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

[Juggernaut]

Good game, was a great watch.

LeBron needs to do more in the 4th, all jokes aside. He only had 7 points, he needs to be killer in the 4th like he was in the Boston series.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Good game, was a great watch.

LeBron needs to do more in the 4th, all jokes aside. He only had 7 points, he needs to be killer in the 4th like he was in the Boston series.

LeBron routinely did the 4th Q disappearing act in the Boston series too. He doesnt take many shots at all in the last 8-10 minutes of the game. I guess hes playing it safe.. cant miss what you dont shoot. :shifty:

 

[Primetime]

Good game, was a great watch.

LeBron needs to do more in the 4th, all jokes aside. He only had 7 points, he needs to be killer in the 4th like he was in the Boston series.

LeBron only averaged a little over 6 points in the 4th quarter of the Boston series. :bosh:

 

[shag773]

As a very casual NBA fan, I really enjoyed the game last night. Lots of star power, and a well played game. Reminded me of playoff basketball from the 80's. And the crowd, holy shit. Added another dimension to an already entertaining matchup. Can't wait until game 2. The NBA might be getting a fan back.

 

[ralaw]

Durant is going to be a problem. LeBron is the only player on the Heat that can guard him and he has to realize that. He needs to tell coach Spo that he is going to guard him and that's it. I like LeBron, but he made a comment on ESPN yesterday about how Durant can't be guarded by anyone in the league and it sort of pissed me off, because as a competitor you don't say something like that. Jordan, Kobe, etc would never admit something like that. If Miami is going to win James has to guard Durant and make it tough. James is touted as the best perimeter defender in the league and he needs to showcase that. James should take Durant scoring 17 points in the 4th quarter personal.

 

[Liquidrob]

OKC in 3, the Heat pull a Nick Diaz in game 4

 

[dell71]

Durant is going to be a problem. LeBron is the only player on the Heat that can guard him and he has to realize that. He needs to tell coach Spo that he is going to guard him and that's it. I like LeBron, but he made a comment on ESPN yesterday about how Durant can't be guarded by anyone in the league and it sort of pissed me off, because as a competitor you don't say something like that. Jordan, Kobe, etc would never admit something like that. If Miami is going to win James has to guard Durant and make it tough. James is touted as the best perimeter defender in the league and he needs to showcase that. James should take Durant scoring 17 points in the 4th quarter personal.

I agree with you, but...

(not that I'm qualified to psychoanalyze LeBron, but...)

That seems to be who LeBron is. It's like he yearns to be liked by everyone including his opponents. This isn't the first time he's praised someone that just finished kicking his ass and probably won't be the last. His other issue is really our issue. Everytime we knock him for something our "go to" is 'that's not what Kobe or MJ would've done.' He's just not wired that way. He's pretty much their opposite. All three are tremendously gifted athletes. However, they were selfish players who had to learn to fit their games into a team concept. When things weren't going good for their teammates they reverted to their selfish style of play in an effort to carry the team. LeBron is a much more unselfish player trying to learn to be more selfish when he needs to be. He went to a dark place in Game 6 of the Boston series. Don't know if he can do that all the time.

As far as OKC goes, I don't think Durant is their biggest problem. They knew going in he could go for 30+ a night. I think they've got to figure out a way to keep Westbrook out of the lane so guys like Collison, Sefalosha, Ibaka, etc. aren't getting uncontested dunks because everyone has collapsed on Westbrook. That might be where LeBron is most needed. Durant's going to score, but you can't have those other guys all scoring, too.

I think the biggest problem they present is all of their giant tentacles in the passing lanes. Miami had very few passes make it cleanly to their targets in the 2nd half. Almost every one was deflected. As a result Mia had to fight to get a shot off. Sefalosha was huge in this. He put anyone he guarded in a phone booth, particularly D-Wade.

 

[FirstTimer]

-I :lol: at the post game where Jon Berry knew the game was over when the Heat were still up 4 and essentially the reasoning was Spoelstra is such a terrible coach that the Heat have no counters to what OKC was throwing at them.

-Miami can still win this series obviously but it's going to take a James/Wade combo like what we saw at the end of the Pacers series.

-Spoelstra being over matched by Brooks is hilariously pathetic.

-Wade can't check Westbrook, and both he and Westbrook know it. It's pretty funny to watch.

-Wade costs the Heat at least 4-6 points a game in transition where rather than getting back on defense he stands and bitches at the official.

 

[ralaw]

I agree with you, but...

(not that I'm qualified to psychoanalyze LeBron, but...)

That seems to be who LeBron is. It's like he yearns to be liked by everyone including his opponents. This isn't the first time he's praised someone that just finished kicking his ass and probably won't be the last. His other issue is really our issue. Everytime we knock him for something our "go to" is 'that's not what Kobe or MJ would've done.' He's just not wired that way. He's pretty much their opposite. All three are tremendously gifted athletes. However, they were selfish players who had to learn to fit their games into a team concept. When things weren't going good for their teammates they reverted to their selfish style of play in an effort to carry the team. LeBron is a much more unselfish player trying to learn to be more selfish when he needs to be. He went to a dark place in Game 6 of the Boston series. Don't know if he can do that all the time.

I agree, but it's so frustrating at times, because he is so talented. We've never seen a guy this talented not have that sort of ego. I just have a problem with him basically admitting that he couldn't guard Durant......I wouldn't even admit that now if Durant and I were on the court. It's just a mindset that you have to have, because it gives you an edge. Also, gassing up Durant's ego by telling him he can't be guarded just gives him more confidence. Durant is a nice guy as well, but come the 4th quarter he is a killer. This is James' greatest flaw in that he isn't willing to go to that dark place, but guys like Kobe, Jordan, etc routinely are in that place. James' mentality is closer to Lamar Odom's.

