[CLE/SAS] The Finals

[PurpleHaze]

I really can't fault LeBron as much as I credit San Antonio (the overwhelming favorites) and the master Greg Popovich who completely and thoroughly out coached Mike Brown. He seemed to never know when to trap, when to press and when to double Parker or at least pressure him occasionally in the back court. But as Lebron said, the Spurs were simply the better TEAM.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

You should have blurred the second line a bit though.

Why, is Nike going to come get me?

It's not my picture, anyway.

 

[vytzka]

Why, is Nike going to come get me?

It's not my picture, anyway.

No, so that it looks more like the first one. Notice that the added text is much sharper than original one.

Oh well, it looks good either way.

 

[Jerryaki]

and now it's officially offseason. yay.

i hate the spurs. and tony parker. how lucky can one guy get?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

:: hates on Tony Parker ::

 

[Rookie]

And at this point, the question I have for twenty-two people that voted for Cleveland in this poll: did you vote for the Cavs because you actually thought they were going to win, or did you just vote for them because you wanted them to win?

Of course I voted for Cavs because I thought they're a lot better than the Spurs.

Actually I was just hyped over Lebron performance. After that eastern final I was hoping to get to see a super duper star being borned but it was a disappointment. Oh well, I hope he can learn to handle the ball better and stay more focus if he ever make it to the finals again.

 

[Double-K]

I voted for the Cavs cause I hate the Spurs. Not as much as I hate the Lakers but enough for me to root for their opponent.

To be honest, this season was over when Kings didn't make it in and the Suns got robbed/jobbed/whatever you call it.

 

[Ryle]

That series was horrible. It's pretty painful watching a "team" consist of one player and having the other team solely focus on him and his teammates can't help him out and hit a bucket now and then.

 

[Mad D]

:: hates on Tony Parker ::

and to rub it in my face he is getting married on my birthday, the luckiest day of the century 7/7/07.

 

[chrisnu]

That series was horrible. It's pretty painful watching a "team" consist of one player and having the other team solely focus on him and his teammates can't help him out and hit a bucket now and then.

I think it showed that the Cavaliers had no business of being in the NBA Finals, and considering that the Eastern Conference is getting any stronger, given that the next two franchise players are headed west, the league needs to seriously re-think how playoff match-ups are determined.

 

[bozzwell]

Bill Simmons often trips over his own confusion as to whether he's an entertainer or a sportswriter, but god help me if I didnt actually like his "entertaining as hell" idea for anti-tanking/the last 4 playoff teams.

Of course the dificulty would be that it might inspire MORE tanking. In other words, if eveyr tewqam, no matter how bad during the year, was going to get ot participate in a season ending mega-tourney to sneak into the playoffs, then the appropriate response would be to go ahead and lose, lose, and lose some more before said tournament, go ahead and give it your best shot during the tournament. Either sneak into the polayoffs through the tournament, or if you fall short, be lined up for a top pick. All it would really do is give the tankers a chacne to have their cake and eat it too.

Very good point about all-league play-off leading to ultimate no-risk tanking : you get your ping-pong balls AND a chance to make play-offs.

As far as I am concerned, the league has a proven model to look at that would make the league play almost as exciting as playoff after the all star break and to make play-off all about the best teams: national leagues in Europe. NBA owners will never go for it as they would risk playing 2nd division basketball and lose money that way, but it would make for damn fine viewing for us the fans when you have bottom teasm duking it out in march in April to avoid relegation.

How it works in Europe (actually and the rest of the World, except maybe Japan) all pro sports are divided in two or more divisions, top division usually being called "Premier" or something like that. Each year top teams go on to play offs (straight seeding) and bottom 2, 3 or 4 teams get relegated into 2nd division, top 2,3 or 4 teams from 2nd division get promoted to the 1st/Premier division. Then there are "promotions play offs" like in English soccer leagues, or sometimes 2nd division champs and runner ups get to play-offs of the division above them. Tanking is not an option, playing out the season at 1/4 speed is not an option as the seeding is always based on W/L record not some arbitrary groupings like NBA divisions.

Like I said, NBA owners will never go for it, but in my experience relegation battles can be as exciting as play-offs and constant recycling of top-flight division via relegation and promotion makes every year a little bit different.

Unfortunately, there is not cap in European leagues so the same few teams always manage to accumulate all the top talent in soccer and basketball at least, but 2 tier NBA would not have to worry about that...

 

[KP]

Relegation would be killer as anyone who watches Futbol knows, but it would never fly in the NBA. Still... it would be awesome if the bottom 3 went to the D-league, Could you imagine it?