The Finals

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

he humble in the moment cause he know he got another ring to slip on that finger with two different franchises.

"Humble in the moment." That's that BS. Man, he ain't "humble in the moment," he's just the dude taking it to the dudes y'all hate, so people want to make his "Cmdr. Data" affectation into something more than it is. Just like when Derrick Rose had his "humble MVP" season. That dude ain't never been humble in his life; y'all were just sick of LeBron. Same as when Durant won his MVP; he wasn't humble then, either. That dude ain't stop being humble, he wasn't humble, to begin with. Y'all just put on for him because, again, y'all were sick of LeBron.

And Kawhi Leonard ain't no kind of humble. Y'all are just sick of Golden State. And, that's fine, too. But call a thing a thing.

 

[NewArena]

Kerr was exposed as well. i feel nothing for the warriors

no way they even win the first time if Kyrie and Love were healthy

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

how can he contribute anything to his playoff teams when he is absent.

He can contribute about as much as any other injured player can to their playoff teams. Which, is to say, not much of anything. Seems odd that, in Cousins' case, you'd make it sound like a character flaw, though.

Like I said, my objection is to the fact that you remarked that he doesn't contribute much to his teams, while conveniently omitting that he hasn't contributed much because he's been injured. That's a fairly important part to leave out.

call it a kinetic chain theory or whatever other pies in the sky you see up there but what we have been shown so far is he isn't durable and he isn't contributing to winning other than a good game he had back in Game 1 was it?

Science is "pies in the sky," now? An athlete playing through injury puts themselves at risk for other injuries. This is theory that is supported by medical science; that sounds like "pies in the sky" to you?

 

[kingsboi]

"Humble in the moment." That's that BS. Man, he ain't "humble in the moment," he's just the dude taking it to the dudes y'all hate, so people want to make his "Cmdr. Data" affectation into something more than it is. Just like when Derrick Rose had his "humble MVP" season. That dude ain't never been humble in his life; y'all were just sick of LeBron. Same as when Durant won his MVP; he wasn't humble then, either. That dude ain't stop being humble, he wasn't humble, to begin with. Y'all just put on for him because, again, y'all were sick of LeBron.

And Kawhi Leonard ain't no kind of humble. Y'all are just sick of Golden State. And, that's fine, too. But call a thing a thing.

I'm not sick of Golden State. I picked them to win this series and quite frankly, I would of liked to see a three peat because they don't happen very often. I suppose your meaning of humble differs from mine and we can end the conversation there.

 

[kingsboi]

He can contribute about as much as any other injured player can to their playoff teams. Which, is to say, not much of anything. Seems odd that, in Cousins' case, you'd make it sound like a character flaw, though.

Like I said, my objection is to the fact that you remarked that he doesn't contribute much to his teams, while conveniently omitting that he hasn't contributed much because he's been injured. That's a fairly important part to leave out.


Science is "pies in the sky," now? An athlete playing through injury puts themselves at risk for other injuries. This is theory that is supported by medical science; that sounds like "pies in the sky" to you?

we are talking about professional sports and in typical Slim fashion, you like to bring in science to make a point because whatever I have to say in response to your boy Boogie will be responded until you are blue in the face. I thought Brick was gone?

 

[206Fan]

I could give a rat's ass about the Warriors, or their fans, but I feel awful for Cousins.

tbf, Cousins has played awful outside of game 2. Healthy or not, I think this really attributes to the idea of Cousins not playing winning basketball...

• Struggled to win 30 games with the Kings as the franchise player
• Went to NO with AD... and they played better without him after his Achilles injury
• After returning from injury, he struggled to fit with the fast paced Warriors. He struggled to fit in the offense as a ball dominant player.
• 2nd injury has completely slowed him down now. He looks like a complete misfit on the Warriors on a team who needed someone to step up in the absence of Klay and KD.

We have hindsight, but it's clear Cousins was never as good as we tried to make him out to be. He was never a guy who could be the #1 player on a playoff team. He's Kevin Love... big stats on bad teams.

 

[VF21]

Well, this thread sure went to hell in a handbasket.

I moved the stuff about the "All-Slim team" into its own thread. I think it'll have longer legs than this one when all is said and done.

 

[Cojc]

I found myself rooting for the warriors just maybe because they are a West coast team. But watching the frustration on their faces actually brings me to believe with satisfaction that their run of glory just may be coming to a end.

 

[Sac.Kings]

Ecstatic to see the Warriors down 3-1. Some of the above conversations have taken a strange turn but all that should matter is the Warriors are most likely going to lose and that we are probably going to see major changes on their roster after this offseason. The dynasty is over. As for Cousins, he’s playing absolutely way too hard and it’s tough to see but I find it difficult to be completely sad. He’s still playing in the finals and for the first time in his career has been in the postseason. It ain’t all bad.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

As for Cousins, he’s playing absolutely way too hard and it’s tough to see but I find it difficult to be completely sad. He’s still playing in the finals and for the first time in his career has been in the postseason. It ain’t all bad.

