Liberal Arts Major
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
...But that was so, so deflating to watch for me. It's like the Heat literally forgot how to be a good team at the end there, or thought maybe it was a play or something and they were the Thunder.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
DSB Moderator
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"In the best relationships, nobody wears the pants."
Liberal Arts Major
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
thought maybe it was a play or something and they were the Thunder.
What's interesting is that three of the past four playoff games have been decided in the fourth quarter and have featured ridiculous comebacks - including two comebacks from 15-point deficits courtesy of Dallas. It's like everyone flips a coin between quarters to see which team is allowed to put the ball in the basket in the fourth quarter.
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
I mean, they just need to win twice at home, but I'm not sure I trust them to do that anymore... and this is a team that had not lost a home playoff game until the Finals.
It's really just become sad to watch for me.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
DSB Moderator
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"In the best relationships, nobody wears the pants."
Liberal Arts Major
That said, I don't feel too good about the Heat right now. I have no idea what's up with them in this series, but whatever it is, it's not encouraging even though they succeeded in taking back homecourt, if only because they honestly probably should have swept the series. They honestly had no business being in Game 5 whatsoever either, and even then they managed to somehow take the lead late in the game. It's just baffling.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
LeBron could be the best player on the court at any time. If he actually was the best player on the court in this series, there wouldn't be a Game 6. There probably wouldn't have been a Game 5. God knows Wade, Bosh, and the random position players are playing up to the standard you would expect in the Finals. LeBron? Apparently he thinks the game's over after the third quarter.
I don't think the hatred for the Heat is justified to the extent that it's reached (defeat pure evil? wat), but I do think the criticism of LeBron is a lot closer to the mark. There's no question he's an amazing player, but I don't think he ever really learned how to play for a title. Add that to his preseason showboating and you get, well, not exactly a shining picture of personal maturity, let's say.
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
Really, the most annoying thing about all this to me is going to have to be putting up with the Heat's hatedom acting like they just slayed Sauron or something, which has been far more annoying than anything the Heat have ever done. Oh well. At least if they had to lose, Dirk gets a ring out of it. But the rest of the Mavs? Augh, kind of makes me wish Dirk played somewhere else.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
DSB Moderator
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"In the best relationships, nobody wears the pants."
Liberal Arts Major
But the rest of the Mavs?
Please, it's not like the Heat are all a bunch of upstanding citizens. I mean, come on. Mario Chalmers, man. But the Mavs also have Jason Kidd - you can't help but be happy for that guy.
I'm so glad LeBron lost.
I'm more glad that the NBA hasn't actually thinned out to the point where you can basically buy your championships.
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
And Doc Rivers sucks.
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
Well, no, they're not, I would never say that.
But the Mavs also have Jason Kidd - you can't help but be happy for that guy.
That's true, I'm fine with Kidd getting a ring too.
I'm more glad that the NBA hasn't actually thinned out to the point where you can basically buy your championships.
For the criticisms you can make about LeBron/Wade/Bosh all playing for Miami, and honestly, I think there really aren't that many, at least not as many as a lot of people like to say... that's not one I get really. It's not like the NBA is the MLB and you can just be the Yankees. They have a salary cap after all. Money isn't the reason why the Heat happened, I mean, didn't they all take less than the maximum? They just all decided to go to the same team, that's all, there's not really anything you can do about that.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
I went with the easy turn of phrase as opposed to fully elaborating, which I figured wouldn't turn out well. The actual amount of money being paid out isn't the issue here - I mean, a lot of the teams (if not most) that are paying out huge numbers are doing it to honor contracts worth several times the value of one or more players. And in this case, Miami didn't exactly buy Bosh and LeBron, they elected to go there of their own volition.
My concern (and that of the people making this argument, I would assume) was just that due to the declining numbers of superstars in the league - and prior to these playoffs, that number didn't even include Nowitzki - it would be possible to simply load up your team with two or three of the best players and then start figuring out where you want to put all your trophies. Certainly, with players like Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Cavs-era LeBron, etc. all struggling on mediocre teams, it was a real concern going into this season. Dallas winning revitalizes the hope that functional teams can compete against superstar chimeras like the Heat (so long as at least one guy is amazing apparently).
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
"Declining numbers of superstars" is not the concept I was going for. "Declining numbers of superstars surrounded by some vague semblance of talent" is more accurate.
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Liberal Arts Major
If you made me answer honestly, I think the reason people hate the Heat is that they think what they did was "unfair," ignoring that the Heat are hardly the first team to have multiple Hall of Famers (I think pretty much any great team you look at it will turn out this way). Hell, they aren't the only team in the league right now to do it (See: Celtics, arguably the Lakers).
I think people are just "appalled" to see someone like LeBron admit he can't solo the entire league for a championship and decide to find a way to get into a situation where he doesn't have to - like it's some kind of affront to competitive spirit, or that the admission itself is some taboo. But really? Is LeBron wrong?
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
But Jordan won his first championship six or seven years into his career, in the interim providing all-star play without threatening to completely choke the life out of the league, and even when the Bulls did dominate, they had the convenience of not having antagonized the hatewagon contingent like the Heat just did - and the 97, 98 finals are among the greatest ever. Regardless, I didn't watch basketball then, so I wouldn't know what that era was like first-hand.
If you made me answer honestly, I think the reason people hate the Heat is that they think what they did was "unfair," ignoring that the Heat are hardly the first team to have multiple Hall of Famers (I think pretty much any great team you look at it will turn out this way). Hell, they aren't the only team in the league right now to do it (See: Celtics, arguably the Lakers).
I think this is entirely on the mark, as is your observation about the lack of an "epic rivalry". If the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, and so on were living up to their history, then the Heat would actually be an excellent addition to the mix. But those teams are way on the decline.
The best case scenario would be for younger teams like the Thunder to get their acts together and for older teams to look to get stacked. Then you'd still have terrible teams like the Cavs or the Clippers, but you'd have a lot more quality basketball at the top. Even if the Heat ended up dominating that league, it would be a lot more entertaining than just having them roll through, say, the Celtics every year (average age: 2,000).
I think people are just "appalled" to see someone like LeBron admit he can't solo the entire league for a championship and decide to find a way to get into a situation where he doesn't have to - like it's some kind of affront to competitive spirit, or that the admission itself is some taboo. But really? Is LeBron wrong?
LeBron is totally right, and although his move was a public relations disaster, it was ultimately the right choice. He was wasting away on a pitiful team, kind of like Dwight Howard and Chris Paul are now. If all of these guys could find a good team to join, then this issue wouldn't be an issue at all.
Personally I have nothing against LeBron, but I don't think he's yet matured enough as a player, nor the Heat as a team, to earn that title, and the only thing that irks me is the idea that he deserves a title.
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu