****The Official 2013-14 NBA Thread****

http://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/wpNBA.php

One more time. Maybe you didn't read it right. Lebron James...would have been switching from 1-2-3, and inverting and dropping on 4-5. Instead..we got Battier switching on 2-3-4, Wade on 2, and hedging 4 & 5. it was an odd coverage they would have NEVER used as long as Lebron James is alive. They got mixed up. it happens.

 

Why do you waste your time educating people who don't care to learn?

 

So hard to know what to think of this series going forward. Obviously a healthy James changes how those last few minutes play. But I also wouldn't expect the Spurs to have 23 turnovers again (and that's with respect to MIA's defense - which creates a ton of turnovers. But I think we can agree and history shows that 23 is still an abnormally high number.)

 

Bad Habit.

 

I like Dragic. Still pissed we let him walk to sign Lin. I wouldn't put him on the 1st team over Paul or Harden though. He may take someone's spot next year. He's ballin'.
Harden leads all shooting guards in the postseason is steals per game. Harden was also the 4th best shooting guard in steals during the regular season. 2 votes for all defense, i'll take it. He has a lot of work to do on defense, but you can say that about the entire Rocket's team.

 

let me explain...it's as if the Dolphins took some injuries on Defense, and then decided to go to a 5-2, 4-4 or 3-4 hybrid to mask their deficiencies and then blew a bunch of assignments after never playing that defense.

 

James Harden is a great player, no matter how much I make fun of him....but he is terrible on Defense, and I am not so sure that it isn't about effort.

 

It's as if LeBron has never left the floor before. Lol. He leaves and suddenly no one knows where to go? Really? It's as if smart vets like Battier, Wade, and Ray Allen have never played on this Heat defense before. Please. LeBron barely guarded the guy who got hot last night. That was all Wade and Allen. It's okay to admit that Wade felt like he could leave ice-cold Green and was slow to chase him off.

The excuses are so tired. In the 4th Q the Spurs started moving the ball like the Spurs usually do. Danny Green started shooting like Danny Green. And hence they won by double-digits.

 

Why doesn't Harden get any of the hate other offensive-only guys get? Carmelo, David Lee, Carlos Boozer, etc. I realize Lee/Boozer are nowhere near the same level on offense - but the overall point remains. Harden somehow has avoided the same scorn as other guys that are offense-only.

 

Yep..the Spurs normally shoot 88%. No doubt. They average 178.8 PPG

 

I have never argued that he was a great defender. No one on the Rockets is. Whenever you threw jabs at Harden's defense, i never responded because it's true. I may be a homer, but I call it like i see it. When you attack his offense and overall play, that's when you and I clash. Harden had to carry the Rockets all year during the regular season, unlike Wade. Our coach doesn't run any set plays, it's basically motion offense or fast break points. That's it. When those break down, Harden has to make it happen or we won't score.

They all stink defensively, except Dwight when he feels like it. It's the team's culture (i said this months ago to Boik). They don't value it. If they did, they'd hire a defensive minded coach instead of the Rick Adelmans and Kevin Mchales of the coaching ranks. Or atleast bring in a defensive assistant coach like Boston did when Thibs was there. Someone has to get it through their heads that defense matters.

Harden deserves first team NBA because he's the only SG who had to carry the load on a top ranked NBA team...simple as that. Voters know it too.

 

The Spurs moved the ball well the entire game, even when they were turning it over.

 

He deserved it. No doubt about that.

 

You're missing the point if you feel like your hypothetical situation of a weather report is closer to what happened. Weather reports are wrong all the time. No matter what the weather report says an NFL team needs to be prepared for inclement weather because that's part of the game of football. A player can reasonably expect he's going to show up to a game and it's going to be hot, or maybe cold, snowing, raining, sunny or windy. These are things NFL teams must prepare for because they're part of the game.

An arena like an oven hasn't been part of the game for 30 years. And when it WAS part of the game, the players KNEW it. Hence my analogies are MUCH closer to what happened last night in that you only just find out the night you come in that some completely non-basketball circumstance is about to play a heavy hand in this basketball game.

