NBA 2012-2013

[MartyFunkhouser]

Wade wouldn't even need to spend time in the film room - just spend a few minutes each game watching Ray Allen. He may not have Reggie's skill off the ball, but he's no slouch.

Good point.

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[Surfah]

I'm not sure that Bosh is the problem for Miami, rather a declining Wade might be. Think about Miami's prospects if they don't win this series. Wade is going to continue to decline and I fear with the way he has played throughout his career, that decline might take a sudden turn.

So, does this Miami team only end up with one championship? Guys like Barkley, Stockton and Malone would do anything for one ring of course, but I still think that may be a disappointment.

But on the other side, who is there to contend with Miami next year? San Antonio again? Don't Duncan and Ginobli simply become too old at some point. No one has had Duncan's longevity since Kareem. Other than Kareem, he's virtually unparalleled. Does Indiana finally catch up? Is Chicago with Derrick Rose still fools' gold? In the West, OKC has matchup problems with the Heat. Golden State seems to have some ascendancy and there's a rumor they're in the running for Dwight Howard. I see Z-bo breaking down in Memphis here pretty soon. Do the Lakers do the smart thing and amnesty Kobe and free up salary cap to build around Gasol and Howard?

So, if San Antonio wins this series, Miami will have been thwarted by aging Dallas and San Antonio teams two out of three years. After those three years, there's a substantial chance that Wade starts breaking down and they start having big problems with teams like Indiana and Chicago in the East -- though I'm not sure who out West is positioned after this year to take them down in the Finals, perhaps GS if they land Howard.

They still will have that one championship, but I can't help but think what they could have gotten for Wade after that 2011 debacle against Dallas. With Indiana, you have a well-built team without a superstar, but in Miami you have a team that is going to increasingly rely on LeBron with the other pieces either not really very good or declining. San Antonio, as old as it is, is Indiana only it does have elite players to go along with the pieces fitting well together-- Duncan and Parker.

Kobe just had 27/6/6 in his 17th season.

I think the Bulls with a healthy Rose will be tough. The Pacers with a legit PG would be a contender too. I wish the Lakers would amnesty Kobe and deal Pau. But I am no longer certain D12 is the guy. Rather, he is not the guy if MikeD is still coaching.

Anyway, I do think if the Heat lose this series it is a disappointment. One ring with that core is really sad. I know it is difficult to win one and going to the finals three straight is an accomplishment in itself, but this is a core that predicted 5, 6, 7 rings. If they lose this year, Bron is gone. I see no reason for him to stay. They're going to have a tough time building out the team to support him. Ray Allen is done. Before game 7 against Indiana it'd been over a month since he had 3 3-pointers in a game. Mike Miller has little left. Juwan Howard waves a mean towel. Someone here predicted Bron back to Cleveland and that sounds prophetic, though I still hope he comes to LA.

[cougjunkie]

Dennis Rodman called Lebron "average" if he were playing in the 90's NBA. I don't agree with that one bit he has a game that could translate to any era.

My question is this could Dennis Rodman one of the elite defenders of all time guard Lebron?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Dennis Rodman called Lebron "average" if he were playing in the 90's NBA. I don't agree with that one bit he has a game that could translate to any era.

My question is this could Dennis Rodman one of the elite defenders of all time guard Lebron?

No, he is smaller and slower than LBJ.

[New Mexican Disaster]

Dennis Rodman called Lebron "average" if he were playing in the 90's NBA. I don't agree with that one bit he has a game that could translate to any era.

My question is this could Dennis Rodman one of the elite defenders of all time guard Lebron?

No, Rodman could not guard LeBron. The Worm is giving his era more credit than it is due, LeBron would be in the top 2-3 players of any era.

[cougjunkie]

So I rewatched game 1 last night. Lebron was 2-8 when guarded directly by Kawhi.

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[FN Phat]

So I rewatched game 1 last night. Lebron was 2-8 when guarded directly by Kawhi.

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I'm not convinced that Leonard can hang let alone be effective against LBJ. clogging the lane did more to stop LBJ. Any time he went to the lane he had 3-4 Spurs waiting for him.

[SandYFan]

I think the Bulls with a healthy Rose will be tough.

I can't shake the memory of LeBron absolutely shutting Rose down in the 2011 ECF... didn't Derrick shoot around 8% when LeBron guarded him directly? Call me crazy, but I think the Bulls are an easier out for Miami with Rose running the show.

The Pacers with a legit PG would be a contender too.

I can't believe how much Hibbert has improved. When he got drafted he was too slow and too unskilled to really be much more than a decent post defender. Now he's a force on the defensive end and is a DPOY candidate. Any team with him will be decent on D.

Anyway, I do think if the Heat lose this series it is a disappointment. One ring with that core is really sad. I know it is difficult to win one and going to the finals three straight is an accomplishment in itself, but this is a core that predicted 5, 6, 7 rings.

I agree, but did you have any idea Wade and Bosh would fall off like they have this season?

though I still hope he comes to LA.

