Moderators: trex_8063, penbeast0, PaulieWal, Clyde Frazier, Doctor MJ
UDRIH14 wrote:09 who was lebrons opponents in the eastern playoffs?
KG?
03 duncan at least went through shaq/kome
Yao Ming's NBA debut ended in an exhibition loss Wednesday night, but the 7-foot-5 center's welcome to the league was a memorable one.
Seconds after entering the game and setting foot on the SBC Center court, Yao took a pass in the low post and made a decisive move to the basket. But as his outstretched right arm rose above the rim, San Antonio 7-footer Tim Duncan, the league's MVP last season, slid over and launched the newest Rocket with a hard body bump that left him sprawled on the floor.
''It's about what I thought it would be,'' Yao said of the physical play after the Spurs rallied for an 80-79 victory. ''I felt like a rookie.''
San Antonio center David Robinson said Yao's initiation, three days after his arrival in the United States, was a good lesson in how the NBA works.
''He's getting thrown right into the fire, and against one of the tallest teams in the league,'' Robinson said. ''It was a good challenge for him tonight.''
Duncan added: ''He handled the ball well and showed some touch. ... He'll end up being a good all-around player, but it always takes time.''
Yao's final line: six points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line, four rebounds, four fouls and three turnovers in 13 minutes.
The first of those points came after Duncan roughed him up. Yao, the league's No. 1 draft pick this year, calmly stepped to the line and made two soft, arching free throws that put the Rockets up 28-23.
Five minutes later, as the second quarter was winding down, Yao returned to his spot near the end of the bench. He had added a fadeaway jumper to those foul shots, helping Houston to a 44-38 halftime lead.
But San Antonio battled back from an 11-point second-half deficit for the win.
Duncan finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds, while Stephen Jackson scored 17 points for the Spurs. Cuttino Mobley led the Rockets with 18 points, while Steve Francis added 15 and Eddie Griffin 14.
After sitting out the third quarter, Yao replaced Griffin at 11:10 of the final quarter. Twelve seconds later, the Rockets had a point taken off the scoreboard when Yao stepped into the lane too early on a free throw by Mobley.
He made other mistakes, like rifling a pass to a phantom baseline cutter, but his teammates only had encouragement for him. He leaned way down to listen to some guidance from Francis, and after he picked up his fourth personal by blocking David Robinson, guard Juaquin Hawkins gave him an impromptu footwork lesson.
The 6-8 Jackson ended up with a memory of his own -- dunking over Yao late in the game.
''For him to be under there and me to get him, I'm definitely happy about that,'' Jackson said.
With three minutes remaining, Kelvin Cato came into the game and Yao sat down for the night.
Yao was with China's national team until Oct. 13, when it was upset by South Korea in the Asian Games championship game.
After working out an agreement with the China Basketball Association that will guarantee his home country the right to bring him back for international tournaments, Yao received his visa and reported to the Rockets on Sunday.
With the regular season starting in a week, Yao still has a lot to learn to fit into Houston's offensive and defensive schemes.
''Getting the first-game jitters out of the way is great,'' Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. ''Everyone is excited about him being here, but now it's time to play basketball. ... My gut feeling is that he will be able to handle this stuff.''
Yao said he was nervous going in, but he eventually settled down and quickly started learning.
''When you watch it on TV it seems really easy,'' he said of the NBA. ''But when you are actually out there playing, it is extremely difficult.''
"Tim Duncan had 23 points and 14 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs settled Sacramento's perfect home record and ruined Mike Bibby's return, beating the Kings 83-81, Thurdsay night in Sacramento, Calif.
Stephen Jackson scored 18 points as the Spurs followed a victory in Seattle by winning in the NBA's toughest road arena one later. The Kings had won 13 games at Arco Arena where they're 80-14 over the past over the past three seasons, but they gave one of the most lifeless performances in years on the same night their injury-plagued roster became nearly whole.
Sacramento shot less than 35% and never found rhythm. The Spurs were barely better, committing 18 turnovers, but Duncan had another outstanding game and San Antonio hung on by allowing the Kings to make several turnovers and poor shots in the closing minutes."
