NBA Thread XLIX: Being Eliminated is NOT NICE.

[andrew8798]

Saturday, May 11th

Oklahoma City Thunder at Memphis Grizzlies – Game 3, 5:00/2:00 PM, ESPN

New York Knicks at Indiana Pacers – Game 3, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC

Heat are off til Monday

[The Captain]

May 10, 2013 22:33:27 GMT -5 andrew8798 said:

Joakim Noah is such a troll. I love it.

[Rican]

Well, looks like we might be ok after all.

[andrew8798]

Where The guy that hates the Spurs always calling them boring

[Unocal 76]

Don't look at me- I don't call the Spurs boring anymore. These aren't the Horry/Bowen teams that only scored in the 90s-100s against Phoenix or if their shots fell. They're not gonna win games 79-76 anymore with guys like Green/Leonard.

Another thing I learned tonight- you know how Heat/Celtics was the NBA rivalry dujour the last 3 years?

Well, with the Celtics uncertain future, Bulls/Heat is THE nouveau riche rivalry going forward- and both teams are relatively young.

[andrew8798]

On another note Does Lebron Stay after next year. A lot of people believe in that Cleveland junk. Just think if he would go to the Lakers. I think he stays with the Heat

[andrew8798]

May 11, 2013 0:36:57 GMT -5 Unocal 76 said:

Don't look at me- I don't call the Spurs boring anymore. These aren't the Horry/Bowen teams that only scored in the 90s-100s against Phoenix or if their shots fell. They're not gonna win games 79-76 anymore with guys like Green/Leonard.

Another thing I learned tonight- you know how Heat/Celtics was the NBA rivalry dujour the last 3 years?

Well, with the Celtics uncertain future, Bulls/Heat is THE nouveau riche rivalry going forward- and both teams are relatively young.

Long time ago I learn not to count out the Spurs

[Unocal 76]

May 11, 2013 0:41:28 GMT -5 andrew8798 said:

On another note Does Lebron Stay after next year. A lot of people believe in that Cleveland junk. Just think if he would go to the Lakers. I think he stays with the Heat

Considering how he has repaired his image, I can't see him doing this all over again.

I mean, remember the hatred he got when he went to Miami? If he leaves, it could be The Decision Part Deux and he loses a lot of his goodwill.

Remember, there isn't the pure hatred of LeBron that there was three years ago.

[andrew8798]

Only Way I seen him going home is the near of his career

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

May 11, 2013 0:41:28 GMT -5 andrew8798 said:

On another note Does Lebron Stay after next year. A lot of people believe in that Cleveland junk. Just think if he would go to the Lakers. I think he stays with the Heat

If the Heat win another title while he's still in Miami, I don't really see how he can justify leaving the Heat whilst their Big 3 is together.

LeBron, as damn good as he is, just can't lift a team of nobodies to a title. He needs at least another All-Star caliber player to take pressure off of him.

He needs a guy like Wade or Bosh at his side for him to win a title. Even Jordan needed help in the form of Pippen.

Another way of looking at it, has any player won a title essentially single handed? I mean I'm sure it had to have happen at least once, but for the most part all of the champions have had at least two sure fire stars or a sure fire star and a lot of really good role players surrounding them(think the Mavs when they won for example).

I mean if LeBron goes to Cleveland, he'll be paired with Kyrie Irving, so he'll kind of be in that situation, so if he does leave Miami, it would probably be to a team like Cleveland or some other team that has a star player in place already. I don't think LeBron is ever going to go to a team where he's the sole star player again. I mean why would he? He spent the majority of his youth doing that and got nowhere for it, but he's already had two consecutive Finals trips and a title as a result of teaming up with other star players.

[Rican]

I have no idea why LeBron would go anywhere else.

[andrew8798]

Well Wade is getting up there in age

[Rican]

May 11, 2013 1:21:43 GMT -5 andrew8798 said:

Well Wade is getting up there in age

That's LeBron's team now. Wade getting older and either signing a cheaper deal or retiring just creates more money for them to bring in someone else. LeBron doesn't have to go anywhere else. The help will come to him.

[andrew8798]

Like I said only way he goes back to the Cavs when he near the end of his career

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

May 11, 2013 0:54:11 GMT -5 Koda, Master Crunchyroller said:

He needs a guy like Wade or Bosh at his side for him to win a title. Even Jordan needed help in the form of Pippen.

