i forgot to put the asterisk in quotation marks, my bad.
and this is exactly the point i'm illustrating, how stupid the whole thing is. if you're going to use an excuse as to why your team lost, then you need to also acknowledge the how the same excuse benefited your team during the 2015 run and how your team failed to capitalize on it during the 2016 run. it's just a very narrow perspective, almost tunnel vision, that i see too often in the sporting world and it's something i hear way too much, especially from gsw fans.
though i don't think anyone is serious with the asterisk remark, at least i hope not.
Barring injuries, did any of CLE star players get fouled out in 2015?
You can blame Draymond on himself, Barnes on himself, but Curry fouling out? That was pure bullshit.
Everything else was on the team, even injuries and Ez Ezeli with his small ass hands but that refereeing was atrocious to force a 7 game series. No one ever seems to remember the referees.
Barring injuries, did any of CLE star players get fouled out in 2015?
You can blame Draymond on himself, Barnes on himself, but Curry fouling out? That was pure bullshit.
Everything else was on the team, even injuries and Ez Ezeli with his small ass hands but that refereeing was atrocious to force a 7 game series. No one ever seems to remember the referees.
LeBron had an embarrassing post game early in his career.
Kobe definitely picked up something from the Dream and he became a very good post player in the last stage of his career. I don't see much of an influence in LeBrons game but I am sure something was imparted. It should be mentioned that Hakeem learned a lot of his game from Moses. Very cool that he is doing the same with the next gen.
Last thing on Hakeem. I consider him to be better than Duncan in every way (offense, defense, rebounds, blocks, steals) except maybe assists (might be a product of his teammates and coachig) and possibly leadership (very hard to measure). Yet Duncan had a better supporting cast and a great coach and won 5 rings. Dream only got 2 because he never had any real help and and an average coach.
LeBron was extremely smart to leave his team twice to get rings because that is the first thing you are remembered by. People forget you real quick once you stop winning. Players did not have that power in the past and I think it's a pretty big deal that LeBron has kind of changed that. I wonder if future stars are going to follow in his footsteps and chase rings to secure their legacies?
Barring injuries, did any of CLE star players get fouled out in 2015?
You can blame Draymond on himself, Barnes on himself, but Curry fouling out? That was pure bullshit.
Everything else was on the team, even injuries and Ez Ezeli with his small ass hands but that refereeing was atrocious to force a 7 game series. No one ever seems to remember the referees.
Stuff like that is why the NBA has a reputation for rigging games, even if they don't engage in match-fixing. Funny enough, when Curry gets ragdoll'd in a similar way, he doesn't get the calls.
Annoyed me as a Raptors fan to see some of the disparity in foul calls last year, as if Cleveland needed more help in destroying the team.
I understand its easy to hate on a winning team that isn't your own, but damn, lets be objective here.
We didn't have Youtube in 2002 to run back highlights of Kings/Lakers, a game even die-hard LAL fans will admit was rigged in their favor. Yet, we have Youtube today, and no one wants to see the suspicious calls in that series?
CLE won that series, thats something that can't be changed, but there was plenty of help along the way.
Stuff like that is why the NBA has a reputation for rigging games, even if they don't engage in match-fixing. Funny enough, when Curry gets ragdoll'd in a similar way, he doesn't get the calls.
And the entire narrative is "CLE is gonna play physical on Steph'. That's fine. But those touches, not even fouls, get called against him. In the paint? All-ball strips? Its not 'excuses', its calling shit like it is.
Curry is always in foul trouble in these games. Maybe Kerr and Brown drilled it during the break, but I would not be at all surprised if Steph, Klay, or both have their rotations messed up because of fouls tomorrow.
Is Zubac any good? I probably need to stop reading Reddit but it seems like quite a few Lakers fans think he's going to be the next Marc Gasol. I didn't watch him much this season but he didn't seem like anything special.
Barring injuries, did any of CLE star players get fouled out in 2015?
