[InternationPlayboy]

Alright, playoffs are around the corner. I'm a huge basketball fan. Let's talk basketball. What are your guys teams? What do you have to say about the season? Your predictions? I'm a Lakers fan and obviously extremely disappointed in how they've been playing. At the beginning of the season I thought they just needed to get in sync, but now the season is winding down and it still doesn't look like they know what they're doing. They are 0-7 with all of their starters playing together (Bryant, Gasol, Howard, World Peace, and Steve Nash). They were looking good for a while, but just when things are looking up, they start to blow it again. They are barely hanging on to the 8th seed. I would actually rather them come into the playoffs as 8th seed and play San Antonio over playing OKC in the 7th seed. I feel we have a better chance against San Antonio. They are a great team (Though a little boring to watch) but they have consistently choked in the playoffs year after year. I think what the Lakers really need to work on is their defense. It looks pathetic and it doesn't even make sense because we have some great defensive players. And WTF were we thinking picking up D'Antoni without even talking to Phil Jackson. D'Antoni is a schmuck in my opinion. I believe part of the reason our D sucks is because of him. How can a team have shitty D with MWP, Howard, and Gasol?

On the other hand, I'm not a Heat fan, but god damn, those guys are on fire. Living in Miami I couldn't stand them, especially because of their fair weather fans. But I'm actually rooting them on to break that 33 game winning streak the Lakers set 41 years ago. I predict the Heat to take the title again this year. They're unstoppable!

[tenderman100]

Couple of my favorite moments this season -- I heard that at one point during a game, when LeBron was shooting and not missing, Wade said to him, "Who are you? Where do you come from?"

Then on ESPN, Chris Mullin was on MIke and Mike, and the conversation turned to LeBron. Mullin -- one of the great players in the history of the game -- was asked if he was back defending, and LeBron was dribbling up the court full speed on a fast break, would he try to get in the way and stop him?

It took him a nanosecond to say, "Hell no."

[Giovonny]

We did this thread last year.

I correctly picked the Finals match up and the Heat to win it all:

http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-11926-...#pid200961

I predict that the Heat will win it again. I know, its the easy choice, but, they are the best team and they have the best player.

What happened to all the Lebron haters???

Moma???

My teams are the Spurs and the Jazz.

[WestCoast]

Haters gonna hate Lebron James is Derrick Rose + Karl Malone in a single basketball player.

Heat again. I'll have some change riding on it as well.

[InternationPlayboy]

(03-26-2013 04:01 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  

We did this thread last year.

I correctly picked the Finals match up and the Heat to win it all:

http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-11926-...#pid200961

I predict that the Heat will win it again. I know, its the easy choice, but, they are the best team and they have the best player.

What happened to all the Lebron haters???

Moma???

I know I saw the thread, it was a playoff thread. I just wanted to start a general NBA thread, not necessarily just playoffs.

I think one of my favorite moments this year was when Blake Griffin owned Pau Gasol twice in one game, even though Gasol is on my team. Poor guy, should have stepped up his game.

[InternationPlayboy]

Kobe was looking 23 years old again with this dunk last night..

[PrimeTime32]

Some clown this weekend bet me the the Clippers would outlast OKC for $500. I took that in like 5 seconds then I made soon bet with dumbass Laker fans as soon as Mike No D' Anotoni got hired that they wouldn't win the ship. Also have bets with people that the Heat would win the ship that i made during Christmas Dinner.

[InternationPlayboy]

(03-26-2013 04:28 PM)PrimeTime32 Wrote:  

Some clown this weekend bet me the the Clippers would outlast OKC for $500. I took that in like 5 seconds then I made soon bet with dumbass Laker fans as soon as Mike No D' Anotoni got hired that they wouldn't win the ship. Also have bets with people that the Heat would win the ship that i made during Christmas Dinner.

You're looking pretty good at this point. I'm still hopeful for my Lakers, but they really need to step up their game. They have the potential if they can pull their D together. I'm still shaking my head that they hired D'Antoni before even talking to the dude that won them 5 rings.

The Clippers haven't been looking very good lately. I would have taken that bet pre season though. The Thunder are a force to be reckoned with.

