more eventful.

....wow...nostradamus and king kong aint got nothing on you. Tell me...what's wednesday's lotto pick?

What are you playing? Mega Millions?

actually... I am essentially just recapping all of the series' the Spurs have ever won. Unfortunately for the Cavs though, they lack a lot of the necesary components to beat a good defense.

[Craig]

If NBA is staged, so that Kobe, T-Mac or Iverson should’ve won several titles. Spurs and Pistons should never be in the Finals.

Hate to break it to you, Kobe has won several titles.

Sorry for confusing you, it's my fault that I didn't clearly express my point.

I mean the era of Kobe's Laker, not the era of O'neal.

Even though they did a good job guarding James, his teammates did shot the ball well.

What games were you watching?

Pistons did guard James pretty well in the majority of those Games besides the 4th quarter and OT in Game 5.

And his teammates did shot the ball pretty well.

[Laxation]

the problem with the majority of nba fans nowadays is they call players like duncan boring. duncan is a great player who plays the game of basketball very well. so what if he aint flashy and he dont try to show off constantly, he is better than just about everyone else is the league, including all those flashy players who get to sit home and watch the finals again. i guess the reason alot of people call duncan boring is they are young and grew up in a different time than i did. they grew up watching nothing but mj highlights or vince carter highlights and never actually watching a basketball game, just the quick 5 min showcase on sportcenter

I love watching Duncan play, but that doesnt mean he isnt 'boring'.

Like you said, people only watch the 5min sportscentre showcase. Week in, week out, Duncan gets 20+10. He doesnt go off for 50points, doesnt do crazy dunks in the top10, he is just consistently good.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ortCat=nba

"Nahhhhhhh," Dad maintained. "Nobody wants to read about Tim Duncan. He's not that interesting."

Duncan certainly doesn't have Shaq's sense of humor, Kobe's singular intensity, KG's menacing demeanor, LeBron's jaw-dropping athleticism, Wade's knack for self-promotion, Nash's fan-friendly skills or even Dirk's fist pump. If there's a defining Duncan quality, it's the way he bulges his eyes in disbelief after every call that goes against him, a grating habit that was old about five years ago. The other "problem" has been his steadfast consistency. If you keep banging out great seasons with none standing out more than any other, who's going to notice?

[sdot_thadon]

Staged? no. Biased? sometimes.... I expect Lebron to get calls according to how aggresive he is. Nobody seems to realize the kid is gonna eat Bowen alive. I don't know about the rest of his team however. I never bet against a dynamic dominating superstar, thats not good business.

[JT_55]

Dirty Bowen is finally going to get calls against him. He better not kick Lebron in the crotch or else he's gonna be suspended for the whole series.

[Sauru]

the cavs have any enforcers on thier team?

[Lean]

the cavs have any enforcers on thier team?

Referees?

[Sauru]

[sdot_thadon]

Varejao's hair is the Cav's enforcer

[Craig]

the cavs have any enforcers on thier team?

Referees?

WOW, this says a lot!

I didn't realize Daniel Gibson was the referee in ECF.

[Sauru]

gibson is not an enforcer by any means. when i talk about an enforcer i mean that guy who will make damn sure lebron dont get hurt. charles oakley was a good enforcer to have.

[magius]

i don't think they need one against the spurs.

but if all else fails they can throw daman jones in their wearing diop's old number. maybe that'll scare 'em. or combine jones and snow into a real person.

[Laxation]

gibson is not an enforcer by any means. when i talk about an enforcer i mean that guy who will make damn sure lebron dont get hurt. charles oakley was a good enforcer to have.

the problem with that, is it will get you ejected very soon.

lmao at the thought gibson enforcing anything...

[Lean]

About Duncan's "boring" style, well you don't want to see him running the fastbreak and finish with a between-the-legs windmill tomahawk, do you?

The way he plays is just simple, yet almost unstoppable. Not those who wear headbands or sport cozy cornrows or those who do fancy crossovers and take like 35 shots per game and come out with bricks.

[Elbeen]

is wearing a headband fancy?

[Andrew]

The way he plays is just simple, yet almost unstoppable. Not those who wear headbands or sport cozy cornrows or those who do fancy crossovers and take like 35 shots per game and come out with bricks.

I know what you're getting at there but all the same that's a bit of a generalisation. After all, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Walton sported headbands at certain times in their career, while Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan captivated fans with flashy plays but still had solid fundamentals. Crossovers and dunks are often dismissed as showboating and they certainly are put to use in that manner at times, but their roots are in solid, intelligent play; eluding defenders and high percentage shots.

[Lean]

But they don't throw a lot of bricks. Forgot to point that one out

[Andrew]

That's true. But flair and bricks need not go hand in hand.

[The X]

The way he plays is just simple, yet almost unstoppable. Not those who wear headbands or sport cozy cornrows or those who do fancy crossovers and take like 35 shots per game and come out with bricks.

I know what you're getting at there but all the same that's a bit of a generalisation. After all, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Walton sported headbands at certain times in their career, while Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan captivated fans with flashy plays but still had solid fundamentals. Crossovers and dunks are often dismissed as showboating and they certainly are put to use in that manner at times, but their roots are in solid, intelligent play; eluding defenders and high percentage shots.

I couldn't agree more Andrew....even I use plays like crossovers & behind the back dribbles to evade defenders, strong defensive pressure & so on....and I'm one of the most unflashiest players there is....they are fundamentals....it's the media that concentrates on them & makes them seem flashy, rather than say, the importance of great footwork....

[Lean]

I give up

[Sauru]

maybe if duncan starts to do a little dance after a big play, like shaq did with that weird neck breaking whatever the hell it was kind of dance. that is sure to get him some attention.

[Matt]

I couldn't agree more Andrew....even I use plays like crossovers & behind the back dribbles to evade defenders, strong defensive pressure & so on....and I'm one of the most unflashiest players there is....they are fundamentals....it's the media that concentrates on them & makes them seem flashy, rather than say, the importance of great footwork....

indeed......if guards didn't have x-overs in their repetoire then they can forget about waltzing into the lane. Of course, some take it to the show boat level....like Steve Francis.

Anyways, it wouldn't hurt if Duncan dunked it with a little more authority.

[Andrew]

I couldn't agree more Andrew....even I use plays like crossovers & behind the back dribbles to evade defenders, strong defensive pressure & so on....and I'm one of the most unflashiest players there is....they are fundamentals....it's the media that concentrates on them & makes them seem flashy, rather than say, the importance of great footwork....

Exactly. There's a time and place for showmanship but crossovers and dunks at their most basic are solid, effective weapons in a player's arsenal. It's always been popular to criticise Shaq for his reliance on dunking but it's high percentage and he's made it work to the tune of a few hundred of his points every season.