2013-14 MVP Discussion Thread Pt II

[theokie]

Everyone is just splitting hairs with this garbage time nonsense. Take away LeBron's 7 points at the end, he still had 27 on efficient shooting, so its not like Durant or OKC shut him down. He basically hit his average. Garbage time or not, OKC still had their players out there on the floor when LeBron was still scoring. Maybe with a 20 point lead and 5 minutes left they weren't exerting as much energy, but still. It doesn't matter.

Whether LeBron scored 34 legit points or 27, it doesn't matter. OKC played better, Durant played slightly better. Watching the two best players on the planet go at it like that was incredible. Lets just enjoy it and give credit to both guys for playing good games, instead of nitpicking when and how points were scored.

Durant was still trying to score late in the game, he just missed some shots and had some sloppy turnovers. If he had scored in the last couple minutes its not like this points wouldn't have counted.

[PaulieWal]

Everyone is just splitting hairs with this garbage time nonsense. Take away LeBron's 7 points at the end, he still had 27 on efficient shooting, so its not like Durant or OKC shut him down. He basically hit his average. Garbage time or not, OKC still had their players out there on the floor when LeBron was still scoring. Maybe with a 20 point lead and 5 minutes left they weren't exerting as much energy, but still. It doesn't matter.

Whether LeBron scored 34 legit points or 27, it doesn't matter. OKC played better, Durant played slightly better. Watching the two best players on the planet go at it like that was incredible. Lets just enjoy it and give credit to both guys for playing good games, instead of nitpicking when and how points were scored.

Durant was still trying to score late in the game, he just missed some shots and had some sloppy turnovers. If he had scored in the last couple minutes its not like this points wouldn't have counted.

And 1'd your post and want to say your posts are always quite objective, rational, and fair. Maybe others would do well to take their cues from you.

"KD's lackey" and "post Kobe decline" (as if LeBron is in some steep decline) type of ridiculous comments do nothing to advance good conversation and discussion on the board.

[Voice_of_Reason]

Still find it puzzling how people call the MVP race over. LeBron had a better month last year than any of Durant's this month. He is shooting the lights out at the moment, if he goes on a poor shooting stretch he will come right back.

[RSCD3_]

I think people dont realize that they can call one performance good and the other good as well.

Lebron played a good game
He scored in the post and midrange and hit all his freethrows. He had 3 turnovers and one of them was an errant pass by cole that he had to try and save.

Durant started off shaky and ended up good just hitting good shots that were well defended. Played at least as good as lebron. Props to him.

The real difference was the difference in 3 point shooting and uncharacteristic sloppy turnovers that werent helped by good thunder D.



Sent from my SCH-I800 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[QPR]

Still find it puzzling how people call the MVP race over. LeBron had a better month last year than any of Durant's this month. He is shooting the lights out at the moment, if he goes on a poor shooting stretch he will come right back.

Why would LeBron want to expend the energy required though? He knows they're going to play Indiana in the conference finals, he knows they can win the title without home court. Why would he want to go into the playoffs having tried to win another regular season MVP in the last 30 games?

He needs Durant to drop right off statistically, he needs OKC to cool right off and he needs to get Miami on another 20+ streak. I just don't see the point for him.

Whatever month LeBron has had in the past, KD has put together one of the best offensive months in the last decade, while leading a Westbrook-less Thunder to a clear lead in the West and one game off the best record in the league. That's a pretty tough narrative for anyone else to overcome for MVP.

History says he's going to shoot 50/40/90 or close to it, so a big enough shooting slump would be pretty out of character.

[kingkirk]

Honestly, who gives a **** if Lebron got as many points as Durant?

The biggest stat was the W more so than the individuals play. OKC keep winning without Russell, Durant keeps posting hufe numbers and the Thunder beat the Heat on their home floor comfortably.

Even if Lebron played better than KD (he didn't), it's a moot point.

[Apollo64]

I think we need to go back to Jordan years to find such a stretch of beasting from a single player.

And i agree that the MVP race shouldn't be considered over yet. There are too many games left in the season.

[Jon Connor]

I get you're trying to make a joke, but its a bad one. The game was still close and those possessions mattered in the third at the time.

At half: Kd - 16. LJ - 15

End of 3rd: KD - 28. LJ - 27



So where is the bad joke? Go ahead and look at the play by play. When Durant was scoring a bunch in the 3rd, LeBron was scoring right there with him. How again are LeBron's points considered in "garbage time" and Durant's arent.

Your kogic: game was still close so the possessions still mattered. They were literally equal scoring wise during that few minute stretch when they were answering eachother. LeBron went from 19 to 27 and KD went from 20 to 28.

