Michael Jordan had a quite interesting crew with him. Somebody called Scottie Pippen for instance.
Same goes for Magic Johnson Lakers.
Who is Lebron's Pippen? Sasha Pavlovic?
give me a break
Right now, Lebron's Pippen would have to be Daniel Gibson, in case you didn't watch he scored 31 points shooting 5/5 from 3-pt range and was 12/15 from the ft line. However, once again what we have right here is somebody trying to compare Lebron to Michael. That is an unfair comparison to everybody involved, let's just let Michael be Michael, Lebron be Lebron, fair enough?
And just to clarify, Lebron may not need a Scottie, he may be good enough to win the Finals of the NBA "all by himself" (and when I say "all by himself", I don't actually mean that, I actually am implying that the Cavs are better than anybody is willing to give them credit for as a team, and it isn't just one player at all.) Just give him a team that plays great defense and rebounds and he'll figure out how to score enough points to get the win.
One thing that shouldn't be overlooked, while the Cavs are a excellent rebounding team with plenty of size & athleticism, and more than average defensively, IMHO their passing game is horrendous, their offense is monotone & stagnant, and truly inconsistent from outside, especially their guards midrange game.
I watched 2 games aired in my country out of ECF series, and those were my thoughts out of them.
I'm surprised that in bashing Parker, stretch didn't go to the usual "Parker has sucked in previous Finals" card.
I can't take credit for that.
I think Spurminator offered the idea in another thread. I was just intrigued by the idea.
Jarren Jackson was hot for almost the whole playoff in the Spurs '99 championship run, not just a series not to mention a single game. Was he an equivalent of Scotty Pippen ?
Yes, indeed that a single superstar team can win it all, it has happened in the past. We'll see whether LeBron could reply what Hakeem had done in '94, and whether his teammates could step up like what Horry, Smith, Cassel Co did back then. I'm not that optimistic though, especially since TD has plenty of helps in this Spurs team, unlike what DRob ever had as a no 1 guy.
LeBron is Gibson's Pippen. Reckinize.
HoGrant was also a freakish athlete, with unmatched speed at his position, good boarding and D, and a deadly midrange shot. Once Paxson and Kerr became integrated into the team, they because killers, too. Longley, while a stiff, could play some D with the rules and matchups of the time. The Bulls were a much stronger team than Cleveland.
Also, I don't think we need to get on the Boobwagon yet. I remember a guy named Kareem Rush who looked like the second coming of Ray Allen for a couple of games. Where is he now?
Don't think it was me but I'm on board with the idea.
Well, I came up with it, too, but it was a good idea Detroit never blundered into. Running Ilgauskas around is a swell idea. You can run small-ball with Duncan, forcing Ilgauskas to guard him and pick up fouls. I'm wondering if Elson might be some value here. I can't say I know much about Cleveland's transition defense. It might be pretty good, descended from Pop.
I guess you're right. How about we just add another asterisk to that season. Would that make you feel better?
Christ. Why do we even have to say this ?
It's already there, I looked it up... At last count we're up to nine.
1999 Champions: San Antonio Spurs *********
* Shortened Season
* Beat an 8th seed in the Finals
* Didn't have to face the Jazz
* Didn't have to face the Heat
* Fluke performances by Jaren Jackson
* MJ Retired
* Phil Jackson Retired
* Shaq unmotivated
* LeBron only 15 years old at the time, ineligible for the NBA
Haha, Sasha is a turnover waiting to happen. He has poor handles, a decent shot, decent defense, and makes a lot of poor decisions. I don't rate him too highly. The refs also seem to have something against him, because though he should be called for a lot of offensive fouls, a lot of times blocks should be called and he gets called for charges instead. He's also a player, like Drew, who relies a lot on a good start to get rolling and if he starts off slow he's normally useless.
Let me ask you (and all spurs fans that disagree with the fact that the Bulls were primarily a 1 man team) a question. Without Jordan, is Pippen a top 50 player of all time? Is he even a top 100? If you say yes, please do yourself a favor, slap yourself in the face, and shut the up.Scotty Pippen is better than the whole Cavs starting line up outside James, especially on defense. Please Mavs fans, it wouldn't hurt to use brain once in a while -ofcourse, the concept of defense importance isn't exactly a strong suite for them.
Oh, also, if you guys go small Brown will put Andy and Donyell or Gooden in. He doesn't hesitate to remove Z normally. It'll be something like Boobie(Or Larry), Sasha(Or Djones), LeBron, Donyell, Andy. Lots of pick n roll with Andy and LeBron then. Or LeBron will drive and look for DJones, Boobie, or Donyell in the corners. Which sometimes works great and sometimes is horrible.
Looks good to me. Why don't you add that Magic, Bird, Kareem, Russel, Wilt, and Zeke were all retired as well?
'94 Bulls were led by Pippen into the playoff. That team was even nicknamed Scotty & the Pips.
NEXT !
Excellent article, I thought I was reading a professional. Gave Cleveland their due, and it was fair to both sides. I think Spurs in 5, but I can't really disagree with anything that you wrote.
Yeah, Scotty took those Jordanless Bulls to ECF where they lost in a tough 7-game series to the NYK. But I guess Mav fans only started watching basketball 5-6 years ago - so we shouldn't be too tough on them.'94 Bulls were led by Pippen into the playoff. That team was even nicknamed Scotty & the Pips.
NEXT !
Excellent work, MI21!!!
The Spurs were beaten during the regular season by the Cavs' perimeter players on offense and the Cavs length and active hands defensively. The Cavs know the Spurs plays and will therefore have enough anticipation of the passes to the wings and Timmy's post moves to keep the assists to a minimum. The cure: Ball fakes, reversals, skips and patience. If the Spurs can get over 20 assists per game against this bunch, then the Spurs should be successful. If not, then the Spurs had better be hitting their shots.
Brent Barry will be a huge liability defensively against the Cavs. I think a 9-man rotation of Oberto, Duncan, Bowen, Finley, Parker, Ginobili, Elson, Vaughn and Horry is the way to go. 9 because of fouls that will be called. It's a good thing Larry Hughes is hobbled. He and Damon Jones took Brent to raise in their meeting in January. If the Spurs can somehow keep LeBron out of rhythm, run the other perimeter players off of the arc and then really step up the scoring when LeBron rests, it will be Spurs in 6 games.
I think a big key for you guys as well I think is Hughes. He is HIGHLY inconsistent at times, but can be a pest of defense against Parker. Lets see how his ankle is in game one.
You contradict yourself in the same sentence, paragraph 2, line 1. And how do you give him the team he needs, take them away from Timmy?
Am I the only one calling a sweep?
Seriously, it's obvious.
LeBron will average 30+, but our team D will shut down everything else.
We all know LeBron can't win it by himself......playing vs. world's best D.
Write it down now: Spurs sweep the Cavs.
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