No NBA finals thread?

[DonTadow]

OK, no Wade ain't fair, but 66 points?! C'mon. If you take any one player off of Detroit they don't fare nearly so badly. They are a TEAM. Wade ain't healthy. Detroit not only wins but they blow out Miami at home tonight.

I agree. The heat can do fine without Shaq but without Wade they are hopeless. Shaq can only play a quarter and a a half, maybe two and then he's practically exhausted. Wade has a bad rib injury and that doesn't effect just your movement but it effects your breathing. I had one when I played football in H.S. and I was on bedrest for a week before I was allowed to move around again.

I say the pistons win big, then go on to beat San Antonio in Six. Go Pistons

 

[drothgery]

OK, no Wade ain't fair, but 66 points?! C'mon. If you take any one player off of Detroit they don't fare nearly so badly. They are a TEAM. Wade ain't healthy. Detroit not only wins but they blow out Miami at home tonight.

That's because Detroit has no great players. They've got a lot of pretty good players. And if you run into a healthy combo of great players and role players, you're going to go down. Wade's injuries may keep Miami from being the team that does it.

Detroit was very fortunate to run up against the Lakers last year (mostly because the entire western conference had psychological issues with the Shaq & Kobe Lakers); any of the other top teams from the West would have given a better series (and likely won it).

 

[Desdichado]

drothgery; am I understanding this correctly; you prefer prima donna basketball players? I mean, I liked watching MJ in the 80s as much as the next guy, but I think my appreciation for the sport has become a bit more cerebral rather than visceral since then. I like watching teams that play well, not stars.

 

[loki44]

I agree. The heat can do fine without Shaq but without Wade they are hopeless. Shaq can only play a quarter and a a half, maybe two and then he's practically exhausted. Wade has a bad rib injury and that doesn't effect just your movement but it effects your breathing. I had one when I played football in H.S. and I was on bedrest for a week before I was allowed to move around again.

I say the pistons win big, then go on to beat San Antonio in Six. Go Pistons

I disagree with your end result. San Antonio will beat whoever comes out of the East in 5.

 

[DonTadow]

I disagree with your end result. San Antonio will beat whoever comes out of the East in 5.

Ah now this is a sports thread

With who? Duncan's already shown that his inside game is teetering and there's no way with that injury he has the strength to handle both Wallace's which means he'll have to result to the jumper.

both teams played in march at full strength and Detroit handed it to them. Heck even when they played in San Antionion and the pistons had a Wallace out along with Brown, they still only beat them by 3 points.

The lanes will not be as sparce as they were with Phoenix so Ginobli's not going to get the easy passes and layup's he's used to. Prince will do a good job of shutting down his jump shot. So that leaves you with the hit or miss parker vs the speedy Hamilton and the powerful Billups.

Pistons in 6

 

[loki44]

Ah now this is a sports thread
With who? Duncan's already shown that his inside game is teetering and there's no way with that injury he has the strength to handle both Wallace's which means he'll have to result to the jumper.
both teams played in march at full strength and Detroit handed it to them. Heck even when they played in San Antionion and the pistons had a Wallace out along with Brown, they still only beat them by 3 points.
The lanes will not be as sparce as they were with Phoenix so Ginobli's not going to get the easy passes and layup's he's used to. Prince will do a good job of shutting down his jump shot. So that leaves you with the hit or miss parker vs the speedy Hamilton and the powerful Billups.
Pistons in 6

I beg to differ. Duncan's game is far from teetering. Gimpy ankles and all, he averaged about 15 boards a game vs. the Suns and close to 30 pts. a game apart from the one game they lost. The playoffs ain't the regular season and the Spurs are just as experienced, if not more so, than the Pistons. Yeah, Prince will bother Manu, but he's expanded his game beyond jump-shooting. Nobody on the Suns could stop him. Parker has been iffy, but not so in the playoffs. He's picked up his game. Hamilton & Billups will get their shots, but Bowen will help defensively and Barry and Horry are both guys I'd like to have on my team in clutch situations. It'll be a tough series. The Pistons are already complaining about the refs in the Miami series. The S.A. series will be brutal in comparison. Having said that, I personally don't care about either team (I'm a Bulls fan and, since I live here now, dare I say a Hawks fan).....in fact, I'd rather see the Pistons win. I just wouldn't put any money on it.

