Lebron James

More mind reading. Wonderful.

And the point still stands. Boston did have four of the five best players in that series.

 

Hold up - this is a lot of BS wrapped up in more BS.

Are you really trying to make the case that the Cavs top five players were in the same class as the Celtics?

OK, let's see -- Verajao is exactly what Floridanewbie described him as - a garbage man, nothing more, nothing less. And when those kinds of players are your sixth or seventh best player, well they are a great complement - when they are counted on to be one of your best players, well, it means your roster sucks ass.

Shaq is done. Not only is he done, he was injured a lot and never really learned how to fit in and the Cavs never learned how to play with him clogging the middle - and the fact that he got clown slapped for six games by Kendrick Perkins doesn't speak highly of what he has left, either.

Yeah, Jamison scored 20 and grabbed 10 -- for a horse shit team going nowhere (translation, he was the best of a bunch of shit and was able to pad his stats) - but the way he was fileted by Kevin Garnett when it mattered suggests that he's done (and really, outside of being a stat guy, what the fuck has he ever done to suggest he was the part to put anyone over the top?) as well.

Mo Williams was an all star because he had decent stats in a watered down East -- but that doesn't change the fact that he is an undersized jumpshooter who can defend NOBODY and who, if he isn't hitting shots (which, he often slumps), is worthless out there.

J.J. Hickson? Jamario Moon?

C'mon, you aren't even trying to make a serious point.

The Celtics beat the Cavs because they are a much better team. That doesn't excuse Lebron's Game 5 disappearing act, but to act like the Cavaliers underachieved by losing to a better team is just stupid.

 

Pitching means more in playoffs (baseball). Defense means more in playoffs (football). Basketball is the same --- a different sport in the postseason.

And that's not even taking health into consideration. Boston was healthy in May for the first time in months.

Listen, I'm not saying Cleveland should not have been thought of as a "serious threat" to win the title. But casting a team that has never won anything as an overwhelming favorite is just dumb. "Slight" favorite, perhaps. But then, it's harder to accuse only "slight" favorites of choking.

A few years ago, how many times did I hear on the eve of the NFL playoffs, "Colts' run defense can't stop anyone. Chiefs' Larry Johnson may get 200 yards in the playoff opener . . . " ?

Given the way the unit played in December, perhaps a reasonable assumption. But . . .

Everyone overlooked that, oops, Bob Sanders was returning for the playoffs. And uh, oops, everything suddenly changed.

Take what happens in the regular season with a large grain of salt.

 

To one point you're right. But on the other hand, a much worse Cavs team took almost that same Celts team to seven games in 2008 when the Celts actually had a guy who could guard LeBron and Delonte West was the Cavs' second-best player. Rondo is much better now, but as suspect as the Cavs' roster is, that team had Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak in its rotation. The team was so bad in the post that Szczerbiak was guarding Garnett at times.
Based on that, the season was still very disappointing for Cleveland because they had guys who played their part all year and couldn't do it in the playoffs, including LeBron. That 08 team won 45 games and almost upset the 66-win Celtics. This team's expectations were plenty justified.

 

Wonder if teams will try and sign Delonte West as sweetener for to get James.