Around The NBA 4.0

[Imadogg]

That could have easily been made to perfectly loop

[JohnVancouver]

You have to think Miami is a little worried though - Indy hung with them all the way.

i would say indy are a little worried.

miami hung with them all the way, and snatched even snatched victory from the jaws of defeat

Sure, that's going to hurt their confidence but the coaching staff need to help them with it, "the importance of just one play, one mistake"

But Indy isn't supposed to win so less pressure.

[DEEP3CL]

I'm not so sure about Indy's confidence being shakened. In fact it's easier to rebound from those sort of losses. Because you know why you lost as opposed to getting annihilated and having to figure out a myriad of things that went wrong. Indy exposed a lot of what they can do to the Heat, the only adjustment is they have to figure out how to make Lebron work on defense better.

The Pacers just can't let him hide out on Stevenson, and just roam to help every damn where like he did.

[DEEP3CL]

@Aki & EArl......there is no curse, the Spurs got lucky as hell in Game 2. I'm still not sold on the Spurs dominating this series, I see too many damn holes in their arsenal. Tony Allen called it in an article I read today, Tony Parker is the head you have to cut off to kill the Spurs. If Allen checks TP from the jump Game 3 could be different.

[EArl]

Stop it Deep. You're only making it worse

[Dr Aki]

@Aki & EArl......there is no curse, the Spurs got lucky as hell in Game 2. I'm still not sold on the Spurs dominating this series, I see too many damn holes in their arsenal. Tony Allen called it in an article I read today, Tony Parker is the head you have to cut off to kill the Spurs. If Allen checks TP from the jump Game 3 could be different.

no more no more!!!!!

[dockingsched]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSgvEGhlwU[/youtube]

[Slava]

Dafuq Wade just elbowed Stephenson in the head!

[dockingsched]

don't choke this away IND

[Doormatt]

lebron thinks its 2007

[Slava]

Beast D by Indiana

[Doormatt]

its kind of funny because lebron is having a huge game.

[Dr Aki]

refs better not allow miami to split indy's 2 home games

[dockingsched]

in this situation, just throw it at the feet of the guy guarding the out of bounds man for kicks

[Doormatt]

indy really should be up 2-0

[Slava]

This actually reminds me of the OKC game in 2012 that Kobe & Blake choked away.

[DEEP3CL]

Aki and EArl........you guys are too funny. And you both seem to love the Spurs chances way too much. I've seen their act way too long, once Memphis figures out Parker or decides to put clamps on him you'll see them struggle.

Are both of you really watching the game within the game ?

Memphis talked about it today, they seem to know what they have to do. And that's the funny thing about 7 game series, just takes a short minute to catch up to schemes. Memphis have toyed with the Spurs in the past, they're not just going to suddenly dummy up for no reason.

[Dr Aki]

Aki and EArl........you guys are too funny. And you both seem to love the Spurs chances way too much. I've seen their act way too long, once Memphis figures out Parker or decides to put clamps on him you'll see them struggle.

Are both of you really watching the game within the game ?

Memphis talked about it today, they seem to know what they have to do. And that's the funny thing about 7 game series, just takes a short minute to catch up to schemes. Memphis have toyed with the Spurs in the past, they're not just going to suddenly dummy up for no reason.

i havent had the time to watch either game unfortunately.

but i have had the time to notice that every time deep makes a prediction regarding the spurs, they instantly prove him wrong

[DEEP3CL]

indy really should be up 2-0

Damn straight........but some weed head will think otherwise.

[MistyMountain20]

:x screw this, let's THROW DOWN!!!

still rather risk it and make nash shoot more knowing he's a better shooter than kobe

Sure, no arguments there. But Nash basically shot around the same total he did last year and wasn't too far off previous years before that. This is an issue in the aspect of Nash the player. He passes up shots, I don't it's Kobe stealing shots. And you also have the added factor that Nash was hurt. Remember, Kobe actually shot at a rate lowest since his MVP year, Kobe wasn't a gunner this year at all. Especially in the beginning of the season when the Lakers were trying different things (Mike Brown's offense, Steve Nash PnR, posting up Dwight etc.), all of that failed spectacularly.

still semi-efficient compared to lebron.

Was Kobe semi-efficient in '08?

kobe is more reliant on efficient scorers than lebron. i mentioned pau/odom/bynum as a trio because, inconsistent as LO/pau/bynum were individually; 1 (or more) of them on most nights would give an efficient scoring night and the trio would end up with an overall efficient scoring night (ie. throw all their scores together and treat them as one entity)

Well Pau was consistent, so don't lump him in there. I really don't see that, LeBron failed to get over the hump without high scoring efficient players. Now he has two and 2 finals appearances and a championship. I don't want to get too much into Kobe vs LeBron though.

do you believe that having a LO/pau/bynum trio as a big man rotation contributed more or less to the overall success than kobe? because i do; because i believe championships are built off the backs of big men, which has been true historically

Well bigs are easier to build around, but championship teams don't necessarily need to be dependent on them. As to your question, I don't know about making a false dilhema out of it. Lots of teams have qualties to them that if absent would seriously hinder their overall play. Take Bosh away from Miami or their shooters, how well does Miami do?

and don't get me wrong, i personally believe kobe was the best player on those teams, but given a choice between LO/pau/bynum vs kobe? i'd pick the trio to build a championship side over kobe and try to pick up perimeter players later

Kobe's a guy that can lead you to a title. There aren't too many players that can boast that claim. I'd pick Kobe 10 times out of 10.

historically, players were able to volume score closer to the basket have better TS%. kobe is semi-efficient due to his style of play. he has efficient players he doesn't utilise as much as he probably should.

Elaborate, like who? Nash? Howard? Pau? How aren't they being utilized correctly?

lebron is efficient due to his style of play, has less efficient players on his team. if i were spoelstra, i'd tell lebron to keep shooting and take even more shots away from wade and bosh right up until lebron's TS% falls off a cliff and tell him to pull back a bit (and right there, is mike brown in cleveland)

Interesting, so because LeBron is more efficient than the rest of the players on his team, so you would want to keep riding that gravy train. In a vacuum, you might be right, but like I've been echoing this whole time, things aren't black and white. You wouldn't maximize your other players skills, thus their effectiveness and impact would wane. And if we're really just zeroing in on TS%, then does LeBron start stealing shots from his floor spacers who are better shooters? What are they gonna do on the court now?