NBA Finals: Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

[jalfa]

Congrats to Heat. Oh and congrats to Lebron for needing DWade, Bosh and super Mike Miller to finally get that ring. Too bad you couldn't have done it with Big Z, Anderson V and Mo Williams.

but is that so much of a slight? I mean, he was criticised for going to a team he didn't need to carry and he still ended up carrying them. his Finals performance was completely beyond reproach and it's not looking as though the Heat are going to completely dominate everything from here on out (which was my biggest fear). I can't really be upset about this series, one way or another. the better, and just as important, smarter team won. kudos to the Heat, lets see if you can do that again next year with Rose healthy and the Thunder having another year under their belt (scary how they take another huge step every single year).

 

[mac]

As much as I dislike the Heat, I'll give them, and specifically one of my least favorite players, Lebron James, props for winning a championship. James played extremely well and he deserved to win this year. Wade too.

Also, props to the Thunder for showing true sportsmanship in the series, all the way to the bitter end. They never played the media, never mocked the Heat (did they take any jabs at Miller's back? Don't recall), and showed class congratulating their opponents at the end. I hope that Miami can add these qualities to their excellent play on the court.

By game 3 I knew that the Thunder had a very small shot at winning the series. They did not play championship-calibre basketball the entire series, and were far too reliant on Durant and Westbrook making tough shots. They were stubborn and refused to make the necessary changes that you need to make to win a playoff series. They were hesitant in executing their offense, didn't finish plays and didn't play smart basketball. It's up to them to realise that they aren't perfect and make changes in the way they play. They can't rely on Durant and Westbrook to carry their entire offense forever.

I always look for lessons to be learnt for our team when watching the finals. This year, I believe what we need to learn from the Heat is the importance of having good, reliable outside shooters. And these can't be guys who are looking for their own shot. Battier, Chalmers, Jones and Miller all spaced the floor extremely well and allowed James and Wade to keep attacking the rim. John Salmons and Travis Outlaw are not going to cut it for us.

Congrats to the Miami Heat and their fans. Est.1999, congrats on your team winning.

 

[est.1999]

Thanks, Mac, but although I root for Miami I am not really a Heat fan. Just always been a fan of James and Wade. I understand where the dislike for them derived from, but I thought(specifically for James) it was a little over the top and that's why you all saw me on here backing them up and stating my reasons why. It was all in competitive fun, however, so I apologize if I said something out of line.

Now, we've got a summer full of baseball! Ugh

Draft will be cool for a couple of days and then it's waiting game time until the nfl starts up. Go, niners!

 

[Rookie]

no props from me. I expected them to eventually win some when they took their "talents to south beach".

Just my perception of James, his the best player with a coward mentality. Will it eventually change, maybe when he actually carry a team without another franchise player.

 

[Geoff]

Congrats to Heat. Oh and congrats to Lebron for needing DWade, Bosh and super Mike Miller to finally get that ring. Too bad you couldn't have done it with Big Z, Anderson V and Mo Williams.

Even Michael needed Scottie. A ring's a ring.

 

[wicktron]

Not a Heat fan, but I'm incredibly happy for LeBron. One of the greatest to ever play and still has room to get better.

I was there when he played his first game in Arco. My oh my has he grown.

Nobody's ever done it alone, and like it or not, prime FA's just don't fall from the sky and willingly choose to go to CLE, SAC, MIL, TOR, etc...

Outside of a bad "Decision," LeBron's never had any personal blemishes off the court. Great partner to his woman, father, philanthropist and has never got in trouble with coaches, management, or the law.

He did what a lot of would do if we had the opportunity to do something to better our careers. He was upwardly mobile.

Hope the LeBron hate all dies down now.

 

[Uncia03]

no props from me. I expected them to eventually win some when they took their "talents to south beach".

Just my perception of James, his the best player with a coward mentality. Will it eventually change, maybe when he actually carry a team without another franchise player.

I just don't understand this statement.

James had to put up an all-time post-season performance in order to get the Heat to the championship. I saw a stat saying this is the first time ever that an NBA champion was down in the last 3 series of the play-offs. (2-1 Indiana, 3-2 Boston, 1-0 OKC)
It takes extreme focus and resiliancy to continue to come from behind and ultimately come out on top.

Last year you could question his mentality after the Dallas series. (He was utterly phenominal in the series prior against Chicago)
But this year...his entire outlook and mental focus was completely different and it showed up on the court through-out the entire play-offs.

