In the early going Miami is not showing that it is adapting to player movement. Maybe they'll start doubling the man with the ball earlier. The thing is though that the Spurs passing continues to be a thing of beauty. We know that they cannot shoot again like in Game 3 and we've seen some misses, but Miami is not getting good looks offensively.

Game 4 is not too different from game 3 except that the Spurs drop-off in shooting percentage in made up by better Spurs defense.

 

Spurs up by 19. It's becoming too predictable.

Ksaazzzz.... Doesn't look too good for the white hot heat - oh, that was before the Finals.

 

Seriously, this is not about Heat-hating. This is about celebrating clinical basketball,

 

Spurs up by 20 in the quarter that Miami normally make their run.

Spurs up by 24 late 3rd qtr. Spoelstra looks lost. The famous Miami faithful gets ready to do what they did in game 3 - beat the traffic. Some fans.

Ksaaazzzz not much you can say about your beloved Heat. They just didn't belong on their own court.

Tough for this Heat team to win 3 in a row against the Spurs with 2 games in San Antonio.

 

not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4.........

The Spurs just broke the will of Miami. I said in the previous round that the Spurs were the best team in the last 2 years despite that game 6 loss last year. They certainly exercised that demon.

Bai whah wrang wid yuh? Yuh really think I would prefer to be another team's fan right now? Even the Spurs hadn't given their fans more memorable moments than the Heatles over the past four years. And they still haven't dethroned the Heatles.

The LeBron/Melo dance looks awkward. They both play the same position or Melo can go to the 4 spot. But Melo is a ball stopper - hold the ball until 2 seconds to go and then fire up a contested off-balanced jumper.

 

LeBron will look around and see a Wade who is a shell of himself and will miss 24 games a season top rest hi knees. He will see a Bosh who's fraying at he edges. Look for LeBron to either duck out of his Miami contract and see a home where others can help him. See the difference with MJ? MJ will say I promise you a ring and they all will buy in and plat the bejeezus out of each other.

 

Ksaaazzz, love the Heatles all you want but they were outclassed by a better team in the finals, and that's the worst plce to be embarrassed.  Those who didn't even make the playoffs like my sucky Knicks were not exposed to such embarrassment. You wanna play with the big boys then play like one. sissyHeatles!

Mullah Empty Kahari! Your nickknaks are de biggest embarrassment in all of sports hands down don't u fool urself

1973! That's almost half century of futility, 4 effin decades

You have to be mad if you think the teams that did not make the playoffs fells better off than being in the Heat's place in the finals even though the Heat had two embarrassing losses. Maybe you are posting from pot legal Colorado.

Regarding Melo and LeBron, Miami did not have cap space for one high priced player in 2010 but still ended up with two. Sure the James/Wade/Bosh formula has made us very unconventional which are demonstrated through the struggles but I wouldn't trade the last four years for any other.

 

And MJ never promised anything. They just happened and he did not win all of those titles. Some of those big shots came from others. No different than those who help LeBron.

 

And enough with the MJ nonsense. If it is championships, then Bill Russell is better than MJ and LeBron is better than Wilt Chamberlain but none of those matter now. Now is LeBron's time and there will be others after him. Wherever he ends up either this year or in two years will be the most fortunate team in basketball. He is that good to make lovers or haters of people.

 

Lastly, the series is not over yet. When is over, I will either be happy or not but as a Het fan, I don't have the obligation to care whether the the Spurs is better than the Heat or not. That id for y'all "objective" observers who had to horse of your own in the race.  

These NY boys would like us to believe that the 2010 decision isn't still the most painful NBA experience of their lives. That and the 100 mil they threw away on 'Mare.

Stingaaagh & Ksaaazzz, the Knicks suck, no question. Fans of the Knicks are in a worse place than fans of the Miami Heat - no argument here.

 

The pertinent comment about the Knicks is that they are finally in the beginnings of getting their act together. The owner James Dolan now knows that he has to stop interfering.

 

The pertinent comments about the Miami are that their superb run over the last 4 years face some tough questions - about Wade's knees, about Bosh's approach; about the role players. They went for veterans in this run - Birdman, Battier, Allen, Rashard Lewis, etc. The Spurs went with a younger supporting cast for their Big 3. The other question is how Miami looks when confronted by basketball symphony and athletic wizardry as we just saw from the Spurs. IT makes their previous successes come across as the bully kicking sand in the face of the nerd at the beach.

