Nitro

Personally, I'd rather see Kobe as a player's coach before Brown, but I think he should be given a chance to show what he can do with a team with that much offensive talent before crucifying him. Defensively, there is no doubt they will improve. They should have definitely went with JVG, Adelman or Shaw instead, however.

Finally back home in Jersey :glasses:

JYD- You are giving a HUGE double-standard regarding Rose and his 'fatigue'. LeBron has played more minutes than Rose each game, had more points in 3 of the 4 games, the same or more assists in 3 out of 4 games, more blocks/steals/rebounds in each game, and has been assigned to tougher defensive assignments. Much the same can be applied to when he was in Cleveland without Wade/Bosh. Fatigue should not be used as an excuse for superstar players. The fact is that this year Rose has been a little overrated like Durant was last season. As for the game, tough loss for the Bulls, but Rose took way too many bad shots...9 3PA is far too many for him. Korver is also really killing the team as he helps open up the paint for Rose to operate. Besides Rose, Gibson and Korver, the rest of the team played exceptionally well, but they just didn't have enough firepower, even with Wade playing one of the worst offensive playoff games I've ever seen from him. LeBron was dominant, Mike Miller finally showed up, and with Haslem finally back the team is really firing on all cylinders.

I'll start from the early '00's (I followed the last 2 seasons of MJ's career but I still was young), and I'll got by prime play rather than career... 1) Shaq 2) Kobe T3) Duncan T3) LeBron 5) Garnett

Yeah, he's been hard to watch this season. He's a much better rebounder, ballhandler and passer than most 3pt shooters in the league, but the issue is he's afraid to shoot. All those other things are a nice luxury to have, but bottom line is he got that contract to make teams pay for collapsing their defense on Bron/Wade, and he hasn't done that. Anyway, if the Bulls want to win this series, they need to form a gameplan that will allow Rose to catch the ball on the move instead of iso'ing the Miami defense, and they need more out of Deng/Noah. The last 2 games LeBron has been way too efficient (22pts on 13 shots and 10 assists to 0 turnovers last night), and a big reason for that is Deng's not pressuring him as much as he was in Game 1. If you want to have success against LeBron, you have to consistently apply pressure, and have active hands (because sometimes LeBron will get a little nonchalant with the ball). Much like with how Bogans is defending Wade, you have to be very aggressive on-ball, and trust the help. If I were Thibs, I'd much rather see LeBron get to the FT line a few times over seeing him have 10 assists to 0 turnovers (which is where the Bulls will get high percentage shots off of). As for Noah, his rebounding dictates how his offensive game goes, and when he's not very effective on the boards the rest of his game suffers. He needs to play smarter and not rack up stupid fouls as well.

They definitely had the most dominant post-season run in NBA history, but does that make them the best playoff team ever? Not necessarily. They had probably the most dominant version of Shaq, and Kobe was starting to reach his peak, but the rest of the team was rather unremarkable. Fisher, Fox and Horry all were great role players, but after that the team really lacked depth...an old Horace Grant, old Brian Shaw and Tyronne Lue made up the rest of the playoff rotation, and all were average to below average that season. I don't think they would have beaten the '96 Bulls (I think the '93 Bulls would have probably taken them out as well), and there are a few other recent teams ('04 Pistons, '08 Celtics) that would have given them some trouble as well.

Saw this on RealGM and thought it was very interesting...specifically the Wade and Dirk stats. These links are about their career performances, and also include interesting stats on other great past and presents players (Jordan, Kobe, Shaq, Hakeem, KG, etc...).... Excerpt: LINK 1 Excerpt: LINK 2

1. OJ Mayo 2. James Harden 3. Evan Turner I believe that OJ Mayo has the most talent, and while he had a down year this year, I still believe he's a better scorer than Harden and much better defender. Harden might be a slightly better passer, but if you let either of these guys take the reigns of the offense you're in trouble. EDIT- Just realized you were asking who I'd want for my franchise rather than who's the better player right now. In that case, I'd put Turner first, Mayo second and Harden third.