It's not basketball. That's all there is to it. Lebron doesn't reasonably go into the game thinking he's got to hydrate extra (with the detriments that can come with that) in case the arena is like an oven.

I guess a similar analogy would be the case of Ryan Clark of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who has sickle cell which means he can't play in high altitudes. Right now he's fine because he knows the only high altitude environment in the NFL that he needs to avoid is the Mile High Stadium. On the few occasions over the years that his team would be required to play at Mile High, he knows he can't travel with the team and can't play there. But what if all the sudden the NFL just arbitrarily and suddenly decides that every single one of the games played by Ryan Clark's team will be played at Mile High Stadium...and Clark is lost for the season because of it? Do you just say well those are the breaks, the unpredictable happens in football and maybe Ryan Clark shouldn't be playing football if he has sickle cell? No. Because that sudden and arbitrary decision that the Steelers are now going to play every game in Mile High Stadium is not a football decision.

 

For those predicting Miami to win it in 6. Which game do you see the Heat losing?
If we lose game 2 it will be difficult to win 4 in a row IMO.

 

The other thing to remember is that it wasn't just a little warm in there. It was 90 degrees in a closed box with no windows and no air circulation.

Spoelstra said today that they did everything they normally did with LeBron before the game and during the game but the conditions were so extreme and deteriorated so rapidly there was nothing to do. He even admitted that he considered making LeBron a 25 minute player last night but that it just wasn't realistic in the Finals. LeBron never would've stood for it.

 

We'll go up 3-1, lose game 5, close it out at home

 

What I thought was interesting last night was actually that there was a point so late in the game where as Section126 put it the Heat had a statistical 80% chance of winning the game.

As I said before my gut was telling me either the Spurs (and their fans) were going to take out a year's worth of angst on the Heat and all of their shots were going to sink to tumultuous applause, taking the Heat out of the game...or the Heat were going to show up to this game and discover that these guys (especially with Parker ailing) really aren't that strong of a team and Miami ends up beating them en route to a relatively easy series win where the Heat only lose the games that they decide (subconsciously) that it's OK to lose...which would probably be Game 2 and Game 5.

What happened last night was actually both of those things which is weird, about as weird as a billion dollar basketball franchise's air conditioning suddenly going out. But the fact that the second scenario was taking shape about 80-90% through the game until Lebron's body seized up, I think is a significant development.

Normally series lines would be adjusted strictly by the numbers because the Spurs won the game and are up 1-0. With the Heat at +175, I am not really sure that's what has happened. I don't remember what the final series line was before the game last night but I think it had swung in favor of the Spurs, I want to say something like -140 versus EVEN for Miami. Now Miami is at +175 and the Spurs are -210. Given where they started, the Spurs winning last night probably should have swung those lines further mathematically...but clearly there's something that makes Vegas reluctant to do that.

But someone's going to make money. If my theory is right then the line on Miami swinging at all, even just to +175, means you have a great buy-in opportunity for a series which still favors Miami. But on the other hand if you're a strict numbers guy and you see that the lines did not swing the way the numbers should have seen them swing after the Spurs took Game 1, then you probably still have an attractive buy-in price at -210 on a team that should now be heavily favored to take the series.

 

Game 2 will be very interesting, Miami should be afraid...very afraid.

 

Im predicting six regardless of game two.

I feel like if we win game two we will lose game five, if we lose game two we will win game five.

 

Calvin Hughes on channel 10 news is hilarious. "I asked if the AC going out was intentional, and was told no of course not"


Even if it -was- true, and I dont think it is exactly, why would someone tell you the day after.

 

Gsme 5

 

LOL
Tim Reynolds @ByTimReynolds · 34m

Danny Green says Spurs had cooling fans in their locker room at halftime. Heat did not have them. Adam Silver said he wasn't aware of that.



Same AT&T Center that magically had a rattlesnake in the blazers' lockerroom. It's Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kindom for visiting teams.