[Chewbacon]

I'm not a hardcore fan when it comes to teams, because I watch basketball mostly for the players I admire. I love the game a lot, and I think to be a true fan you don't really care about which arbitrary city or collection of players wins or loses (it's beta, for one thing, because you are trying to vicariously live through some other people's success). Instead, you appreciate the game indiscriminately for its beauty, grace, and competitive spirit.

But that spiel aside, I generally these days support OKC (I love watching Durant and Westbrook), Houston (I'm biased because i like Jeremy Lin), Lakers (I've got mad respect for Kobe + the way he moves is just the epitome of grace), and Indiana (big Paul George fan, and I really enjoy how balanced the team is - Granger, West, Hibbert, and George have all been all-stars at one point). Indiana reminds me of the 2004 Pistons, which was emblematic of balance, heart, hard work, and grit.

I have to say that I'm a Lebron hater. I have nothing against the guy, but I think The Decision was just an act of supreme ignorance. And I honestly don't like watching him play - it's a very graceless, ugly form of basketball. Powerful, yes, but ugly. Somebody once compared Lebron to a freight train. But the thing is, basketball is a human sport. I want to watch real live, organic people play basketball. I don't want to watch a machine. Lebron looks like a machine when he plays. You admire the efficiency and ease with which he overpowers other players, but after a while it gets boring.

That being said, I think you have to be crazy to think Miami won't win the title.

[InternationPlayboy]

Two great Heat plays last night. I'm a Birdman fan. He's cool as shit. I met him a couple years ago, super down to earth guy.

[Chewbacon]

Birdman is awesome.

[Jules D. McMillan]

Like International Playboy, I am a huge Lakers fan and I too am extremely disappointed with their play this season. Last night, I turned off the game when the Lakers fell behind by 21 to GSW. I had no interest in seeing them use all of their energy making a big comeback only to not have enough energy to finish it off, which is exactly what happened.

Digging deep holes and not having the energy to come out of them has been the story of their season. Hopefully, something magical happens in the next 10 games and in the playoffs if they make it.

Fuck the Heat! Yeah, their playing well right now winning 27 in a row and whatever, but I still think they're the luckiest team in the NBA. I've never seen a team more lucky in my life. Last year, they managed to get all the major breaks to win the title. Most teams in the East that were a potential threat to them suffered devastating injuries to their top players(D-Rose, Bulls; D-Howard, Magic; Danny Granger, Pacers) and the one team out West that they had the advantage against(Thunder) they happened to face in the Finals. The Spurs, Grizzlies or even Lakers would have whipped their ass had they played them, since the Heat struggle against teams with size.

This year, it's the same thing. Every single threatening team in the East is suffering major injuries to their star players. The Bulls are still missing Rose. Carmelo Anthony & Amare Stoudemire are injured for the Knicks. Danny Granger is injured for the Pacers. Rajon Rondo is injured for the Celtics. Hell, even Andrew Bynum, who was supposed to be a big problem for the Heat, will not play a single game this year.

Yes, it may sound like I'm hating and maybe I am, but I don't give a fuck. I don't like them...never have, never will. And they won't break the Lakers 33 game win streak, they will probably push it to 29 and that's it.

Will they win the title this year? Sure, if they play the Thunder again.

[InternationPlayboy]

@ Jules,

Come on man, I can't stand the Heat either, but they aren't lucky, they are straight up beasts! They are only lucky in the sense that they all got put on the same team together. When that trade happened 3 years ago I was pissed! But then I realized, shit, this year we got Howard and Nash. Our team is stacked too, I can't hate on the Heat for wanting a championship team. Unfortunately with our stacked team, we can't do shit. I think if we had Phil Jackson we'd be wrecking shit right now. D'Antoni just doesn't focus any of our energy on defense. I don't care who you are, you have to admit the Heat are top 3 teams in the NBA. I would personally rank them #1 (Which they are ranked #1), as much as I wouldn't like to. Their fans may be the most annoying fans of any sport BTW. It's pathetic that last year (Or maybe two years ago) they had to start a campaign to get their fans into it and go to more games when they have D-Wade and Labron on their team. I had Heat fans telling me Howard is shit when we got him. Really? You can say what you want about Howard, but to say he's shit makes you an idiot. This was even before the season started (He didn't play well at the beginning of this season, I will agree), so calling him shit at that point makes you look like a goon. He was defensive player of the year 3 years in a row.

