2018 NBA Post Season

[Lights Out]

52 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

At the minimum, 8 straight finals equals 128 additional games. That means he's played nearly 10 seasons when many players played eight. It's really amazing.

 

I'm sorry some salty Boston Celtics fans lack perspective. But really, no one does this in the modern era. There's regular greatness, and then there's greatest of all time greatness. That's what's happening here.

Perspective: only four teams have made it to four straight Finals in the modern era. Bird's Celtics, Magic's Lakers, LeBron's Heat, and LeBron's Cavs.

 

If making it to eight consecutive Finals is so easy in the East, more teams would have done it.

[Lights Out]

Just now, Kaz said:

The East has been mediocre but GTFO with that crap; a more suitable comp would be Brady beating up the AFC East for division titles or Peyton doing the same to the AFC South.

It's just a horrible comparison in general. People kept trying to put Peyton in the GOAT quarterback discussion while he was choking in the playoffs with stacked teams and setting the NFL record for one-and-dones. He was never held to the impossible standards that LeBron is held to... not even close!

[ozzyman314]

11 minutes ago, See Red said:

 

You’re acting like the Cavs were just lighting it up from deep all game. They were slightly better but not much so when you account for Boston having to force threes late.

 

Lebron had 35-15-9. That this was an “average game” for him is the entire point. After game 5 the question was whether or not LeBron had anything left in the tank. In game 7 he played every single minute and willed his trash heap of a team into the Finals. 

As I said earlier, that game was 2 teams playing like absolute :censored:, with it really coming down to what team plays :censored:ter. As it turns out, it was The Celtics giving FG to guys who couldn't hit a single one all game. That really ended up being the difference. 

 

7 minutes ago, Lights Out said:

I think he'd easily get through the Kawhi-less Spurs, the Pelicans, the Wolves, the Jazz, etc. Beating the Rockets seems doable with a better supporting cast. Nobody's beating the Warriors unless they completely choke like they've been doing for much of this series.

 

As a fan of a Western Conference team, I can't lie: the West is getting by mainly on past reputation and its usefulness as a go-to excuse for the anti-LeBron crowd these days. After GSW and Houston, the West isn't all that great anymore. I'd easily rank the Celtics, Raptors, Sixers and even the Pacers ahead of the third-seeded Blazers.

Spurs & Wolves maybe. 

But Pelicans (if They play like they did these playoffs) & Rockets hell no. Those 2 alone were better than The East. 

 

2 minutes ago, Kaz said:

The East has been mediocre but GTFO with that crap; a more suitable comp would be Brady beating up the AFC East for division titles or Peyton doing the same to the AFC South.

Regardless my point still stands, it's not nearly as impressive an accolade as it would seem. 

It'd probably mean a lot more if he could finish the job at least half the time, But 8/9 Finals and only 3 titles? 

[Crabcake]

We should rename this year’s thread “Ozzyman vs. the world” imo the way things are turning out

[FiddySicks]

The East is absolutely weaker than the West and anyone who disagrees with that is just ignoring the numbers. But this is still the other half of the BEST BASKETBALL LEAGUE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. Let’s keep that in mind here. It’s not like Lebron has just cruised his way to all these finals appearances by beating your local rec league squad or anything. The weakness of the conference barely diminishes what he’s done at all, and is an indictment of the league’s issues, not his. 

 

I mean, I’m arguing that Lebron and the Cavs are in a weaker conference, and even I’m not arguing that. 

[JTernup]

This is bar none the most idiotic string of posts I have ever seen on this site. Congrats Oz I'm genuinely impressed.

 

Lebron has cemented himself as the most singularly dominant player to ever play in the NBA. There is no arguing that, 8 straight finals with maybe 2 teams that had any business being there speaks for itself. The relative strength or weakness of the East makes no difference, MJ for example didn't quite feast on a murderers row during his 6 titles either. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

One more note about the conferences is that LeBron has been a pretty big barrier to marquee free agents signing in the east. Yes, there may be more quality teams and players in the west, but guys like LMA, KD, Pau, and others saw they could go through LeBron or roll the dice in the west, and chose the latter.