The majority of Wade's blocks are in the face of his opposition as well, and a lot of his blocks are on big men as well... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecZ71ZJLOg8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYwbFSpb6vI&feature=related If we are going by single season, then T-Mac was probably the best shot-blocking SG ever (or at least the last 30 years or so) for those 2-3 seasons. Wade shot between 66-67% at the rim each of the last 5 seasons, while having a variety of different teammates, injuries and even coaches. And the stats are applicable because Rose and wade both take a huge percentage of their attempts at the rim, and both have a very similar style of play and receive similar defensive attention. The stats just back up the fact that Wade finishes better at the rim due to being longer and knowing how to finish with contact better.

You're crazy if you wouldn't do that trade in a heartbeat. Westbrook is a very good player, but CP3 is a top 5 player in the league (IMO). He's on a totally different level than Westbrook.

It was one of the greatest games scoring the ball I've ever seen, playoffs or not. He scored 48pts on 15FGA's, without taking a single 3....I've never seen anything like that before. I agree that it would have been more aesthetically pleasing if he had gone 18-24 from the field and 12-12 from the line to get his 48pts, but it doesn't really matter because he still got his 48pts while scoring at an almost unheard of efficiency (according to a guy on RealGM it was the most efficient 45pt game or higher in NBA history). Not to mention that the majority of his jumpers couldn't have been contested any better.

They should keep him, and he should start. The only thing that needs to be changed from previous years with him in the lineup is continue to make the focal point of the offense the post. Gay can still get his fair share of iso's, and he can work off Randolph/Gasol's post-play far more effectively than Tony Allen and Shane Battier. He just needs a chance to get comfortable playing off of Randolph and Gasol, and he certainly has the ability and style of play to make it work...it's just up to Hollins to develop a system that Gay will have to get acclimated in.

Good win for Miami, although it wasn't a particularly well-played game on either side of the floor (both teams had little spurts of great play mixed with huge droughts that were difficult to watch). Haslem was brilliant, and being that he's their only big man besides Bosh who is athletic and can rebound, he'll be sorely needed all series long. Wade was very good for the first 3 quarters, and LeBron dominated the last few minutes to seal the win. Bibby played surprisingly good defense on Rose and kept him outside the paint, though his shot continues to struggle. Everyone else on the team played poorly and/or quietly, especially Chalmers who had one of the worst 5min of basketball you'll ever see from a PG. For Chicago, their offense was simply awful. As someone mentioned before, Miami's defense, specifically in the 4th quarter was confusing Rose, and made him force a few jumpers that were off by a mile, and their athleticism made things tough for him near the rim. He also didn't help himself by settling for jumpers when he was being defended by Bibby. Noah played well early but fizzled out as the game progressed, and Boozer forgot it was game 2 of the ECF and not a mid-January game against the Kings. Besides Gibson, not a single player had a good game. Still, the fact that they had a chance to run away with it before LeBron went off should be encouraging. As far as game 3 goes, the key will be which team will get hot from 3. The Heat's 3pt shooters (Miller, Jones, Chalmers, Bibby) went a combined 1-7 from downtown in Game 2, and the Bulls' shooters (Deng, Korver, Bogans) went 3-16. I expect Rose to have a bounce-back game and at least increase his efficiency, as well as Bron/Wade to produce like they did in Game 2, with each team's PF's playing a bit better. I also don't expect the Heat to win the rebounding battle or the Bulls to get more FTA's like they did in Game 2. That leads me to which team can get production from beyond the arc. Usually Jones and Chalmers are more confident at home and will take and make more 3's than they have so far in this series, so I expect them to be the X-factors and lead the Heat to a Game 3 win.

I'd put Dirk and Gasol clearly ahead of him, with Randolph being in the same tier as Amare/Bosh/Griffin/Aldridge.

Wade averaged 34PPG on 56% shooting against the Celtics last post-season with Thibodeau, Perkins, Tony Allen and Sheed.

http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance You are wrong...very, very wrong. Much like LA, it takes Heat fans 1/2-1 quarter to fill up the arena, partially because only rich, fair-weather fans can afford the lower bowl seats, and partially because the arena is in a difficult part of the city to get to traffic-wise.

