And he didn't see the type of defensive pressure that either LeBron or Durant see now as primary options in his secondary option, thank God they have 2 to 3 dudes on Shaq days. Great series though.
I know, Wade and Bosh are like the little sisters of the poor. Maybe someday LBJ will finally get the help he needs.
For one game, yes. But that Pistons were without Ben, had a new coach that's clueless. Not the same Pistons a couple of years before.
Defense has gotten significantly worse in the last 15 years. Rules were tailored to assist perimeter players. Jordan had to work a lot harder to get inside than Durant does. There were more defensive specialists in the 90s and before. I do agree that overall players have gotten much better, but the defenses have gotten much worse.
Mavs focused their defense on Wade in finals last year. They put their best perimeter defensive player Marion on Wade for most of the series. Bosh played decently enough and LeBron was still pathetic. Not being the first option is double-edge sword. Sure Kobe didn't get the double team as much as Shaq. But he also needed to make a play in deep clock when Shaq couldn't get his shots off. It wasn't like LeBron had to deal with that kind of problem in his career. He always has Z and Bosh to space the floor for him. They didn't use Shaq to close the game the year he's there. And he likes to pass when the clock is deep, particularly in 4th quarter.
By year five, Durant over LeBron by a bit. By year ten (Though we've yet seen. I can only predict), Kobe by a mile
LOL at you trying to convince someone going 1-1 due to folks being draped on Shaq is a problem or double edged sword. It's easier to score being single covered and not the defensive focus than being double covered and the defensive focus.
This is an irrelevant statistic...you have to take into consideration that the Jordan era in Chicago were blowing out opponents and he had better perimeter shooters to dish out to when faced with double team: John Paxon, Craig Hodges, BJ Armstrong, Steve Kerr, Toni Kukoc, and Scottie Pippen. Also, when we're talking about game-winning shots, are we talking about no time remaining on the clock or just go-ahead buckets to put his respective team on top with limited time available for their opponent to score...
Lebron and Kobe is debatable. I wouldn't put Durant in that category yet because he isn't elite on both sides of the floor like Kobe and Lebron were/are.
As I said, LeBron wasn't the defensive focus in last year's finals. He was singled covered by Steveson and Kidd and he couldn't do ****.
Lebron single handedly beat the Eastern Conference Dominating Pistons in the ECF to take his team to the 'ship in 2007 (4th year) especially game 5 putting up 48/9/7 throw in 2 steals and something like 25 straight points for the Cavs. UNBELIEVABLE performance if you ask me. (very David vs. Goliath)
Cavs won 50 in 2007, they would have been No.6 going against No.3 seed spurs had they been in west conference. A finals run would have been a first round sweep. He's lucky if you ask me. Kobe had 48 points/16 rebounds in 01 playoff against Kings and the defender Christie. No OT.
Link for this I don't recall Durant hitting 10 Game Winers in one season. I bet whatever site you are referencing is conting go ahead shots with like 2 or 3 minutes left in the game. Not shots with less than 10 seconds and the game ties or his team down 1. That's my definition of a game winner.
Even if Durant took every single end-game shot, this would mean there were 23 games where the game was really close at the end. The Thunder were only 5-4 in games decided by 3 pts or less this year, meaning 9 total one-possession games. There's just no way this stat is accurate.
LeBron had a horrible Finals last year. What exactly does that have to do with a thread about which player was better in yr 5????
And LeBron probably would have a ring at 23 had he had Sam Presti as his GM. The credit goes more towards what kind of team Durant has than the player he is.
