NBA 2008-2009 Season Thread

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I kinda wanted the Cavs to win but now that the Lakers are going to the Finals think I am shifting to the Magic. I want to see Howard poo all over Pau and Bynum

[SammyG]

lol @ all the hate.

[SammyG]

Also K-Mart is straight up stupid.

"I think we're better than them, actually, to be honest," said Martin, still stubborn. "But we didn't prove that. That's obvious, cause they're moving on and we're not. But I think we have a better team than they do, no doubt about it."

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Still think Phil Jackson is a bad coach?

[VonErichLives]

Originally Posted by SammyG lol @ all the hate.

[SammyG]

I do think he made some horrible coaching errors in games 1-4, yes. But he really picked it up games 5-6. Shortened the rotation. Hope he does a good job in the Finals.

[Savio]

I would say denver was the better teamin games 3-4.
However Lakers were better in 5-6

(I didn't see 1-2)

[IC Champion]

Kenyon Martin is retarded, the better team doesn't lose a series in game 6 AT HOME. Come on.

[HeartBreakMan2k]

Come on Orlando! Time to shut this thing out.

[Juan]

Seems like every single one of Orlando's processions have been pretty much the same.

[HeartBreakMan2k]

It's working, stick with it right?

[HeartBreakMan2k]

Magic vs Lakers final. Hellllll yeah.

[Juan]

Originally Posted by HeartBreakMan2k It's working, stick with it right?

Yeah, no doubt.

[Jeritron]

So glad David Stern's Lebron vs Kobe pipe-dream is for not

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Lakers probably going to smash the Magic, however I thought the same thing about the Cavs so we'll see.

I think Howard will go off but that's about it, Lakers have better perimeter defenders than the Cavs plus the Lakers also have a much larger inside presence (granted soft as shit but still) so the double teaming won't need to be as frequent. I think this will hurt Orlando's ability to drain 3's, hopefully I'm wrong though.

[Triple Naitch]

Nike jinxed the LeBron/Kobe final.

[Triple Naitch]

http://www.cavfanatic.com/hugez/go/v...ref_tab=videos

[DaveWadding]

I bet David Stern cried himself to sleep last night.

GO MAGIC

[IC Champion]

I bet Pheonex won't make the playoffs next year.

[SammyG]

lol Wadding.

All their 3 point shooters will cause a problem. Rashard Lewis will draw Pau out of the paint a lot with his 3 point shooting ability.

[SammyG]

We need to start Fish, Kobe, Ariza, Odom, Pau.

Odom will match up better with Rashard on the perimeter, Pau can't chase him around there. Plus, if we start Pau at the 4 and Bynum at the 5, it creates way too many problems with Bynum guarding Howard in the paint, getting destroyed.

If we start Pau at the 5, he can draw Howard outta the paint, with his jump-shooting ability. Really gotta match up with these guys.

[SammyG]

So, I wanted to go catch a game in Staples. Game 1, prolly. Cheapest ticket I can find in the nosebleeds is like 292 dollars. Come on

[Fignuts]

What the fuck did you expect?

[SammyG]

Considering I got my ex a pretty good ticket in Denver for 125 dollars, I was hoping for something near there, or 200 dollars max.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

My Superbowl 39 ticket cost 500 dollars

Granted its a lil' different since there is only the possibility for one game, I figured 300 would be around the price for a nosebleed seat at the NBA Finals

[SammyG]

Where were your seats at the game, Stima?

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

In the corner of the end zone. In the 200's, I wanna say 227 but I don't remember exactly

[SammyG]

Was that Pats/Panthers?

[Triple Naitch]

Pats/Eagles

[SammyG]

oh yeah

[Loose Cannon]

one day I will go to one Championship game. It will have to be the Yankees or actually, defnately the Jets because if they ever make it, that may be thier only one

[Savio]

Lebron is a prick

[The Gold Standard]

Originally Posted by DaveWadding I bet David Stern cried himself to sleep last night. GO MAGIC

and ESPN and ABC and all of the sports websites and magazines.

[Splaya]

I’m a winner, King James proclaimed. So, there you go. That’s his reason for rushing out of the conference finals without so much as a nod to Dwight Howard(notes) and the Orlando Magic. That’s his reason for marching to the bus and letting the Cleveland Cavaliers’ spare parts take care of his responsibilities in the interview room.
Funny, but James stayed on the court to make sure the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks paid respect to him. As it turns out, there’s one thing allowed to happen at the end of a playoff series: Everyone bows down and kisses the King’s ring. Only, LeBron doesn’t have a ring. He’s never won a game in the NBA Finals.
So, yes, maybe they just have to kiss his ass.

