Serious Discussion: Miami's Big 3 vs. Boston's Big 3

[HEATVols865]

Miami has gotten murdered for bringing together Bosh, Wade and James.
Miami in its first year got to the finals, 2 games from the title and on the second year, won it all.
The Celtics won their first year and got to the final on their second year and since then have been a perennial force in the East but have not made it back to the NBA Finals.
The fact of the matter is: if the Celtics' Big 3 run is over, whether they never lose again or whether the Celtics don't re-sign Allen, everyone will revere that team, how great it was and how amazing they were.
They also had their share of ring chasers signing on the cheap: Rasheed Wallace and Shaq.

Miami on the other hand, if we don't win anything else and have a similar run to the Celtics' run, the press will destroy the team, the city and the players involved. Fans will be disappointed just like Celtics fans must he disappointed that all they got from their Big 3 (or 4) is one title so far.

Was LeBron's decision the true catalyst to bias the media and the regular NBA fan's view of the Miami Heat?
Sure, LeBron, Wade and Bosh are more talented than KG, Pierce and Allen but is that additional talent enough to label Miami's Big 3 a failure if they do not win another title and have similar results to the Celtics?
In my opinion, not as a Heat fan because I will be extremely pissed if we only win one championship, but as an NBA fan I do not know if the press should bash Miami if we end up with similar results than the Celtics.
If anything, the NBA now is tougher than prior to Miami building its own Big 3 because now other teams are building duos or trios to compete against that while Boston had the first and only for a while.

Sure I am biased pro Miami, but had LeBron not pulled the Decision, would we see a different treatment from the media?
Would other fans see us different and respect what we've accomplished and what we will accomplish in the future?

[nic4747]

I think the situations are different. Boston brought together a group of aging stars for one last run, none of whom were in the top ten of players in the NBA and nobody really expected anything from them outside a 3 year window.

Miami brought together 3 young players in their prime, one of whom is the best player in the NBA and another who is argueably in the top 5. So yeah, I think the expectations are rightly much higher for Miami than they are for Boston. The Heat have a chance to create a dynasty in the NBA.

[lukekarts]

I think the situations are different. Boston brought together a group of aging stars for one last run, none of whom were in the top ten of players in the NBA and nobody really expected anything from them outside a 3 year window.

Miami brought together 3 young players in their prime, one of whom is the best player in the NBA and another who is argueably in the top 5. So yeah, I think the expectations are rightly much higher for Miami than they are for Boston. The Heat have a chance to create a dynasty in the NBA.

This pretty much.

We also foolishly started out pretty arrogantly, starting with 'The Decision' on ESPN which rubbed everyone up the wrong way, to the celebration in Miami "not one, two, three..." (I understand the latter but it should not have had national press and have been constructed in the same way).

It's hard to come back from winding everyone up to getting the media and the general public on your side. The Celtics assembled differently, and there was no such 'drama' around it.

[ecnirp]

I think the situations are different. Boston brought together a group of aging stars for one last run, none of whom were in the top ten of players in the NBA and nobody really expected anything from them outside a 3 year window.

Miami brought together 3 young players in their prime, one of whom is the best player in the NBA and another who is argueably in the top 5. So yeah, I think the expectations are rightly much higher for Miami than they are for Boston. The Heat have a chance to create a dynasty in the NBA.

Lol..what?

KG wasnt viewed as a top 10 player? Regardless of how bad the TWolves were. KG was still considered in the top 7 players in the league.

[wallsfamily]

Let's look @ the expectations in a positive manner! We have placed pressure on ourselves and now we have delivered! As teams get better we must push to be better! We need to watch a 27 year old in his prime get the monkey off his back! Remember if Chalmers starts in finals last year and Lebron is aggressive we are celebrating 2 championships!!!! We will repeat this year!!!

[HEAT111]

Celtics went back to the finals and lost in their third year but KG was injured during his second year.

[Chosen01]

Haha, it's about time OP changed his name!!!


People would still bitch and moan if Lebron didn't do the decision because he has GOAT potential, but for whatever reason people like to ignore what Magic did back in his day.

And also act like this is the first time a super team formed.....

[FlashKing]

I wish people would stop saying that the Celtics big 3 were old when they got together. they weren't spring chickens but they were still well in their primes at the time.

[WhateverBro]

I wish people would stop saying that the Celtics big 3 were old when they got together. they weren't spring chickens but they were still well in their primes at the time.

No, they weren't. Ray was clearly out of his prime while Pierce and Garnett were at the end of their primes during their first year. Ever since, they've been out of their prime.

