Fact is, Harden can't guard James. That matchup directly mirrors Wade on Durant, with that whole "you're too short!" thing. It's all on Brooks.
I had hoped Presti would trade him to give Ibaka a big payday and Harden a max/near max contract. But, I'm pulling back on that Harden extension as quickly as I can. But, Perkins contract isn't terrible for a center (3 more years): $7,800,531//$8,477,437//$9,154,342 DeAndre Jordan as a comparison (3 more years): $10,532,977//$10,986,550//$11,440,123
So who should guard Lebron then? Thabo? He's a scrub offensively; the Heat don't even worry about him. He's just as bad as Perkins offensively. Point is, KD should mirror Lebron all game like Lebron does him. But KD gets in foul trouble. That forces Harden to spot a lot of minutes on him, b/c Thabo is such a liability offensively.
Have some of you guys never had really bad leg cramps before? One time after a tough basketball practice, both of my legs cramped up bad as I was taking my shoes off. It felt like they were stabbed by knives. I was the only guy left in the locker room, so I literally had to crawl out of there (not that sanitary, but necessary). I couldn't imagine playing later that day, let alone right then and there.
I got unlimited travel on southwest... tons of points. Can get a ticket for sure of stubhub or something like that for around $300 in the standing room only section.
Spoiler Sorry OKC fans. I don't honestly mean to rub it in, because I'm sure that's how I'm coming across but...
ESPN Stats & Info @ESPNStatsInfo LeBron scored or assisted on 55 of the Heat's 104 points. He's the 1st with 26 Pts, 12 Ast, 9 Reb in NBA Finals game since Larry Bird ('86). Durant needs to work out with lebron more this offseason, and develop his overall game.
Perkins is fine. The match-up problem, unfortunately, is the biggest problem; not Perkins' game itself. Perkins is exploited the same way Yao is exploited - when the opposing player is a lengthy guy that can shoot from anywhere inside the three point line. Bosh, Boozer, Stoudemire. All of these guys would kill Perkins and Yao, if they just shot jumpers all day. Perkins isn't ineffective against true centers like Howard and Bynum. But with those skillset / games being rare, Perkins only looks ineffective.
Yeah, I agree about Perk. Perkins is probably worth the $8 mil he gets, but he's still a role player that shouldn't be played in certain situations - like against the Heat in a 7 game series. He's good for a long season as a low post banger that'll guard opposing offensive bigs and clog up the lane, but he's just got so many other weaknesses that he can't be played when the other team is primed to attack those weaknesses. I have no idea why Brooks is playing Perk for close to 20 min a game. His big lineup should include Ibaka and Collison. His small lineup should be just Ibaka.
What would you do? If he puts Sefolosha on the court instead of Harden, he loses one of his "big three", and takes away quite a bit of offensive capabilities (although, with the way Harden has been playing this series, I'd strongly recommend that course of action). If he puts Durant at the 4, and has Sefolosha at the 3 with Harden at the 2, then he gives the Heat a serious rebounding advantage and has very little rim protection against the best penetrating team in the league. If he leaves Harden on the floor with no Sefolosha and he puts Durant on LeBron, then he runs the risk of Durant getting in foul trouble. It's a major problem that the Heat force you into.
