There were the defending NBA champions (Miami Heat) in the East and the Detroit Pistons were Robert Horry'd out of back-to-back titles. The rest of the East was indeed complete garbage.
You could add Duncan in '03 to that as well. Robinson, Parker, and Ginobili were nowhere near Top 10 at that point in their respective careers.
The Cavs STILL haven't recovered from losing Lebron 3 years later. Let that sink in. That team SUCKED outside of Lebron. The guy put up 38/8/8 and still lost in a series. He scored 49 points, shot 20-30, 6 boards, 8 dimes, 3 blocks, 2 steals, AND still lost a home open v. the Magic. In that same series, he put up 44 points, 12 boards, 7 assists and lost. And in another game, he put up 41, 7, 9 and his team lost by 10 (team scored 78 points). Furthermore, the one bad game people though he "quit" in, they got BLOWN out by the Celtics (at home). Durant had a terrible game and only lost by 4 to Memphis in game 6. Think about that. It's ridiculous how bad that Cavs team were sans LBJ.
I disagree. OKC was #2 in FTA in the regular season at 27 attempts per game. V. Memphis, the highest they got to the line was 22 times. And they were the best FT shooting team in the league. And that's very important b/c all the games were close. And I'm sure WB would have made a difference in that department. I would have OKC in 6 if WB played. They were not the same team w/o WB. OKC would have lost to the Rockets if WB was out all series also.
And Lebron did in Cleveland? Lebron's second best player was Mo Williams.... Lebron in 09 had a PER of 37.4 in the playoffs. No one on his team even had a PER of 15. KD isn't even in the same stratosphere as 09 Lebron mind as well 13 Lebron(if he goes all out). KD had a TS% of around 55% against the Griz. Cp3 had a TS% of around 63% against the Griz. CP3's teammates played around a similar level if not worse than KD's teammates. DJ had a PER of 7, BG a PER of 16, Billups a PER of 5.... Tired of how the golden boy always gets a pass. Players like Durant and Rose never had to carry teams like Lebron, CP3, or Howard.
all 5 games came down to the wire. with another closer in westbrook alongside durant i think they win. not to mention guys like jackson, martin, and serge playing thier natural roles.
People used to say the same thing about LeBron when he was in Cleveland. Now that Durant lost both Harden and Westbrook and people say he can't carry the team.
OP, are you kidding? KD was playing practically every minute of this series. He wore down. You could see it in the last game. If KD doesn't quite match LBJ talentwise (who does?), well, he also isn't built like a Sherman tank a la LBJ. You can rag on Scott Brooks if you want, who took a page from the McHale playbook: Call timeout. Give ball to star. Let star shoot despite five defenders on him. Also, the, "Stand at right corner outside 3 point line and shoot. No shot? Try to drive the lane" became predictable. But no one really stepped up to help KD. Can't peg all this on KD directly.
KD/WB is greater than Gasol/Zbo but this is a team game. When you factor in Conley/Allen/Prince it would've been enough to slow down WB/Durant but as you saw OKC had no answer for Gasol/Zbo. Memphis was bigger, stronger, deeper and more physical whether OKC had WB or not. This series was won in the trenches and unless Ibaka played like he did in game 1 of our series and Perkins played like he did when he was in Boston there was no chance.
People didn't question could LeBron carry a team, they questioned his ability in the clutch and his ability to win a title. Without Westbrook, the Thunder were virtually even with the 8th seed Rockets, and were nearly swept in the conference semis by the 5th seed. I still say it says more about Ibaka than Durant, but people still expected more out of Durant, wrong or right.
he played against a top 5 defense of course any1 would have trouble. new defensive player of the year marc gasol, top 5 perimeter defender tony allen and a good coach who makes smart adjustments.
Seriously, Lebron has never done anything by himself. Miami won last year because they have Lebron, Wade, and Bosh. Lebron is a great player as is Durant. But Lebron's supporting cast is much stronger than Durant's
He beat the Harden-led Rockets. IMO that is enough. I doubt Lebron with the Cavs would've beat the grizzlies either.
OKC was the #1 seed and had one of the largest point differentials in league history. Outside of the last 2 games, KD was torching Memphis. He slowed down moreso of the lack of help rather than Memphis' D. Insert WB and OKC takes this in 6. And I remind, ALL THE GAMES were very very close. You can't tell me otherwise a top 5 player can't make a difference in those games. Absurd to think otherwise.
LeBron isn't on LeBron's level. Seriously, people think he did it all himself, but if he didn't team up with 2 other stars, then he wouldn't have won. And yes, he got to the Finals with Cleveland, but the East was a joke in those days, as evidenced by the easiest sweep you'll ever see the Spurs had in the Finals.