Struggling to find wins, the San Antonio Spurs have temporarily found a solution -- play the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Tim Duncan scored 25 points to lead San Antonio over Cleveland 104-78 Monday night, the Cavaliers' seventh straight loss.
The Spurs, who have won 27 of the last 30 meetings, beat the Cavaliers 90-77 on Saturday in Cleveland even though Duncan was held to a season-low six points because of foul trouble.
''We played the same game as we did in Cleveland and that's a good sign,'' San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. ''It's tough to play the same team back-to-back after you beat them the first time. I was pleased with our aggressiveness and tenacity. The bench was terrific. Hopefully, we will continue to improve.''
San Antonio had five players in double figures. Stephen Jackson added 18 points, while Steve Smith and Kevin Willis scored 12 apiece.
Cleveland was led by Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored 25 points. Ricky Davis added 19.
''I knew Duncan was going to come out and have a good game tonight,'' Ilgauskas said. ''It's tough to contain a player that good two games in a row. I knew he was motivated to play well. They just made the shots they missed in Cleveland.''
Leading 48-37 at halftime, San Antonio opened the third quarter with a 10-6 run to lead 58-43 on David Robinson's dunk with 6:49 to play in the period.
Cleveland rallied to close the gap to 65-58 on two free throws by Ilgauskas with 36.6 seconds to go.
San Antonio went on a 10-0 run and led 77-58 on a layup by Bruce Bowen with 9:56 remaining in the game.
From there, the Spurs stretched the advantage to as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter and rolled to an easy victory.
''Tonight our turnovers led to points and theirs did not,'' Cleveland coach John Lucas said. ''We are a young team, but I thought we did a lot of good things at points in this game. Their bench hurt us a lot, too. They didn't miss much when they went to their bench.''
Duncan was poked in the right eye by Davis but returned to score 14 first-half points. San Antonio outscored Cleveland 25-14 in the second quarter.
''We really did a much better job of moving the ball around,'' said Duncan, who shot 9-of-16 from the floor and also grabbed nine rebounds. ''They really hurt us in the start of the game, but once we got settled in defensively and took our time, we really started to make things go better.''
The Spurs held Cleveland to only 37.5 percent shooting.
"With plenty of blocked shots and high-percentage field goal opportunities, the San Antonio Spurs ended the second-longest winning streak of the NBA season.
Tim Duncan scored 29 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked eight shots to lead the San Antonio Spurs over Philadelphia 98-93 Friday night, snapping the 76ers' eight-game winning streak.
San Antonio blocked 16 shots and shot 56 percent in defeating Philadelphia for the 16th consecutive time at home.
``We did a good job playing defense for 48 minutes,'' San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. ``The whole team responded defensively and that's important to do for 48 minutes. If we hadn't shot the way we did, it would have been a tough game.
Stephen Jackson came off the bench to score 24 points, while David Robinson added 13 and Tony Parker 10.
``Tonight we did a good job of playing hard all the way through the game,'' Duncan said. ``Defensively we did a great job as a team. We were unselfish tonight. We shared the ball and moved the basketball well and that got guys some great looks.''
Philadelphia, which hadn't lost since Nov. 16, was led by Allen Iverson with 21 points, but he shot only 9-of-30. Keith Van Horn added 15 and Eric Snow 14.
``Give San Antonio credit, they did a great job just shutting us down,'' Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said. ``Their blocks really hurt us, and they got to the foul line a lot tonight. However, I am pleased with the effort that we made, and was pleased with the way that we finished the ballgame.''
After taking an 80-68 lead into the fourth quarter, San Antonio maintained its advantage behind eight points from Jackson and led 90-78 on Robinson's layup.
After Snow cut the lead to 90-82 on a jump shot with 4:16 remaining, both teams misfired on several scoring opportunities before San Antonio answered with four free throws, the last two by Duncan with 1:41 to play gave the Spurs a 94-82 lead.
Philadelphia would get no closer than five points the rest of the way as both teams emptied their benches.
