I will seriously be sick

[Bensational]

I will say this....LeBron has been as good this season as I expected him to be after all the hype he had when he entered the league.

I would say that he has been almost twice as good this season as any other season he has been in the league. I know that's a lot, but he's been hitting his 3-pointers very well in the postseason, and he wasn't good at that at all last season. And he's hitting his free throws more frequently, too. He is driving to the basketball like a freight train, so strong that I can't believe how hard he goes a lot of times. I'm actually surprised that he doesn't get called for an offensive foul sometimes. He also does get away too often with that "crab dribble'' and sometimes travels to get those drives. But even without all that, his game has taken a huge jump since last season. I'd say that you might question some of his teammates' games, but not LeBron's.

I'll admit....I do find it kind of fishy when the two teams that are heavily promoted all season as the best teams in their conferences end up going to the Finals like they did last season. But I think the conference finals will be good this season.

i don't know if you can say that, because Boston has been considered the favourite all season long. it's only lately, as Cleveland rose to the top and LBJ showed dominance, that it became a two horse race.

fact is, LA always were the team to beat in the West, and nobody proved otherwise. in the East, the media has been all over Boston because they're the returning champs, and Cleveland because they have LBJ. the only reason anyone should feel slighted is if they feel the Magic have been hard done by - and we all know how many times people whined about that all season.

plus, people need to remember that Cleveland were the 1st seed. they had an arguably easier draw than most teams (although, i'm sure they would've handled Philly in 4 as well, whereas we would've struggled with Detroit...). Atlanta in the 2nd rd isn't the same as Boston/Orlando in the 2nd rd.

[christian72589]

The conference finals will be good IMO if we are in it. If it is boston, expect another sweep. No disrespect to Boston necessarilly, but they aren't a full team anymore and we give Cleveland problems.

[Da_James_Gang]

So anyone that feels that lebron and in turn the Cavaliers get preferrential treatment all must be kids?

Maybe you "adults" need to put two and two together to realize that there is something in it for the league to market a player like James and make him out to be the next Jordan (who also got a lot of preferrential treatment).

The league cannot do that really until he wins a championship and has unbelievable stats.

For you "adults" to suggest that what i am saying is impossible is foolish. "james DA king" excuse me for offending your mature tastes and non-biased view. You all are so rediculous. All it takes is for someone to disagree with you now they are full of hate?

I don't even know if my team will meet the cavs, but i guarantee that when we start losing games by 10, 15, 20 pts because of a lebron parade at the FT line and all of our key players being in foul trouble all series, you same "adults" will agree with me.

One more thing... People like you "james DA king" ruin boards like this because this is all you have to hold on to in life so you try to put people down by calling them "kids" and saying that everyone that won't bend over for lebron is hateful. Check yourself sir, this is just a basketball website and no, you are not better than anyone because you can type.

Your obviously the one getting all bent out of shape now. I'm having a debate with you, and now i'm full of hate lol and i ruin the boards? Obviously you haven't read many of my posts around realgm. I'm as non biased as they come. Its just when i read something that i think is ridiculous i comment on it. Its tiring hearing about how everything is rigged and what not. You bring out stats from our previous playoffs series and complain about fouls and its obvious you haven't watched either of our series. You don't know how a game went just by checking out the box score after a game. You even have some of your own magic fans who actually watched the series and said other wise.

You have a very good team but you are already making excuses just in case you lose if you advance? Just doesn't make sense to me. But anyways now you are really making yourself sound like a foolish though, re-read your post and see how you would react to that if i said that to you. But god bless you and have a nice day. I won't come on here and disagree with you ever again Also good luck to you guys the rest of the way.

[L&H_05]

The commercials are from Nike and Vitamin Water.. LBJ and Kobe are on their line..

The NBA has not ran commercials that spotlight LeBron and Kobe..

[PigsEatHam]

I apologize for coming to this thread so late, but I am still recovering from the travesty that was Game 5--reversed 24-second calls, two-pointers that counted as threes, shoves in the back that went unremarked, it was maddening, and it's precisely why I won't watch Game 7 until I know the final score.

That said, I too will be seriously sick if the Finals matchup is Lakers versus Cavaliers. Not because neither team is incapable of making it (they absolutely are), but because that has been the hype and storyline since Kevin Garnett went down with an injury. Because for the second year in a row, and three of the last four if memory serves, there will be zero drama in which teams make it to the Finals. First it was the Dallas-Miami Finals, in which in Shaq leads a subpar Miami team to a championship with the aid of seventy-eight free-throws per game from Dwyane Wade, after the storyline much of the year being how Shaq was going to lead Miami to a championship. Then we had a down year with the Spurs winning it; good for them. Then it was the Boston Three-Party storyline from preseason on; soon as Garnett showed up in Beantown, even though the previous year the Celtics were the worst team in the League, suddenly, they were the obvious favorites for the Championship and nothing was going to stand in their way--except their historic rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. I remember someone on this board, about halfway through the season saying, "It will be a Boston-L.A. Finals. Just watch. I hate David Stern," and I thought, No way in hell. The sport cannot be that predictable, the regular season and playoffs that much of a farce that the final combatants can be predetermined in February, but so it was. And to say Boston did not get a few friendly shoves from the League on their way to a "championship" is just lunacy. (See the non-suspension on Garnett for pushing Pachulia, shoving a ref, and then shoulder-checking Pachulia like Derek Fischer in the following game.)

Now we come to this season, with Kobe and Lebron on an unstoppable collision course with one another, this year's MVP versus last year's MVP, in a cosmic grudge match versus the old guard and the new...a storyline that has been pimped and pumped and primed for months...and it continues to seem that is what will happen. Again, I say, on the way to this Finals' matchup Lebron has gotten some favorable help from the League; there must have been at least five games where Lebron got bailed out on cheap fouls to get free-throws in the final seconds to win / seal a game that could've been much more competitive, or could've ended in a (gasp!) Cavaliers' loss: the Washington game at the Q, the Atlanta game near the end of the year, the Orlando game at the Q (not the forty-point beatdown at Amway), and the Clippers comeback, all come to mind. And don't forget the Indiana game where they almost had it handed to them in the final seconds, only to have the same garbage call called against them on the final play (good for the refs for showing consistency, and a big ha-ha to Mike Brown for ranting against the call afterwards). There were probably others, but I can't stand watching Cavs' games for the most part--too much of ESPN verbally fellating Lebron from tip-off to the final horn.

All this is not to say the Cavs are a bad team (they aren't), or that Lebron is a bad player (he isn't). That would be stupid, and almost Mike-Brown-after-the-Indiana-game oblivious. But it would also be oblivious to not have a feeling in the gut that something is wrong, a little off, watching call after call fall to one side's favor, all driving toward a matchup that has been hyped for months, while taking in the gross inconsistency and favoritism towards the League's ratings darlings. It just seems off; it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and if the Finals do end up being L.A. versus Cleveland, despite both being capable and talented teams, I too will be seriously sick.