“It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that,” James said.
No, nothing like that. Yes, James cares so much that it isn’t possible to be gracious and humbled.
You know me, he told the reporters in Cleveland on Sunday. I’m a competitor. “If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them,” James said. “It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”
Here’s the question: Who has the guts to tell him that he sounds like an immature, self-absorbed brat?
Here’s the problem for the Cavaliers and James: No one.
It won’t be Cleveland Cavaliers ownership, front office and coaches. It won’t be the NBA. It won’t be Nike. And it sure won’t be those childhood sycophants who surround James and tell everyone what a brilliant businessman LeBron is because they can answer the phone when corporations call for a famous pitchman.
LeBron doesn’t want to win more than Michael Jordan did, but Jordan could stop and shake a winner’s hand. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird could, too. Julius Erving did. Kobe Bryant(notes). Isiah Thomas led a walkout after losing to the Chicago Bulls after winning two NBA titles, but Joe Dumars never followed him. He stayed and shook Jordan’s hand, the way Jordan had always shook his when the Pistons had beaten him.
“M.J. had stopped, shook my hand and hugged me three straight years that we had beaten them in the playoffs,” Dumars once told me. “There was no way I was walking off the court without shaking the Bulls’ hands.”
Within the Cavs, someone needed to tell James that he embarrassed himself and the franchise, but that won’t happen. They’re too scared of him. Most league executives with knowledge of Cleveland’s operation believe it’s far more of an ownership issue, than basketball operations.
If general manager Danny Ferry and coach Mike Brown privately disdain the ridiculous posing for pictures that James started with his teammates on a 13-game winning streak, the owner is believed to see the foolishness as a marketing dream.
Someone should’ve told James that the pregame Polaroid act was belittling and beneath a championship contender, but it never happened.
All season, the Cavaliers acted too entitled, too arrogant for a team that’s won nothing. They ran out demanding that Mo Williams(notes) be made an All-Star, when the truth bore itself out in the playoffs: Cleveland has one All-Star. Nevertheless, Williams still embarrassed the Cavs with foolish proclamations and guarantees his middling talent couldn’t deliver.
“If you believe in karma with that nonsense,” one Western Conference executive said, “then Cleveland got what was coming to them.”
The Cavaliers are terrified of James. When you’re around them, it’s sometimes embarrassing to watch the way they tip-toe and grovel with him. In their defense, that’s how James wants it. As a childhood prodigy, that’s all LeBron’s ever known. The Cavs are at his mercy until he becomes a free agent in July of 2010, and that isn’t going to change. There’s no chance that he signs an extension this summer, because that would be the end of the drama, the intrigue and LeBron James(notes) isn’t letting that go away.
Now, Ferry goes back to the phones and starts work on surrounding James with championship talent. Cleveland is sure to revisit the Shaquille O’Neal(notes) talks with the Phoenix Suns, and James and his associates will send out word that, hey, we’ll go to New York unless the Cavs deliver him his title. Well, they’ve reached the NBA Finals and had the best record in the NBA within the past three seasons, so they must have surrounded James with something that works there.
Nevertheless, James distanced himself in losing again, after a season in which he sold himself as all for one, and one for all. James had been an MVP until the very final moments of the basketball season, and then, he embarrassed himself and acted like a petulant kid. In a world where everyone in his life is too fearful or too dependent, LeBron James goes into the summer believing his own nonsense that he walked out of this season a winner.
As usual, there’s no one to tell him.
Except maybe now, Kobe’s puppet.









Asbolutely outstanding article by Adrian Wojnarowski.

[Loose Cannon]

most athletes are like that though. your on top of the world when you win and when you lose, you don't want to deal with anybody. you just want to walk away. I've been there and am much like that. I know to some people, it may come off as being a soar loser or being an asshole, but for me personally, it's just being frustrated with yourself as you always think you could of done more to get the job done. dunno, anybody else like that?

[SammyG]

Yeah, I am.

[McLegend]

I hate Joe Dumars.

[RatedGSuperstar]

The fact that this is such a big story is ridiculous. LeBron's still like 24 or 25 years old. He's a young guy whose emotions got the best of him after the biggest challenge of his career, and he didn't respond well. End of discussion. He's not some kind of primadonna that thinks he's better than the game.

I also think it's laughable that the article above paints Michael Jordan and Larry Bird as gracious and respectful losers. There may be isolated incidents where they stuck around to shake some hands, but history pretty much says that they were two of the most competitive people to ever play the game and absolutely hated congratulating people when they got beat. LeBron's stuck around for postgame comments and congratulations a hell of a lot more than he's bolted off the court, but that fact would ruin a good story, wouldn't it?


Edit: On the topic of the actual Finals, I think Orlando will pose a much bigger challenge to the Lakers than Cleveland could have. If LA tries to get away with playing half-assed for most of the series like they have in the past two rounds, they're going to get beat...and fast. Really, I think the Lakers need to win Game 1, otherwise they'll be in trouble. Lewis could cause a lot of problems by drawing Gasol out, leaving Howard to beat up on Bynum..Jackson needs to figure out how he's going to stop Lewis and Hedo at the same time. Orlando's really a match up nightmare for anyone.

[SammyG]

Yeah this is retarded how blown outta proportion the LeBron thing is. Give him a break.

Seriously, if that was Kobe who did that, the media would be all over that 10 times worse.

[Hanso Amore]

Originally Posted by SammyG Yeah this is retarded how blown outta proportion the LeBron thing is. Give him a break. Seriously, if that was Kobe who did that, the media would be all over that 10 times worse.

Yeah, because he is a rapist.

For real though, i think it would be the same if not less. Lebron is this years MVP, and the Chosen one.