2014 NBA Playoffs

Lights Out · June 2, 2014

Wait, people seriously think the Heat don't play team ball?

LeBron is the ultimate unselfish team player, all three of the Big Three sacrificed money and touches to put this team together, and their offense prioritizes ball movement, yet somehow they don't represent team ball? :therock:

Rockstar Matt · June 2, 2014

Wait, people seriously think the Heat don't play team ball?
LeBron is the ultimate unselfish team player, all three of the Big Three sacrificed money and touches to put this team together, and their offense prioritizes ball movement, yet somehow they don't represent team ball?

Haven't you heard? That protrayal doesn't fit in the selfish LeBron and his selfish Heat team selfishly winning titles, while being gloriously selfish.

Quite frankly, I wish LeBron would be more selfish. It'd be fun to watch.

Unocal · June 2, 2014

If LeBron wanted to, he could have easily gone for the scoring title. But there's a reason he's not going all out for 30-40 games. It IS the unselfishness

CS85 · June 3, 2014

This is fantastic: SBNation guy uses NBA2K to see how many years of unusable create-a-player-drafts it would take to effectively kill the NBA. The results are hilarious.

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/3/5772796/nba-y2k-series-finale-the-death-of-basketball

Edit: Preview of the 2034 NBA finals:

CubsFanBudMan · June 4, 2014

This is fantastic: SBNation guy uses NBA2K to see how many years of unusable create-a-player-drafts it would take to effectively kill the NBA. The results are hilarious.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/3/5772796/nba-y2k-series-finale-the-death-of-basketball
Edit: Preview of the 2034 NBA finals:

Wow. I really enjoyed that. Of course, I like that sort of thing. I used to sign every "real" player I could to the Cubs until about the 2018 season of MVP Baseball 2003 franchise mode, resulting in a mix of all-stars (Pujols, Vlad, Soriano... foreshadowing!) and random utility players that managed to hang on. I'd trade for anyone with a real picture, run a sim season, and play the playoffs. I dreaded retirements.

Anyway, this was my favorite line from that article:

In Miami, Bob Jiggity's morale is listed as, "fed up."

...even before reading that it was because he was signed to a 1-year, $0 contract.

Was it just me or did the league take a drastic dive to that 3-0, 12OT Finals game?

rams80 · June 4, 2014

This is fantastic: SBNation guy uses NBA2K to see how many years of unusable create-a-player-drafts it would take to effectively kill the NBA. The results are hilarious.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/3/5772796/nba-y2k-series-finale-the-death-of-basketball
Edit: Preview of the 2034 NBA finals:
Wow. I really enjoyed that. Of course, I like that sort of thing. I used to sign every "real" player I could to the Cubs until about the 2018 season of MVP Baseball 2003 franchise mode, resulting in a mix of all-stars (Pujols, Vlad, Soriano... foreshadowing!) and random utility players that managed to hang on. I'd trade for anyone with a real picture, run a sim season, and play the playoffs. I dreaded retirements.
Anyway, this was my favorite line from that article:
In Miami, Bob Jiggity's morale is listed as, "fed up."
...even before reading that it was because he was signed to a 1-year, $0 contract.
Was it just me or did the league take a drastic dive to that 3-0, 12OT Finals game?

Nerlens Noel and Anthony Davis were the only players keeping things respectable. Once they left, it was lights out.

PhantomDreamer · June 4, 2014

Horace Grant is correct.

alxy8s · June 4, 2014

Horace Grant is correct.

What a statement! And after all we learned from Lance Stephenson about giving Miami "bulletin board material." This is gonna have huge implications when the 2014 Heat play the 1990s Bulls! Wait, that's not happening? Not ever?

The NBA has the most asinine commentary surrounding it.

CubsFanBudMan · June 4, 2014

This is fantastic: SBNation guy uses NBA2K to see how many years of unusable create-a-player-drafts it would take to effectively kill the NBA. The results are hilarious.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/3/5772796/nba-y2k-series-finale-the-death-of-basketball
Edit: Preview of the 2034 NBA finals:
Wow. I really enjoyed that. Of course, I like that sort of thing. I used to sign every "real" player I could to the Cubs until about the 2018 season of MVP Baseball 2003 franchise mode, resulting in a mix of all-stars (Pujols, Vlad, Soriano... foreshadowing!) and random utility players that managed to hang on. I'd trade for anyone with a real picture, run a sim season, and play the playoffs. I dreaded retirements.
Anyway, this was my favorite line from that article:
In Miami, Bob Jiggity's morale is listed as, "fed up."
...even before reading that it was because he was signed to a 1-year, $0 contract.
Was it just me or did the league take a drastic dive to that 3-0, 12OT Finals game?

