NBA Finals: [#2] Miami Heat vs. [#2] Oklahoma City Thunder

[Wrath]

Further proof that you cannot win an NBA title with a score first point guard. It's just not possible. I'm a firm believer that if Rondo was on the Thunder instead of Westbrook they would've won that series.

That said, congrats to LeBron James. People are haters, and it got to the point where I was actually excited to see LeBron in the finals and ready to make millions of people eat crow and be upset. Most versatile player since Magic, arguably the most versatile player to ever play the game. Tough call between Magic and LeBron.

This may sound crazy but I would love to see OKC grab a vet like Steve Nash. Fisher is nice but Nash is such a great distributor and he's soo savy....that would help them.

 

[EmpireWF]

No way Nash goes to Oklahoma, probably even if they could afford him.

 

[JeremyHight]

No way Nash goes to Oklahoma, probably even if they could afford him.

Was thinking the same thing. It would cause many problems with Westbrook.

I see Nash going to either NYK or Miami.

 

[BigBucs]

3 extra rings to be handed out.... :nanadance:

 

[BigBucs]

 

[dell71]

Further proof that you cannot win an NBA title with a score first point guard. It's just not possible. I'm a firm believer that if Rondo was on the Thunder instead of Westbrook they would've won that series.

I don't agree with this. It just feels like piling on Westbrook. He's hardly the reason they lost. Their defense let them down, they didn't rebound well, they didn't shoot free throws as well or as often as they normally do, James Harden was nowhere to found, etc. Rondo wouldn't have fixed all those things. I haven't mentioned how Scott Brooks kept outsmarting himself. He'd put them in the zone and clog it up for Miami and it would be working and suddenly he goes back to man to man where the Heat were killing them. They did this almost every game except for game 5 when he got really creative and thought Harden could do anything with LeBron other than become a bug on his windshield.

I love Magic, but I thought it was ridiculous of him to call Westbrook the worst PG in the history of the NBA Finals, especially since his entire basis for doing so was that he shot the ball more than Durant in a half. Sure, we all think Durant should get a lot more shots than Westbrook, but KD has to bear some responsibility for this as well. There were a lot of times when not only was he not demanding the ball, he wasn't in a position where he should get it. Meanwhile, Westbrook is either blowing by his man or getting an open pull up jumper. Either of which is an acceptable shot for this team.

As far as winning the title with a "score first" PG, I'd argue it's already been done. Isiah Thomas won 2 titles taking a lot more shots than anyone else on those Pistons teams. Chauncey Billups and Jo Jo White were expected to score a good deal of points for their teams during their title runs. Even Tony Parker isn't a classic facilitator of the offense. Hell, he won Finals MVP while taking more shots than the great Tim Duncan during their playoff run that year when Duncan was still at the top of his game. Parker even averaged more shots per game during the regular season and the season that just ended is the very first in which Parker finished in the top 10 in assists per game. Westbrook's already done it twice. They CAN win a title with him, they just haven't.

Not really disagreeing with you, but LeBron is so versatile he is almost like a combination of Bird and Magic when it comes to production. And he is much better at one-on-one defense than either of those two. LeBron is a not as good as a rebounder or passer as Bird, but he handles the ball just as much (if not more) than Bird did. This year's postseason was the first time I saw LeBron really take charge of games. I've always seen him as being the least charismatic star athlete in sports history, because he seemed to be on the periphery of the game, accumulating stats and making nice plays but not really changing the course of the game. This year seemed to be different...maybe its just that my perception was off and I didn't see James play enough.

Its hard to compare LeBron to anyone, really. I think the closest thing would be Oscar Robertson. With Jordan, Bird, and Magic, they had different styles and were surrounded by some very good players. LeBron is like a throwback player to when (racist alert) a team would have one or two black players and those guys would basically lead the team in every statistical category (like Robertson).

I don't think its a stretch to call LeBron the most versatile player in NBA history, to be honest.

Agree with everything here except I think LeBron's the better passer. It's close though, I wouldn't argue it. As far as who to compare him to, I always tell my son that LeBron is what Magic would've been if he could really run and jump.

 

[red33]

^^^^

Yea LBJ is magic 2.0.

 

[jeffx]

Did you guys see Shit Clueless get owned by Mark Cuban? I loved every minute of it!

 

[ram29jackson]

the crowd at the game didnt seem all that wild and loud at the end to me.

All the Lakers Championships ive seen, the crowd gets much rowdier than that.

 

[Juggernaut]

I love how the amount of people who voted for the Heat has doubled since before tip off of game 1. Heat only had 7 votes for them, now they're at 15.

 

[ram29jackson]

one man familiar with getting championships

the other getting his first before retiring from the game