As for the discussion, as a Celtic fan I'd agree with what most of the posters have said. It's about how they got together and what level of players they were etc. I do think, LeBron in particular, added some extra fuel on the fire with the decision and the stupid not one, not two..

But yeah, I'm not one of those who hate the Heat for what they did or even had Lebron for any decision he made. Outside of Garnett, LeBron is my favourite player in the league and he's gotten some undeserved hate for the last couple of years. But yeah, Miami Heat, and LeBron, Wade and Bosh handled the whole getting together thing pretty badly at first. Look at this video showing the difference between the big threes' getting together;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-g3a_gIkjA[/youtube]

It's pretty clear that they shouldn't have put so much extra pressure on themselves, but that's hindisight for you..

[FlashKing]

I wish people would stop saying that the Celtics big 3 were old when they got together. they weren't spring chickens but they were still well in their primes at the time.

No, they weren't. Ray was clearly out of his prime while Pierce and Garnett were at the end of their primes during their first year. Ever since, they've been out of their prime.

Sorry, but players who are near the end of their primes don't make 2 trips to the NBA finals(win one) and 3 trips to the conference finals in a 5 year span. consider the fact that they are still together 5+ years later with one more run in them, they were still well in their prime. stop using age as a deciding factor homey.

Regarding the celebration video... no one expected them to snatch up all 3, so they had a right to celebrate. LeBron's "Not 1,not 2, not 3" comment wasn't the smartest thing to say but they deserved to have a celebration. the hype the team was already receiving after the decision, did you honestly expect a small little press conference?

[truthiness]

I think the situations are different. Boston brought together a group of aging stars for one last run, none of whom were in the top ten of players in the NBA and nobody really expected anything from them outside a 3 year window.

Miami brought together 3 young players in their prime, one of whom is the best player in the NBA and another who is argueably in the top 5. So yeah, I think the expectations are rightly much higher for Miami than they are for Boston. The Heat have a chance to create a dynasty in the NBA.

Lol..what?

KG wasnt viewed as a top 10 player? Regardless of how bad the TWolves were. KG was still considered in the top 7 players in the league.

He was voted 3rd in the MVP race in 2008, so you could argue top 3, but top 6-7 is more realistic indeed.

[nic4747]

I wish people would stop saying that the Celtics big 3 were old when they got together. they weren't spring chickens but they were still well in their primes at the time.

No, they weren't. Ray was clearly out of his prime while Pierce and Garnett were at the end of their primes during their first year. Ever since, they've been out of their prime.

As for the discussion, as a Celtic fan I'd agree with what most of the posters have said. It's about how they got together and what level of players they were etc. I do think, LeBron in particular, added some extra fuel on the fire with the decision and the stupid not one, not two..

But yeah, I'm not one of those who hate the Heat for what they did or even had Lebron for any decision he made. Outside of Garnett, LeBron is my favourite player in the league and he's gotten some undeserved hate for the last couple of years. But yeah, Miami Heat, and LeBron, Wade and Bosh handled the whole getting together thing pretty badly at first. Look at this video showing the difference between the big threes' getting together;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-g3a_gIkjA[/youtube]

It's pretty clear that they shouldn't have put so much extra pressure on themselves, but that's hindisight for you..

Wow, never saw that video before. How many keys to how many cities did they get?

[WhateverBro]

Sorry, but players who are near the end of their primes don't make 2 trips to the NBA finals(win one) and 3 trips to the conference finals in a 5 year span. consider the fact that they are still together 5+ years later with one more run in them, they were still well in their prime. stop using age as a deciding factor homey.

Regarding the celebration video... no one expected them to snatch up all 3, so they had a right to celebrate. LeBron's "Not 1,not 2, not 3" comment wasn't the smartest thing to say but they deserved to have a celebration. the hype the team was already receiving after the decision, did you honestly expect a small little press conference?

Lol, use their trips to the finals as an argument all you want but all statistical evidence points to them being out of their prime by 2009. I don't see how anyone could argue that they even were in their prime at that point. It's a pointless discussion because most people would agree that they weren't in their primes after their first title run.

As for your question, I can tell you what I didn't expect.. Fireworks and dancing. Come on, I don't think anyone expected that. It was over the top, I'm not even hating. As I said, I have nothing against these players or the organization but the fact is they handled that pretty bad. I even think Bron and the rest of them would agree with that.