 

LeBron effectively shut down a conference for a generation. He wins games without even playing them.

[Unocal]

I honestly hate Tom Brady less than LeBron James

[DG_ThenNowForever]

4 minutes ago, SabresRule7361 said:

I honestly hate Tom Brady less than LeBron James

 

You hate everything. No one cares.

[Unocal]

35 minutes ago, Kaz said:

The East has been mediocre but GTFO with that crap; a more suitable comp would be Brady beating up the AFC East for division titles or Peyton doing the same to the AFC South.

 

Not even close. AFC South was a FAR better division than the AFC East. One year, that division had 3 10+ win teams and an 8-8. Jags/Titans were less of a speedbump than Buffalo/Jets/Miami.

 

And the Colts didn’t always run away and hide with the division. Since 2003, New England o has never gone down to the final week of the season trying to nail down the division.

[ozzyman314]

11 minutes ago, JTernup said:

This is bar none the most idiotic string of posts I have ever seen on this site. Congrats Oz I'm genuinely impressed.

 

Lebron has cemented himself as the most singularly dominant player to ever play in the NBA. There is no arguing that, 8 straight finals with maybe 2 teams that had any business being there speaks for itself. The relative strength or weakness of the East makes no difference, MJ for example didn't quite feast on a murderers row during his 6 titles either. 

It may certainly seem that way to a Lebron Fanboy. 

But if you could stop being one for a moment and look objectively (which is clearly impossible) and look at the opponents he's faced & his Finals record, It's not as "dominant" as it would lead you to believe. As was brought up, it's like bragging about The Patriots winning their division the past 16/18 years. 

Jordan had better competition then Lebron had in The playoffs. . 

 

 

[JTernup]

18 minutes ago, ozzyman314 said:

It may certainly seem that way to a Lebron Fanboy. 

But if you could stop being one for a moment and look objectively (which is clearly impossible) and look at the opponents he's faced & his Finals record, It's not as "dominant" as it would lead you to believe. As was brought up, it's like bragging about The Patriots winning their division the past 16/18 years. 

Jordan had better competition then Lebron had in The playoffs. . 

Labeling anyone that disagrees with you everyone in this thread a fan boy doesn't help your cause. 

 

Discrediting greatness because it is greatness and leads to domination is a fallacy. Jordan won 6 titles in the 90's does that discredit the accomplishment because those other teams allowed such domination? Saying Lebron, Brady, Jordan etc are less great because they played competition which allowed for their domination is absurd. 

 

No, he didn't. The NBA was more well rounded in the 90s but Jordan essentially played on a super team with 2 of the top 10 players in the league and many other very good players. With that in mind, his path was likely easier due to the quality of his team. He also never played a team in the finals that is even close to as talented as the current Warriors and the Thunder and Spurs teams he played from 2012-14 stack up favorably as well. The way in which talent has accumulated doesn't make it any easier to win series, especially when Lebron has never had a supporting cast like MJ.

[ozzyman314]

36 minutes ago, JTernup said:

Labeling anyone that disagrees with you everyone in this thread a fan boy doesn't help your cause. 

 

Discrediting greatness because it is greatness and leads to domination is a fallacy. Jordan won 6 titles in the 90's does that discredit the accomplishment because those other teams allowed such domination? Saying Lebron, Brady, Jordan etc are less great because they played competition which allowed for their domination is absurd. 

 

No, he didn't. The NBA was more well rounded in the 90s but Jordan essentially played on a super team with 2 of the top 10 players in the league and many other very good players. With that in mind, his path was likely easier due to the quality of his team. He also never played a team in the finals that is even close to as talented as the current Warriors and the Thunder and Spurs teams he played from 2012-14 stack up favorably as well. The way in which talent has accumulated doesn't make it any easier to win series, especially when Lebron has never had a supporting cast like MJ.