As a Boogie fan, I applaud him for his hard work returning from this recent injury to try to help his current team. They don’t win game 2 w/o him.

That said, it’s obvious he’s nowhere close to 100%. He’s got absolutely no lift and is getting blocked easily at the rim. His stamina is awful — which was to be expected considering the layoff. It’s just really tough for anyone to comeback from both injuries and play like they used to in a short turnaround.

 

[ppine]

Coach NIck Nurse is the coaching story of the year.
Kawhi Leonard is the MVP.
Serge Ibaka is there when they need him.
Kyle Lowry has played great.
The emergence of Siakam has bumped the Raptors to the next level.
VanVleet is the Raptors' most inspiration player. I hope he can find a good dentist.
Coach Nurse has instilled his philosophy in his players. They let their play do the talking.
Time to buy a Raptors hat. The best bball team in the world may not be in the US.

 

[PacMan]

I would like some of whatever it is you’re smoking.

Looks like he's smoking the right stuff

 

[ESP47]

Love Kyle Lowry putting it all on the line on defense. Dude gets in there, takes charges and is looking for the shot block regardless of whether it's Curry or if he's going after Cousins.

 

[Sactown ExPat]

And again, team oriented Kawhi sure left it all on the court for the Spurs, didn’t he?

The Spurs were up 20 on these Warriors in the WCF until Kawhi got hurt. In the ensuing summer they decided it would be a great idea to reconfigure the offense around Aldridge, give Aldridge a huge extension, and be extremely opaque as to whether or not they would give Kawhi the supermax when he would be eligible the following summer. This is after Kawhi played at risk without an extension so they would have cap room to sign Aldridge in the first place and then gave the Spurs a hometown discount on top of that.

The first time the Spurs had to manage two normal superstars they bungled things so badly that they pushed out one of the top three players in the league, likely handing Toronto a ring in the process. It’s a wildly overrated organization that pulled an egregious tank job for the most valuable #1 pick in the history of the lottery. They’ve been taking credit for Timmy being the most unique, and criminally underrated, superstar we’ve probably ever seen for about two decades now and the bill finally came due with Kawhi. Team oriented Kawhi should have never had to worry about getting his money, or the offense flowing through him. The Spurs took him for granted.

 

[ppine]

Defense wins championships.
The Raptors are proving it for the 100th time.
Curry was 1-6 against VanVleet.
The Worriers got 92 points last night.

 

[VF21]

MOD NOTE: Personal attacks/comments/assumptions about someone's personal life or background are not gonna fly. Not now, not ever. KNOCK IT OFF.

 

[Tetsujin]

Did you see the interview of Leonard after tonight's game?
That is exactly what humility looks like after an all-star caliber performance.
You want a role model, there is one.

And the man who showed incredible perseverance in fighting his way back from TWO major leg injuries (the second of which he literally willed his way through rehab in record time to play for his teammates in the final) and has been an amazing benefactor to his community wherever he goes isn't?

 

[SLAB]

And the man who showed incredible perseverance in fighting his way back from TWO major leg injuries (the second of which he literally willed his way through rehab in record time to play for his teammates in the final) and has been an amazing benefactor to his community wherever he goes isn't?

He says no-no words to officials tho!

 

[mac]

And the man who showed incredible perseverance in fighting his way back from TWO major leg injuries (the second of which he literally willed his way through rehab in record time to play for his teammates in the final) and has been an amazing benefactor to his community wherever he goes isn't?

Err.. yeah let's be real here. Way to leave out all the negative. Nobody is calling Demarcus Cousins a role model (at least over the course of his career. And one very inactive season in golden state doesn't change that narrative straight away). And that's fine, doesn't mean he's not a good player, but let's call a spade a spade.

 

[Tetsujin]

Err.. yeah let's be real here. Way to leave out all the negative. Nobody is calling Demarcus Cousins a role model (at least over the course of his career. And one very inactive season in golden state doesn't change that narrative straight away). And that's fine, doesn't mean he's not a good player, but let's call a spade a spade.

But what has Demarcus done to be considered less of a role model than Kawhi? I get the complicated narrative about DMC but it feels like people are elevating Kawhi solely because they don’t like the Warriors.

 

[mac]

But what has Demarcus done to be considered less of a role model than Kawhi? I get the complicated narrative about DMC but it feels like people are elevating Kawhi solely because they don’t like the Warriors.

Let's see .. Kawhi basically screwed over his old team over... Well nobody's quite sure why he did it. (And even so, some disagree that Leonard even did anything wrong, such as slim).

Cousins has (reportedly):
- aggressively confronted Sean Elliott
- aggressively confronted reporter in locker room
- punched a team mate
- openly feuded with his coach and sought to undermine his authority
- whatever it is back in HS/college he did

And that's just the off court stuff. I'm not calling him any names or anything, and indeed he has a big heart for the community, really great that he even does things anonymously, but you're seriously going to tell me that you think Demarcus Cousins is a role model overall? I

 

[VF21]

Let's see .. Kawhi basically screwed over his old team over... Well nobody's quite sure why he did it. (And even so, some disagree that Leonard even did anything wrong, such as slim).

