2013 NBA Playoffs thread

Yeah, Cleveland was content to put guys behind LeBron that were either past their prime, or best served being a fourth or fifth option, not second. They never tried to win.

 

Excellent showings by Lebron in these recent fourth quarters ... He got things done and got more than his share of support from teammates. Congrats to the Heat on back-to-back titles.

 

Don't know how "bad" they were, but MJ did have 546 turnovers in the playoffs (3.1 per game).

James averaged 3.0 turnovers per game in these most recent playoffs. Jordan averaged more turnovers than that seven times in the playoffs. Yes, he did make lots of mistakes. The curse of being human.

Remember the "Havlicek Stole the Ball!" game? Do you know how the 76ers got possession of the ball at the end? It was because Bill Russell turned the ball over on an inbounds pass, hitting the guidewire holding up the basket. A godawful mistake that could have cost the Celtics the championship . . . had Havlicek not stolen the ball.

I'm sure Jerry West and Bob Cousy turned the ball over, too. But I honestly "don't recall" any of them.

All the great ones screw up. Sometimes the other team doesn't take advantage. Other times their teammates bail them out.

 

At least three times, Jordan passed off on the drive that resulted in the championship-winning shot. They were good plays.

If James did that, there would be a chorus of detractors saying he isn't man enough to shoot it.

 

It's this kind of comment that makes him a douchebag. Inner city ? Not supposed to be here? What utter bull shit.

 

There is no doubt that he makes some questionable PR decisions. He's been coddled his whole life, he's immature. Yet not one of those decisions has landed him in legal trouble. By all accounts he's not a deadbeat father and is not constantly tabloid fodder. Now who knows if that will stay the same or if he hides it better but compared to the beloved athletes out there he's not to bad.

 

"I'm not even supposed to be here." LeBron as Dante Hicks. Parker and Duncan play Jay and Silent Bob.

 

Jordan is Don Draper to James' Pete Campbell

 

The thing about Jordan is he played in a more competitive league than James does now. You think about the teams Jordan and the Bulls played against, the Pistons, the Pacers, the Knicks, the Heat, the Lakers, the Trail Blazers, Sonics, the Rockets....now there is maybe two or three other teams every year who have a conceivable shot.

 

I think with the championship this season James has passed Larry Bird as the greatest forward of all time.

If you analyze the offensive production of both James is statistically a little better. While Bird is a better shooter James with his ability to penetrate is statistically a little more efficient because of his ability to go to the line. James has 21,081 career points while Bird has 21,791. But James has already shot 2,145 more foul shots than Bird. James is also a better percentage shooter on two point attempts because of his ability to penetrate and get shots at the rim.

Bird was a better rebounder, averaging 10 rebounds a game while James averages 7.3. But part of that was that the game in the 80's was played at a much faster pace and there were more rebounds in each game.

But James is a much better individual defender than Bird. McHale was the go to defender in the 80's in Boston (Barkley says that McHale was the best player he faced). You would never have seen Bird on a point guard but James at times took Parker defensively and in past years at times did a masterful job on Derick Rose.

So I think James is a slightly better scorer, much better defensively and a better ball handler than Bird and hence a better overall player. I know Bird played on one more champion team but James never had the advantage of spending the prime of his career with McHale and Parrish.

 

Larry Bird would have scored 11 million points under today's three-point rules and customs.

 

Yeah, those Lakers post-Magic-HIV were just terrorizing the league during Jordan's prime:

43-39
39-43
33-49
48-34

And those big, bad scary Pacers:

41-41
40-42
41-41
47-35
52-30
52-30
39-43

And the Heat. Who could possibly stop Voshon Lenard, P.J. Brown and Isaac Austin?

24-58
38-44
36-46
42-40
32-50
42-40
And two pretty good teams at the end of Jordan's career (61-21 and 55-27)