``I thought Tim and David did a great job of shutting down our inside penetration,'' Iverson said. ``I got into the lane a couple of times, but it was tough getting shots up and making plays. They did a really good job of controlling the lane.''
``It was a team effort to try and cover Iverson,'' said Jackson, who shot 9-for-12. ``We were able to make him take some tough shots over our big guys and we were able to get some blocks on him.''
The Spurs, the NBA's top defensive team, dominated the game inside. The Spurs not only blocked 16 shots, they also outscored the 76ers 54-34 in the paint.
``That was big for us,'' said Duncan, who was 15-for-20 at the free throw line. ``We knew Allen was going to get a lot of shots and they love to drive the ball to the basket. I thought we did a great job of help-side defense tonight.''
San Antonio opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run and led 59-44 on a short jump shot by Steve Smith with 9:52 to play in the period. Duncan had 12 points in the third quarter, 10 coming at the free throw line.
Behind 14 points from Duncan, San Antonio led 49-42 at halftime. The Spurs were able to build the lead behind 21-of-37 shooting from the floor.
``We played great defense overall and played that way for 48 minutes,'' said Robinson, who had 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. ``We've been playing well enough to win all year long but sometimes our concentration lapses, but not tonight. If we had been doing that all year we would have a better record right now.''
"Boston Celtics forwards Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker on Wednesday were named the Eastern Conference co-Players of the Month while San Antonio forward Tim Duncan received the honor as Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in December.
Pierce averaged 27.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.06 steals while Walker added 23.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.13 steals in leading the Celtics to an 11-5 record. Duncan led the Spurs to an 11-3 record by averaging 26.7 points, 13.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.64 blocks
Tim Duncan, San Antonio
Dec. 12 vs. Toronto: Had 28 points and 13 rebounds in 108-95 win over the visiting Raptors.
Dec. 14 at Phoenix: Had 32 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks in 105-93 victory.
Dec. 26 vs. Dallas: Scored a career-high 53 points while adding 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 126-123 OT loss to the Mavericks.
Dec. 30 at Memphis: Had 27 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and seven blocks in 83-79 victory over the Grizzlies.
Leads the NBA with 24 double-doubles on the season.
Currently ranks second in rebounding (13.1 per game), sixth in scoring (25.6), fourth in blocks (2.89) and tied for fifth in minutes (40.9)."
"Tim Duncan had 28 points and 20 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs became the first team in NBA History to win seven consecutive road games on one road trip with a 103-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
Kobe Bryant scored 44 points -- his eight straight game with at least 35 points -- but it wasn't enough for the Lakers to beat San Antonio in a match up of two striking teams. It was Bryant's 11th game of 40-plus points this season.
Shaquille O'Neal had 21 points, but only 5 rebounds for the Lakers, who had their seven-game winning streak snapped and lost to the Spurs for the third time this season. He missed the first two games while recovering from foot surgery."
"Tim Duncan was too much for the Orlando Magic's beleaguered corps of big men. Duncan had 23 points, 17 rebounds and six assists, and his put-back off his own miss with 4 seconds left gave the San Antonio Spurs a 109-108 victory over Orlando on Friday night.
The Magic had a chance to win, but Tracy McGrady's 17-footer fell short at the buzzer. McGrady scored 12 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, topping the 30-point mark for the seventh straight game.
Both teams competed real hard; we just happened to make the last shot, I guess," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Lots of games come down to that. We were just fortunate enough to make it."
McGrady's jumper with 13.5 seconds to play put the Magic ahead by one, but Orlando couldn't keep Duncan off the boards as he hit his second game-winning shot in a week. Last Friday in Utah, Duncan backed down Karl Malone before hitting a turnaround jumper as the horn sounded.
"On my move, I got hit in the eye and didn't think I was going to get it off," said Duncan, who had nine of the Spurs' 16 offensive rebounds. "I just kind of threw it up there. I just followed it."
"In that situation, we have to make him earn it at the free throw line," said Orlando center Andrew DeClercq, who blamed himself for not fouling Duncan.
