NBA Playoffs Thread

That's because they don't run offense. They just put it up top, set a ballscreen (or not) and tell them to create.

 

Agree with armageddon. Also from watching James in the second half, it is incredible how many times he is willing to jack up a shot far from the basket. There was one play he was facing up against Jason Kidd -- didn't even try to drive past him, turn, anything, just put up a lazy 19-footer. Terrible shot. And then there are the times he just goes and stands in the corner in the halfcourt, content to do nothing more than draw one defender out and make it four-on-four for Wade.

In the second round he averaged 8.4 free throws. In the conference finals it was 8.8. In this series it is 3.2.

 

I will admit up front I don't have the luxury of watching the NBA during the regular season and that I don't care for the manner in which James handled leaving the Cavs.

But the more I watch the guy under pressure the more I see two things.

First, he is a physically gifted individual who hasn't received the best coaching on how to play the game of basketball.

Second, he so fragile psychologically that he tenses up to the point of freezing on the court.

Won't use the word "choke" but I also won't give him the benefit of the doubt and say his passivity is the product of trying to prove the Heat can't win it without him being THE guy.

 

Not having a point guard? They have two decent point guards, to me. Not all-stars, not centerpiece players, but to me, you can ask Bibby and Chalmers to do more than what they do in terms of bringing the ball up and getting them into an offense.

Put it like this, on a team with James, Bosh and Wade eating up so much salary, you can do a lot worse at point guard than the tandem they have.

 

maybe we're failing to communicate on a level os semantics. believe me, i appreciate a good defensive player and the influence a strong defensive effort vs. a super opponent can have. but to me, anyway, there's a mighty big difference between 'influencing' a game or outcome and 'dominating' it.

lebron was dominant vs. the bulls all the way around. had he played offensively as he has this series and the heat still won, i don't believe anyone would be using 'dominant' to describe lebron's efforts in that series the way it was used when he stepped up huge while wade was invisible.

whatever. we go 'round and 'round. by any definition, however, i believe even the most supportive of fanbois agree that this series has been nothing less than a disaster for lebron. a disaster he can still make right, absolutely, but a disaster that forever silences the silly comparisons to jordan.

 

I disagree with both Arm and Junkie. I'd characterize is as he's being too fundamentally technical and not imposing his will enough. He's making all kinds of sound passes (he's averaging seven assists in the Finals), but he's not doing enough creatively, (as in, the way his AAU coach would want him to play).

It seems like he's getting criticized from every possible angle in this thread and in some ways, the criticisms contradict each other.

 

Probably shouldn't have written "received" the best coaching.

To me he looks like too many kids who, because they overwhelmed foes with superior physical talent from an early age, take so damn long to hone facets of their game that are more subtle but equally critical.

Some never do.

 

I still say if he has 17-10-10 and shuts down Terry down the stretch, like he did in Game 1, it would indeed have been a great playoff performance in the number of ways he influenced the game. I mean, the way he (and Wade) sliced up Dallas when the Mavs were hedging ball screens with the passes for layups was impressive, especially for a "scorer." Those aren't easy passes he's making. That completely changed the game offensively and to me, had the desired effect of producing a 100-plus point game for Miami. I don't think you give him enough credit for controlling the flow in that way. You dismiss his assists as they were just passes he's supposed to make when to me, it was high-level passing.

What's happening is, he'll have a great floor game, but a poor shooting game; A good offensive game and floor game, but a poor defensive game. You can have a great performance while being "meh" in some aspects. I think Nowitzki had a terrific game last night despite not being great on the boards (he was better in Game 4 when he was sick). But what you can't have is a game where you are just bad in some area. James was bad defensively last night down the stretch and shot poorly in Game 4. He didn't close well in either game either. He's good to very good in several areas, but he'll be bad in others.

 

To me, there's no excuse for him not to be a polished post player as a 6-8, 265-pounder. I think a lot of teams may get caught up with wanting to guard him with somebody big enough to guard him and he uses his speed to kill them off the dribble. You're better off with a long, quick player who can level off his dribble and keep him from getting easy transition baskets because he isn't enough of a threat in the post. As has been said, it seems like he doesn't want to be in the post. It's almost like he wants to prove he's a guard despite his size.

 

Brian:

Jacking up perimeter shots in the closing minutes of a tight game instead of attacking the rack and getting to the line isn't what I'd call fundamentally sound basketball.

He isn't making passes in the closing minutes. He is missing jumpers.

You can call it being "creative" but it isn't exactly a secret that the teams that attack the basket will get most of the calls and get to the line.

Look at his FTs and FTAs in this series. Those numbers are a joke.

 

maybe we just have different grading systems.

after three quarters last night i find it hard to believe many folks were thinking, 'wow, is lebron james playing great and shutting up people.' and in your 17-10-10 plus 'shuts down terry down the stretch' scenario i'm not about to give him mad props for 'shutting down' just another guy, which terry is in the grand scheme of things.

 

For what it's worth, I'd say it's not shooting the 3 vs. driving, it's going now vs. waiting for something to develop.

Generally, in these stretch run possessions, he's dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, then chunking against the shot clock. He's not looking to turn the corner coming off a screen on the pick-and-roll. That's the decision that's bad, not the 3.