 

MJ had a certain assassin resolve in him. The role players will tell you that Michael did not have to look for a team where he can team up with superstars (like LeBron did when leaving Cleveland). Michael took the players the Bulls gave him and said basically, look I'll get you rings if you play this way or that way. He got buy-in. Do you think LeBron has that skill - to get buy-in from Chalmers and company? It is not about their respective skill sets or athleticism. It's about an approach to life. LeBron chose one way and Michael had another. Which can the majority of people understand and resonate with? You tell me - make who I got better or go to a place where the starts are already waiting for me?

LJ can never be like MJ simply because LJ is a giver whereas MJ is a taker. I will never appreciate MJ the way I do LJ because I choose to consider the whole person and not just the basketball player. Even if he chooses to play for NY I will still watch his games with appreciation.

The one knock I had on MJ was that he was too corporate. When asked to speak out on behalf of the workers in the Far East making his Nike Shoes he said they don't spend on sneakers...or something to that effect.

 

LeBron has been admirable off the court and in his civic and social responsibilities, but his approach to the game is what it is and it is different from MJ. The question still remains - make your players or go to made players?

LeBron believes in first helping his team mates get going before he does. That is why his scoring does not come early in games. At some point he decides that he has to get going because either his earlier efforts have or have not worked. If LeBron had a different attitude and go for his own from tip off he would score much more points but he knows that the game of basketball is not one against five.

Michael used to do the same. When he wants a shot he gets it, even in the late 4th qtr. Let LeBron try to get separation from Kawhi Leonard when he's tired in the late 4th qtr. Michael was the best at getting his shot at any time of the game. Michael played in a 5-on-5 sytem in the triangle offense. He played more team play that either Kobe or LeBron, because it's Kobe's nature even in the triangle offense, and LeBron is forced to go more one-on-one because he can't make Bosh or Wade into a Scottie Pippen.

 

Michael was the greatest at masking the others better. LeBron does not need to make Wade better. He does not need to make Bosh greater. Think about it. Rodman couldn't score. Scottie would be an ordinary player on any other team but the Magic Johnson Lakers. Even Ray Allen has more skills than Paxon or Kerr. Bosh is more an accomplished offensive player than Grant.

 

Michael took 2 years off and came back and immediately won 3 more in a row. Think about it. He left the Bulls and they couldn't even make the finals.

 

LeBron is not in the same class yet, if he ever will. Magic, as great as he is, is not in Michael's class. LeBron is more like a Magic. Think about it.

In an effort to make LeBron appear mediocre in comparison to Jordan, you talk sheer piss sometimes. Scottie Pippen was no ordinary basketball player. As well as being a top scorer, Pippen was a fierce defender making the NBA All Defensive Team in eight successive years. He has been rated by various basketball publications as the best defensive small forward of all time and top five as a small forward. Neither Dwane Wade or Chris Bosh can ever earn those accolades even though they are both great contemporary players of the sport. MJ played for many years with the Bulls and did not win shit before Pippen came aboard. They complimented each other well as many others do in team sports. It was not as one sided as you want us to believe, all Jordan and no input from an "ordinary" Pippen. In the first year after Jordan left the Bulls, Pippen led the team in scoring, assists and blocks and was second in the NBA in steals, making him All NBA First Team and third in the MVP voting. The Bulls finished the season with 55 wins, two less than the previous year. WITHOUT Jordan. Take any number one player out of their team unexpectedly as Jordan left the Bulls and see where they would be. Think where the Heat would be if suddenly LeBron was out and replaced by Tony Kukoc.

 

Jordan was great at getting his shot at will because anyone who as much as breathed on him would be called for a foul. No one gets the superstar calls anymore like Jordan did. Look at LeBron constantly being hacked by two Spurs on every play and the refs let them play on. LeBron is a great player in his own right as was Jordan. I don't believe in this nonsense that one is somehow on a different level than the other. The surrounding casts are different, their roles on the teams are different, the competition is different, the era is different. There is no way to do anything but a subjective comparison and we know where that ends up when biases are in play. If you ask me whether Udonis Haslem is a better player than Michael Jordan in his heyday, I would answer emphatically "no". When it comes to all the outstanding players who have played the game, like Bird, Magic, Jordan, LeBron, Abdul Jabbar, etc, I say that they are all great. To me none of them are on any plane above the rest since there is no way to factually come to this conclusion. 

Mars, you are yet to answer my question of basketball character - make your players better to win championships or go to a team with established superstars?

 

Once you're done answering that question you will see why on any measure even if you use a statistical proxy for the different eras you will see where the LeBron approach does not resonate with the common basketball fan. To wit, should I go live with millionaires so I can be in a position to become one or hang out with regular folks and bust my tail to become a millionaire? Far-out analogy but you get my point.