David Robinson scored a season-high 20 points, including two go-ahead free throws with 26.9 seconds to play, as the Spurs had six players score in double figures. Tony Parker also scored 20, and his 3-pointer with 53 seconds to go gave the Spurs a 105-104 lead. Parker finished with a career-high 13 assists and Emanuel Ginobili added a season-high 14 points.
After DeClercq sank a short jump hook over Robinson at the 39.6-second mark, Robinson responded with a strong drive to the basket and Darrell Armstrong grabbed him to prevent the easy basket. San Antonio sank 19 of 22 free throws for the game, although Robinson's pair were the team's only fourth-quarter foul shots.
In two games since sitting out a few days with a tight back, Robinson has averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds.
"A couple of days ago, before (Robinson) got on the plane, he told me he was playing whether I liked it or not," Popovich said. "We would've had a tough time without him."
The Spurs trailed 104-100 with 1:32 remaining, but Robinson dunked off Duncan's lob and Parker sank a 3 from the top of the key after McGrady missed a long shot he took with time on the shot clock. Against Bruce Bowen's defense, McGrady shot 15-for-36.
"It seemed like Tracy had about 49 points or so, but he had to work his butt off for it and he had to shoot a lot of shots," Popovich said. "Bruce made him work all night long. He does that night in and night out, and he's been doing that all year long."
The Magic were hurt at times by McGrady's absences, as coach Doc Rivers has made it a priority recently to rest his superstar. McGrady played 35 minutes after averaging more than 43 minutes in five contests entering the week; he played 38 in a win over Cleveland on Wednesday.
San Antonio took a 14-point lead midway through the second quarter behind a 20-3 run, and it appeared the Spurs were going to run away. Orlando's defense was on the floor in theory only, giving up wide-open dunks and 3-pointers. When Malik Rose's uncontested jam put San Antonio up 44-34, Rivers called a timeout, a look of utter disbelief on his face.
After surrendering two more point-blank baskets, the Magic finally went to work up as McGrady's thunderous baseline reverse jam brought the crowd to life. Mike Miller followed with a three-point play and technical foul shot, after Spurs coach Gregg Popovich argued with officials, cutting San Antonio's lead to 50-44 with 3:19 left before the break.
McGrady closed the half with six more points, and Orlando trailed 54-52 at intermission.
"The way we played those guys, it gives us confidence going in to the next few games," said McGrady, who also had seven rebounds and six assists. "Actually, I don't feel as bad as I thought I would. We played our (butts) off."
"Tim Duncan had 32 points and 12 rebounds, including a clinching 3 pointer in the final minute, as the San Antonio Spurs won their fifth straight with 92-90 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday night.
Duncan's late 3, which came quickly off an inbounds play, gave San Antonio a 91-86 lead after P.J Brown missed a shot he normally makes -- an open 14-foot jumper that could have tied the game.
Duncan set up the shot -- his sixth 3-pointer of the season-- by diving after a loose ball and called timeout before being tied up with Baron Davis.
New Orleans had the momentum up to that point, having erased an 84-75 deficit with an 11-2 run to tie the game at 86 with 2:15 left."
"Tim Duncan scored 21 points and grabbed 21 rebounds, and Tony Parker added 21 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, as San Antonio held off New Jersey, 92-78, on Thursday in San Antonio.
The Nets, who lost their fifth in six games, cut the Spurs' margin 83-77 with 1 minute and 41 seconds left on consecutive jumpers by Jason Collins and Kenyon Martin. But San Antonio finished with a 9-1 run capped by a three pointer by Duncan at the buzzer.
The Spurs, who allowed Phoenix to shot 59% in a loss Tuesday night, limited the Nets to 36.6%. Jason Kidd shot 4 for 19 for 11 points, about half of his regular season average, but he had 13 assists."
"Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the second straight season, the NBA announced Sunday.
The five-time NBA All-Star finished the season averaging 23.3 points (seventh in NBA), 12.9 rebounds (third) and 2.93 blocks (third) in 81 games. Duncan turned in 58 double-double (points-rebounds) performances this season, including a league-high six 20-plus point and 20-plus rebound outings. On March 21 he scored his 10,000th career point becoming the 13th fastest player in NBA history to score at least 10,000 points and grab at least 5,000 rebounds.