 

[DonTadow]

I beg to differ. Duncan's game is far from teetering. Gimpy ankles and all, he averaged about 15 boards a game vs. the Suns and close to 30 pts. a game apart from the one game they lost. The playoffs ain't the regular season and the Spurs are just as experienced, if not more so, than the Pistons. Yeah, Prince will bother Manu, but he's expanded his game beyond jump-shooting. Nobody on the Suns could stop him. Parker has been iffy, but not so in the playoffs. He's picked up his game. Hamilton & Billups will get their shots, but Bowen will help defensively and Barry and Horry are both guys I'd like to have on my team in clutch situations. It'll be a tough series. The Pistons are already complaining about the refs in the Miami series. The S.A. series will be brutal in comparison. Having said that, I personally don't care about either team (I'm a Bulls fan and, since I live here now, dare I say a Hawks fan).....in fact, I'd rather see the Pistons win. I just wouldn't put any money on it.

Come on now, Duncan averaged 15 boards against the Phoenix Suns, a team that does not believe in offensive rebounds as it controdicts their fast court game. Heck the suns barely know what defense is. Thats why Manu had a field day agaisnt them. He got every shot he wanted. But we'll see how well he reacts when he is forced into shots. He's going to have to master that fade away jumper like Wade has if he is going to have a chance to shoot over Prince.

He's not going to be able to bang that gimpy ankle against powerhouses like Rasheed and Ben, and then let's not talk about the huge elden campbell coming off the bench for support.

True the pistons have been complaining about the refs alot, and they have good reason. They have gotten some really bad calls some of which were just plain awful (game 5 wade clearly filed someone and they called the file on Wade, then did a 360 and decided to call it on a piston and lets not talk about shaq's linbacker mentality in the paint -- heck he doesnt even dribble most of the time its a shoulder block push then skyhook or dunk). Honestly the gig is up with the NBA. The refs lean toward teams that draw more money. I have a friend who coaches college and the reason is because pro refs judge based entertainment value.

 

[loki44]

He's not going to be able to bang that gimpy ankle against powerhouses like Rasheed and Ben, and then let's not talk about the huge elden campbell coming off the bench for support.True the pistons have been complaining about the refs alot, and they have good reason. They have gotten some really bad calls some of which were just plain awful (game 5 wade clearly filed someone and they called the file on Wade, then did a 360 and decided to call it on a piston and lets not talk about shaq's linbacker mentality in the paint -- heck he doesnt even dribble most of the time its a shoulder block push then skyhook or dunk). Honestly the gig is up with the NBA. The refs lean toward teams that draw more money. I have a friend who coaches college and the reason is because pro refs judge based entertainment value.

Big Ben hasn't exactly been tearing it up vs. Shaq and I'll take Duncan over Sheed any day. They won't double-team Duncan with those two guys and if they do Duncan will make them pay. Manu is wily. He won't have to rely on fade away jumpers. If they double team Duncan he'll be the one to make them pay. I don't want to make any allegations vs. refs here but I haven't seen any imbalanced games in terms of calls. Bad calls go both ways. I think they've even taken Shaq out of his old game by not letting him get away with as much as he did with the Lakers. I'll give you Campbell though.....better backup than Nazr. McDyess was also a nice piece that Detroit picked up. I had forgotten how good he can be. I'm still gonna put my money on S.A.

 

[drothgery]

drothgery; am I understanding this correctly; you prefer prima donna basketball players? I mean, I liked watching MJ in the 80s as much as the next guy, but I think my appreciation for the sport has become a bit more cerebral rather than visceral since then. I like watching teams that play well, not stars.

No, but they do tend to win more often. Superstar-led teams usually do better than balanced teams in the NBA. I was annoyed by this in the late 80s/early 90s, as my balanced Cavs couldn't get past the one and half-man band in Chicago.

I prefer to watch teams than run a lot, pass a lot, and shoot threes like there's no tomorrow; the superstar vs. balanced team thing isn't all that important.

 

[DonTadow]

No, but they do tend to win more often. Superstar-led teams usually do better than balanced teams in the NBA. I was annoyed by this in the late 80s/early 90s, as my balanced Cavs couldn't get past the one and half-man band in Chicago.

I prefer to watch teams than run a lot, pass a lot, and shoot threes like there's no tomorrow; the superstar vs. balanced team thing isn't all that important.

I'da say balanced teams and superstar teams are pretty much equal with the balances teams leading a bit more. San Antonio has always been pretty much a balanced team. Duncan was hyped heavily but was great only because of his guards and David Robinson were there whom were all only slightly less caliber than him. This San Antionio team is as balanced as they come, they justh ave break out stars.

To go back further look at the la lakers of the 90s. Yeah you had magic, a phenomenal player, but if you look at his games and stats you see that Worthy, Kareem and Byron Scott were more than just role players.