Very, very impressive win by the Heat. In the post-season Wade and LeBron have really turned up the effort on both sides of the ball, and unlike the regular season the Heat are finally getting off to respectable starts with Wade looking to be aggressive from the get-go rather than trying to "feel out" the game. When those two turn it on and put in a complete effort, this team is really something special. I admit it...I was wrong about Joel Anthony getting exposed in the post-season, he's been fantastic. It's still a scary thought to have him defending Shaq and Bynum, but so far he's been incredible for them in terms of energy and defense. I also think Spo should really consider giving Dampier the bulk of Z's minutes....he's been awful so far, and Dampier is at least more physical around the rim and is quicker on his rotations defensively. As for the Celtics, Rondo needs to look to score. Once you get the Heat defense to collapse, they become vulnerable. However, if you get into the paint and the defense knows to play the pass, the penetration becomes ineffective. He HAS to be aggressive for the Celtics to have a chance.

Shaq and Haslem are both out tonight.

Durant, LeBron and Wade also know how to initiate contact and sell the foul, and are all better at getting to the rim now than Kobe is (especially LeBron and Wade). All of them also score more efficiently from the field (hell, LeBron even shot better from 3 this season than Kobe did). When Kobe won his last scoring title he took the EXACT same amount (4.6) 3's per 36min as he did this past season. He had more defensive attention payed to him from 05-08 than he does now, including being contested on 3's, yet he still shot better on those jumpers. When hitting jumpers/fadeaways with a hand in your face is the focal point of your arsenal, getting elevation on those shots is huge...I saw it with T-Mac when he started losing that elevation, and I see it with Kobe now too. Any way you cut it, Kobe is not the same player he was a few years ago, and him losing some of that explosiveness is a major reason why.

I can show you plenty of videos from 2-3 seasons ago that were more impressive than those dunks. Kobe doesn't have that same explosiveness off the dribble, and most of the time he can't finish with contact around the rim like he used to. His decline in athleticism is also apparant in his inability to get the same lift on jumpers, which shows up in him going from a 35-36% 3pt shooter to a 32-33% one despite taking roughly the same amount.

AI was extremely inefficient even with all those FT's...awful example. And I brought up Kevin Martin as an example of how FTA's increase efficiency. If you want more examples of player's who are in Kobe's league, look at Durant, LeBron and Wade. Or, look at Kobe from just a few years ago. Kobe played a solid game yesterday scoring the ball, but he wasn't even as efficient as his season average from the last time he won the scoring title.

He was efficient from the field, but overall he wasn't very efficient scoring the ball. FT's are a huge part of efficiency, and it's why guys like Kevin Martin are considered among the most efficient in the league despite shooting 43% from the field. I love the bum ankle excuse...every single year there is something new for you to use as a crutch when someone criticizes Kobe. At this point in his career, he's never going to be 100% healthy, especially come post-season time. Kobe simply did not force the issue going to the rim enough last night, and when he did get into the paint he was careless by holding the ball out, which led to him being stripped on numerous occasions. Sometimes putting your head down and forcing your way to the rim is necessary. Kobe has never been much of a driver or flopper since he became a star, it's just that now he can't finish like he used to, and without lift his jumper has become significantly less efficient (between 32-33% from 3 the last few years, and his FT% has also dropped sharply which hurts his efficiency). And it doesn't matter how a player gets his points, as long as he gets it done. I'd rather have my player get those undeserving FREE throws over spending those shot attempts on 20-25ft jumpers. If it helps you sleep at night to know that Kobe chooses to do the latter, then more power to you, but it's less effective.

Not true. When you don't get to the FT line and take 29 shots to get 34pts, you're not being particularly efficient. I wouldn't qualify it as inefficient necessarily, but he didn't play a very efficient game yesterday. With that said, Kobe is not to blame for that loss...it was the collective, lackadasical effort when they went up big that lost them the game. I do agree with ABL that the Lakers are at their best when Kobe tones down his shot attempts and the team works from the inside-out as that is what separates the Lakers from every team in the league. Kobe simply cannot be relied on to score big on a nightly basis anymore, and they have to remember that.

I spend my money on hookers and Samuel Jackson... http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OJl6ATsGFco/TLZtA_9gGII/AAAAAAAAHas/hjwlj6g49Ls/s1600/assdasdasasdasdasdasdsad.jpg

I think Amare would have been the better fit offensively, worse fit defensively. Amare has become as deadly as Bosh with the midrange jumper, but he's also much more aggressive around the rim, which is something the Heat desperately lack from their big men. Defensively, even though Amare is a better shotblocker, Bosh is a much better all-around defender, and fits pretty well within the Heat's defense.