The 7-foot, 260-pound forward totaled 962 points in MVP balloting, including 60 of a possible 119 first-place votes, from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received.
This season, Duncan led the Spurs to a 60-22 overall mark, which tied for the best record in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks, and their fourth Midwest Division title during his six-year NBA career. San Antonio also earned the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs and home-court advantage throughout the postseason. He is the second San Antonio Spurs player to win the MVP award, joining teammate David Robinson who was so honored for the 1994-95 season.
The first overall selection in the 1997 Draft by the Spurs, Duncan joins an elite list of only 10 players in NBA history to collect multiple MVP awards: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six-time winner), Michael Jordan (five), Bill Russell (five), Wilt Chamberlain (four), Larry Bird (three), Magic Johnson (three), Moses Malone (three), Bob Pettit (two) and Karl Malone (two). Duncan is the first back-to-back winner since Jordan in 1990-91 and 1991-92.
A five-time recipient of the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week Award, Duncan scored 30 or more points 16 times and 20 or more 56 times during the 2002-03 season. He hit his second career regular season triple-double (third overall) vs. the Los Angeles Clippers on March 14 finishing with 24 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in 34 minutes of play. Duncan also collected 25 rebounds on February 1, the league season-high this year.
On Feb. 11, Duncan was selected to play for the 2003 USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team that will compete in the 2003 FIBA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Voted as a starter in this year’s All-Star Game, Duncan scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in a 155-145 double overtime West victory on February 9 at Atlanta’s Philips Arena.
Along with his two MVP Awards, Duncan has also collected the 1997-98 Rookie of the Year, the 1999 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, the co-MVP of the 2000 NBA All-Star Game and the 2001-02 NBA IBM Award during his six-year pro career.
The NBA MVP trophy is named in honor of the late Maurice Podoloff, the first commissioner of the NBA who served from 1946 until his retirement in 1963. Attached are the voting results for the 2002-03 NBA Most Valuable Player Award."
Lightning25 wrote:I honestly think the equivalent of saying 2009 and 2010 Lebron is better than 2012 Lebron would be like saying 1988 and 1989 Jordan was better than 1991 or 1992 Jordan. Jordan put up much better numbers in those 80s years but it was quite clear when that despite that he was still a better player in the early 90s instead.
One thing that these all-time perimeter greats, Bird, Magic, Jordan, Kobe have in common is not just the fact that they are great players and that they have championship rings, but they also have post-games.
Before 2012, Lebron's post game was non-existent, he didn't have much of it at all. However, during the off-season before the 2012 season started, he worked with Hakeem to help improve his post-game to utilize it and help him become more comfortable in it.
The results showed as Lebron completely killed the Thunder in the Finals with his post-game. Thabo, Harden, and Durant had no answer for Lebron's post-game in the Finals and most of his points based off of my memory were from the post. Lebron didn't just kill them with his scoring from the post either but also his passing. He didn't see many doubles until the last two games of the series but in those last two games of the series, he averaged 10+ assists.
Lebron's new post-game in 2012 is not just a huge improvement for him as an individual but also for a team. It is much easier to play off of post players than it is to play off of a player dribbling and dribbling at the top of the game like it is street basketball. There is also a lot more options for the player to work with down in the high/low post as well which really isn't anything that could be shown in the stat-sheet.
He is just much more fundamentally sound these days in 2012 than he was in 2009 and 2010.
I know I'm not a part of the voting committee but I just want to let people know my reasonings and thoughts on why 2012 Lebron is better than 2009 and 2010 Lebron.
C-izMe wrote:Lightning25 wrote:I honestly think the equivalent of saying 2009 and 2010 Lebron is better than 2012 Lebron would be like saying 1988 and 1989 Jordan was better than 1991 or 1992 Jordan. Jordan put up much better numbers in those 80s years but it was quite clear when that despite that he was still a better player in the early 90s instead.
But Jordan's best statistical year is 91 (regular season and PS). And 92 is not better than 90, 89, or 88 either.