I've been a LeBron fan since he came into the league, but if he goes to the Lakers he's dead to me.

[MarkGrace]

Lowe with the great analysis, as always. He mentions Bron's defense taking a toll on him in the 4th, and Bron admitted as much in the post-game, also mentioning how much fighting for boards under the glass took it out of him.

And yet, there might be a lingering fatigue issue for James in this series, especially on defense. He was a monster in the first half, especially away from the ball. He was terrifying, and I mean that literally. He was so active from the sideline to the paint, and so intense, that at times he scared San Antonio ball handlers out of making passes. He was like an apparition — a Raptors ghost player looming to make Parker rethink his decision to pass to Tiago Splitter in the lane here:

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...phed-in-game-1

Heat lost that game when they sat Bron and Wade together to start the 4th. I was reading they've never been off the floor at the same time in the playoffs, as Bron always players the start of the 4th while Wade rests. But apparently he asked to rest because he was so winded. The Miami offense sure looked hapless without them out there (didn't look a ton better with them in, either; but decent enough to keep pace instead of dig a hole).

It's a lot to ask a guy to do that kind of work on defense and on the glass and still be everything to your offense. But can they win without him doing those things?

Lowe also shreds Wade.

[smokymountainrain]

Lowe also shreds Wade.

Wade scored 21 on 7-16 in game 7, and 17 on 7-15 in game 1, and to me both games looked to me like ceiling type games for him - like he is hardly capable of doing better. Those would be solid games for Lance Stephenson - games like that are not supposed to be playoff highs for Dwyane Wade.

[MarkGrace]

Wade scored 21 on 7-16 in game 7, and 17 on 7-15 in game 1, and to me both games looked to me like ceiling type games for him - like he is hardly capable of doing better. Those would be solid games for Lance Stephenson - games like that are not supposed to be playoff highs for Dwyane Wade.

He blasts him not for point totals, but for everything else. The shooting is fine, it's just amazing how boneheaded he can be with the ball and his decision making. He's run breaks in the last two series where I'm just like wtf?! He wastes possessions hucking up shots that he's not even trying to make -- just trying to draw some ridiculous call he's not going to get at this stage.

3. Dwyane Wade is in terrible position. Wade scored 17 points, above-average output for him these days, but aside from some very difficult first-half shot-making during a stretch when LeBron rested, this was one of his very worst playoff games. The Spurs caught him over-helping/ball-watching twice and found his man, Danny Green, for open 3-pointers. He was slow chasing Manu Ginobili through basic cuts, once yielding an open 3 for the Mad Genius at the top of the arc. He fell so far behind Ginobili on one San Antonio possession that James and Wade had to switch assignments as Ginobili curled off multiple picks, the last one from James’s man (Leonard).

But the win turned to a crushing loss when Leonard danced around a lazy Wade boxout, caught the rebound, and laid it back in:

And then there is the spacing issue. Wade cannot just be standing in no-man’s-land on the baseline, allowing his man, Neal, to linger at the edge of the paint, another body for LeBron to see without any consequence. He either needs to be in the corner or elsewhere on the floor above the 3-point arc. Wade is a poor 3-point shooter who doesn’t even look to shoot from there anymore, so he wouldn’t exert much gravitational pull on Neal by standing way out in the corner. But every half-step Neal takes away from the paint matters, and if Wade’s in the corner, he at least has a head of steam if LeBron kicks him the ball. And, man, does Wade need a head of steam these days.

And this spacing snafu happened more than once; look at Wade on the left baseline here:

He's hurt so you accept the lack of burst and lift and all of that, but a guy of his experience level shouldn't routinely be blowing assignments on both offense and defense in games like this.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Pop is a good dude.

"He's a grown man," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He doesn't need any of you to tell him anything. He knows more than all of you put together. He understands the game. If he makes a pass and you all think he should have shot it, or he shoots it and you think he should have made a pass, your opinions mean nothing to him, as they should not mean anything to him."

[CardiacCoug]

Pop is a good dude.

Is that about Lebron or Wade?

Either way yeah I agree with him. He reminds me of Belichick really but Pop is less of a dick.

[MarkGrace]

I present to you a statistic from Synergy Sports Technology:

No one in the NBA has registered more spot-ups than Chris Bosh this postseason. No one.

Bosh has tallied 90 such plays this postseason. That's more than Danny Green, Ray Allen, Tayshaun Prince or any other marksmen who loiters on the perimeter, waiting for a teammate to feed him a ball. Ten more spot-ups, in fact, than anyone on the leaderboard.

Yes, Chris Bosh.

Here's another one for you: Guess how many post-up plays Bosh has registered this postseason?

Try eight. In 17 games.

That's fewer than James Harden, according to Synergy. Keep in mind, Harden stopped playing NBA games over a month ago.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playo...ne-too-far-out

Unreal.

[MarkGrace]

First time I've seen the Parker replay since the other night. I swear he both travelled and double-dribbled.