lol @ anyone who says Cleveland still has a legit chance to win the series. Yes, they still have a chance.. as does anyone who would be down 3-1.. it's not a legit chance to win though. Good luck next season Cleveland!
I'm getting annoyed with everyone just saying some one needs to step on the Cavs on offense. You have the give the Magic more credit for their defense. They were the no. 1 team in defensive efficiency the entire season http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/holl...teamstats?sort=defeff&seasonType=2&league=nba and http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/ORL/2009.html), and 2nd in the playoffs after facing much better opponents than the cavs who are 1st in the playoffs.
Thing is, lebron has to defend someone and not rest on defense like when shane plays. It makes a huge difference james has to guard hedo,lewis or pietrus.
Yep you are right. The hockey guy did all those. He got rid of TMac. He picked a high schooler over the national player of the year in the draft. He did the unpopular things that laid the foundation for the Magic team today. Too bad he will get zero credit for what he did.
Do you realize you are suggesting that Cleveland takes the ball out of the hands of their best passer, scorer, and playmaker to play off the ball? That's crazy talk.
I know this question wasn't directed at me, but the fact that the Assistant Coach was in the huddle coaching instead of Mike Brown says a lot. I thought Brown was ejected when I saw the assistant drawing up a play until I saw Brown in the background walking and looking clueless.
Fine, you are the lead, you take all the credits and all the blames. Simple as that. Dirk had 67 wins.
That means he made the best basketball decision which is what gm's should do. Nelson was good move, howard wasn't popular and getting hedo for mle was also very good. I remember people talking about players that get the mle aren't difference makers. Billups,hedo,and salmons were all mle guys along with pietrus.
MJ's bulls played 3 quarters' triangle before going to 1on1 in most games, and he won nothing before that. If LBJ isn't ballhogging like this, he can conserve more energy on defensive side, that's crazy? Hell, Wilt didn't win nothing in his 50/25 season. Isn't detrimental if one star player got all the stats, and history proves just that.
If you do not think that Lebron makes his teammates better, imagine what anyone else would have done with his supporting cast? Would Kobe, DWade or anyone else take this team this far? Lebron does make his teammates better -- there is no doubt about that. Lebron made his team mates better the whole year -- that was why the Cavs had the best record in the league during the regular season and why they swept the first two rounds of the playoffs. Their weaknesses are getting exposed in this series. Give the Magic and especially coach Van Gundy credit for that, but you can not say that Lebron suddenly fails to make his teammates better any more. His teammates just folded when they faced a mentally tough team like the Magic. Mo Williams did not play like an all star in this series (he's getting owned by none other than our beloved Rafer). Z did not show toughness in the post against Dwight. Ben Wallace should not even be in the league. And the Cavs do not appear to have a bench at all. The truth is simple: the Cavs need better supporting cast. Lebron needs help. And if the Cavs lose this series, that's what they should have learned for the future.
LeBron plays very hard on the defensive end despite all of his offensive responsibilities. He's the most versatile defender in the league and a large reason cleveland was so good on defense this year. I don't disagree that you need multiple guys to step up to win a championship. But who do you suggest Cleveland runs things through if not James? Mo Williams shooting 32%? Big Z at 42% and guarded by the defensive player of the year in Howard? Delonte West? Where are they going to score if LeBron isn't getting them open shots? None of his teammates can create their own shot on a consistent basis. The fact Mo Williams had a career year in cleveland as LeBron's "number 2" option tells you James makes people better. Williams is your run of the mill NBA point guard, nothing less/nothing more.
No, you're right. I don't want to sell the Magic short. They've done a solid job on defense and made the Cavs work hard for a lot of shots. But you have to admit Mo, West, etc are also missing too many of the wide open looks they are getting.
And how did Lebron make teammates better? Mo had better stats last year, Gooden became a better player once he's in Bulls, Ben was still an all defensive team player before he joined Cavs. Wally could still shoot 3 before he joined Cavs. And Hughes played like an all star before he joined Cavs. All of these are coincidence? All of their teammates sacrifices touches to make LBJ look better on stats, if that counts for anything. Only ring counts in this league, Dirk had 67 wins and final appearance, big deal.
The truth is you could make a very good argument that getting rid of McGrady laid the foundation for this team that is a game away from the NBA Finals. Imagine if they kept McGrady and resigned him to a contract like the one currently hampering the Rockets. Maybe they would have never ended up with Nelson, Hedo and Rashard. We may not even be talking about the Cavs vs. Magic right now if not for McGrady being shipped out of Orlando by Weisbrod. It would more likely be the Cavs vs ??? with the Cavs about to go to the Finals. The dual near 7-footers on the perimeter are killing the Cavs. The Magic are running the kind of offense around Howard that the Rockets have always envisioned running around Yao.