[nic4747]

Responding to everyone who replied about the age / skill levels of the Miami big 3 vs Boston big 3, here is a estimate of both:

Pierce – 29 – Top 20
KG – 31 – Top 10
Allen – 32 – Top 30

Lebron – 25 – Top 5 (#1?)
Wade – 28 – Top 5
Bosh – 26 – Top 20

I don't think anyone can argue that the Miami big three were both younger and better than the Boston big 3. I think that's the big reason why the expectations are so much higher. The grandiose celebration does add to it though. To be honest I don't see anything wrong with the celebration but the Heat can't have it both ways. They built a better superteam with a grander entrance, the expectations are correctly much higher.

[DefenseWins]

I kind of disagree with the notion people should be fine with us just winning one and not be bashed. We should be bashed, we have the 3 of the top 20 in their primes (sorta with Wade...).

Our window is much bigger. We have the best player in the league. Wade is the oldest, but so what? Boston won past their primes. Those 3 were top 30 players IMO, especially KG. KG even won DPOY that year. That 2008 team was incredible. They reached the Finals again and lost, but they've reached twice, and we've reached twice with the same results, just different years. KG was also hurt in 2009. The Celtics could have even made it to the Finals that year, we don't know.

They also came together through trades, right? Our Big 3 came here and signed, in their primes, including LeBron 2 time MVP at the time. Now the way they went about it was terrible. The party I had no problem with until the "not 1, not 2". I didn't think of it as a big deal, I thought it was so all fun. But I don't like it now because people just have the wrong impression of it. I think people would look at the welcome party differently if he didn't say that. Our team was extremely confident and cocky. Boston wasn't like that if I recall.

Our window is MUCH larger right now, and this was suppose to be like someone said, a dynasty basically. If Boston's Big 3 were able to get a title together at that age and if we want to compare, then we should be contenders for that next 8 years lol.

[FlashKing]

Sorry, but players who are near the end of their primes don't make 2 trips to the NBA finals(win one) and 3 trips to the conference finals in a 5 year span. consider the fact that they are still together 5+ years later with one more run in them, they were still well in their prime. stop using age as a deciding factor homey.

Regarding the celebration video... no one expected them to snatch up all 3, so they had a right to celebrate. LeBron's "Not 1,not 2, not 3" comment wasn't the smartest thing to say but they deserved to have a celebration. the hype the team was already receiving after the decision, did you honestly expect a small little press conference?

Lol, use their trips to the finals as an argument all you want but all statistical evidence points to them being out of their prime by 2009. I don't see how anyone could argue that they even were in their prime at that point. It's a pointless discussion because most people would agree that they weren't in their primes after their first title run.

As for your question, I can tell you what I didn't expect.. Fireworks and dancing. Come on, I don't think anyone expected that. It was over the top, I'm not even hating. As I said, I have nothing against these players or the organization but the fact is they handled that pretty bad. I even think Bron and the rest of them would agree with that.

So using the finals to show that they were still in prime form is considered a weak argument? bro you're embarrassing yourself. there's a major difference between them being past their prime and them peaking. has individual's, there's n doubt their peak days were over, same can't be said for them being past their prime when the big 3 was in the all star game 2 seasons ago. of course there's no comparison to be made between the big three's talents because Miami's big three has always been better than Boston's. still Boston gets no pass because KG,Pierce and Allen all in their 30's when the came together. the fact that their still a contenders dismisses anything you say.

Once again for the party... it's just the way Miami's rolls bro. the biggest free agent offseason in sports history should be celebrated with fireworks and confetti. I don't know if you noticed but LeBron James isn't just any other player who's made a few all-star games. the guy was already top 25 when he didn't have a ring. his signing here was a big deal when it wasn't expected. resigning our own superstar as well as a top 15 player today in Bosh, how can you say that party wasn't deserved, besides, it had more to do for the fans than the players.

[bostonfan34]

As others have said, LBJ, Wade, and Bosh were ranked higher as players generally than PP, KG, and RA.

The Miami three formed through free agency - the Celtics were terrible for years and everyone said Ainge didn't know what he was doing, then he cashed in some assets to assemble a team of veterans.

By the time the first season started, all the Celtics' Big Three were in their 30s.

KG, PP, and RA all were on losing teams in '07. LeBron and Wade were on winning teams in '10 and Bosh was two games below .500.

As far as style goes, just watch the previously posted video to take a look at the difference.

[Smash3]

If this is the only chip we win, we desserve the bashing. I could explain why, but it is pretty evident

[heatchamp45]

Its more like boston big 3s against miamis big 4s.......No match!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!