Nerlens Noel and Anthony Davis were the only players keeping things respectable. Once they left, it was lights out.

Yeah, but it seemed to go from 66-33 and 75-25 games -- where one team was a Doomsday one -- to 0-0 in a hurry. I was under the impression Doomsday players could score. Must have been a lot of unmentioned 3-0s and 2-0s in the regular seasons leading up to that first Final game without an NBA player.

/overanalysis

PhantomDreamer · June 4, 2014

Horace Grant is correct.
What a statement! And after all we learned from Lance Stephenson about giving Miami "bulletin board material." This is gonna have huge implications when the 2014 Heat play the 1990s Bulls! Wait, that's not happening? Not ever?
The NBA has the most asinine commentary surrounding it.

I love it more MJ/LeBron comparisons!

ESTONES6 · June 4, 2014

A lot of people aren't excited for this Finals match up. But I like the story line of everything that is good about the NBA against every that is bad about the NBA... the fundamentals against the showtime... the epitome of TEAM against 1 or 2, maybe 3 individuals... old against young. Hopefully, it's another classic.
You have created your own narrative or are just lazy.
MIA is an older team than SAS.
MIA is the most efficient team in the league and has been so for the last two seasons. Bosh has changed his game to include the corner 3, something which they asked him to develop when he was hurt during those games he was out in the 2011 playoffs.

The narrative we are talking about is Duncan/Parker/Ginobili/Pop against James/Wade/Bosh/Spo. THAT is the old -vs- young. THAT is the comparison. A group of guys who have been doing it for 10-15 years against guys who have been doing it for 3-4 years. THAT is the narrative. We aren't talking about Green/Leonard/Mills for the young Spurs and Allen/Battier/Anderson for the old Heat. Don't be naive.

Also, the comment about taking LESS money is completely bogus. There is no state income tax in Florida, so yes, technically, they took less money on their contract, but took more home every week due to the tax policy... MAYBE Wade took less, but with his body and declining game, it's hard to say he is getting underpaid for his efforts.

You can't talk TEAM concept when 3 guys on the Heat account for 75% +/- of the team's production, filled in with 1 or 2 other guys having decent games in the 10-15 point range. Compare that to the Spurs who usually have 1 big scorer every night, MAYBE 2, followed by a bunch of guys in the 12-18 point range.

wonderbread · June 4, 2014

A lot of people aren't excited for this Finals match up. But I like the story line of everything that is good about the NBA against every that is bad about the NBA... the fundamentals against the showtime... the epitome of TEAM against 1 or 2, maybe 3 individuals... old against young. Hopefully, it's another classic.
You have created your own narrative or are just lazy.
MIA is an older team than SAS.
MIA is the most efficient team in the league and has been so for the last two seasons. Bosh has changed his game to include the corner 3, something which they asked him to develop when he was hurt during those games he was out in the 2011 playoffs.

The narrative we are talking about is Duncan/Parker/Ginobili/Pop against James/Wade/Bosh/Spo. THAT is the old -vs- young. THAT is the comparison. A group of guys who have been doing it for 10-15 years against guys who have been doing it for 3-4 years. THAT is the narrative. We aren't talking about Green/Leonard/Mills for the young Spurs and Allen/Battier/Anderson for the old Heat. Don't be naive.
Also, the comment about taking LESS money is completely bogus. There is no state income tax in Florida, so yes, technically, they took less money on their contract, but took more home every week due to the tax policy... MAYBE Wade took less, but with his body and declining game, it's hard to say he is getting underpaid for his efforts.
You can't talk TEAM concept when 3 guys on the Heat account for 75% +/- of the team's production, filled in with 1 or 2 other guys having decent games in the 10-15 point range. Compare that to the Spurs who usually have 1 big scorer every night, MAYBE 2, followed by a bunch of guys in the 12-18 point range.