Here's Jordan's PER from 87-93 (PS in parenthesis)
29.8 (3gms 28.1)
31.7 (10gms 28.4)
31.1 (17gms 29.9)
31.2 (16gms 31.7)
31.6 (17gms 32.0)
27.7 (22gms 27.2)
29.7 (19gms 30.1)
So statistically he peaked in 91.
Lightning25 wrote:I honestly think the equivalent of saying 2009 and 2010 Lebron is better than 2012 Lebron would be like saying 1988 and 1989 Jordan was better than 1991 or 1992 Jordan. Jordan put up much better numbers in those 80s years but it was quite clear when that despite that he was still a better player in the early 90s instead.
And? TMac and Wade are going to leave the board soon and they don't have post games.
Quotatious wrote: Bastillon is Hakeem. Combines style and substance.
C-izMe wrote:But Jordan's best statistical year is 91 (regular season and PS). And 92 is not better than 90, 89, or 88 either.
Here's Jordan's PER from 87-93 (PS in parenthesis)
29.8 (3gms 28.1)
31.7 (10gms 28.4)
31.1 (17gms 29.9)
31.2 (16gms 31.7)
31.6 (17gms 32.0)
27.7 (22gms 27.2)
29.7 (19gms 30.1)
So statistically he peaked in 91.
And? TMac and Wade are going to leave the board soon and they don't have post games.
And 09 Lebron would've killed them with his driving. He scored most of his points off offensive rebounds, cuts, and turnovers but he would've scored better if he was in 09 form against that "defense".
And he averaged 10+ assists not out the post. It's easy to get assists when they leave shooters WIDE open. That series' 7 assists per game is less impressive than 09's 7 against Orlando.
All true but it doesn't mean he's better. His post game is really nothing special yet.
ardee wrote:This is an incosistent statement. In 1991, Jordan's team won 61 games. They won 50 and 47 respectively in 1988 and 1989.
I feel this 09 vs. 12 debate is going to stretch on, but I simply feel that LeBron just had an easier time taking over games in 2009 then he ever did.
UDRIH14 wrote:09 who was lebrons opponents in the eastern playoffs?
KG?
03 duncan at least went through shaq/kome
JordansBulls wrote:Between these guys for me
--------- RS PER, WS48, --------- PER, WS48 playoffs
Duncan 2003: 26.9, 0.248------------28.4, 0.279 (24 playoff games, title)
Moses Malone 1983: 25.1, 0.248 -----25.7, 0.260 (13 playoff games, title)
Lebron James 2012:30.7, 0.298-------30.3, 0.284 (23 playoff games, title)
Dwyane Wade 2006: 27.6, 0.239-------26.9, 0.240 (23 playoff games, title)
Julius Erving 1976: 28.7, 0.262-----32.0, 0.321 (13 playoff games, title) - ABA
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/ ... ormances-3
2003 DUNCAN'S STATS
Points per game: 24.2
Boards per game: 17.0
Assists per game: 5.3
PER: 32.0
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/ ... ormances-1
2006 WADE'S STATS
Points per game: 34.7
Boards per game: 7.8
Steals per game: 2.7
PER: 33.8
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2 ... nces-11-20
MOSES MALONE FINALS STATS
Points per game: 25.8
Boards per game: 18.0
Blocks per game: 1.5
PER: 26.0
VOTE: Tim Duncan in 2003. He was the only player he literally was an allstar on his team, he also ended the reign of a 3x champion in the Lakers. He led the team to the best record in the league and he dominated in the finals playing great on both ends all season long.
ardee wrote:I'd lean toward 1990 because of the fact that they both had monster series' against the no. 1 defense in the league in the ECF.
semi-sentient wrote:Here's a great thread (RPOY Project) that should give people more insight into Walton's '77 season.
It got me thinking about whether or not he should have actually landed just behind Kareem given that the voting was so close. Lots of great posts regarding his impact and I think it quite clearly separates him from Dr. J.
viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1042101&start=6
Doctor MJ wrote:When you say Walton's separated from Erving, while making clear that Kareem's above Walton in your mind, it raises an eyebrow for me.