The Finals

Who wins?


  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
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.
I mean, I don't really consider most pro athletes "role models" in the aspire-to-be-these-guys sort of way. I was just remarking that Kawhi is about as much of a role player as Boogie is for whatever that's worth.
 
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.
Both solid points here. I don't think what Kawhi did is comparable to the modern player who has quit on his team. Something bad went down with his injury and whatever the prescribed treatment from the team was is all we know. There's a lot more at stake there than the standard "I hate the coach or my teammates" or "this town isn't big enough for me" garbage that has cluttered the modern NBA landscape.

Boogie has always been divisive. Great player though, and anyone who won't acknowledge that has blinders on. Love him but glad he's not our problem.
 
I also think there are two sides to the situation. We hear one side saying that Kawhi just didn't feel like playing and quit on his team and then you have another side saying that the spurs mismanaged the situation completely.

I think its probably a little bit of both. Kawhis quiet enigma like personality probably weirded the vets which in turn caused them to talk some crap and downplay his injury.

And that in turn probably pissed Kawhi off. Tony Park saying his injury was 100x worse wouldve pissed me off too.

So you have an awkward situation without any real communication between both parties, an uncle that wasn't helping things, and yea, that's basically it.
 
I also think there are two sides to the situation. We hear one side saying that Kawhi just didn't feel like playing and quit on his team and then you have another side saying that the spurs mismanaged the situation completely.

I think its probably a little bit of both. Kawhis quiet enigma like personality probably weirded the vets which in turn caused them to talk some crap and downplay his injury.

And that in turn probably pissed Kawhi off. Tony Park saying his injury was 100x worse wouldve pissed me off too.

So you have an awkward situation without any real communication between both parties, an uncle that wasn't helping things, and yea, that's basically it.
I don't think it was just about personality though. I think the Spurs culture and stars are used to this idea of really putting the team first, over money, over stats, over legacy etc. And Kawhi for all intents and purposes looked set to be in that same mold. The team doctors cleared him to play - as far as the organization was concerned that should have been good enough. On top of that it was also clear that it was a closing window for Manu and Parker - I'd have been frustrated too if o were them.

Anyway... I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death already
 
This might be the game where Nurse has to consider going to that smaller unit with Leonard at PF. The Warriors clamp down the paint much better with KD out there.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
No homecourt refs in that 1st q... Warrriors getting extreme end of beneficial calls in the 1st
At the same time, the Raptors have been playing over-aggressive, on verge of being stupid defense all series. Lowry straight up hip-checked Durant, which is going to be called no matter what.