2013 NBA Championship Finals - San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat

[JimLeavy59]

What a good week for Skip Bayless.

 

[ralaw]

Has anyone noticed that since Wade basically accused James of playing hero ball James has basically lost all of his aggressiveness? Those comments must have dug deep. James has gone 5/6 at the free throw line in the past 3 games. If there is ever a sign that a player is either tired or being passive it is when a player of James' caliber and style of play has 6 free throw attempts in 3 games.

I really hope Tony Parker is good to go and the Spurs win the championship, because I really don't feel like reading Mr.Bill accusing Stern of fixing or claiming that if it wasn't for Parker's injury the Spurs would have won the series in 5 games.

 

[FedEx227]

Has anyone noticed that since Wade basically accused James of playing hero ball James has basically lost all of his aggressiveness? Those comments must have dug deep. James has gone 5/6 at the free throw line in the past 3 games. If there is ever a sign that a player is either tired or being passive it is when a player of James' caliber and style of play has 6 free throw attempts in 3 games.

I really hope Tony Parker is good to go and the Spurs win the championship, because I really don't feel like reading Mr.Bill accusing Stern of fixing or claiming that if it wasn't for Parker's injury the Spurs would have won the series in 5 games.

Absolutely. It's been a total 180 since Wade and Bosh bitched. LeBron SHOULD be a bigger person with shit like that, but apparently not. This isn't just Leonard being a great defender, LeBron is simply not playing with the same aggressiveness he had before.

 

[FirstTimer]

Absolutely. It's been a total 180 since Wade and Bosh bitched. LeBron SHOULD be a bigger person with shit like that, but apparently not. This isn't just Leonard being a great defender, LeBron is simply not playing with the same aggressiveness he had before.

Lebron has gone full on Finals vs Dallas with the settling for outside jumpers. I mean, for fuck sakes he's honestly not trying to back down Danny Green and not even trying to go by Tiago Splitter or Tim Duncan.

 

[MrBill]

I really hope Tony Parker is good to go and the Spurs win the championship, because I really don't feel like reading Mr.Bill accusing Stern of fixing or claiming that if it wasn't for Parker's injury the Spurs would have won the series in 5 games.

The butthurt of that Lakers sweep is really grinding on you man, you are better than this :yao:

As far as Parker is concerned, Parker's MRI is scheduled for 10AM this morning. The team is calling it a mild sprain of the hamstring for right now.

 

[Senser81]

As far as Parker is concerned, Parker's MRI is scheduled for 10AM this morning.

Will you be in attendance?

 

[FedEx227]

NBA doing a terrible job of rigging the games this year with so few LeBron free throw attempts.

 

[MrBill]

Will you be in attendance?

No but there are live feeds on local TV from Spurs HQ and Ticket 760 has one of the trainers calling as soon as the results are known.

 

[Senser81]

I've always respected LeBron's talent, and in some ways I think he's underrated...but his passiveness in big games is puzzling. I've never really liked the comparisons to Jordan, because there will probably be only one Jordan in our lifetimes, and Jordan was much more of a score-first player than LeBron. I've always thought of LeBron as being more of an all-around throwback to the Magic/Bird era, but after seeing LeBron in the playoffs the last few years I have to say that Bird would never allow his team to get their ass kicked and just watch it happen. Bird wasn't a scorer on a Jordan/Gervin level, but he would step up his game when his team needed points. LeBron is like a Magic Johnson who is really good on defense...an all-time great player, but can also be on the periphery of the game while Moses Malone dominates Kareem or Bird hits shot after shot over Cooper.

 

[MrBill]

NBA doing a terrible job of rigging the games this year with so few LeBron free throw attempts.

LeBron would get the calls if he was being more aggressive. Hard to blow the whistle when he keeps pulling up for jumpers and 3 point attempts.

Speaking of 3 pointers, the Spurs just hit another one :lol2:

 

[JeremyHight]

Dumb fans are going to revert back to 2 years ago and blame Lebron for not "being aggressive" or "wanting it enough" and forget that there are 5 guys collectively defending him and one of the best coaches all time game planning against him.

 

[FirstTimer]

Dumb fans are going to revert back to 2 years ago and blame Lebron for not "being aggressive" or "wanting it enough" and forget that there are 5 guys collectively defending him and one of the best coaches all time game planning against him.

It's not really dumb though. James isn't being aggressive. He isn't doing what made him the MVP of the league and isn't playing the same type of basketball. I'm not using the aggressiveness angle as an act of will so much as it's horrible basketball strategy.