[TheSlayer]

I was gonna make a 2013 NBA playoffs thread soon but the OP beat me to it. As we inch closer to the playoffs and the seedings become more apparent, I can't wait for the playoffs.

@ Jules, attributing all of Heat's success to luck and injuries seems unfair as Playboy pointed it out. You can hate the Heat but can't deny that LeBron is in absolute beast mode this season. I also disagree with you on your argument that the Lakers would have beaten them last season. Yeah, size gives them problems but Lakers are too slow and unathletic. I do think Grizzlies or the Spurs would be their toughest match-up in the finals.

Also, you are overlooking the fact that Miami compensates for not having a dominant big man by being incredibly efficient on offense and playing hard defense. When they play that playoff defense (no pun intended), size or no size, they are going to get the better of you.

A lot of the Laker fans are overlooking the fact that their leader and their best player is a 34 year old Kobe. As great as Kobe is and he will go down as one of the all-time greats, I think he still hasn't realized the perfect formula for distributing and scoring. That's why LeBron has become so dominant because he has perfected his inside-out game and knows when to distribute and when to score. He is a completely different player since the choke job against Dallas in 2011. You can blame D'Antoni or other players on the Lakers but Kobe deserves a lion-share of the blame for the Lakers' woes. His usage rate in the 4th quarter in close games is almost 51% and he might as well play with 4 random guys off the street. I watched that game against Washington (the one on Saturday) and the last 3 minutes was all Kobe jacking up shots except for a MWP 3. When you have Nash and Howard on your team, you have to figure out how to involve everyone.

Some games he will go into a pure PG role and have 12 pts, 12 assists, and then he will revert to 30 shots, 3 assists Kobe. He has to find the balance.

Anyway, I think a Spurs Heat final will probably go 6-7 games (I'll still pick the Heat but it could go either way), but I want LeBron to get his 2nd ring, so I hope its OKC Miami again in the finals.

[Jules D. McMillan]

InternationPlayboy,

Heat fans are primarily the reason why I hate that damn team. Believe it or not, I was one of the few people that didn't criticize LeBron's decison special. I did, however, get offended at the "not 4..not 5..not 6...not 7" prediction LeBron made, which is probably the reason why I hate that team today. You don't make those types of bold proclamations and then whine about media pressure when you don't do well, as was the case in their first season. I also think D-Wade is a dirty player and a whining cry-baby.

I think they're lucky because every single team in the East that is a potential threat to them have suffered devastating injuries to their star players - that's luck, my friend. They basically have a red carpet layed out in front of them to get to the Finals.

The most annoying thing about their fans is the fact that very few of them actually follow basketball! They just look at the highlights and stat sheets. Many of them have no idea that Shaq once played for the Heat and won a title just a few years ago. They're bandwagoners, simple as that. Annoying but not to be taken seriously.

Yes, the Heat are a top 3 team, I'd say top 2. They are by far the #1 team in the East because there's no competition. Who else in the East is a threat? As I said before, every other threatening team in the East is riddled with injuries.The only team that comes close to competing with them are the Pacers and they're missing their #1 player, Danny Granger, to injury.

I have a very low opinion on D'Antoni. Not only does he not focus on defense, but he has also reduced Pau Gasol, one of the games most skilled big men, into a spot up jumpshooter and that's not his strength. With Phil Jackson, the Lakers would've won close to 70 games this year. And anybody who thinks D-Howard is shit doesn't know basketball.

[Enigma]

We in this bitch.

[Jules D. McMillan]

(03-26-2013 06:49 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

@ Jules, attributing all of Heat's success to luck and injuries seems unfair as Playboy pointed it out.

I'm just pointing out facts. It is a fact that every single Eastern conference team that is a potential threat to the Heat is riddled with injuries.

(03-26-2013 06:49 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

You can hate the Heat but can't deny that LeBron is in absolute beast mode this season. I also disagree with you on your argument that the Lakers would have beaten them last season. Yeah, size gives them problems but Lakers are too slow and unathletic. I do think Grizzlies or the Spurs would be their toughest match-up in the finals.