Cousins has (reportedly):
- aggressively confronted Sean Elliott
- aggressively confronted reporter in locker room
- punched a team mate
- openly feuded with his coach and sought to undermine his authority
- whatever it is back in HS/college he did

And that's just the off court stuff. I'm not calling him any names or anything, and indeed he has a big heart for the community, really great that he even does things anonymously, but you're seriously going to tell me that you think Demarcus Cousins is a role model overall? I

So he's not allowed to grow and mature? EVERYTHING you mention is in the past. Since he left the Kings, he has grown up. Is he perfect? Oh hell no, but he is not the DMC he was before. As far as him being a role model, I would definitely say his determination to get back to his team and the work it took to accomplish that are praise worthy and suitable to use as an example of working to achieve your goals.

 

[sono]

Let's see .. Kawhi basically screwed over his old team over... Well nobody's quite sure why he did it. (And even so, some disagree that Leonard even did anything wrong, such as slim).

Cousins has (reportedly):
- aggressively confronted Sean Elliott
- aggressively confronted reporter in locker room
- punched a team mate
- openly feuded with his coach and sought to undermine his authority
- whatever it is back in HS/college he did

And that's just the off court stuff. I'm not calling him any names or anything, and indeed he has a big heart for the community, really great that he even does things anonymously, but you're seriously going to tell me that you think Demarcus Cousins is a role model overall? I

Calling him a role model is a stretch, but he never gave up on his team.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

But what has Demarcus done to be considered less of a role model than Kawhi? I get the complicated narrative about DMC but it feels like people are elevating Kawhi solely because they don’t like the Warriors.

I like them both. I don't believe either is above the other. I think both are misunderstood. Both hate to lose more than they like to win. Boogie wears his emotions on his sleeve while Kawhi doesn’t. That’s the major difference. But both are highly, highly competitive.

I think those piling on Kawhi for what went down in SA aren’t willing to acknowledge that they don’t know what went on behind the scenes. Kawhi isn’t the type to talk about it in public. But I feel that’s its clear that the Spurs disrespected him, which led to his departure.

Those piling on Boogie have never liked him from the beginning. He’s always been a divisive player. Doesn’t matter what good he does, the naysayers will find a negative angle. C’est la vie.

For me, I love watching both guys play and compete. Kawhi is the very best 2-way player in the league IMO and Boogie is also one of the best, most dominant players when healthy. As was stated in the movie ‘A Few Good Men’, the rest is just smoke-filled coffee house crap.

 

[mac]

So he's not allowed to grow and mature? EVERYTHING you mention is in the past. Since he left the Kings, he has grown up. Is he perfect? Oh hell no, but he is not the DMC he was before. As far as him being a role model, I would definitely say his determination to get back to his team and the work it took to accomplish that are praise worthy and suitable to use as an example of working to achieve your goals.

Well if hard work and determination is all you're aiming to showcase I can point you to pretty much every single player in the NBA...

And of course everything is in the past, how am I supposed to know what he's going to do in the future? Is it in the distant distant past? Not exactly. Look I'm not out to bash the guy or anything, and I don't disagree that he's grown off the court (at least afaik, because I don't follow news about him anymore), but I don't see how (aside from his charity work) you can point to his body of work and say aha, role model! Look kids look at this player and be like him in every way!

It's funny, because half of you guys call Steph and Harden names, lots of talk about how annoying they are during the regular season. But the second it comes to Cousins it's all GO WARRIORS and role model talk. Hey, maybe Tetsu can start calling the Mavericks organisation a role model too, or maybe Porzingis, since it's all in the past.

 

[mac]

Calling him a role model is a stretch, but he never gave up on his team.

No arguments from me there. I loved Leonard on the Spurs, hate what he did after the injury.

Although, I don't really think you can say Cousins never gave up on his team in an absolute sense on the court.

 

[ppine]

Cousins has the maturity of a child when he is on the court. He argues all the time. He whines. He gets in confrontations with his team mates. He gets technicals at a record pace.

Leonard doesn't.

 

[SLAB]

Cousins has the maturity of a child when he is on the court. He argues all the time. He whines. He gets in confrontations with his team mates. He gets technicals at a record pace.

Leonard doesn't.

Record pace huh? Let’s ask Rasheed Wallace about that.

 

[Telemachus]

Record pace huh? Let’s ask Rasheed Wallace about that.

Or Barkley.

 

[sono]

No arguments from me there. I loved Leonard on the Spurs, hate what he did after the injury.

Although, I don't really think you can say Cousins never gave up on his team in an absolute sense on the court.

Yes, he sort of gives up on his team depending on foul troubles and lack of support from his team and its a game based. On the other hand what Leonard did to his team is cannot be compared or even Durant.