 

[MrBill]

 

[Xixak]

Dumb fans are going to revert back to 2 years ago and blame Lebron for not "being aggressive" or "wanting it enough" and forget that there are 5 guys collectively defending him and one of the best coaches all time game planning against him.

He's taking a ton of jumpers and only shooting 23% from outside the paint.

I like LeBron but that's not gonna work, he needs to play better or he DOES deserve the blame if they lose. He's the best player in the league, the other team having a good defensive gameplan isn't an excuse for averaging 16ppg on 38% shooting.

 

[FirstTimer]

He's taking a ton of jumpers and only shooting 23% from outside the paint.

I like LeBron but that's not gonna work, he needs to play better or he DOES deserve the blame if they lose. He's the best player in the league, the other team having a good defensive gameplan isn't an excuse for averaging 16ppg on 38% shooting.

I'm not even sure the Spurs have that great of a gameplan. James isn't really even testing their defense.

 

[Xixak]

I'm not even sure the Spurs have that great of a gameplan. James isn't really even testing their defense.

Exactly, like I don't think I've seen him post-up once, and he isn't getting to the free-throw line.

Indiana was a better defensive team than the Spurs. It should actually be EASIER for him to get into the paint now that he doesn't have God-mode Hibbert contesting every shot. Duncan/Splitter are nowhere near as big or long.

This is reminding me so much of the Mavs series right now. I don't wanna overreact, because if the Heat win game 4 the series swings back in their favor (3 game series w/ 2 in Miami) but LeBron cannot continue to play this poorly and expect to win.

 

[Argath]

Dumb fans are going to revert back to 2 years ago and blame Lebron for not "being aggressive" or "wanting it enough" and forget that there are 5 guys collectively defending him and one of the best coaches all time game planning against him.

This times ten. Everyone knows that Lebron isn't being aggressive, very few understand why. Defenses rarely ever get credit when this happens and its a damn shame. The spurs, like the pacers and like the mavs, are trying to force someone else on the Heat to beat them. They're making Lebron give up the ball, forcing someone else to make the tough decisions. More often than not they're attempting to force the ball into Bosh's hands from 15 feet and out is what it seems like. If Bosh was knocking his shots down they'd be denying the pass to him all day. But hes not, which is allowing a defender, typically Timmy D, to sag in the paint for help defense incase Lebron or wade drives. Not too mention they're sagging off Lebron at times on the perimeter in order to coax him into a jumpshot rather than a contested layup. The best way to beat the heat is to force Lebron to give up the ball and Lebron is just playing into their hand.

 

[Senser81]

Dumb fans are going to revert back to 2 years ago and blame Lebron for not "being aggressive" or "wanting it enough" and forget that there are 5 guys collectively defending him and one of the best coaches all time game planning against him.

That must be a first in NBA Finals history...one team's best player being collectively defended by the opposing team's players and having the opposing team's coach game planning against him.

 

[Senser81]

This times ten. Everyone knows that Lebron isn't being aggressive, very few understand why. Defenses rarely ever get credit when this happens and its a damn shame. The spurs, like the pacers and like the mavs, are trying to force someone else on the Heat to beat them.

So when Jordan would routinely torch the Knicks for double nickels, it was because the Knicks didn't play defense and Pat Riley didn't know what he was doing. Gotcha.

 

[FirstTimer]

This times ten. Everyone knows that Lebron isn't being aggressive, very few understand why. Defenses rarely ever get credit when this happens and its a damn shame. The spurs, like the pacers and like the mavs, are trying to force someone else on the Heat to beat them. They're making Lebron give up the ball, forcing someone else to make the tough decisions. More often than not they're attempting to force the ball into Bosh's hands from 15 feet and out is what it seems like. If Bosh was knocking his shots down they'd be denying the pass to him all day. But hes not, which is allowing a defender, typically Timmy D, to sag in the paint for help defense incase Lebron or wade drives. Not too mention they're sagging off Lebron at times on the perimeter in order to coax him into a jumpshot rather than a contested layup. The best way to beat the heat is to force Lebron to give up the ball and Lebron is just playing into their hand.

Disagree completely. They aren't really forcing Lebron to do anything. Lebron is backing off. Lebron isn't even testing this defense at all. He's not attacking the matchups the way he should, and has in the past, and it's maddening.

He's not using his expanded game to make the defense work. Hell, most possessions the Spurs aren't even having to get into rotations on defense, let alone getting into secondary rotations off the Heat offense. Lebron is good enough to dictate rotations and matchups. He's not doing it. Regardless of how good the Spurs defense is, it's not being forced to do any real work.