I think it should be a structure that mixes both true home games and neutral site games, so the better regular season team is still rewarded. Something like: 1. Higher seed home 2. Neutral 3. Neutral 4. Neutral 5. Lower seed home 6. Higher seed home 7. Neutral This way, the better regular season team is rewarded with 2 potential home games at pivotal points of the series as opposed to 1, yet the bulk of the series (and game 7) are played on neutral ground to expose who the better team actually is. You can definitely argue that it doesn't weight the regular season nearly enough, but I'd rather have that than for the playoffs to be a formality.
It's amazing what pressure can do to a guy as we see with Lebron. I mean where was this mid range game and finishing at the hoop/post game in the first two games? The amount of pressure he's under is really unbelievable though. Most like to rip him yet none of us will ever know what it's like to have been anointed the second coming of Michael Jordan since being a junior in high school. He's made his fair share of mistakes, and won't ever be MJ but he's truly an incredible player. If he had Jordan's mentality he'd be the GOAT without a doubt. Probably finishing as the 2nd best player ever ain't too shabby though. I'm shocked they didn't try to go big though and are beating the Warriors at their own game. I heard reports earlier in the day that they were staying the course with their gameplan, and figured this would be a much better game.
let's wait until he wins a title in Cleveland before anointing him the second best player of all time.
Is he not a top 10 player of all-time already? Is he not rated better than Kobe Bryant already? I mean, you can make the assumption that he's going to finish there, but he's easily a top 10 player of all time already. 4 MVP's, 7 Finals appearances (6 consecutive), 2 finals MVP. I mean I don't need to lecture you on the accolades. But everyone likes to hate on Lebron for his supporting cast in Miami, yet Kobe played with one of the most dominant peak players ever in Shaq through that first three-peat.
In terms of legacy, LeBron can't touch Kobe at this point (or Duncan). LeBron is much more talented, but the facts are the facts. I've already elaborated on the subject. LeBron did, at age 25, what Gary Payton and Karl Malone did at the end of their careers.
Why does that diminish what he has accomplished thus far in his career? I didn't like the move either as I have outlined, but I don't think that takes away from his greatness. Kobe was 6/24 in game 7 vs. the Celtics when he snagged one of his two finals MVP's. You can't tell me Kobe went out there and won two championships with a bunch of 40 year old Jason Kidd's and Jason Terry's around him like Dirk did. Most every great player is surrounded by a great supporting cast if not another superstar. Hakeem (2) and Dirk are really the only Hall of Famers to win a finals without another great player next to them. Maybe Wilt in 71? Pau was a superstar in 08-11 and never gets the recognition for it. He averaged 18/9/2/2 on 77% shooting vs. the Magic, and 18/11/3/3 on 48% shooting vs. great Celtics team in the finals.
Points/rebounds/assists/steals/blocks Kobe Bryant (career 25.0/5.2/4.7/1.4/0.7 on 44% FG/33% 3P) (playoffs 25.6/5.1/4.7/1.4/0.7 on 44% FG/33% 3P) 5 championships (7 finals appearances) 2 Finals MVPs 1 MVP 18x All-Star 15x All NBA 12x All NBA Defense 2x scoring champ LeBron James (regular season 27.2/7.2/6.9/1.7/0.8 on 49% FG/34% 3P) (playoffs 27.9/8.8/6.7/1.8/0.9 on 47% FG/31% 3P) 2 Championships (7 appearances) 2 Finals MVPs 4 MVPs 12x All-Star 12x All NBA 6x All NBA Defense 1x scoring champ LeBron will be 32 in December. It's safe to say he'll surpass Kobe if he hasn't in your mind already.
As I said, let's at least wait until he wins a title on his own team before declaring him the greatest (or second greatest) ever. He's now 3-10 in the Finals with Cleveland, and he's played nine seasons with the Cavs.
The only chance the Cavs have is if Steph is completely out of it this series. Through 3 games he has been, but the first 2 went in his favor.
That dunk last night though , ouch. Co worker asked me this morning if the home field advantage made that much of a difference. game 1 - 89-104 GS game 2 - 77-110 GS game 3 - 90-120 Cle the first game was "close" the last two have been complete blow outs. How?
Also, Lebron has played in a weak conference his entire career, his greatest foes were Boston and Detroit --- never was able to beat Boston in Cleveland, but was able to get by Detroit. He needed Bosh and Wade to beat Boston. Kobe had to play some great teams to get those 5 rings. The Kings, Suns, Mavs, Rockets, Spurs, Thunder, and Jazz. Lebron a great player, but I would take Kobe.
He also had the benefit of playing with a player that had a dominant 3 year stretch that could rival MJ's in Shaq. So better conference, better lead dog leading the way for Kobe. Bosh/Wade were and are nothing in comparison to what Shaq did from 2000-2003. Check his finals stats. They're ridiculous and look like something out of the late 60s for a center in terms of scoring. While the West was better, those two same Celtics/Pistons teams beat Kobe. Shaq averaged 35.6/15.3/3.6/2.9 in points/boards/assists/blocks over that three year period. Didn't do the FG% but it had to be high 50s. They didn't exactly face off vs. juggernauts from the East either in the Pacers/76ers/Nets.
Kobe played for a franchise where a lot of people right now regard him as the 3rd or maybe 4th all-time Laker after West, Magic, Kareem. Personally I think West is #1 and then it's Kobe but what do I know. LeBron just needs to win 1 for Cleveland and they'll appoint him as the greatest ever to play the game. LeBron took 1 really garbage team to the finals and it was his first one. He can get a pass on that one and maybe the last one but he has no excuse for losing the Finals to the Mavs or the Heat one to the Spurs.
People tend to forget that Pippen was a 16/7/6 guy with stat lines better than that with Chicago during the two 3peats (and diminished stats beforehand and after). He also played with the best rebounder ever in Rodman. People are marveled at Tristan Thompson averaging 3.5 offensive boards for his career, double that to 6, with 16 total/game and that's a hell of a lot of second chance points. Not to mention both were extremely good wing defenders. As I said before. Dirk and Hakeem are the only superstar players/Hall of Famers to win rings since 1980 all by themselves (or surrounded by a bunch of role players). Lebron did it with one other Hall of Famer, and I get that it's the way he teamed up with it that soured everyone, but isn't it type to get over that? That was 5 years ago and he's back in black hole Cleveland anyway after learning how to win. The Kobe/LeBron argument reminds me of Peyton/Brady. It's funny because people forget how much of a villain he was after forcing Shaq out of town couple with the alleged rape case. You know he texted LeBron thanking him for "the Decision," effectively turning Kobe into an NBA darling to be remembered for his most recent back to back rings and not all the bullshit that preceded it. You can appreciate Lebron's greatness without disrespecting other great players ya know. Kobe is still an all-time great.