The Lakers last year were slow(still are), but the pace of playoff/Finals games is generally slow paced and in a slowed-down halfcourt offense, the Lakers would've had an advantage with their rebounding and size.

The reason the Heat won last year was due to LeBron getting to the basket anytime he wanted vs the Thunder subpar frontline. He wouldn't have been able to do that vs an experienced team with size, whether it was the Spurs, Grizzlies or Lakers. Maybe I'm being a homer, but that's what I feel. We're going to have to agree to disagree on that.

(03-26-2013 06:49 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

Also, you are overlooking the fact that Miami compensates for not having a dominant big man by being incredibly efficient on offense and playing hard defense. When they play that playoff defense (no pun intended), size or no size, they are going to get the better of you.

I'm not overlooking that. The Heat still struggle vs teams with size, hence why they're 1-2 vs the Pacers this year and why they were blown out by the Grizzlies earlier this year and why they struggled to beat a slightly less talented(Rudy Gay trade) Grizzlies team a few weeks ago.

Even if you look at their two wins over my struggling Lakers this year, you'll notice that both games literally came down to the last few minutes, with the first game coming down to the last few seconds. The Lakers missed open shots and freethrows and the Heat didn't. I credit the Heat for beating my Lakers twice this year, but they didn't have their way with the Lakers in either matchup and that was largely due to the Lakers' size.

I'm not overlooking anything, it's a fact that the Heat struggle against teams with size. Since my Lakers have an idiotic coach, they will likely not use size to their advantage anyway.

In regards to Kobe Bryant, I have nothing bad to say about the man. If it were not for him, the Lakers wouldn't be anywhere near the playoff hunt this year. He's had to adjust his game more this season than any other player in recent history, due to the various injuries/inconsistencies of the Lakers this year. Kobe has been the lone consistent player for the Lakers this year.

I'm going to go ahead and end this debate right here. Go Lakers!

[InternationPlayboy]

(03-26-2013 06:49 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

A lot of the Laker fans are overlooking the fact that their leader and their best player is a 34 year old Kobe. As great as Kobe is and he will go down as one of the all-time greats, I think he still hasn't realized the perfect formula for distributing and scoring. That's why LeBron has become so dominant because he has perfected his inside-out game and knows when to distribute and when to score. He is a completely different player since the choke job against Dallas in 2011. You can blame D'Antoni or other players on the Lakers but Kobe deserves a lion-share of the blame for the Lakers' woes. His usage rate in the 4th quarter in close games is almost 51% and he might as well play with 4 random guys off the street. I watched that game against Washington (the one on Saturday) and the last 3 minutes was all Kobe jacking up shots except for a MWP 3. When you have Nash and Howard on your team, you have to figure out how to involve everyone.

I agree that sometimes Kobe doesn't know the right formula for distributing and scoring, but a lot of times, like last night for example, the rest of the team is playing like shit and he has to compensate. There's no reason to be distributing when non of the other players on your team are capitalizing. The guy has 5 rings, he obviously knows how to get wins. Yeah he's 34, but he's also been top 3 scorers of the season for the last 2 seasons, and the 5+ seasons before that he was top 5. There's no way in hell Kobe is the reason why the Lakers aren't winning. There defense is the #1 reason they aren't doing well. There offense is solid.

[InternationPlayboy]

OK Jules, I can agree that this season, you're right, they have a pretty easy shot on the Eastern conference. You're right, they don't have much competition. But I'm also going to say that they are straight up beasts and if the Bulls had D Rose, or the Knicks had Melo or Stadomire, I still think the Heat would crush both teams in a 7 game series.

[InternationPlayboy]

(03-26-2013 07:03 PM)Enigma Wrote:  

We in this bitch.

I just don't understand why OKC ever gave up James Harden. Huge mistake. He did work last season.

