2012 Finals !!

[BannerYearz]

You guys remember when I posted this?



I think this is a big part of the Thunder's down fall in this series.

Just seems like they look like deer in the headlights in the the two games before last night (when the calls in the third were horrid).

My "look, I was right" of the day was commenting that OKC's wins over Dallas and LAL only seemed impressive because they were the defending champs and the Lakers:

2012 Finals !!

Despite saying that, I wrongly believed that the WCF were the "real finals."

[Walter White]

I've said it before.. the ONLY way you beat the Heat is with a zone.. and unless Scotty Brooks can come up with one for tomorrow.. Miami will have its second title.

Not when Battier and Chalmers have been shooting the ball of late. And James Jones is always available too.

[Numbers Guy]

Not when Battier and Chalmers have been shooting the ball of late. And James Jones is always available too.

The Thunder are athletic enough to get back to provide at least a decent contest.. zone has caused the Heat to fluster quite a bit when used. Man to man just doesn't work against the Heat.. and Spoelstra still has no answer for the zone.

[Walter White]

The Thunder are athletic enough to get back to provide at least a decent contest.. zone has caused the Heat to fluster quite a bit when used. Man to man just doesn't work against the Heat.. and Spoelstra still has no answer for the zone.

It might be worth a shot if the Thunder are down and they need to change things up. The Heat have played really good against the zone at times, and really poorly at times. But it might be too late to try to experiment at this point.

[Rich]

Despite their youth, OKC may have a relatively short window, and not win a championship within it, if they can't retain all their players (although Harden's value has dropped like a rock the last few days.)

It's frustrating that a team that does a rebuild as well as OKC is stuck in a long rebuild and a short window of contention, while a team like the Lakers can make the playoffs all but five years of their existence; the Lakers' success simply can't be explained solely by the competency of their front office.

However, the Spurs show that you can have a seemingly endless window of contention without being in LA and with few down years, and I think they would continue to be very strong if Duncan and Manu retired tomorrow. One could argue that they're not really a small market and have "grown into" a middle-sized market if you look at population figures, though.

Westbrook and Durant have already been locked up on long deals. Their window is wide open.

[mhi]

Half of this is Scott Brooks fault and the other half is Scott Brooks fault.

Bingo.

That team is too athletic to play the ragged man on man D that they play.

Imagine if these guys played the Thibadau defese.
Comparing the defensive philosophies of the Heat and Celtics « HoopSpeak.com
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2011/4/7...-tom-thibodeau

Commonality is communication,positioning, and tight rotations. Not this bullshit where Harden is left on an island guarding Lebron , or terrible strong side double teams that come way after Lebron is already on the low block.

[Mdog1]

Westbrook and Durant have already been locked up on long deals. Their window is wide open.

Their window is open as long as Durant is on the team imo, but that doesn't mean that they will be real title contenders for years. This might be just like the 2007 Cavs. The East had a down year (maybe this is a down year for the West), and the Cavs didn't make the finals again. I can definately see this as a down year for the West. The Lakers were old, the champion Mavs didn't sign some key players, and other than the Spurs and Thunder the West was rather ordinary.

It really sucks though when you think that it is possible that OKC will be burned for being good at evaluating talent when they lose one of their four best players.

[WellYouNeednt]

Where is Nick Nolte when you need him?

[jay_em]

Their window is open as long as Durant is on the team imo, but that doesn't mean that they will be real title contenders for years. This might be just like the 2007 Cavs. The East had a down year (maybe this is a down year for the West), and the Cavs didn't make the finals again. I can definately see this as a down year for the West. The Lakers were old, the champion Mavs didn't sign some key players, and other than the Spurs and Thunder the West was rather ordinary.

It really sucks though when you think that it is possible that OKC will be burned for being good at evaluating talent when they lose one of their four best players.

Thats why i cautioned all the pro hard salary cap fans. You're punishing OKC for good drafting. Beware Cavs fans...this could be you in a few years if Tristan...and say Harrison Barnes and Shabazz Muhammad become great young players.

[Mdog1]

Thats why i cautioned all the pro hard salary cap fans. You're punishing OKC for good drafting. Beware Cavs fans...this could be you in a few years if Tristan...and say Harrison Barnes and Shabazz Muhammad become great young players.

I'd be shocked if Harrison Barnes re-uped for more than 3 million... But that's not the point I guess.

[KilgoreTrout]

Literally and figuretively.

Indeed. They appear to have ascended into his body cavity, in fact.

[NorthCoastKid]

Thats why i cautioned all the pro hard salary cap fans. You're punishing OKC for good drafting. Beware Cavs fans...this could be you in a few years if Tristan...and say Harrison Barnes and Shabazz Muhammad become great young players.

I think that's a problem I'd be ok with having. Thanks for your concern though.

[Montana]

After a day of trying to avoid all the media slobbering over lebron comparing his leg cramp to Jordan's flu, it was nice to see this article. At least some non-Cavs fans out there can see still through his BS:

NHL Players Mock LeBron James’ Leg Cramps Via Twitter During Game 4 Of NBA Finals « CBS Boston

OSTON (CBS) — There may be no tougher group of athletes on the planet than hockey players. They regularly block 90 mph shots without so much as grimacing, they are happy when a high stick causes them to bleed so that their teams will get extra power-play time, they lose teeth and don’t miss a shift, and they play through serious injuries in their quest for winning a Stanley Cup.

So when it comes to toughness, hockey players can’t really be questioned. And if they want to have a little fun at the expense of an NBA player being praised for playing through some leg cramps? Well, they’ve kind of earned that right, too.

That NBA player was LeBron James on Tuesday night. The Heat superstar went down in the fourth quarter with leg cramps. At first, he was able to stay in the game, hitting a one-handed bank shot before nailing a crucial 3-pointer minutes later. It wasn’t exactly a Willis Reed moment, but given that he’s the biggest basketball star on the planet, LeBron was receiving a healthy amount of praise for playing through the pain.

But color some NHL players unimpressed.

Thanks to the miracle of Twitter, we were able to see some of their thoughts as they were happening.

“Lebron James is embarrassing himself and the NBA or actually all athletes,” tweeted Ryan Potulny, a forward in the Washington Capitals system.

“I wonder what kind of face LeBron would make if he took a slapper off the laces?” wondered former Bruin and current Jet Blake Wheeler.

“We get it Lebron, it doesn’t hurt when you’re running around but it looks unbearable when the cameras are close up during the timeouts,” wrote Nick Bonino, former BU player and current Anaheim Duck.

“What a gutsy performance by lebron #not” wrote Dallas Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski.

“Oh my god guys, Lebron has a cramp, everyone get on their feet, standing O for somehow staying in the game,” wrote Scott Valentine of the Milwaukee Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators, before sarcastically adding, “If Lebron somehow manages to pull off winning a ring after fighting through a thigh cramp.. it will be a story I tell my children’s children.”

Taylor Hall, the No. 1 pick of the 2010 NHL Draft, didn’t take a shot directly at LeBron, but rather at the whole sport.

“So much flopping going on.. Wondering what these bball players would do if they got a skate in the face haha,” wrote Hall, who himself received a cut on his face that required 30 stitches this season.

NHL players weren’t the only athletes taking shots at LeBron, as Jordan Lewis, an Australian Rules Football player, thought the injury ought to have been serious, considering the way James was acting.

“Anyone heard what Lebron’s injury was??” he tweeted. “I’m tipping Torn hamstring, ACL or dislocated knee cap by the way he was carrying on!!”

[Futuredome]

Lebron faked that. He got caught.

[Mdog1]

I've been hit with a hockey puck in the face before, and I can clearly say that it hurts more than a leg cramp. Mind you i've never had a leg cramp that caused me to need to miss time out of an NBA finals game, and i've also never had to be hit by a Chara slap shot, so my opinion has little basis I guess. Just saying I would rather get a cramp.