NBA Playoff Thread

I have no dog in this fight and no inside info out of Lansing but I can say with some confidence that there is no way in hell Izzo is leaving for an NBA gig.

 

Exactly, AQB. Izzo has even said he wanted to win another NCAA title before he gave thoughts to the NCAA.


Really, I posted that link for the comedic value that Twitter Boy thinks the Cavs' coaching search is done with a mere offer.

 

I thought that after Anfernee Hardaway, Vince Carter, Harold Miner, Jerry Stackhouse, etc. all crashed and burned spectacularly after having some dunce media member(s) affix the "Next JORDAN!!!!!!!!" label to them, that this crap line of reasoning would end.

"Oh noes!!!!! JORDAN!!!! never lost a big game!!! Kobe DID!!! HAHAHA!!! Not Next Jordan!!!!! He should have gone to college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He's the first (and only) Kobe Bryant. It's idiotic to attempt to find some kind of greater meaning during every NBA playoff series. But hey, gotta stay beholden to the "storyline" because, you know, people don't watch sports unless talking heads tell them why what they're watching right now is the greatest thing EVER!

Lazy journalism.

As for Kobe only being "The MAN!!!!" for only one title . . . in the only competitive Finals the Lakers won during the Shaq era, Kobe singlehandedly turned the series in Game Four in Indiana. He lifted a Lakers group that had seen Shaq foul out, and that didn't really "know how to win" yet, to a 3-1 series lead. If you downplay Kobe Bryant's importance to those three title teams, who do you think was 1B to Shaq's 1A?

Rick Fox?
Ron "Hollywood" Harper?
Robert Horry, who contributed clutch shots to Bryant's overall clutch performances?

"He wasn't THE MAN!!!!!"

Really? Eliminate Scottie Pippen from Jordan's teams. Take James Worthy or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar off the 1980s Lakers. How many titles do they win? Think Jordan or Magic would agree to these moves?

Just because Shaq is an ass who knows how to play the media, doesn't mean we should act like he carried those Laker teams singlehandedly.

 

Who the fuck is saying Kobe wasn't 1B? He was 1B but to say he is the best player ever he needed to be 1A on those teams. At no point in Jordan's career was Pippen ever considered 1A.

To win championships to great players need help? Of course, otherwise Kobe would have won with Smush Parker.

As to saying he is the "Next Jordan", argument is about the best player, not the next Jordan.

 

Ryan: To clarify my point. IF the Lakers win Game Three, and they can, I wouldn't be surprised if they won another one in Boston. If they lose, I think they get swept. I know you disagree, but reading my last post, my wording was unduly ambiguous. Also poor.

 

Who's putting Kobe out there as a possible "Greatest EVAH!!!!"? Oh, that's right: media dorks and fans who have to think that this particular time in sports is The Greatest Ever Time Sports Has Ever Seen.

Best player right now? Meh . . . Kobe's probably the best still playing at this particular point in the 2010 playoffs.

While we're here, I don't get why so many pundits are walking around saying about LeBron "We KNOW he'll win multiple titles in his career when it's all said and done." Really? Is that guaranteed?

Of course not. But it's the same media hype that feeds this "Oh, uh . . . LeBron was the best in the regular season, but Kobe's the best NOW!!!" need to make Bold Proclamations from On High. It's Dan Dierdorf's style permeating the entire industry.

How about "The Finals is Tied 1-1. I hope the next few games don't last three hours due to so many officials' whistles affecting the proceedings. Meanwhile, LeBron is a free agent, and it seems he'd be able to choose his own management in Cleveland, should he look to return."

WHY does the conversation have to go beyond that? Loudmouth proclamations that pass for historical perspective can wait until players' careers are actually over.

 

No worries. Agree on your point IF the Lakers win game 3. But even if they lose game 3, I don't see them losing the next two after that. After watching the first two games, I'd be shocked if either team won in 5. Also, don't forget, game 3 is being played 48 hours after a grueling game 2 and after a 3,000-mile trip. Game 3 could be fugly.

 

Ryan, check out the schedule for the 1962 Finals. Two games in two nights in Boston, travel day, two games in two nights in LA, travel day, game in Boston, travel day, game in LA, travel day, Game seven in Boston.
Now check the minutes Russell, Baylor and West played in that series.
Lest we forget, that was all commercial air travel. No charters for those iron men.

 

I don't doubt it.

Today's athletes are, um, a little different than those of yesteryear.

 

John Havlicek had a wet bar in his house completely supplied with the nip bottles he had accumulated, two at a time, in first-class air travel in his 16 year NBA career.

 

That's how it's done right there!

 

Also, I'm interested to see how Bynum's knee holds up as the series progresses. He's been huge for the Lakers so far. They lose him, that's bad.