I never got that criticism of LeBron, nobody has won a title by themselves. Jordan needed Pippen, Horace Grant, John Paxson, Dennis Rodman, and Steve Kerr. Magic needed Kareem, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, and Kurt Rambis. Bird needed McHale, Parrish, and Dennis Johnson. Isiah Thomas needed Joe Dumars, Laimbeer, Mahorn, Vinnie Johnson, and Rodman.

I'll just stop there. Everyone needs help, and the NBA dynasties are DEEP teams. You can't point to one guy that brings a championship in the NBA.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

May 11, 2013 1:37:11 GMT -5 Jedi-El of Tomorrow said:

May 11, 2013 0:54:11 GMT -5 Koda, Master Crunchyroller said:

He needs a guy like Wade or Bosh at his side for him to win a title. Even Jordan needed help in the form of Pippen.

I never got that criticism of LeBron, nobody has won a title by themselves. Jordan needed Pippen, Horace Grant, John Paxson, Dennis Rodman, and Steve Kerr. Magic needed Kareem, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, and Kurt Rambis. Bird needed McHale, Parrish, and Dennis Johnson. Isiah Thomas needed Joe Dumars, Laimbeer, Mahorn, Vinnie Johnson, and Rodman.

I'll just stop there. Everyone needs help, and the NBA dynasties are DEEP teams. You can't point to one guy that brings a championship in the NBA.

Exactly.

[The Captain]

I think the only guy who could've actually won a championship by himself was Bill Russell. Not that he played with scrubs. Not even close. It's just that he was one of those rare players who could literally will his team to win and they would.

And I don't think it'd be enough in today's NBA. If he played in 2013, he'd need help too.

But yeah, for as much of a star-focused league as the NBA is, team chemistry and synergy is incredibly important. As last years' Knicks and this years' Lakers showed (and to a lesser extent, the 2010-11 Miami Heat though they did make the Finals even if the Mavs beat them), you can just mash together a bunch of superstars and expect to win a championship or even make it out of the first round.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

May 11, 2013 1:47:48 GMT -5 The Captain said:

I think the only guy who could've actually won a championship by himself was Bill Russell. Not that he played with scrubs. Not even close. It's just that he was one of those rare players who could literally will his team to win and they would.

Nah, as good as Russell was, he wouldn't have defeated Wilt's teams without guys like Cousy, Havliceck, and K.C. Jones.

Even Wilt, who is probably the most dominant basketball player ever (Jordan was still the best player), couldn't win by himself.

[andrew8798]

The Bulls gotten to

the Bulls believed James had used his bully pulpit to influence the way the NBA officiated him. James' greatness promised a closer inspection out of the league and its officials, a strategic understanding that the world would judge harshly the way these Bulls imposed physicality on the four-time Most Valuable Player.

When everyone else watched Chicago's Nazr Mohammed make a run at James, shove him tumbling onto his back on Friday night, the Bulls witnessed something else: confirmation of a conspiracy. Mohammed earned the ejection, and the rest of these Bulls earned the indignation and outrage that they need for public retaliation.

"We're well aware of what's going on," Thibodeau seethed late Friday. "I'm watching how things are going. I watch very closely. What I'm seeing is…

"…We'll adjust accordingly."

Running out of players, running out of time, Thibodeau will never let these Bulls run out of conspiracies to frame in these Eastern Conference semifinals. The Heat beat the Bulls 104-94 in Game 3 and finally took a 2-1 series lead.

No one pitches "we're getting bleeped" better than Thibs, no one better sells it to his players in a neatly wrapped, pretty bow package of damning disgust. His message is unmistakable and his locker room is fully invested in the brainwashing: The NBA wants us to go away, wants us to leave LeBron James undaunted and unharmed on the way to consecutive championship coronations.

"We're not going to get calls," Thibodeau grumbled. "That's reality."

That's the reality in his parallel universe, where Thibs' post-game diatribe likely promises to inspire a substantial fine from the NBA office. For him, it will be money well-invested to counter consecutive defeats where the Bulls lost composure, lost tempers and ultimately lost playoff games.

sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--bulls-mock-lebron-james-for-flopping--find-fuel-in-conspiracy-072116737.html

[The Captain]

Oh the irony of the Bulls of all teams moaning about superstar treatment. Didn't seem to mind it much when Jordan got the benefit.