NBA Season 2011-2012

[killerbee1000]

Whoever is the winner of the OKC/SA West finals is going to win the championship this year. I really feel it.

And the Celtics HAVE to shoot better if they're gonna have a chance against the Heat.

[Nex]

Absolutely fantastic first half. Both teams really are pretty much equal.

Hopefully that point Fisher was robbed of doesn't become important, but it's looking like it might.

[loneassassin]

Outstanding game played by the Spurs

[1000sunny]

The Spurs are as scary a team as I have seen in a while. They scoffed at the Mavericks' and Lakers' 4th quarter collapses vs OKC and showed you how to close a game. 34 points in the 4th?!?! Thats insane...

[Truth]

Fantastic game. Spurs had an incredible 4th quarter.

[Urouge]

I'm really pulling for the Thunder but I gotta hand it to the Spurs. They're quite a team.

I think in the end, though, as long as the Heat don't win it all I'll be happy. I was hoping they wouldn't even make it to the finals, but the East is like a bad joke without Rose and Howard.

[GuetaMinute]

smh.. I'm not that kind of guy who pulls out conspiracy David Stern rigging bullshit theories, but.. this shit looks like Celtics vs. Miami Refs.

[loneassassin]

smh.. I'm not that kind of guy who pulls out conspiracy David Stern rigging bullshit theories, but.. this shit looks like Celtics vs. Miami Refs.

Agree completely. Other than the Rondo tech foul call, the ones on KG, Allen and Doc Rivers were mind-numbingly retarded calls

[GuetaMinute]

Oh look, Heat up substantially in 4th quarter. Time for LeBron to shine and show us his clutch skills, am i rite?

[Nex]

Oh look, Heat up substantially in 4th quarter. Time for LeBron to shine and show us his clutch skills, am i rite?

His "skills" won't fail him till the finals. That when he has and will always choke.

[GuetaMinute]

The sarcasm in my post looks like it flew right above you lol.

[Nex]

The sarcasm in my post looks like it flew right above you lol.

Not at all. You were obviously joking about his inability to finish in the 4th quarter.

I'm only saying that he doesn't get stage fright till the finals. He did decent last season then sucked so freaking hard against the Mavs in the fourth quarter, and he had the same problem the two times he made it to the finals as a Cav.

I always appreciate a joke at the expense of Lebron, I'm just saying that he'll unfortunately do fine in the conference finals.

Unless your post was about something else completely. Like your sarcasm was so layered and complex that you're actually showing support for Lebron. Then yes, it went right over my head.

[GuetaMinute]

You got me. It was subtle praise for Lebron.




Anyway, yeah my point was that people were starting to say Lebron could finish in the 4th quarter now, but he's done so in games with big leads that it doesn't really matter. Like you said, he couldn't against Mavs or against Spurs

[loneassassin]

Man The Spurs are unreal.

[GuetaMinute]

Damn, Spurs. Ginobili with that 3-point dagger. Incredible. Even with OKC's big three scoring 31, 30, and 27, they couldn't manage to come out on top. That alone says a lot. You can't beat such a deep and complete team like the Spurs

Spurs goin for it all!!

[Truth]

The Spurs dominated this game completely. They didn't even show any signs of letting up until the fourth. It takes a lot to beat a team as deep as the Spurs with a coach as intense as Gregg Popovich and the Thunder didn't have it tonight.

[1000sunny]

Not at all. You were obviously joking about his inability to finish in the 4th quarter.

I'm only saying that he doesn't get stage fright till the finals. He did decent last season then sucked so freaking hard against the Mavs in the fourth quarter, and he had the same problem the two times he made it to the finals as a Cav.

I always appreciate a joke at the expense of Lebron, I'm just saying that he'll unfortunately do fine in the conference finals.

Unless your post was about something else completely. Like your sarcasm was so layered and complex that you're actually showing support for Lebron. Then yes, it went right over my head.

You got me. It was subtle praise for Lebron.




Anyway, yeah my point was that people were starting to say Lebron could finish in the 4th quarter now, but he's done so in games with big leads that it doesn't really matter. Like you said, he couldn't against Mavs or against Spurs

This LeBron choker thing is so stupid. People judge LeBron and everything he does to such a high standard that it becomes ridiculous. This "he can't close out games" meme is dumb, he has taken shots and made shots in the clutch in the playoffs to win games many many times. He also missed them many times and passed up those opportunities many times. But somehow when he fails it means "he is afraid of the moment" and "not mentally tough" while we ignore when guys like Kobe and Durant fail because we are told that they have a killer instinct that LeBron somehow lacks. I am not going to get into how ignorant it is to judge a player by the last shot in a game as apposed to the 24 others he takes but I will say that LeBron has succeeded and failed about as often as really any other superstar has, its just that when he fail everyone assigns much more meaning to it. Just because someone has failed to do something in the past does not mean that he can never do it. Dirk Nowitski was a "choker" and someone who could never get it done when it mattered and was a constant disappointment in the playoffs. And then he won the title by carrying his team and hitting clutch shot after clutch shot.

