2011 NBA Playoffs

[FiddySicks]

And now we'll be "treated" to a Mavericks-Heat Final... Again!

For real? The rest of the country is so sick of Lakers-Celtics, we'll take a 5 year old rematch over seeing those two again. I'm not even an NBA fan and I'm tired of Lakers-Celtics.

And the rest of the country is also sick of having the Heat shoved down their throats.

Bingo. That's what I'll be sick of most of all. If the Heat win it all, I might not go on ESPN for a month. It'll be nothing but a Heat lovefest. I hope somehow the Bulls can miraculously win it. A Chicago-Dallas series would be fun to watch.

It is NOT a Heat lovefest, the nation's sportswriters dislike the Heat, the TNT analysts picked BOS and CHI collectively over the Heat.

The fact that the Heat are on the verge of getting to The Finals after one season is the issue which most of America has with his choice, "The Decision", and the arena introduction when LeBron talked about, "four, five...titles". There is bigtime backlash as they are about to be five wins away from a title in year one; a year in which even with a new CBA and hard cap, could be their weakest team with these guys under contract.

That was my thought as well. With how thrown together the remainder of that Heat roster is, and with how well they are already playing, it's going to be scary to think how much better this team could get over the next few seasons with more time and some smart moves.

[dfwabel]

And now we'll be "treated" to a Mavericks-Heat Final... Again!

For real? The rest of the country is so sick of Lakers-Celtics, we'll take a 5 year old rematch over seeing those two again. I'm not even an NBA fan and I'm tired of Lakers-Celtics.

And the rest of the country is also sick of having the Heat shoved down their throats.

Bingo. That's what I'll be sick of most of all. If the Heat win it all, I might not go on ESPN for a month. It'll be nothing but a Heat lovefest. I hope somehow the Bulls can miraculously win it. A Chicago-Dallas series would be fun to watch.

It is NOT a Heat lovefest, the nation's sportswriters dislike the Heat, the TNT analysts picked BOS and CHI collectively over the Heat.

The fact that the Heat are on the verge of getting to The Finals after one season is the issue which most of America has with his choice, "The Decision", and the arena introduction when LeBron talked about, "four, five...titles". There is bigtime backlash as they are about to be five wins away from a title in year one; a year in which even with a new CBA and hard cap, could be their weakest team with these guys under contract.

That was my thought as well. With how thrown together the remainder of that Heat roster is, and with how well they are already playing, it's going to be scary to think how much better this team could get over the next few seasons with more time and some smart moves.

You got it. It is not about a hard cap since the NBA will not have a hard cap for two to three seasons.

The Heat are disliked, and it is known, but they are doing this so quickly is the North American issue. This is like Real Madrid's 'Galactico' era but players had a choice in to where they would work.

[pmoehrin]

I think the reason most people dislike the Heat so much has nothing to do with "the decision" or how they built the, but the fact that they play in Miami.

I think the attitude most people take when looking at this is that Miami as a sports city doesen't deserve to have a team like this handed to them. Tell me what the Heat did that was any different from what the Celtics did? Nobody said anything when the Celtics went out and got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. All I heard was that finally the Celtics are back and that's because people wanted to see that franchise do well.

Nobody wants to see Miami do well in any sport other then maybe football and why would you? Who wants to see a city that's best known for South Beach and Scarface that could seemingly care less about its sports teams do win a title?

I think what happened with the decision is part of it, but if LeBron had decided instead that he was going to Chicago or New York, I don't think you would be getting nearly the backlash that you are now, because they are proven sports towns, just like there was no outcry when the Celtics formed the big three.

In the end at the root of it all is that I feel fans want to think that the players are playing for them. Obviously that's not true, but at least the illusion can be upheld if your playing in a city like New York or Philly or LA or Chicago, etc. etc. The job of every team's marketing department is to uphold this illusion I'd say. But when your the type of player like LeBron James that's playing in a sports market like Cleveland, and you decide to jump ship for Miami, the illusion of fan loyalty meaning actually meaning something to the players is gone. The attitude then becomes you don't really care about us, you just view us as the herd of sheep that pays for your paycheck. Once you start thinking that though, it becomes very hard to still be a sports fans, and I think the way most people cope with it is denial, but when denial is no longer possible, that's when people in sports can start becoming priahs. They still want to be fans, but they don't want to face the human element of what the sports world is really like, they rather live in a fantasy world. I think we're all guilty of that to some degree. Its just human nature to do it. The first lens we see sports through is as kids and as kids that's generally how we view the world, because we don't have any notion of what human nature really is.

