Celtics: Lebron's trip to the Finals with Cleveland

[Katherine Robinson]

In all honesty I can tell you're a nerdy white boy who's never touched a basketball in your life....it's really a shame that ignorant people like you can post the dribble and non-sense that has no basis in fact....reminds me of the lunatic Tea-Party fringe group tbh...

Here's your proof of AI's greatness:

A severe case of pot calling the kettle white, Kevin.

[Venti Quattro]

LOL, I remember how much the media hyped them getting Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker too. Ooh, LeBron finally has a supporting cast!

ing Jamario Moon knew nothing about basketball except jumping over people

[scanry]

I attribute AI taking away a game to the Laker's arrogance at the time rather than his greatness. That being said, Lebron's trip to the finals is very overrated. He does not fair as well against the battlefield in the West.

Shaq was very impressive all year and the NBA had no one to stop the big fella. And with Kobe coming along, they crushed the league. Phil managed the minutes and the egos very well woth the help of the veterans from his Bulls days. The 2002 season was a different story though. Kobe was itching to get away from the beta role and Shaq would have none of it. Too bad the Kings couldn't take care of the Lakers.

[Joseph Kony]

LOL, I remember how much the media hyped them getting Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker too. Ooh, LeBron finally has a supporting cast!

Wasn't Parker 34 when the Cavs got him

[Killakobe81]

I attribute AI taking away a game to the Laker's arrogance at the time rather than his greatness. That being said, Lebron's trip to the finals is very overrated. He does not fair as well against the battlefield in the West.

True. (Baseline & Katherine) But AI also had an amazing performance to punish the Laker's for their arrogance. Lebron had no such game. Lebron's run was amazing because the run he made on a still effective but declining Pistons team was as amazing as anything young Kobe or Wade did ... it was impressive. His finals? Not so much. And though Bowen did yeoman's work, the loss to the Mavs as part of the Heat it proves as great as he is (much like Kobe or even MJ) that a strong defender (See 2008 Celts or Badboys) flanked by strong defensive unit can limit a great player.

Lebron's run was great until the finals ...
AI sputtered after Game 1 but man his step over Tyron Lue was the epitome of swagger ...

[ambchang]

Couple of observations.

1) Surprised no one mentioned that Larry Brown > Mike Brown
2) AI torched the Lakers because the Lakers were historically bad at defending quick point guards. One because Shaq is not interested in pick and roll defense, two because the Lakers have horrible and/or overrated perimeter defenders who CANNOT defend quick PGs (see Iverson, Bibby, Parker, Nash).
3) Iverson actually did pretty well the rest of the series. The Lakers trapped more often and Iverson didn't get another >40 game again, but he did have a couple of games in which he scored in the high 30s.

[Killakobe81]

Couple of observations.

1) Surprised no one mentioned that Larry Brown > Mike Brown
2) AI torched the Lakers because the Lakers were historically bad at defending quick point guards. One because Shaq is not interested in pick and roll defense, two because the Lakers have horrible and/or overrated perimeter defenders who CANNOT defend quick PGs (see Iverson, Bibby, Parker, Nash).
3) Iverson actually did pretty well the rest of the series. The Lakers trapped more often and Iverson didn't get another >40 game again, but he did have a couple of games in which he scored in the high 30s.

Sure AI scored but wasnt as efficient or impactful after Game one ...
And I agree pnr defense was ALWaYS the Shaqobe Lakers weakness ...

[Phillip]

I was obviously talking about the 2000-2001 Lakers when i said one of the best teams of all time. They swept their way to the Finals and lost that one Finals game where Iverson goes off.

No spurs squad would even crack the top 10 of best NBA teams of all time imo.

oops i misread

sorry, just used to spurfans here never STFU about how good the 07 spurs were, when they were a pretty weak championship team compared to others.