You might want to review those stats, the big three account for less than 50% of the teams production

ESTONES6 · June 4, 2014

A lot of people aren't excited for this Finals match up. But I like the story line of everything that is good about the NBA against every that is bad about the NBA... the fundamentals against the showtime... the epitome of TEAM against 1 or 2, maybe 3 individuals... old against young. Hopefully, it's another classic.
You have created your own narrative or are just lazy.
MIA is an older team than SAS.
MIA is the most efficient team in the league and has been so for the last two seasons. Bosh has changed his game to include the corner 3, something which they asked him to develop when he was hurt during those games he was out in the 2011 playoffs.

The narrative we are talking about is Duncan/Parker/Ginobili/Pop against James/Wade/Bosh/Spo. THAT is the old -vs- young. THAT is the comparison. A group of guys who have been doing it for 10-15 years against guys who have been doing it for 3-4 years. THAT is the narrative. We aren't talking about Green/Leonard/Mills for the young Spurs and Allen/Battier/Anderson for the old Heat. Don't be naive.
Also, the comment about taking LESS money is completely bogus. There is no state income tax in Florida, so yes, technically, they took less money on their contract, but took more home every week due to the tax policy... MAYBE Wade took less, but with his body and declining game, it's hard to say he is getting underpaid for his efforts.
You can't talk TEAM concept when 3 guys on the Heat account for 75% +/- of the team's production, filled in with 1 or 2 other guys having decent games in the 10-15 point range. Compare that to the Spurs who usually have 1 big scorer every night, MAYBE 2, followed by a bunch of guys in the 12-18 point range.
You might want to review those stats, the big three account for less than 50% of the teams production

Less than 50%? I have a hard time believing that. James averages around 28 per game, Wade with another 20 per game, and Bosh with 15 per game. If the team scores on average, 100 points per game, I would say they are over 60% of the team's production, if not more. So fine, is it less than the 75% I estimated? Sure. But I have a hard time believing its LESS than 50%.

dbadefense1990 · June 4, 2014

MIA is an older team than SAS.

This is one of those posts which belong in the "It's Hard To Believe" forum.

Also, the comment about taking LESS money is completely bogus. There is no state income tax in Florida, so yes, technically, they took less money on their contract, but took more home every week due to the tax policy... MAYBE Wade took less, but with his body and declining game, it's hard to say he is getting underpaid for his efforts.

Isn't there no state income tax in Texas also? This kind of renders your post irrelevant, since the Spurs players can also pocket their contract incomes 100% without fearing any state income tax.

ESTONES6 · June 4, 2014

MIA is an older team than SAS.
This is one of those posts which belong in the "It's Hard To Believe" forum.
Also, the comment about taking LESS money is completely bogus. There is no state income tax in Florida, so yes, technically, they took less money on their contract, but took more home every week due to the tax policy... MAYBE Wade took less, but with his body and declining game, it's hard to say he is getting underpaid for his efforts.
Isn't there no state income tax in Texas also? This kind of renders your post irrelevant, since the Spurs players can also pocket their contract incomes 100% without fearing any state income tax.

No... it renders your post irrelevant. We were NOT comparing the Heat and Spurs take home checks. The original comment said that the Heat players took LESS money to play together, thus forming some ultimate, altruistic, noble, selfless, super team. When in actuality, Ohio (LeBron) and Ontario (Bosh) had State and Provincial taxes coming out of their checks.

Again, we aren't talking about the bench players or the role players. We are talking about the big dollar, "Big 3" from each team. Sure, Danny Green is younger than Ray Allen and Kawhi Leonard is younger than Shane Bettier... but that's not what this conversation is about.

PhantomDreamer · June 4, 2014

NBA Action, It's FANtastic!

Still MIGHTY · June 4, 2014

The NBA, where our conference finals end before the NHL's and our Finals start after the NHL's.

Seriously, these set dates for the Finals suck. If you're ready, let's go.

Lee Noire · June 5, 2014

This is fantastic: SBNation guy uses NBA2K to see how many years of unusable create-a-player-drafts it would take to effectively kill the NBA. The results are hilarious.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/3/5772796/nba-y2k-series-finale-the-death-of-basketball
Edit: Preview of the 2034 NBA finals:

The season ends with a 12OT 3-0 game and the Clippers still didn't win a ring. Ouch.