Well when you can't acknowledge even a little bit of criticism against that player, what else are you? 

 

It's really not. How are you supposed to get a good read on just how great a person is if they don't face any real competition near their level? Are they really that good, or the competition around them just really weak? In James' case it seems to be the latter given his struggle against West Teams in The Finals that are actually stacked unlike the east. There's no taking away his greatness, but It certainly diminishes his accomplishments like "8 straight NBA Finals".  Is that really so hard to admit? 

[Lights Out]

55 minutes ago, ozzyman314 said:

Well when you can't acknowledge even a little bit of criticism against that player, what else are you? 

 

It's really not. How are you supposed to get a good read on just how great a person is if they don't face any real competition near their level? Are they really that good, or the competition around them just really weak? In James' case it seems to be the latter given his struggle against West Teams in The Finals that are actually stacked unlike the east. There's no taking away his greatness, but It certainly diminishes his accomplishments like "8 straight NBA Finals".  Is that really so hard to admit? 

Let's be real. He's "struggled" against the dynasty Spurs, a loaded Mavs team with Dirk at his absolute peak, and a stacked Warriors team that had to add another MVP in his prime to finally beat LeBron when he had a healthy supporting cast (unlike 2015). He's had one bad series (2011) against that gauntlet.

 

When you factor in the teams he's been carrying, any great would "struggle" against that level of competition.

 

The reason why LeBron's never faced competition near his level is because that doesn't exist. He's significantly better than everyone else. The rest of the league has to stack their teams to an insane level just to beat him, and sometimes even that isn't enough (see: the 2012 and 2016 Finals).

[BBTV]

Admiral once listed the great CCSLC rivalries, and this is becoming one of them: Ozzyman vs anybody that’s not Ozzyman. 

[ozzyman314]

4 minutes ago, Lights Out said:

Let's be real. He's "struggled" against the dynasty Spurs, a loaded Mavs team with Dirk at his absolute peak, and a stacked Warriors team that had to add another MVP in his prime to finally beat LeBron when he had a healthy supporting cast (unlike 2015). He's had one bad series (2011) against that gauntlet.

 

When you factor in the teams he's been carrying, any great would "struggle" against that level of competition.

 

The reason why LeBron's never faced competition near his level is because that doesn't exist. He's significantly better than everyone else. The rest of the league has to stack their teams to an insane level just to beat him, and sometimes even that isn't enough (see: the 2012 and 2016 Finals).

Funny how those are all teams he only faced in the Finals. 

When was the last time he struggled like that against an East team? 

 

The fact he struggles so much, but only in The Finals, says that there are teams on his level. They just don’t play in the same conference. 

Having only 3 rings when he’s going to his 8th straight Finals (/9) really does say a lot about his so called dominance. 

[ozzyman314]

6 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Admiral once listed the great CCSLC rivalries, and this is becoming one of them: Ozzyman vs Lebron Fanboys. 

That’s more accurate. 

Is it really that hard to take criticism of Lebron? 

[Unocal]

3 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Admiral once listed the great CCSLC rivalries, and this is becoming one of them: Ozzyman vs anybody that’s not Ozzyman. 

 

 

The greatest CCSLC rivalry is McCarthy vs all things Pittsburgh 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

15 minutes ago, ozzyman314 said:

That’s more accurate. 

Is it really that hard to take criticism of Lebron? 

 

Reasoned criticism, sure. And all of us do. He's only 3/5 in the finals. He doesn't have the MVP awards others do. The Decisions was weird. He deferred too much early in his career.

 

But you're swinging too far the other way, saying James just lucked into 8 straight championship series. That's a stupid opinion that only stupid people have. Or, to be more charitable, people who don't understand professional sports, basketball or really anything beyond their own experience.

 

[Crabcake]

29 minutes ago, SabresRule7361 said:

 

 

The greatest CCSLC rivalry is McCarthy vs all things Pittsburgh 

Challenge accepted