What he did during the Dallas series was egregious because he was clearly overwhelmed and faded completely during games. That is one example where yes he did shy away and fail and it was in a very big moment. But lets not pretend that no great player has ever failed in big spots like that before, the majority of the great players in the history of the NBA failed repeatedly before they succeeded. And saying he choked against San Antonio in his only other Finals shows an utter lack of knowledge. That Cleveland team was one of the worst teams to ever make the NBA Finals and the only reason they got there is because the East was really weak and LeBron carried a team by himself for three straight series. That Spurs team was very good and LeBron had zero chance to beat them with the team he had.

That being said the Spurs (who will beat OKC) are STILL a better team than the team that LeBron has and without Bosh the Heat have no hope. So the Heat will probably lose and everyone will blame it on LeBron and people will keep calling him a choker and a loser until he wins one. LeBron is bound to go down as the most unappreciated athlete of all time.

[GuetaMinute]

The thing is people hold him to a higher standard because he truly is the best player in the league right now and for him to not be able to win either by backpacking his own team to the Finals and getting swept by the aforementioned Spurs nor (although admittedly he's only had one chance, he'l have another this time but I doubt he'll win) playing alongside one top 5 active shooting guard superstar and one top 10 power forward warrants more hate/criticism towards him

He's supposed to close out. I'm not saying Kobe or others never failed, of course they did, but their failures made them better, and their failures in the clutch ultimately led them to be better clutch players. I respect him as a player but I just don't see him winning anytime soon with his frail mindset or lack of self-confidence and his inability to close out in IMPORTANT 4th quarters when the game is on the line and not when you're up by 15. I respect his ambition to try and win one, how he's looking for a championship night and day and working hard for it, but I completely loathe him for his Decision speech with Wade (whom I fucking hate btw) and Bosh (poor guy, he's alright) and the complete and utter shameless arrogance they demonstrated. Yes, Kobe's arrogant, hell, MJ was arrogant, but there's a limit. I certainly believe that a certain level of arrogance helps a player's confidence, ambition, and ultimately his game.

You're completely right about failing repeatedly before succeeding and that was what I started out with on this post. I don't count the Cavs vs Spurs Finals because that Cavs team was, like you said, really fucking awful (was Mo good in it? don't remember). If the Spurs win, I assure you ESPN will fucking implode and start finding excuses for the Heat, their lack of a bench or coach, and Stephen A Fucking Smith will start barking like always how Wade has to close out the game and not Lebron, instead of actually congratulating the Spurs and giving them merit. The Spurs are just the better team, but you can't expect people not to hate on lebron or blame his losses considering the star power he's playing with. I find more of the problem is that people tend to forget that basketball is a team sport, and most teams rely on 2 - 3 stars, but the only completely legit basketball team that actually runs on TEAM WORK, the fucking fundamentals, is the Spurs, at this moment, and probably were for the whole season.

Lebron already has 2 amazing talents with him, though, and most chip winners did not have THAT high talent to work with. I get that Bosh is hurt this time around but he wasn't last year, and it was certainly not against a better team than the Spurs, or even the Heat were considered. If the Heat ends up losing again this year after 2 back to back Finals appearances, this superstar experiment of proportions will start to blow out, as if it already isn't. That's what I truly wanna see: teamwork over individuality. Feels ironic considering I'm a Laker fan but Kobe was the literally the only one who showed up during their playoff run this season, so goin' fishin' is to be expected. Goes to show that even tho Gasol and Kobe were the main guys for 09 and 10, at least they had a competent roster of starters and role players to work with. I suppose there ARE exceptions like Kobe and Shaq's domination for 3 straight years,m but you get the idea.

[loneassassin]

So, looks like the Bobcats are fucked. HAd the greatest chance to land Anthony Davis only for somehow someway THE HORNETS getting the number one pick. Michael Jordan must be sick to his fucking stomach right now.

*Begin conspiracy talk about how a team owned by the NBA and in desperate need of a certified college star got the number one pick *

[killerbee1000]

So, looks like the Bobcats are fucked. HAd the greatest chance to land Anthony Davis only for somehow someway THE HORNETS getting the number one pick. Michael Jordan must be sick to his fucking stomach right now.

*Begin conspiracy talk about how a team owned by the NBA and in desperate need of a certified college star got the number one pick *

The NBA draft lottery is the most worthless draft system in all of sports.