the same could be said for the lakers and free throws. the same could be said for the lakers and kobe's outside shooting. if kobe's "J" is off and shaq is missing free throws, they lose. for the bucks to have a bad game, it's not just one or two players. it's allen, cassell, robinson, thomas, or hunter. they ALL are capable of big shooting games, and have proven it all season, all playoffs. the odds of two people having off games are greater than the odds of five people. so would i, if the #s were equal. but one inside scorer vs. 5 outside attackers?? i'd take the odds that the one inside scorer will get in foul trouble. GAME #2: GLENN ROBINSON: 7-15 fg SAM CASSELL: 7-15 fg LINDSEY HUNTER: 3-7 fg all but tim thomas and ray allen under 50%. still a victory. now, when you say "a bad game" you might mean shooting 33% for all but one player. in that case, i'd agree with you. but the chances of 3 of 4 bucks shooting 33% is pretty low. i agree. but it's not just ray allen. big dog carried the bucks in the 1st and 3rd quarters. cassell carried them in the 4th. tim thomas relieved pressure with some huge shots. they aren't the 76rs. they aren't a one man team. what they are is an unselfish team (40 field goals/25 assists/6 turnovers) that will defer to the hot man. you're right. shaq will dominate ervin. but that's ok. see, i'll give shaq 30 and 15. i'll give kobe 30, too. that's just 60 points. but i'll guess that the buck big 5 will average close to the 81 they got last night. rick fox will get dominated by big dog. too, too, too small. rick fox is smaller than aaron mckie, mckie's a better defender, and mckie still can't hold robinson. fox did a good job against peja because he forced peja to go left - and he couldn't do it. big dog can go left. he was MIA against orlando because T-MAC made him play defense. T-MAC didn't do anything defensively to stop big dog. he just torched him on the other end. his offense became his defense. rick fox ain't gonna torch nuttin'. agreed. i'm a fisher fan, too. dude's a black danny ainge - tuff as nails! however, sam's too talented for him. he's also "deceptively big". fish might go for 10, but sam'll go for 17 or 18 at least. i'd take williams over grant. his jumper has been much more consistent than ho grant's this playoffs. plus he's a good rebounder. also.... what about the bench? it's tim thomas and lindsey hunter, imo, that make the difference. tim is a poor man's T-MAC. 6'11, great handles, great outside shot, big, lean body. and absolutely unselfish. the laker's have horry and that's about it. and he's about as streaky as they come. ************************************************************* p.s. thanks for the analysis. i had a feeling you would respond. i would never expect as much from TheFreak.
The Lakers will walk all over whoever the East advances. Like The Freak said the best player wins championships, which eliminates the Bucks. Yeah the Bucks played well vs the Lakers in the regular season, but the Lakers looked beatable for most of the year. Now that Shaq & Kobe are buddies they look very nearly unbeatable in a single game much less a series. Remember the Spurs split the regular season with the Lakers and the Lakers are walking all over them.
this is ridiculous. the 2 best players in the nba this season - according to the mvp voting - were tim duncan and allen iverson. neither of these two will be in the finals. you make no sense. also, it does matter about matchups. that's all bball is - matchups. take the best player in the nba - allen iverson and surround him with bench players and he'll lose to the rockets (who didn't even make the playoffs). [This message has been edited by verse (edited May 25, 2001).]
i could have sworn bball was a TEAM GAME, not an INDIVIDUAL GAME. so you can't be a top 16 player in the league and not make the playoffs, right??? this is ridiculous. ************************************************************** p.s. The Cat, thanks for the link. i'll check it out after lunch. ------------------ Lt. Roastabotch reporting for duty!
If you think that Iverson is anywhere close to being the best player in the NBA...well...I guess that explains why you think the Bucks have a chance against the West. Guess you think Admiral was better than Hakeem in '95 too, huh? Cmon verse, let's be a little more rational here.
dave was nowhere close. and allen was the most valuable player. take tim off the spurs and they are still a playoff team. take allen off the 6rs and they are a lotto team. with him, they are regarded by many as the best in their conference. so who's the mvp? where's the lack of rationale?
AI was the MVP but that doesn't make him the best player. MJ didn't win the MVP every years the Bulls won (I know BB one it the year the Bulls beat the Suns for example) but MJ was still the best player, regardless of the stats he put up that year.
granted, mvp <> best player. however, best player <> championship. TheFreak... if that's the case, you'd have more 4 and 5 peat championships. best players usually apex for 4 to 5 years. it's the best team, not the best player. i mean, how do you explain the rockets beating la? we didn't have the best player on the court, but we won. it's because we played the best game and exploited matchups.
The Bucks have a weak interior defense. If Kobe's able to get into the lane and score against the twin towers, what makes you think he won't do the same thing against the Johnson/Williams frontcourt? I'll take Kobe and Shaq's layups and dunks over the big 3's outside shots. The only worry I have is Shaq's free throws, but if the Bucks want to burn fouls hacking on Shaq, then go ahead, I wouldn't feel too confident in having Pryzbilla out there. Also hack-a-shaq will hurt the Bucks transition game which is supposedly a strength. Also I don't consider 7-15 that bad of a shooting performance when you're an outside shooter. I was thinking more a long the lines of 11-24 or 7-17 as bad shooting performances. Also if Robinson proves to be too big for Fox, then Jackson can just throw Horry on him and neutralize Robinson's size. I would comment more, but I gotta go... ------------------ "Empire" had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of Muppets.
basketball is about matchups...plain & simple. it's not about who has the single best player. it's not about who has the big man. it's about matchups. and i'll take the bucks matching up against the lakers., the same as i would have taken: rockets over 76rs indiana over milwaukee milwaukee over spurs phoenix over spurs or any1 over portland heypEE: restated and excellent. that's exactly what i'm saying.