You can blame Draymond on himself, Barnes on himself, but Curry fouling out? That was pure bullshit.
Everything else was on the team, even injuries and Ez Ezeli with his small ass hands but that refereeing was atrocious to force a 7 game series. No one ever seems to remember the referees.
Other than his clean strip of Kyrie, I think the other 5 fouls can be considered legitimate. The issue of course is that he faces way more contact than that off-ball without a whistle.
Is Zubac any good? I probably need to stop reading Reddit but it seems like quite a few Lakers fans think he's going to be the next Marc Gasol. I didn't watch him much this season but he didn't seem like anything special.
don't even start me on the issue of officiating with me being a wizards fan and all, but it is what it is.
without even watching the whole video, these type of nitpicks should at the very least include missed calls because i'm sure steph got away with a few, as well as every other player on the floor. the nba will never be officiated as consistently as we'd like, there is just no fucking way outside of replacing the refs with robots.
Is Zubac any good? I probably need to stop reading Reddit but it seems like quite a few Lakers fans think he's going to be the next Marc Gasol. I didn't watch him much this season but he didn't seem like anything special.
Barring injuries, did any of CLE star players get fouled out in 2015?
You can blame Draymond on himself, Barnes on himself, but Curry fouling out? That was pure bullshit.
Everything else was on the team, even injuries and Ez Ezeli with his small ass hands but that refereeing was atrocious to force a 7 game series. No one ever seems to remember the referees.
Naw, the Dray suspension was bullshit too.
The ref shoulda blown the whistle at the hip check throw down by Lebron on Green.
Ref was standing right there, but instead let it continue. Lebron noticed the whistle didnt' blow, then tried to step over him, and Dray tried to get up as quickly as possible, but Lebron was already dragging ball sweat across the back of Dray's head.... so Dray swiped at him, and incidentally almost hit him in the taint area. Still no whistle.
They then continued on to aggressively chase the same rebound, and that's where they blow the whistle, but somehow they rewound the change of the call all the way back to the beginning of this post, and gave out lopsided calls.
That was total and complete bullshit that must have been trickled down from the top to extend the series.
Foul calling in game 6 was more of the same ol' bullshit.
I got no beefs w/ game 7 tho. Dubs just lost that one mostly because of Kerr's coaching, Ezeli getting playtime, Barnes forgetting how to make a shot, and Varajeo just being on the team....period.
Having things like Jordan retiring for two years is a part of the luck involved with playing the game. The Rockets and Hakeem would have had more championships if Ralph Sampson would not have destroyed his knee. Imagine having not one but two dominate big men not even 25 years old averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds a piece. They went to the finals in 86 when they were 23 and 24 years old then Ralph Samson messes up his knee rushes back too early and his career was never the same.
Sure there's luck. And then there's the greatest player of all time deciding to quit in the middle of his peak with no health issues so he could go play baseball because of unresolved daddy issues
or because Stern banned him for gambling on games.
. That's pretty dang lucky.
I'm not trying to diminish the titles of the Rockets in those years, but more so than any other dumb asterisk people are trying to add to championships, the fact that Jordan wasn't in the league is something that will always get mentioned.
Sure there's luck. And then there's the greatest player of all time deciding to quit in the middle of his peak with no health issues so he could go play baseball because of unresolved daddy issues
or because Stern banned him for gambling on games.
. That's pretty dang lucky.
I'm not trying to diminish the titles of the Rockets in those years, but more so than any other dumb asterisk people are trying to add to championships, the fact that Jordan wasn't in the league is something that will always get mentioned.
And it's always done by people that understand nothing.
If you guy by strength of opponent rating, that 1995 Rockets run is the number 1 hardest championship run of all time. 2nd place, iirc, are the 2001 Lakers (which is nuts, given that they went 15-1). I just honestly don't see Jordan stopping that team after it had gone so fucking far out of nowhere. This wasn't like the 1999 Knicks where the low seed was a slight aberration (only 6 games below the 1st seed) and they had lost their superstar.
