09 playoffs thread

1. The Lakers are a better team than the Cavs.
a. The Lakers, as individuals, are a more talented group of individuals.
b. The Lakers won one less game than the Cavs, while playing in a significantly better conference.

As a better team, both as individuals and as a group, the Lakers rely less on their best player than the Cavs do. Therefore, Kobe doesn't need to, and I would argue SHOULDN'T score/rebound/steal as much as he could - as an INDIVIDUA - for the betterment of the team.

kobes is better than lebron > but his individual stats are worse than lebrons > therefor individual stats must not matter > because kobe is better than lebron

This isn't what I said.

one could argue that if strength of sched is taken into account, kobe's team had a better year than lebron's.

if you believe for a second that kobe wouldn't get the hugest boner at the chance to lead the lakers this season in total points, assists, rebounds, blocks and steals like lebron did this year for the cavs you're crazy.

Then call me crazy.

He wants another championship, and he's bought into the idea that the whole team beibng more involved than him just getting off is a better way to do it.

To be decided (hopefully) in the Finals.

but yeah i do think the 86-87 jordan was clearly better than the 95-96 version - might want to look at the other player on those bulls teams for clues as to their disparate records

everyone should steal and rebound as much as they can!

given the same teammates, i think 95 mj beats 86 mj in a 7 game series. just a smarter player, plus stronger. ditka would beat them both tho.

yeah i still have no idea what u think kobes sacrificing his game for - so that worse scorers can take more shots - so that kobels can be more efficient himself - lebron had a higher usage rate than kobe w/a worse supporting cast and he still played more efficiently

old jordan was smarter but young jordan was just a uniquely unstoppable force - people everywhere even on ilh are forgetting abt this!

old jordan was smarter but young jordan was just a uniquely unstoppable force - people everywhere even on ilh are forgetting abt this!

He didn't win his first championship until 7 years into his career. So, young jordan was, actually, quite stoppable. By the Cavs (Ehlo edition) and the Pistons.

yeah i still have no idea what u think kobes sacrificing his game for - so that worse scorers can take more shots - so that kobels can be more efficient himself - lebron had a higher usage rate than kobe w/a worse supporting cast and he still played more efficiently

He's not sacrificing his game. He's playing his game. Well. The end goal - the one that REALLY matters - is a championship. Dominique Wilkins, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing...all these guys have a HUGE hole in their resumes.

Kobe is playing more of a team game, whereas LeBron IS the team. Kobe has bought into the idea that playing this way will win a championship.

I truly believe that Kobe could have as many points and assists, if not more, than LeBron per night, even now. LeBron is bigger and stronger, so he's a better rebounder. Call me crazy, but I do.

i have the starting lineup young mj figure displayed on my desk. never forget!

young mj had complete horseshit surrounding him. pistons didn't stop him, they stopped his teammates. BUT they were the best at keeping him from getting to the rim, so it'd be very interesting to have seen how old mj ie the one with the deadly midrange jumper, would have fared against them, even w/lesser teammates.

dude blam u r vacillating wildly between arguing for team play and pretending no one except the star player on a team even exists

imagine young mj in todays no perimeter hand checking/everyone shoots 40% on threes league holy shit

Alright, alright, alright....

Lets just bottom line this whole thing.

The real measure of the quality of an NBA Basketball player is the number of championships they've won. If you're LeBron James, and you never win one (probably not going to happen, but who knows?), you are (a) the biggest waste of potential in the history of wasted potential, and (b) a worse NBA player than Robert Horry (seven rings!).

dude blam u r vacillating wildly between arguing for team play and pretending no one except the star player on a team even exists

I'll vacillate however the fuck I want! I'll vacillate the shit outta this argument!

Honestly, I moved into the more team-oriented argument once I needed a justification for Kobe's lower stats from 05 until now. I stick by it.

haha ok

w/MJ it's a chicken-egg thing to some degree. did he finally figure out he needed to trust his teammates in order to win a title and so his teammates got opportunities to show their value? or did he trust his teammates more because they were better and HAD more value inherently. i think the truth is somewhere in the middle.

noah keeps up the class act w/an offseason dose of fake tittays http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/deadspin/2009/05/Picture_23.png

god damn are those fake

if mj had come into the league w/his champ era teammates and coach i dont think he wouldve ever considered not trusting them

xp lol just saw that--will remember when hearing for the millionth time how he's thoughtful, intelligent, and not at all what you would expect off the court.

dont get me wrong id be hitting up the groupies if i was in the nba @ 21 but at least show some taste

he's showing that he has a taste for huge knockers

true, mr cr?m. esp coming out of UNC.
xp
likewise i remember him earnestly saying how he learned that going on a world tour party last summer was the wrong thing to do and this summer would be all about basketball. granted the season isn't even over for some players and dudes need some r and r in any case.

another pretty face ruined by horrible fake boobs, thanks again howard stern

sure take a couple weeks off but fakies uhg

hey maybe he can't swim and didn't wanna wear one of those plastic dinosaur shaped flotation devices

Alright - more important: I have a Lakers shirt that has only been worn once on a game day. The Lakers lost that game.

Should I
(a) Wear it tonight
(b) Not wear it
(c) Perform some sort of purging ritual to rid it of its loss juju, and then wear it.

If (c) is your answer, what would said ritual consist of?

imo its ok to wear it since its not a must win

Risk the doubling up of loss juju? I mean, it could be just the thing to cleanse it.

But if I wear it, and they lose again, I might never wear it again.

c) need to bathe in the waters of lake minnetonka with appolonia while wearing it

yeah thats prob how id go - i might wear it in the off season tho xp

c) need to bathe in the waters of lake minnetonka with appolonia while wearing it

See, now you're talking.

minnetonka is wolves territory

OG lakers curse removal. mikan used it, shit still works.

That's what I took it as.

Besides - the Wolves aren't anywhere near the playoffs.

I truly believe that Kobe could have as many points and assists, if not more, than LeBron per night, even now.

i think lebron is 'better' than kobe -- 'PER' homer hollinger and his ilk -- but ^^this is probably true fwiw (the stats guys in the audience surely know the triangle diminishes individual assist numbers in particular) but it would be hard as fuck for kobe, especially in an improved but far from fluid offense the cavs are running. lebron's moving into the rarefied phase where he can create something out of nothing day in and day out, kobe's moving out of that phase and as a laker fan i don't see why i should care either way. seeing brian mfing cook play meaningful minutes the other day should remind laker fans what a good team is worth, 81 pts don't get you a parade

Guys, you're going about this all wrong! Who the hell cares about silly things like stats and number of chips and who's team is better or whatever. The only proper way to settle debates like this is to talk about in who would win in a one-on-one, game to 11, 1's and 2's.

I'll take Lebron by 3.

wow you're pretty cocky huh. i think i'd take him by 1, 2 max.

but then i'd go A HA! there's something you didn't know, bronshizzle, I'M NOT LEFT HANDED.

No, I'd take LeBron by 2 - 3. He'd out-rebound Kobe, for sure.

I think I said It before but I go by who is more fun to play in NBA2K and for me that’s kobe bay far.

*by far

ok in that case i go with Tron Jones. 6'11" with 100 for everything.

Haha!

http://imgboot.com/images/moullet/67126.gifhttp://imgboot.com/images/moullet/67126.gifhttp://imgboot.com/images/moullet/67126.gif

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv344/markhavenbritt/celt_mag01e.jpg

saw him do that finger walking thing the other night. kinda ridic

OMG Alston kissing the ref's bald head