If you view the Miami Heat in a fantasy world of sports, they have to be evil. There's no way they can't be. If they do well, then down the road you can spin it as LeBron left Cleveland because he had the foresight to see what he could do in Miami and was actually heroic for going against the grain for what guys like Jordan or Magic Johnson were saying about him. Right now though there's too many people who feel jilted to say that the Heat's formation was a good thing, and if that's how people feel that's how the press has to write about the Heat, or the articles aren't going to get read. Those feelings are going to have to pass before you can even think about looking at the Heat in the same light as any of the NBA's dynasties if in fact they become that.

This concludes my doctoral thesis on why I feel the Miami Heat are so hated in the study of having too much time on my hands.

As for the game tonight I think the Bulls will force a game six, but that's where the series will end, and I think Miami is going on to beat Dallas in six as well.

[Seadragon76]

Congrats to Dallas for winning and for booting the Traitors out of the playoffs.

Trust me, it would of been a problem for me to see OKC win an NBA Title after they 'stole' the franchise from Seattle.

[Sport]

Somebody asked Kevin Durant if he was happy for Dirk in this stage of Dirk's career. Kevin Durant responded with a resounding "no".

Is every sports writer some idiot wiener that never actually played sports? They take these stances and opinions that athletes just don't care about and they write full articles based on their dumb conjectures. Why even ask that question?

[infrared41]

Is every sports writer some idiot wiener that never actually played sports?

Yes.

[DEAD!]

Well... at least NBA players are not superstitious as NHL players.

[ESTONES6]

They paid Mike Brown a nice junk of scrap. I can't see them investing that much money without having some sort of Offensive Coordinator in the plans. It doesn't look like Brian Shaw is going to back, either. I think this was pretty definitive that the Lakers are moving in a different direction.

[The_Admiral]

Is every sports writer some idiot wiener that never actually played sports?

Yes.

And that's the way we idiot wieners like it, dadgum it. Imagine, if you will, a world where every columnist is Joe Morgan.

[MDC]

Somebody asked Kevin Durant if he was happy for Dirk in this stage of Dirk's career. Kevin Durant responded with a resounding "no".

Is every sports writer some idiot wiener that never actually played sports? They take these stances and opinions that athletes just don't care about and they write full articles based on their dumb conjectures. Why even ask that question?

At least Durant stayed back to congratulate Dirk and actually seemed to have some respect. Westbrook stormed off in a pissy mood. I like Durant and how he carries himself

[The_Admiral]

Durant and Westbrook have a fascinating yin-and-yang relationship. It's either going to make for captivating basketball drama or tear the entire organization asunder. Given the genesis of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the latter wouldn't be all that tragic.

[tvko]

Mike Bibby is a shadow of his former self, but he's the best option at PG that the Heatles have.

[Kevin W.]

No, it definitely has a lot to do with how the Heat handled the off-season. If LeBron had quietly announced his signing with the Heat and the Heat hadn't done that retarded unveiling event, people would have a lot less of a problem with them. Being egotistical brings scorn and they were being egotistical during the off-season.

As for tonight's game, it's a moot point but the refs missed a blatant shove by Miller at the end of the half. How many fouls are they going to look the other way on to protect Stern's Golden Boys?

[Lights Out]

Jesus H. Christ. People need to grow up and get over a TV show and rally that aired almost a year ago.

[The_Admiral]

No they don't. It's a big part of this season's narrative. That goofy-ass pre-championship rally didn't star Rony Seikaly and Alonzo Mourning, you know.

[Kevin W.]

The refs have dropped all pretense of calling this game fairly.

[Kevin W.]

Why didn't LeBron get Ted up for protesting the foul? That's the exact same situation as Gibson's, but no, he's one of Stern's Golden Boys so God forbid the refs call a foul on him.

[rams80]

Why didn't LeBron get Ted up for protesting the foul? That's the exact same situation as Gibson's, but no, he's one of Stern's Golden Boys so God forbid the refs call a foul on him.

Save your rage for the NBA finals.

[Kevin W.]

This is some of the most one-sided refereeing I've ever seen. Disgusting.

[TFoA]

So the Heat just made a 12 point lead disappear in about 90 seconds. With the way this game has gone, that's like making a 32 point lead evaporate in 5 minutes.