”That's a bunch of B.S. That's just Baby talking out the side of his neck.
”I've heard Baby tell me multiple times, ‘Oh you know why Doc is so good, Doc is so great.' And now he's saying bad things about him. It's a huge contradiction.
”And I don't have a problem with Baby. Me and Baby have always been cool. But it makes no sense what he's doing.
”My pops said the jokes about his weight and stuff, but let me ask you something...
”If someone is constantly out of shape, late, don't remember plays, how the hell are you supposed to play?"
As for the people saying Rivers is only there due to nepotism, and he's still shit, like they haven't watched his game for the past few years...
”He doesn't really share his life outside of basketball with me," Austin said. ”He and I don't know each other like that. We know each other as strictly basketball. A lot of people on the outside don't understand that because people think we have a relationship like every other father and son. We just don't. That's because he's been gone my whole life, and that's fine.
The dude is a legitimately good 6th man now, wing defender and ball facilitator for that 2nd unit. Easily the 4th best player on the Clippers now.
He was also a decent big part of the Clippers win over the Spurs in 2015, and the generally played well in the 2015 playoffs, despite the "Here comes Austin Rivers!" gag.
Also, I thought we were done with the Austin Rivers jokes after last year's playoffs
Rivers, Reddick, Crawford, and Jordan nearly willed their team to victories after their two stars, on an already shallow team, went down with injury.
Big Baby doesn't know wtf he's talking about. He was out of the league before the new cap hit and he could cash in, and now he's salty af. Or something, idk, that might be a little too much of a hot take.
I'm not only playing for my family but for the 'We Believe' team too. I'm the last one standing... they're vicariously playing through me... when we get this ring it'll be for all of us
Gonna be honest, Barnes, McGee, Korver, Derrick Williams, and Deron Williams are the most convincing, "I wanna root for these guys" parts of these teams. It's like how the world needed to see NBA Champion J.R. Smith last year.
Gonna be honest, Barnes, McGee, Korver, Derrick Williams, and Deron Williams are the most convincing, "I wanna root for these guys" parts of these teams. It's like how the world needed to see NBA Champion J.R. Smith last year.
I wonder if Derrick Williams is gonna get much/any playing time. I was surprised at his contributions after he was acquired and think he could be a long-term piece moving forward, but don't think he's ready for this stage yet.
Yo, I'm not about to rehash this whole argument as if we were on Mike and Mike. The finals are tomorrow. Maybe it's pedantic, but I wanted to point out "he could only win..." specifically is not only not a fact, but a bad argument for reasons you quoted.
"Kevin Durant wasn't able to win a title with the team that drafted him and developed him and then joined a super team" is a fact. If he would have won in an alternate dimension where he didn't switch teams absolutely doesn't matter since we don't live in an alternate dimension. Same goes for Lebron, with the added bonus that he switched yet again to a younger super team when his super team got old and broke. I don't think any of this is bad, in fact it's very common in soccer and shit like that. I don't hold it against either of them, I don't think it's particularly relevant if both are fine with what they decided. But let's not pretend it isn't what happened.
And he did it against the best centers in the league.
And there is one difference between LeBron and most of those guys. He went from one super team to another to maximize his chances to win more chips. Which on one hand is extremely smart, but that is not a luxury most players had in the past. Most players have to sit through at least one rebuild, during which they lose prime years.
Let's not act like LeBron didn't waste so many years of his career in Cleveland, where he actually brought that superbum team to the playoffs multiple times and even to the finals once, though he never made it further than that in his first run.
KD has Nike money x probably will get paid more if he's a champion.
LeBron has a 1 billion dollar contract too
If he loses the next two straight finals he's gonna get paid the vet minimum or ask his bros to get paid shit to win
Desperate LeBron is gonna take salaries back to the 90s 👀
Makes sense to me. Probably the start of a long run. I know there has been a question to why the Warriors even need Durant, but I think this Finals is going to prove his importance. He is a big time counter to Lebron that they just didn't have on their team.