 

This pisses me off so much. I'm 99% sure NBA teams don't travel with f***ing fans to cool the visiting locker room. If the Spurs were going to do this, they should have been forced to provide us with the same set up.

 

My analogy is closer than yours. You are talking about wholesale rule changes. I get the point. Your analogies continue to involve choices made by humans to limit play somehow. That's not what happened here. An unexpected circumstance occurred, conditions were not what were expected. It's life. Sh** happens. If the NBA wants, they can add a rule that NBA games are not to be played past 75F. They haven't. It happened.

Your Ryan Clark analogy is off, again. Nobody made the decision to bust the AC unit (unless it is proven it was shenanigans). A far fetched analogy that is closer would be, say, he plays in Indy or Minnesota, and their AC malfunctioned and started pumping low oxygen air in for some reason. Again, your analogies involve decisions to limit the game somehow. That did not happen here.

Ryan Clark doesn't have sickle cell by the way (I don't think he'd even be able to play football if he did).

 

Ryan Clark does have Sickle Cell Anemia.

and CK is absolutely right. The A/C going out changes the "playing field." Now the "style" of play of your team can determine your success instead of your skill and overall play. It is why all NBA courts are uniformed and made of the same exact laminate floor boards.

It's as if a drainage system broke at Sun Life and the field then got flooded with a foot of water....and...you play anyway....

 

He has sickle cell trait I thought. But I noticed CK didn't say what sickle cell so yeah that was originally correct.

The analogies weren't just about changing the playing field. It's about arbitrary rule changes vs an unfortunate circumstance. Telling the Steelers they can only play in Denver is NOT the same as the AC going out by accident. Let's not pretend there's never been a malfunction before, ever. Lights going out at a Super Bowl anyone?

Did the heat change the playing field? Sure did, it made it hotter. Unfortunately for the Heat, Lebron isn't made for it. Very unfortunate, yes. But conspiracy? Eh, kind of a reach for that.

Messed up the Lakers in 1984 against Boston too:

Really is ironic the Heat, were the ones most affected by Heat. Imagine if all of their practices were outside. It'd be like practice swinging a bat with a doughnut. Once they're inside they'd crush it.

 

Except its worse because football is a game you tend to play with adverse weather conditions...basketball isn't.

 

Going to game 2. Gonna do some Sherlock Holmesing to get to the bottom of this. Shouldn't be hard, security is a joke there.

heres to a game 2 win, and me not getting stabbed. Seriously, spurs fans are terrible.

 

Enjoy the 15 point Heat victory!

 

And if they lose???


I'll be interested to here what excuse will be used, refs? Air Conditioning? They just didn't care?? Most of you have no idea how to mutter the words...THEY PLAYED BETTER THAN US. So Sunday I will be rooting for SA just to log on and see what the "reasoning" must have been.

 

I'm pretty sure quite a few people said so over the last few pages.

 

I'm speaking to about 5 regulars, not the posters who decide to hop in the thread a couple times in June.

 

They did play better than us when James was out with cramps. The rest of thr game they didn't. Not even close.

 

I was speaking in general, not about last night.

 

Back to the "this ain't basketball" topic. Guys playing the game, says it's still basketball ...

People are going too far in calling James a wuss. His body is such it's wired to cramp. That sucks. Very unfortunate.

 

I attribute that to the fact that both teams are very classy off the court. Put the Pacers in that situation and watch how George, Hibbert and Stephenson b***h all the way to a fine.

 

When was the last time a team out played us in a series or game that -really- mattered? Dallas?

I think that is why you don't hear it often....it rarely happens.

 

Heat out-played the Spurs all game? It's just not the case. More a question of subjective perspective. The game was pretty much close cut the whole way through. Up two or three, down two or three. The Heat pushed out to about seven ahead in the fourth and then Spurs came back and pushed out about the same distance.

The idea that anyone was out-playing anyone greatly here just isn't true. It could have gone either way the whole game.

Proof.

 

In your red and black eyes it doesn't.