[TheSlayer]

(03-26-2013 07:25 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 06:49 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

A lot of the Laker fans are overlooking the fact that their leader and their best player is a 34 year old Kobe. As great as Kobe is and he will go down as one of the all-time greats, I think he still hasn't realized the perfect formula for distributing and scoring. That's why LeBron has become so dominant because he has perfected his inside-out game and knows when to distribute and when to score. He is a completely different player since the choke job against Dallas in 2011. You can blame D'Antoni or other players on the Lakers but Kobe deserves a lion-share of the blame for the Lakers' woes. His usage rate in the 4th quarter in close games is almost 51% and he might as well play with 4 random guys off the street. I watched that game against Washington (the one on Saturday) and the last 3 minutes was all Kobe jacking up shots except for a MWP 3. When you have Nash and Howard on your team, you have to figure out how to involve everyone.

I agree that sometimes Kobe doesn't know the right formula for distributing and scoring, but a lot of times, like last night for example, the rest of the team is playing like shit and he has to compensate. There's no reason to be distributing when non of the other players on your team are capitalizing. The guy has 5 rings, he obviously knows how to get wins. Yeah he's 34, but he's also been top 3 scorers of the season for the last 2 seasons, and the 5+ seasons before that he was top 5. There's no way in hell Kobe is the reason why the Lakers aren't winning. There defense is the #1 reason they aren't doing well. There offense is solid.

Yeah, without a doubt Kobe is a champion and an all-time great as I said in my previous post. He has been the top 3 scorers for the last 2 seasons and has been a top 5 player for many seasons and even this season I have him as a top 10 player. My point is that at times he has become a low-efficiency volume scorer.

He's not the reason that the Lakers aren't winning. What I meant to say was that as the leader and the best player of the team he is not utilizing other players on the court with him. That's where he gets some blame. You can argue that when others are playing shit, Kobe has to just focus on his own shots but you can also say that if Kobe consistently trusted his teammates, maybe the results would be better. This means that he cannot become a distributor just for 5 games or 10 games but he has to trust them over a longer range of games.

Last night Nash was off in the 4th, and Kobe took it upon himself but the Washington game he wasn't even letting anyone else touch the ball except for a couple of plays.

After Howard and Nash ended in LA, some people had them coming out of the West, I still had OKC and LA a top 4 seed. And you are right that their defense is atrocious. Kobe can play good defense for stretches but he is a terrible off the ball defender. Even with two big men, the defense will suck because the perimeter defense is soft and they can't stop players from getting to the rim. That's another thing I forgot to mention about Miami. They are able to survive without a strong rim defender because their perimeter defense is strong and Wade and LBJ are two of the best at their positions.

[PrimeTime32]

@Playboy the Thunder gave up Harden due to salary cap reasons. Basically Thunder ownership didn't want to pay him due to luxury taxes. The penalties are harsher than previous years after the new CBA especially for repeat offenders (probably would have to give him a new contract) due to the repeat offender tax, its not dollar for dollar anymore. I believe the ratio is 2.5 to 1. The Lakers will incur this tax next year but they can afford it due to their multi-billion dollar Time Warner deal

[Therapsid]

The Heat are so dominant this season, even setting aside their winning streak, that I don't find the playoffs very compelling.

You could well see Miami repeat the 2000-01 L.A.'s performance in the playoffs when they swept the Blazers, Kings, and Spurs in the first three rounds before losing game 1 against Allen Iverson's Sixers and then winning the rest of the series for their second consecutive championship.

[TheSlayer]

(03-26-2013 07:29 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  

OK Jules, I can agree that this season, you're right, they have a pretty easy shot on the Eastern conference. You're right, they don't have much competition. But I'm also going to say that they are straight up beasts and if the Bulls had D Rose, or the Knicks had Melo or Stadomire, I still think the Heat would crush both teams in a 7 game series.

Agreed, people are forgetting that Miami beat a healthy Rose in his MVP season in 5 games. Also, it's funny now people are bringing up Stat for the Knicks when the Knicks had their hot start (18-5) without him. Knicks will definitely miss Chandler but he should be back soon.

Also, you are right about James Harden. They should have kept him this season and OKC would have a very good shot in the finals against Miami.

[InternationPlayboy]

Ok, I'll give you that argument. They DO have terrible stats when Kobe is scoring more than 40 per game, so I'll give you that. They're just a mess period. I just really hope they step it up in the playoffs. They have a lot of potential if they could just learn to play together well and step up their D. I really do blame a lot of their D on D'Antoni though. Worse decision we've made for the Lakers in a long time.