NBA Finals

[Scotty Mac]

anyone else interested in this?

the spurs are absolutely RAPING the cavs. james has spent most of his time off the court, and for the next michael jordan, that airball was just SHOCKING

looks like at 2-0 it is all over - and another title for tim duncan. don't think he will get mvp this year though - that has to go to PARKER

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

anyone else interested in this?

the spurs are absolutely RAPING the cavs. james has spent most of his time off the court, and for the next michael jordan, that airball was just SHOCKING

looks like at 2-0 it is all over - and another title for tim duncan. don't think he will get mvp this year though - that has to go to PARKER

The East is terrible at present, all the better teams are old and broken, and the younger teams arent at a winnable level yet.

The Spurs are boring, but it's not about entertainment , it's about winning.

It's just so wrong that San Antonio have gotten where they have by cheating and tanking to get Duncan all those years ago.

 

[Rookie]

think it will be different when the Cavs are back at home, the conference finals turned of the cavs home games

 

[itszamora]

The East is terrible at present, all the better teams are old and broken, and the younger teams arent at a winnable level yet.

The Spurs are boring, but it's not about entertainment , it's about winning.

It's just so wrong that San Antonio have gotten where they have by cheating and tanking to get Duncan all those years ago.

You could say the same about loads of teams though - the Cavs in '03 perhaps, certainly the Rockets in '84 when they got Hakeem (and passed on a reasonable guard from UNC). It's one reason I was very happy to see teams that had actually tried to win games such as Portland and Seattle get the big picks in this year's lottery, while teams like Memphis and especially Boston who made no effort at all the last 3 months of the season complain about how 'unfair' the lottery is when it relegates them to 4 and 5.

 

[itszamora]

Also, San Antonio was only projected to pick 3rd or 4th that year so to say they tanked to get Duncan is a bit unfair when other teams had a much better shot at the No.1 pick.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

You could say the same about loads of teams though - the Cavs in '03 perhaps, certainly the Rockets in '84 when they got Hakeem (and passed on a reasonable guard from UNC). It's one reason I was very happy to see teams that had actually tried to win games such as Portland and Seattle get the big picks in this year's lottery, while teams like Memphis and especially Boston who made no effort at all the last 3 months of the season complain about how 'unfair' the lottery is when it relegates them to 4 and 5.

Memphis lost Gasol and Boston lost Pierce for long stretches of the season, when the Spurs got Duncan it was a far worse tank.

Boston were so injury prone they had to get Kevin Pinkney in on a short contract to meet their squad list numbers.

They lost 300 games in total between their best players in Pierce, Szerbiak, Allen , Jefferson and West.

It's easy to say they tanked, but when they have the youngest list in the NBA it's alot to expect them to be beating teams with veteran squads.

Added to that as soon as the seasn was over Pierce had elbow surgery right away and missed the USA trials.

Memphis aren't that good as Gasol is their best player and his supporting cast aren't that great.

People like Pat Riely and Mark Cuban teams who have no interest in the draft don't like the system and say this year is a good reason why it's wrong.

Added to that the leagues so imbalanced now, and the way the draft went the West is even stronger than the East now.

And that's bad for basketball.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Also, San Antonio was only projected to pick 3rd or 4th that year so to say they tanked to get Duncan is a bit unfair when other teams had a much better shot at the No.1 pick.

They pulled the pin on that season and weren't the worst by a long stretch.

And that year is a big reason why the draft doesn't work because Boston were the worst team that year and fell right back.

Which once again doesn't help the league.

 

[itszamora]

But surely just rewarding the worst team with the No.1 pick no matter what would just encourage teams to do poorly even more so than the present system where any team missing the playoffs could theoretically get the first pick? Again I refer you to Houston in 1984. And your comment about Boston's injuries this season also applies to the Spurs in 97 - Robinson played only 6 games that season and Sean Elliott also missed over half of it. So again, I hardly feel they can be accused of tanking, although it was of course in a way a great situation as next season they had Duncan and a fit Robinson in tandem.

I take your point about the league being a bit imbalanced at the moment but it's been swings and roundabouts for a while really, yes the West has the upper hand at the moment but for most of the 90s it was the East that had all the dominant players. And who's to say that this wouldn't be the situation if it were not for the lottery anyway?

 

[Kenhead]

Are Orlando magic in it?

Don't really know much about basketball but i did go and see them play when i was over there last year