NBA Playoffs 2012 Running thread

[Michael_ Gee]

The graphic went that the last guy to have at least a 45-15-5 playoff game line was Wilt Chamberlain, in 1962. For those of you scoring at home, that's a half-century ago. It would be better for James and my ears if the ESPN gang didn't slurp him so much, but I think acknowledging that the guy's an astonishing talent is a bow to reality.
JC, if James has the very same line Saturday and the Heat lose by one, he's a choking dog. You know the score. Haters always win.

 

[Deskhack]

Going back to the Seattle-OKC stuff, I think the part of it that galls me most of all is the commentators somehow trying to link this to the Gary Payton-Shawn Kemp, or even worse, the DJ-Gus Williams-Jack Sikma-Freddie Brown Sonics. They're in OKC now. Do they have to claim the Sonics history too?

That said, I like this Thunder team quite a bit. They're well-constructed and a classy bunch. I just wish I could separate them from what they did to Seattle.

There are plenty of teams that have left cities and kept their history, just as there are many who have left it behind. There's no right way or wrong way about it. Should the Lakers not claim any of their Minneapolis history, or the Titans any of the Houston Oilers history?

True. The difference here is that the Thunder left on the Baltimore Ravens plan, essentially leaving the team colors and name to whichever franchise Seattle wrests away from some other poor city (cough, Sacramento). The Ravens don't really claim any of their history in Cleveland, even though it's the same franchise.

Of course, I write all of this knowing full well that the NBA officially declared that the Zombie and New Sonics will be "sharing" the Sonics history, a decision that will surely please no one.

 

[Gehrig]

So does James get credit for winning a big game? Or because it wasn't a buzzer beater is he still questioned whether he can play big in the big games?

I thought the 4th quarter was all that really matters? LeBron only had 4 points, what a choker./bluefont

 

[Chef2]

45 and win: One of best playoff performances in years.

45 and lose: Get someone else involved.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Chef, that formula is as old as basketball. One year Wilt Chamberlain, angry at always being called selfish, decided to and did lead the NBA in assists. Critics then said he was being selfishly unselfish.

 

[JackReacher]

The NBA playoffs bring out the idiocy in people like perhaps nothing else in sports. It's really amazing to watch.

 

[Gehrig]

The graphic went that the last guy to have at least a 45-15-5 playoff game line was Wilt Chamberlain, in 1962. For those of you scoring at home, that's a half-century ago.

Vince Carter also did it(regular game) on April 7, 2007.

 

[93Devil]

The graphic went that the last guy to have at least a 45-15-5 playoff game line was Wilt Chamberlain, in 1962. For those of you scoring at home, that's a half-century ago. It would be better for James and my ears if the ESPN gang didn't slurp him so much, but I think acknowledging that the guy's an astonishing talent is a bow to reality.
JC, if James has the very same line Saturday and the Heat lose by one, he's a choking dog. You know the score. Haters always win.

The only thing that can stop James from dominating is James. For some reason when games are on the line he forgets how forking easy this game is to him.

 

[93Devil]

James had a look in his eyes last night that I can't remember ever seeing from him. Like, "fork all these motherforkers. You want me to take over? I'll forking take over."

It was like a switch flipped overnight.

And that's what he needs to do to be the best player in the league.

 

[BTExpress]

Spoelstra said something tonight that really says it all . . . but that people can't seem to grasp.

Sometimes the baskets go in. Sometimes they go out.

That's really all there is to it. Has nothing to do with not tying, or choking, or being clutch. Devll, there is nothing "easy" about some of those shots James tried last night. But they went in. For some reason, they almost all went in, and thus the game "looked" easy to him. If they were not going in, he would be criticized for continuing to take bad shots, for not getting his teammates involved.

James had a look in his eyes last night that I can't remember ever seeing from him. Like, "fork all these motherforkers. You want me to take over? I'll forking take over."

Yes, it seemed that way. Especially in hindsight. After all the shots went in. If they don't go in, it's "LeBron was so focused on trying to prove how great he is that he didn't even try to get anyone else involved. Selfish brick." Whatever happens, someone will have a hackneyed "explanation" for it.

Magic was blabbering after the game that the Celtics' legs were gone, and that's why they missed their shots and didn't come up with the 50-50 balls. Say what? In two days they lost their legs? Two days after they hit EVERY big shot and won almost EVERY 50-50 loose ball?

Everybody just needs to quit overanalyzing and just remember: Sometimes the baskets go in. Sometimes they go out.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I partially agree with BTE, but I also think James began the game thinking, if the shots go out tonight, they'll be my damn shots. Then when they started to go in, his confidence just overflowed, and he began to dominate.

 

[BTExpress]

But LeBron was at a completely different level last night. Isn't that what great players do?

Well, yes. But if it's that simple, that means the Celtics have no great players, and neither do the Spurs. How could the Celtics play like that, with a chance to clinch at home? How could the Spurs blow a 2-0 lead and home court?

Kobe Bryant was 6-of-24 in the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Boston in 2010. THAT was his next level? Is he not great? Or did the shots just not go in?

And that's what makes statements like that overly simplistic.