nba finals

[gales0678]

Somehow someway Lebron and his younger teammates will find a way.
SA got a cheap win against Phoenix in Game 5 of that all important series. Out of the teams in the west Dallas, Phx , or SA , I think if you ask the cavs coach he would much rather play SA - Dallas and Phoenix can score in bunches very quickly - SA while a more complete team doesn't score as much as Dallas and Phx and it would be harder for the Cavs to outscore those teams.

Lebron will need help each game , but, 1 guy will have to step up each night.
I think they can do it , i think they will win 1 of the first 2 games in SA, lose 1 game in Clevland , and then win it back in SA in game 6.

I would like to see the Spurs play an elmination game this year against LeBron and see how they fare

Take Clev to win series in 6.
Take them with the points in game 1 and game 2 in SA to start out

[The Bid]

I think Cleveland with the points is a real good play in game one

[alysheba4]

spurs in 4

[Scav]

Originally Posted by gales0678

Somehow someway Lebron and his younger teammates will find a way.
SA got a cheap win against Phoenix in Game 5 of that all important series. Out of the teams in the west Dallas, Phx , or SA , I think if you ask the cavs coach he would much rather play SA - Dallas and Phoenix can score in bunches very quickly - SA while a more complete team doesn't score as much as Dallas and Phx and it would be harder for the Cavs to outscore those teams.

Lebron will need help each game , but, 1 guy will have to step up each night.
I think they can do it , i think they will win 1 of the first 2 games in SA, lose 1 game in Clevland , and then win it back in SA in game 6.

I would like to see the Spurs play an elmination game this year against LeBron and see how they fare

Take Clev to win series in 6.
Take them with the points in game 1 and game 2 in SA to start out

Disagree my friend. I don't see SA losing this series. Lebron, who is absolutley amazing, might have big eyes the first two games of the series. 90% of attention on him. While I think he can carry it, just not this early, might be a couple years since the Bulls are going to win it all next year when they figure out a way to get Oden......

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by Scav

Disagree my friend. I don't see SA losing this series. Lebron, who is absolutley amazing, might have big eyes the first two games of the series. 90% of attention on him. While I think he can carry it, just not this early, might be a couple years since the Bulls are going to win it all next year when they figure out a way to get Oden......

... and figure out how to make all their guards grow 3 inches before next season...

[Scav]

Originally Posted by SentToStud

... and figure out how to make all their guards grow 3 inches before next season...

I get the feeling there is some sort of trade going on, not sure if the trigger will get pulled. Bulls will have a hard time keeping Gordan and Deng, and Deng's value is at an all time high, I also think they would trade Wallace given the opportunity, he taught these kids alot about defensive and attitude, not really needed now with the emergence of Springboard Thomas

Originally Posted by gales0678

Somehow someway Lebron and his younger teammates will find a way.
SA got a cheap win against Phoenix in Game 5 of that all important series. Out of the teams in the west Dallas, Phx , or SA , I think if you ask the cavs coach he would much rather play SA - Dallas and Phoenix can score in bunches very quickly - SA while a more complete team doesn't score as much as Dallas and Phx and it would be harder for the Cavs to outscore those teams.

Lebron will need help each game , but, 1 guy will have to step up each night.
I think they can do it , i think they will win 1 of the first 2 games in SA, lose 1 game in Clevland , and then win it back in SA in game 6.

I would like to see the Spurs play an elmination game this year against LeBron and see how they fare

Take Clev to win series in 6.
Take them with the points in game 1 and game 2 in SA to start out

Whoa with the cheap wins. Cleveland played Washington without their best two players. And people where picking Denver first round against the Spurs because of Iverson/Mello and 12 out of the last 13 were wins. If Cleveland had played in the West they would not have advanced to the finals. No way.

[SentToStud]

Most likely, in order:

1. SA in 5
2. Cleve in 6
3. SA in 7

I'll wait and if SA goes up 2-0, I'll dump on Cleve in game 3. Cleve is a bit tempting at around +475 for the series. No way I'd lay -500 and take SA.

[alysheba4]

the east was beyond bad........cleveland might be the worst team in the history of the n.b.a finals.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by alysheba4

the east was beyond bad........cleveland might be the worst team in the history of the n.b.a finals.

While I agree the East was not strong and despite Morty's pleas to the contrary, LeBron's supporting cast is historically weak there are much worse teams that have been in the NBA finals. The worst of NBA final teams in modern times (post 1960) would easily be the 70-71 Baltimore Bullets. The Bullets who later became the Washington Bullets who became the Wizards, were 42-40 that year. They were absolutely taken apart in the Finals by the Bucks led by Kareem and Oscar 4-0. The closest any game that series was 8 points and most were 20 point or worse losses. The 75-76 Suns were also 42-40 in the regular season. They are famous for the triple OT game against Boston but they really were not very good. The 80-81 Houston Rockets were 40-42 in the regular season despite the presence of league MVP Moses Malone. Outside of Robert Reid the rest of the team was over the hill guys and bums. They somehow won 2 games against Boston in the Finals which shows the greatness of Malone.