[Phillip]

also, the sixers ranked 27th of 29th in defensive rating that year, nasty defense my ass they brought mutombo to help solve that very same issue

CROFL, they were fifth in defensive rating that year you ing re

http://www.basketball-reference.com/.../NBA_2001.html

this crap right here is why no one gives a about rsxpiimp, other than kool who gets bjs from him on an hourly basis.

rsxpiimp might literally be one of the 5 worst posters ever. how many times has he posted stats and claimed them to be "facts" when in fact they were 100% infactual and incorrect? and its not like his stats were slightly off, pretty much every time is crap like this, claiming a team was 3rd worst in the league, when in fact they were top 5

, just to TRY to give him the benefit of the doubt (because i dont see how someone could be THAT stupid), i checked the stats for the year before and the year after their le run, to see if maybe he simply looked at the wrong year. but guess what the 76ers defensive ratings were in those years? 4th best in both. so much for them having a poor defense, thus requiring them to trade for mutumbo as he suggest

[Kool Bob Love]

^^^
Oh SNAP.

oops i misread

sorry, just used to spurfans here never STFU about how good the 07 spurs were, when they were a pretty weak championship team compared to others.

Doesn't matter bro. Make the playoffs and win the last game you play. 07 Mavs couldn't get it down. It happens.

[Phillip]

Doesn't matter bro. Make the playoffs and win the last game you play. 07 Mavs couldn't get it down. It happens.

i agree 100%

all i simply said, was that many spurfans overrate the 07 team. i think it was the weakest of their 4 le teams, and weaker than several of their non- le teams as well.

[Kool Bob Love]

I'll give you weakest of the four. But weaker than non- le teams? Nah My Spurs fandom won't let me.

[Phillip]

and why are you even bringing eric snow as some sort of defensive monster? kid, you didnt even saw the series, so stfu he was just another player that shot 41% and didn't even hit a 3 pointer throughout the entire playoffs, yeah a shooting guard who couldn't hit a three pointer

you say i didnt watch the series, yet you say Eric Snow was a SG (although he was a PG), on a team that featured Allen Iverson?

[spurraider21]

In all honesty I can tell you're a nerdy white boy who's never touched a basketball in your life....it's really a shame that ignorant people like you can post the dribble and non-sense that has no basis in fact....reminds me of the lunatic Tea-Party fringe group tbh...

Here's your proof of AI's greatness:

iverson's shooting performances of that series, from best to worst in order of FG%....

18-41, 14-32, 12-30, 12-30, and 10-29

[Phillip]

I'll give you weakest of the four. But weaker than non- le teams? Nah My Spurs fandom won't let me.

You really think 07 Spurs beat the 06 or 12 Spurs? Not a chance IMO.

[LkrFan]

Iverson actually had another quality player in his starting lineup though, in prime Mutombo. CROFL Laker fans who want to cry about Kobe's 2006 supporting cast when he had prime Odom as his #2 guy, while LeBron had who in 2007? Prime Drew Gooden?

2006 Odom was an inconsistent Beotch. He'll have 1 good game, then 4 straight doozies. That was the norm. He was frustrating as . All that damn talent. He won one 6-MOY award and made no all star appearances. What a colossal waste of talent. Even now, look at him throwing away the opportunity millions of people wish they had: the opportunity to play in the NBA. Odom for real.

[Leetonidas]

i agree 100%

all i simply said, was that many spurfans overrate the 07 team. i think it was the weakest of their 4 le teams, and weaker than several of their non- le teams as well.

I really disagree with that. I don't think they were tested much on the way to that le. But it's not their fault they played a ty Denver team, the Sun's coaches couldn't keep their re ed players on the bench, and they played two pretty weak teams in the WCF and Finals.

I was longing for a SA-Dallas rematch though. I don't think it would have been clear cut for either team seeing as how the previous series came down to a single bone-headed foul, but it would have been a great series to watch. I think a lot of the perception is based on the strength of compe ion. The 2011 Mavericks had one of the most impressive runs ever and beat a lot of tough compe ion, but, and I may be in a spurfan minority here, I think the 2007 Spurs were better than the 2011 Mavericks. The reason that Spurs team gets overrated is because of how they crushed most of their weak compe ion but like it was mentioned earlier, Duncan/Ginobili/Parker were playing at the highest level they ever had ulatively. I really wish the Horry hip-check didn't happen because I believe 100% the Spurs would've beaten them with or without the suspensions.

[Leetonidas]

Not to mention a good defensive team like the Pistons could not stop James at all and he was looking like the best player on earth at the time and the Spurs held him in check around 20ppg on a lower FG%

And yes I know he was the only player the Spurs had to focus on really but the same could be said for most of his career and that usually didn't stop him from putting up dominant numbers.