NBA Playoffs Thread

you are truly insane. lebron and all other NON-CENTER defensive greats can help a cause but not DOMINATE. if terry hadn't scored a point in the final period, and if the heat had won, sorry, that would NEVER be considered a DOMINANT performance. good enough to win in many circumstances? yes. dominant? NEVER. lebron james having a unanimously-agree 'dominant' game doesn't hinge upon whether just-another-guy like terry hits a couple of buckets.

 

But the phrase makes an important point. I mean, just trying scoring your shoe, or a trash can, or a water bottle. Just doesn't work as well. [/blue]

 

In high school, I had a run-and-gun guru of a basketball coach. His favorite slogan: "You've got to shoot the ball to score the ball."

On the first day of practice, he'd write "100, 25 and 50" on the chalkboard. Then he'd explain that if we took 100 shots, all we had to do is make 25 to score 50.

You think the players loved playing for this guy?

 

hilarious post, junkie! ;D ;D ;D

a couple of years back, i was working the desk and editing a story by our very fine nba writer. i came across his use of the term 'scored the ball' and said aloud to our back-up editor (the guy's wife, btw) i was going to change it 'cause i'd never heard that expression and imagined most readers hadn't either. well, she slapped me down, saying she'd often heard that usage; we argued back and forth for a bit. i ultimately took her word for it (my attitude on the desk was primarily, 'why should i give a spit?'), allowing that my time playing in n.y. playgrounds and covering h.s., college and nba hoops ('80-'83) might be dated and i should get 'hip.'

so now i'll bow to your tweak. i mean, i've since heard some announcers use it but i should never have reduced myself to such accepted street-ball jargon.

 

I completely disagree and would suggest you're living in the past (more on that later). I thought LeBron's defense on Rose and his defense on Terry in Game 1 was dominant because it took those teams out of their offensive game. He took Terry out like a shut down corner on a featured receiver. At that point, Dallas became predictable: It had to be Dirk.

Here's why you're living in the past: I think, post-Jordan, this has become a guard's game. Everything is about perimeter players "breaking down" defenses with drives (never mind that a simple post pass to a big man has the same effect, but I'm getting off the subject there). Shaq was the last truly dominant center, but even with him, you saw the the tide turning in college when, against Duke, Laettner started spotting up at the 3-point line, hitting jumpers, drawing him out of the area centers are supposed to dominate. That wasn't a shift by any means, but a sign of things to come.

The point being, a shot blocker remains a deterrent but teams no longer necessarily look to try to get 5-10 foot shots that a center can influence. They are kicking out for jumpers, 3-pointers. A center that's incapable of guarding out to the 3-point line is now seen as having a limitation. The most influential players on the floor these days are guards who are capable of penetrating the defense and finding open shooters are scoring themselves. For Dallas, in the fourth quarter of games, that player is often Terry. If you can stop that, you control the Dallas offense.

Anyway, I thought by modern standards, LeBron was truly dominant defensively in the Eastern Conference finals and game one. He altered the outcome of the game. If he had been similarly dominant last night, the Heat win. If he had been similarly dominant defensively throughout this series, the Heat either would be going home up 3-2 or they would have won already.

But to me, forget his offense, his defense has regressed.

 

Thank you for pointing out one of my newer pet peeves. Where the hell did this "score the basketball" bullshit come from? It's stupid unnecessary wording that's spreading like wildfire. We used to just say score, worked just fine.

 

I think it's coachspeak ... they're the ones I first started hearing it from.

 

It all started when the NFL put it in the rules that you had to make a "football move." Duh, what other move would you be making?

 

It's right there with golf announcers telling me that that was a great golf shot. You mean it was a great basketball shot?

 

The coach I knew who used to all ways tell us to "score the ball" was a coach from the 60s into the early 90s. When he first told me to score the ball, it was 82 and he said it like he had been saying it for years. So it's not new language, just bad language.

 

Oh my god I'd be comatose midway through the second quarter.

 

Have to disagree with you, Michael. Watched the second half and in general Dallas hit some perimeter shots it had been missing in previous games.

However, consider these numbers in the fourth quarter:

Dallas hit only 6 of 14 FGA (42.9%) but made 12 of 13 FTA (92.3%).

Miami, after Wade hit the three to give the Heat a 99-95 lead, had 10 possessions. The Heat went 1 for 6 with three turnovers in that run. Only basket was by James, the one the Mavs conceded.

So although Dallas scored more overall than in previous games the Heat lost because it once again gagged on offense down the stretch. Never seen a team with three "stars" struggle to score down the stretch.

Then again, this team's half-court offense has sucked all season (relative to its transition game).