So I have to give James his due for a spectacular post-season.

As to the Thunder....

You have to love them as a franchise and as players. The whole team, starting from Coach Brooks, all the way down to the last man is all class.
Provided that they can stay healthy and Presti can keep the team together as much as possible, they should have multiple Finals appearances in the next 10 years.
I would expect them to be the favorites to reach the finals next year, and if they do, they are going to be even hungrier than they were this year, and they are going to be a lot harder to beat.
Now if they run up against a healthy Miami team again...that will be another fantastic series. They will be hungrier this year, but the way that James just utterly dominated in the post season this year, if he can carry that will for additional post-seasons he's going to be very, very hard to stop.

Now I'm looking forward to the draft and the start of Free-agency where we can hopefully get our team balanced enough to begin talking about post-season runs of our own.

 

[est.1999]

no props from me. I expected them to eventually win some when they took their "talents to south beach".

Just my perception of James, his the best player with a coward mentality. Will it eventually change, maybe when he actually carry a team without another franchise player.

Definitely a statement derived from pure ignorance.

 

[mac]

I just don't understand this statement.

James had to put up an all-time post-season performance in order to get the Heat to the championship. I saw a stat saying this is the first time ever that an NBA champion was down in the last 3 series of the play-offs. (2-1 Indiana, 3-2 Boston, 1-0 OKC)
It takes extreme focus and resiliancy to continue to come from behind and ultimately come out on top.

Last year you could question his mentality after the Dallas series. (He was utterly phenominal in the series prior against Chicago)
But this year...his entire outlook and mental focus was completely different and it showed up on the court through-out the entire play-offs.

So I have to give James his due for a spectacular post-season.

As to the Thunder....

You have to love them as a franchise and as players. The whole team, starting from Coach Brooks, all the way down to the last man is all class.
Provided that they can stay healthy and Presti can keep the team together as much as possible, they should have multiple Finals appearances in the next 10 years.
I would expect them to be the favorites to reach the finals next year, and if they do, they are going to be even hungrier than they were this year, and they are going to be a lot harder to beat.
Now if they run up against a healthy Miami team again...that will be another fantastic series. They will be hungrier this year, but the way that James just utterly dominated in the post season this year, if he can carry that will for additional post-seasons he's going to be very, very hard to stop.

Now I'm looking forward to the draft and the start of Free-agency where we can hopefully get our team balanced enough to begin talking about post-season runs of our own.

I will not take away anything from James performance this post season. His play was undeniably excellent throughout. My dislike of him has always been due to his arrogance and lack of sportsmanship.

I don't know about the Thunder. They have the potential to be a very good team for many years but they have to start moving the ball more, or athletic defenses will shut them down like the Heat did. They cannot continue to rely on Durant and westbrook beating their guy off the dribble in order to set up an open dunk, they have to utilise more screens and have more movement off the ball. Westbrook needs to start realising that his focus should be involving his team mates. The Thunder are so much better when he's the initiator of all the ball movement, as opposed to just putting up 20 shots every game.

 

[rainmaker]

You have to hand it to Lebron. As much as I've disliked his antics in the past, he was clearly humbled by what happened last year. I thought he handled winning yesterday as mature as anyone could expect. He's grown a lot since the well deserved backlash for The Decision, and maturity/growth needs to be recognized, especially when we have a guy like Cuz who came into the league somewhat immature and will continue to make strides of his own.

Lebron's performance over the course of the playoffs was incredible. I do however hope a healthy Rose has more say in who represents the east going forward.

 

[Rookie]

Definitely a statement derived from pure ignorance.

I consider a #1 player teaming up with #2 (during that time but still a superstar now) and a star player is taking the easy road. In that regard I consider him taking the cowardly path, if you happen to disagree that's find. No need for the harsh remark. It's like a bully picking on the weak instead of picking on someone bigger IMO

There's a reason why the NBA is changing some of its rule so that there will be more penalty to doing such things. We joke and laugh about Lebron statement on winning multiple championships because it was pure arrogant and optimistic but if you don't think they will eventually win then I consider that being ignorant.


But like I stated, it's my perception. No need for the ignorance remark. If you don't understand why, you could of ask.

 

[est.1999]

Why should Lebron have to live up to YOUR expecatations? You're not him. Maybe he doesn't care about trying to win 5 titles on his own(which is something no one has ever done). Let him do what he wants. You don't think he's great? Fine. But stop trying to characterize the guy like he's some kind of devil worshipper.