Nothing to do with character so it's not even worth attempting an answer. LeBron was a free agent and he chose to sign with the team of his choice. It's the nature of sports today and top free agents move to sign with other teams in every sport all around the world. From North American sports to cricket and soccer in other countries, it's the same. It's the same reason why top players leave crappy teams all the time and sign with the Yankees. It doesn't make one player better than another because he chose to stay with one team as opposed to another leaving as a free agent. That's nonsense. Being a top player in team sports today is like being a businessman. You have to choose the best deal available for you as your playing career is very limited and who knows if you will blow out a knee tomorrow. LeBron chose the best deal that he thought was available at the time. It doesn't somehow make someone else better than he is because he chose to sign with a new team as a free agent. 

Excellent analysis. I think too many energy is spent on these comparisons when the surrounding elements are so different. I like LeBron mostly for where he came from and what he has become. And his basketball skills are not too shabby either. He is the best player right now and the time we spend in these inconsequential arguments takes away from the opportunity to appreciate his game. I used to remember when we played Cleveland, our announcer used to say that it appears that Wade (who was already an NBA Finals MVP) would get caught up in LeBron's game to the point of Wade loosing focus and costing the Heat the game. since LeBron has been with the Heat I have had the chance to experience that. No one gets from one rim to the other fastest ending with a monster jam. Hopefully LeBron remains with the Heat after this year but if he doesn't, I congratulate the team he ends up with for they will get to experience what Cleveland and Miami have grown accustomed to.

In LeBron's last year in Cleveland, they won 66 games. That is only 6 off the 72 wins Bulls record. Since then Cleveland has not made the playoffs. LeBron went to the Finals with no household names accompanying him and they got swept after he had to expend so much energy just to get through the Conference Finals. Can't win with that group and Cleveland didn't seem to be doing anything to fix it. And who in America doesn't appreciate those aerial shots of SoBe and the glamour inside the Triple A during the finals these last four years. The TV ratings are through the roof and sometimes through the stratosphere.

 

LeBron more than made a choice. He COLLUDED with Bosh and Wade for all three to end up in Miami. I'm not in a huff over what he did. All I did was to ask a simple question about one player's approach to GO to a ready-made place and the other player who took what he had already and raised their level. One had to raise his players' level the other didn't as their level was already where it had to be.

 

Don't waste words on all the other stuff, just answer this one.

 

Remember a guy named Magic?

No use for me to go into any more details about your stupid question again. I've already adressed that. Call it whatever you want, it's a personal choice LeBron made to pick whatever team fitted best for his needs at that time. All legal and above board. It's what top free agents do in sports all the time. It was also a stroke of genius by Pat Riley to put the best team together from the pieces that were available. I guess you're going to fault Riley for trying to win. You're just a disgruntled Knick fan finding any excuse on the planet to fault LeBron for slighting the Knicks. They say that Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned but I don't think they took loser Knick fans into consideration.  If LeBron had chosen the Knicks instead of the Heat, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Mars you're just an unbridled idiot. Who talks about bing spurned by LeBron. 2010 is like the last century.

 

You obviously don't know the difference between LeBron CHOOSING and LeBron COLLUDING.

 

Until you answer that don't annoy me with your stupidity.

Numbnuts, what is your point? You have none and continue to run around aimlessly like a headless chicken spewing a whole lot of hot air. LeBron was an unrestricted free agent when he signed with the Miami Heat. Do you even understand what that means or are you just making up nonsense to trash LeBron as you go along? Being an unrestricted free agent, LeBron could choose to sign with whatever team his heart desired. Bosh and Wade were also free agents and the Heat's General Manager Pat Riley brokered separate deals along with the agents for the three players to sign with the Heat. It was all legal and above board.

 

Collusion usually refers to an illegal agreement so I don't know what nonsense you're alluding to when you said that LeBron colluded in "The Decision". The NBA would have been all over this deal if it was illegal, given that it was so highly scrutinized. General Managers for sports teams talk to agents and make deals to sign multiple free agents in one year all the time. They look at the pool of available free agents when making a decision on who they should sign. The ones that fit into their team, considering position needs and budgetary constraints are the ones that they end up signing. The New York Yankees do it all the time including this year. They signed high priced free agents McCann, Tanaka, Ellsbury, and Beltran this year among others. Totally legal. Go read a book on sports management instead of yapping about things you obviously know little about.

 

Look, it's all about you losers being spurned by LeBron. Answer this honestly if you can. Would we be having this conversation today if LeBron had signed with the Knicks? Nosiree.

 

The problem with you disgruntled Knick fans is that you were lining up cap room for a few years, and putting off signing other major free agents because you thought you had the big prize (LeBron) in the bag. Well you got left holding lowruh. You planned on signing a thoroughbred stallion in LeBron and you ended up with a mare, Amar'e of whatever the hell is the name of that brukkin down dankey.