[alysheba4]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

While I agree the East was not strong and despite Morty's pleas to the contrary, LeBron's supporting cast is historically weak there are much worse teams that have been in the NBA finals. The worst of NBA final teams in modern times (post 1960) would easily be the 70-71 Baltimore Bullets. The Bullets who later became the Washington Bullets who became the Wizards, were 42-40 that year. They were absolutely taken apart in the Finals by the Bucks led by Kareem and Oscar 4-0. The closest any game that series was 8 points and most were 20 point or worse losses. The 75-76 Suns were also 42-40 in the regular season. They are famous for the triple OT game against Boston but they really were not very good. The 80-81 Houston Rockets were 40-42 in the regular season despite the presence of league MVP Moses Malone. Outside of Robert Reid the rest of the team was over the hill guys and bums. They somehow won 2 games against Boston in the Finals which shows the greatness of Malone.

.......good work, i was exagerating about cleveland...... yeah, malone was a monster. he used to flat out abuse jabbar.

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Whoa with the cheap wins. Cleveland played Washington without their best two players. And people where picking Denver first round against the Spurs because of Iverson/Mello and 12 out of the last 13 were wins. If Cleveland had played in the West they would not have advanced to the finals. No way.

Dallas and Phoenix were both huge favorites and tanked. West teams, including SA are softer than East conference teams. No doubt about that. Utah? Give me a break! You conveniently left out that Detroit was at full strength and Cleveland dominated with their arguably second best player playing with one foot. Detroit was lucky to get what they got.

James is going to wipe the floor with Bowen's ass just like Carmelo Anthony does every time SA plays Denver. He's just not strong enough.

Spurs should win, maybe even in 5 games, but the line is way too high on the series.

Originally Posted by SentToStud

Dallas and Phoenix were both huge favorites and tanked. West teams, including SA are softer than East conference teams. No doubt about that. Utah? Give me a break! You conveniently left out that Detroit was at full strength and Cleveland dominated with their arguably second best player playing with one foot. Detroit was lucky to get what they got.

James is going to wipe the floor with Bowen's ass just like Carmelo Anthony does every time SA plays Denver. He's just not strong enough.

Spurs should win, maybe even in 5 games, but the line is way too high on the series.

Washington... tough!!! Lord help me.
Detroit flat out imploded.

No way Cleveland would have made it to the Western conference finals. In fact they probably would have real difficulty with Denver first round and be out early as ever.

Bowen gets scored on by everyone because he is the only guy who covers the best player on almost every team the Spurs play. But he tires them down by the end of a series. It has happened in the first 3 series.

Bowen is the most versatile defender in the league. Name a player that will do better on Nash, Mello, Iverson, and Lebron?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Washington... tough!!! Lord help me.
Detroit flat out imploded.

No way Cleveland would have made it to the Western conference finals. In fact they probably would have real difficulty with Denver first round and be out early as ever.

Bowen gets scored on by everyone because he is the only guy who covers the best player on almost every team the Spurs play. But he tires them down by the end of a series. It has happened in the first 3 series.

Bowen is the most versatile defender in the league. Name a player that will do better on Nash, Mello, Iverson, and Lebron?

He will be in foul trouble early, count on it.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

He will be in foul trouble early, count on it.

It really depends on the refs and Bowen.

The refs watch him super close and Bowen lays off... no.
I think Bowen is really good at pushing the envelope on this and reading the refs calls thereby interpreting what type of game he needs to play.

Lebron will do as he pleases. Bowen will have to adjust. The refs have probably talked about how they will call this matchup extensively. I look for Bowen to flop early on a drive in San Antonio to test the waters. Guaranteed Bowen already knows exactly when he will flop. He has probably watched every Lebron drive and looked for the times when he ducked his shoulders with his head away from the basket or looking down.

Originally Posted by Bababooyee

Artest

With 8 fouls per game. Maybe.

Great defender, but his head deletes the talent.

Originally Posted by Bababooyee

I would take Bowen over Artest for that reason, but on pure skill, I think Artest is a better defender. I am partial to great defenders, so I am excited to see what Bowen does.

Bowen gets away with bad defensive practices that we try to teach NOT to do, because he has such super quick feet and hands. The man can actually stay upright while playing defense.

I watched him flabbergasted telling my daughter you have got to get on the balls of your feet and maintain a good position, bend your damn knees and slide your feet quickly. Keep your hands quickly active, stay in front of your man, and then take taps at the ball. If you are in front of your man and jab at the ball, refs rarely call a rake. But if you are out of position and reach... forget it, you can make a clean pick and the refs knee jerk reaction is a foul.

And then she watches Bowen... I say forget him, he is special. I still am amazed. This guy, out of the prime of his physical career, can play the type of defense he does. For very long periods of time.

So yes. I love defense. Because it is infinitely more difficult and physically taxing than offense. Thats why I got such a kick out of AND ONE on ESPN. BABY, BABY, SPIDA... climbing the rims while no one defends him. BABY.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Bababooyee

Artest

Is he still in the league?