Yeah you're right. I totally remember Scottie Pippen being the scorer for the bulls. WTF am I thinking?

The finals have been absolutely f.ucking awful. Go ahead and worship the guy and completely dismiss the fact that a missed layup by Tarden dashed any hopes of a tied series.

That was some youth league s.hit.

I actually feel sorry for OKC fans. They have a good team with a terrible coach who was terrible as a player and is getting exposed by SPOELSTRA who was exposed by the Dallas Mavericks coach.

The NBA is terrible. The only good thing about it was LeBron choking.

Westbrook was incredible last night. If it wasn't for him, the Thunder lose by 20. Durant simply isn't strong enough to get the ball a lot of the time.

I find it incredibly difficult to stomach the constant phantom fouls when Wade and James shoot. It really is sickening. Half the time,the refs can't even figure out who to call the foul on after the whistle, so they just make something up. On top of that, Westbrook was fouled a minimum of 10 times last night, 2 were called. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yes, I told you he is no max guy, at least not at this point in his career. He has at least saved the Thunder some money.

Yeah well of course they lose big because then it's 4 on 5.

When was the last time a league scoring leader averaged less than 20 shot attempts in a finals?

So he's all of a sudden too weak to get the ball? Ok.

He isn't guarded by Lebron all the time. He looked asleep half the game. You realize he didn't get a single defensive rebound the entire game?

Fully aware. I've been caught off guard. Didn't watch the Thunder play much this year so I was unaware he has mental issues.

Time to call Phil Jackson. Scott has lost him.

What's up with Harden? Would he rather be somewhere else?

I don't think so, I just think he was put on this stage too fast. Shots stopped dropping and now he is playing a little scared.

Makes his trash talking to Kobe earlier in the year even funnier now.

The guy is a good player, but nowhere near the player people were making him out to be before the series. For all of the crap Westbrook takes, Harden has been the one who has been a total no show the entire series.

Westbrook is, always has been, and always will be better than Harden. He didn't really talk trash to Kobe, other than responding.

You do realize the NBA is practically scripted.

The two darling Stern darling teams made the finals, what a shock.

The more darling of the two is getting dramatically favored by the refs. Another shock.

It's always funny to read people talking about the games being set up. I guess the league never wanted to see James vs Bryant in the finals, especially when Shaq was in Cleveland. That wouldn't have made for good TV at all. I guess they don't want large market teams like NY or Chicago in there and would much rather have OKC, SA, and Orlando in there. I also love how they want James to win so much that eight years in, he's still never won. If anything, I'd bet that the league would rather he lose because he's a much bigger draw and more polarizing when people can make the "yeah but he's never won" argument. Were the Rose and Howard injuries both faked to make his path easier this year? Did he almost derail Stern’s plans last night with that whole fake cramp thing or was that part of the script? Talk all you want about fouls but that is not what is deciding this series. If OKC is getting anything from Harden, they are up 3-1 instead. Who scripted Battier in those first three games or Chalmers and Cole last night? Were the OKC players told to let them score? Has Harden been paid to miss? I would have loved to have been in the meeting where the league told Harden to play bad on purpose and he agreed. I'm still waiting for the first player to come out and say that the league approached him and asked him to do his best to lose. How much do you offer a guy making $10 million plus to give up their dream?

It's not incomprehensible to believe that outside sources could get to a player and force him to compromise his game or to a coach and make him compromise his team's chances with how he coaches. I wouldn't doubt some OKC fans are wondering if the mob got to Brooks and that's why Fisher was on the court so much. But the league doing it? No chance.

Of course it isn't rigged.

Maybe star players get preferential treatment from the refs in terms of calls -- but it's been that way at least since Jordan was playing.

I probably got fooled by randomness with Fisher and Harden a little.

Yesterday, they had no spark coming off of the bench and they were a -4 and a -5

The Miami Heat only had three players come off the bench and play more than 3 minutes:

James Jones (20 minutes) +8
Udonis Haslem (11 minutes) +9
Norris Cole (8 minutes) +12


Everyone wants to talk about the stars -- but this game was decided by the bench players. James Jones, Haslem, and Norris Cole were better than Harden and Fisher. If that happens, it's almost impossible for OKC to win no matter what the starters do.

Norris Cole played 8 minutes, scored 8 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and was +12. Had he played starter minutes (36 minutes) he was on pace to score 36 points, grab 9 rebounds, and Miami was on pace to outscore OKC by 54 points with him on the floor.

He's a rookie from the Horizon league who just played over his head. Harden and Fisher just need to play better a lot better than the chumps off of Miami's bench.

Sorry, I had to do it to annoy Cannon Shell.

"Everything in the NBA is completely Legit"

Tim Donaghy

Had he played startes minutes against the OKC starters, he likely would have scored 10 points and had three rebounds and fouled out trying to guard Westbrook. That's if he didn't pass out from exhaustion at the 24 minute mark.

Your point is correct though. The stars are basically cancelling each other out. Miami is getting a bit more from their third star than OKC is but Westbrook more than offset that last night with his advantage over Wade. It's the role players. Battier was huge those first three games. Last night, Chalmers and Cole were the difference. What I don't understand is why Brooks continues to rely on his role players as much as he does? There is no reason why Durant and Westbrook can't be on the court 48 minutes a night. They have all summer to rest.

Absolutely it's rigged. I mean beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Doesn't anyone remember game 6 of the Kings vs Lakers game back in 2002?????????????????????

If you can watch players like Jordan, Wade, etc. get away with flagrant rule breaking and not say it's rigged, you are idiotic.

That's a classic Coach!

However, can anyone with even six brain cells left in their head watch this short clip and not realize Boston had no hope of beating Miami this year???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjvlxqJFOj0