NBA '08 Playoff Thread

I agree Bernard King was an amazing offensive talent.

You clearly don't like Kobe so anything you say should be taken with a grain of salt. You criticized him in the Finals when he scored 36 points for taking 20 shots to get those points, ignoring the fact he shot 60% in that game. There are a lot of good arguments going on here but when you are taking guys like Patrick Ewing over Kobe it becomes laughable.

I'm not even a fan of the douchebag but that doesn't mean you can't respect his ability.

 

But if you are the best player of your time, I would assume that you would still be better than all of your peers even if the game changed.

Baseball has changed, but do you think Mantle or Feller would stink today? Would Jim Brown or Frank Gifford? Would Ben Hogan? Would Borg or Tilden?

You used an arguement against a former player. No reason to think the same arguement wont be used in 30 years.

 

JC, and you are ignoring the four games he didn't even crack 40%.

I hate Kobe's style of play. I hate Iverson's style as well.

 

No I'm not, I was talking about one specific game in where you criticized him for taking 20 shots yet he still shot 60%.

He had a shitty series, no question, but when you say he had a terrible game when he scores 36 and shoots 60% you lose credibility.

Not liking his and IVersons games is fair, I don't care for them much myself, but I can give credit where credit is due.

 

1. For the 43254325432th time. Kobe never ran out Shaq. Jerry Buss ran off Shaq. That was one of the reasons why he demanded a trade. Because when Kobe was getting all the blame from the media, Buss didn't defend him once. When Shaq was asked about all this, he responded by saying that he believed Kobe 100%(and I'll be glad to get you the quote). This why Shaq and Kobe are good friends now. Did you say he ran off Caron Butler? Because thats laughable. He ever wanted to get rid of Butler. Why the hell would he want Kwame Brown instead of Caron Butler??
And again, Kobe has 3 rings. He wasn't even near a "role" player on those 3 teams either.

2. Again with the "Kobe is a ball hog" stuff? People need to understand, during those championship years, Kobe was the ultimate team player. If Kobe wasn't a team player, then there was no way they were going to win those 3 rings. When Shaq left, he had to take the shots. There was no option. Either you pass it to an open Kwame Brown(who always ended up fumbling the ball away), or you let the best player on the planet take the shot. You honestly dont believe PJax wasn't telling him to take all those shots? Of course he was. Last year, he single handedly brought that team back and led them to the playoffs. Towards the end of the season, they were kept dropping down the standings and they had a lot of injuries. Then he went off(4 consecutive games with 50+ points) and he brought them to the playoffs. Lets look at what he's down with his "supporting cast". He took a crappy team to the playoffs two years in a row(and then the finals appearence this year). So please stop the "Kobe is a ball hog" stuff, because thats so 1999.

3. Um, he took a team with Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to the finals. Look how much better guys like Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton are. Hell, the only person over thirty on the Lakers is Derek Fisher. And you're telling me he couldn't win with Parish and McHale? Please.

 

That's nonsense. And it's the type of thing that can only be assessed by individual cases. Some players have games and styles that would transcend eras better than others. Could Mickey Mantle and Jim Brown have succeeded today? Yeah, I've no doubt.

But Mikan? I've a TON of doubt. Mikan dominated in the 40s and 50s because he was like the Shaq of his era, he was bigger, stronger and meaner than nearly any other player in the game--he was a force underneath the hoop that no other center from that era could handle. But today he'd be one of the smallest, slowest and least athletic centers in the League. He succeeded back then by pushing around 6'7" white guys, today he'd be pushing against 7'5" giants like Yao Ming and physical wonders like Dwight Howard. And he had no perimeter or athletic skills that would allow him to move his game outside.

Mikan was 6'10" around 245 lbs, which was monstrous 60 years ago, but is actually an undersized center by today's NBA standards. He was slow. He couldn't jump. And, if you've ever watched footage of his games a few other things jump out: he had trouble dribbling without looking at the ball, he couldn't shoot from more than 15 feet out and he looks stiff and awkward compared to today's sleek big men.

Do I think Mikan could dominate today's NBA like he did back then? Not a chance in hell. I think he could be an anonymous backup center at MOST.

 

Anyone who would take Patrick Ewing instead of Kobe Bryant is on drugs.

Unless you're a stripper at the Gold Club looking for a better tip.

That is the only scenario where that decision works.

 

But Ewing played four years of college ball. That means he's better in the clutch and mentally tougher than Kobe. Oh wait...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080618

"Quick tangent: We're basically rooting for laundry in sports. Of the 10 best guys on this particular Boston team, seven of them weren't Celtics during last season's despicable tank job, and two of them weren't Celtics as recently as January. As much as I like the new guys and everything they brought to the team, I still feel like I'm getting to know them. Posey, House and Brown were hired guns. Garnett belongs to Minnesota. Allen belongs to Milwaukee and Seattle. Powe, Rondo and Big Baby just got here. This season was like having a great fantasy team -- the guys were thrown together and made some magic happen, but, still, they were thrown together."

That segues into a great diatribe about how Pierce deserves this title.

 

But does Pierce deserve it more than Bill's dad?

 

Anyone who would take Patrick Ewing over Moses Malone should never be allowed to watch another organized basketball game.

But maybe that's just me.

 

Patrick Ewing is superior to both Moses and Kobe, as evidenced by his years at Georgetown.