It's obvious Wade is either on the decline or he is injured.

 

[FirstTimer]

Also, the entire Sefolosha on LBJ stuff is getting a bit over blown IMO, however the important thing is the Thunder have a guy they can throw at James and if he goes down their offense isn't snuffed out. If LBJ guards Durant and gets in foul trouble the Heat are sunk. It's a players league, so even though the individual match ups when you scramble them around most of the time favor OKC pretty easily you're still a handful of big James/Wade games from the Heat being able to win in spite of everything they have going against them(match ups/depth, coaching, etc).

Back to the Thabo thing though. It reminded me of how the Bulls handled guys like Kemp/Payton, Drexler, Magic, Barkley, Malone during their title runs. Those guys are going to get their points. They are going to fill the stat sheet(just like Lebron did last night) however the key is to make them work for it and make them more inefficient at it than usual. The Thunder should have the defenders to make that happen. Watching the game last night Wade and James had barely any clean looks at the bucket and every shot seemed to be some sort of contested jumper or flailing bank shot when they got inside.

 

[Senser81]

I agree, but it's so frustrating at times, because he is so talented. We've never seen a guy this talented not have that sort of ego.

I always thought David Robinson of the Spurs could have been a monster if he was more of a "warrior". He should have been better than guys like Ewing and even Olajuwon, but he wasn't really.

 

[Wrath]

-I llol: at the post game where Jon Berry knew the game was over when the Heat were still up 4 and essentially the reasoning was Spoelstra is such a terrible coach that the Heat have no counters to what OKC was throwing at them.

-Miami can still win this series obviously but it's going to take a James/Wade combo like what we saw at the end of the Pacers series.

-Spoelstra being over matched by Brooks is hilariously pathetic.

-Wade can't check Westbrook, and both he and Westbrook know it. It's pretty funny to watch.

-Wade costs the Heat at least 4-6 points a game in transition where rather than getting back on defense he stands and bitches at the official.

Wade needs to make Westbrook a jump shooter and passer. Don't play up on him; play off and allow him to make the decisions.
Westbrook has proven he will make errors and miss open jumpers.

 

[FirstTimer]

Wade needs to make Westbrook a jump shooter and passer. Don't play up on him; play off and allow him to make the decisions.
Westbrook has proven he will make errors and miss open jumpers.

That might work with Rondo to an extent because Rondo isn't physically imposing enough to overpower Wade off the dribble but if you "play off" Westbrook and allow him room to operate and get a head of steam he's both fast enough, athletic enough, and strong enough to get by and through Wade. Wade's only hope is that Westbrook goes full on retard and gets out of attack mode on the offensive end and settles for jumpers a lot. That's not really incumbent on Wade's defense though, it's more based on Westbrook not losing his senses.

 

[FedEx227]

Durant is going to be a problem. LeBron is the only player on the Heat that can guard him and he has to realize that. He needs to tell coach Spo that he is going to guard him and that's it. I like LeBron, but he made a comment on ESPN yesterday about how Durant can't be guarded by anyone in the league and it sort of pissed me off, because as a competitor you don't say something like that. Jordan, Kobe, etc would never admit something like that. If Miami is going to win James has to guard Durant and make it tough. James is touted as the best perimeter defender in the league and he needs to showcase that. James should take Durant scoring 17 points in the 4th quarter personal.

I'm not sure if there's a way to get numbers on this, but Battier was guarding Durant during a lot of the fourth quarter. Which to me, made absolutely no sense. Maybe I just noticed some select possessions but I felt like Battier was on him more than LeBron down the stretch.

 

[FedEx227]

Wade was absolute shit in that game. He's really hurting this team a lot, inefficient scoring, uninspired defense, lack of movement off the ball. It's really making their offense look worse than it already is.

 

[SuperKevin]

I'm rooting for the Thunder despite the fact that Kevin Durant stole my Curly W stomach tattoo

 

[FirstTimer]

Wade was absolute shit in that game. He's really hurting this team a lot, inefficient scoring, uninspired defense, lack of movement off the ball. It's really making their offense look worse than it already is.

Wade seemed to be just mentally not there. An odd example of this is at the end of the game. Chalmers is dribbling out the clock in the final seconds with no issues. Wade calls for the ball, dribbles to half court and as the clock expires pounds/places the ball aggressively at the half court line.

Wut?!

What's that supposed to do/show/prove? What's the point? Why?

Huh?

 

[FedEx227]

Once a bitch, always a bitch.

Not to beat the dead horse to a bloddy pulp either but LeBron became too much of a facilitator in the 2nd half and fourth quarter. I'd also like to see his teammates actually catch the ball when he passes to them, but he needs to realize he's playing with bums and just do his own thing.

 

[Senser81]

Wade was absolute shit in that game. He's really hurting this team a lot, inefficient scoring, uninspired defense, lack of movement off the ball. It's really making their offense look worse than it already is.

On Mike & Mike this morning, they were saying things like "Well, this is definitely LeBron's team now. He's the #1 guy on the Heat." HUH? Hasn't that been the case since after the first month James was on the team? Did anyone really think this was Wade's team going into the Thunder series?

 

[FedEx227]

People that don't actually watch the NBA.

You know, like Mike & Mike.