Looking forward to an explanation from either you or Mr. "All of LeBron's points came in garbage time" Fallacy. For now on i'm just gonna say ALL of Durant's points come from fts

I'm saying LeBron didn't get all his points in garbage time like you sarcastically suggested. And that stretch in the 3rd quarter where they were trading baskets definitely wasn't garbage time.
Maybe actually read what I said instead I assuming the worst because of my username.

I read what you wrote and you definitely made it sound like you were disagreeing with me saying "bad joke" and all that nonsense. I wasnt trying to make a haha funny joke i was simply pointing out the ridiculousness of saying LeBrons points didnt matter while Durants did (which was exactly what Fallacy said). I didnt just say it out of nowhere so i dont really see what your issue is.

You agreed with what I said about the points not being in garbage time so if you woulda left the "bad joke" part out i wouldnt have mistaken you for agrreing with your boy Fallacy who was wrong. Maybe next time you be a little clearer.

[Jon Connor]

Durant is easily the MVP right now. But it's laughable to say Durant outplayed Lebron.

Lebron guarded him the WHOLE game. Durant guarded him what? When it's cool? Guarding elite offensive talent takes a toll. And Lebron still put up 34 points on BETTER %. Nobody can check any great offensive player, so it's ridiculous to think Lebron can slow down Durant who's on a historic hot streak.

But have Durant guard Lebron the whole game and he's most likely on the bench in foul trouble.

The Thunder won b/c they made a FRANCHISE record 16 3s.

Next duel is in a month. Hopefully Durant guards Lebron the whole game b/c that's what we want to see.

I think Durant outplayed Bron but only slightly. I totally agree with you about the defense. I've seen multiple boards praising Durant for his defense this game which is ridiculous. LeBron had almost as good of a game as Durant while actually guarding him the whole game! Idk how people are acting like guarding the best player all game doesnt matter.

I see people saying "LeBron only scored when Durant wasnt guarding him" like its some huge praise for Durant. I would say a large reason for that is Durant was only guarding him for about 1/4 of the game

[RSCD3_]

Yeah the big thing is miami needs to improve its 3 pt defense, spo needs to refine the rotations or simply quit over rotating so much as a strategry

Sent from my SCH-I800 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[Bank Shot]

Dragic should get some MVP love. Obviously he can't compare to the top guys but he should be an easy top 10 guy at this point. The Suns are hands down the biggest surprise of the year and the roster is very unimpressive.

[RubiosBeard]

Dragic should get some MVP love. Obviously he can't compare to the top guys but he should be an easy top 10 guy at this point. The Suns are hands down the biggest surprise of the year and the roster is very unimpressive.

Having watched bunch of Suns games this year (Dragic on my fantasy team woo), he's been fantastic. Especially after the Bledsoe injury I though that team would fall apart, but he's kept them afloat in a hyper-competitive West. At the very least he'll get MIP love.

[theokie]

At half: Kd - 16. LJ - 15

End of 3rd: KD - 28. LJ - 27



So where is the bad joke? Go ahead and look at the play by play. When Durant was scoring a bunch in the 3rd, LeBron was scoring right there with him. How again are LeBron's points considered in "garbage time" and Durant's arent.

Your kogic: game was still close so the possessions still mattered. They were literally equal scoring wise during that few minute stretch when they were answering eachother. LeBron went from 19 to 27 and KD went from 20 to 28.

Looking forward to an explanation from either you or Mr. "All of LeBron's points came in garbage time" Fallacy. For now on i'm just gonna say ALL of Durant's points come from fts

I'm saying LeBron didn't get all his points in garbage time like you sarcastically suggested. And that stretch in the 3rd quarter where they were trading baskets definitely wasn't garbage time.
Maybe actually read what I said instead I assuming the worst because of my username.

I read what you wrote and you definitely made it sound like you were disagreeing with me saying "bad joke" and all that nonsense. I wasnt trying to make a haha funny joke i was simply pointing out the ridiculousness of saying LeBrons points didnt matter while Durants did (which was exactly what Fallacy said). I didnt just say it out of nowhere so i dont really see what your issue is.

You agreed with what I said about the points not being in garbage time so if you woulda left the "bad joke" part out i wouldnt have mistaken you for agrreing with your boy Fallacy who was wrong. Maybe next time you be a little clearer.

You were clearly being sarcastic when you said Durant's points counted but LeBron's don't. It was a poor attempt at humor. Thats whats I meant by "bad joke." And if that wasn't clear, my second comment clearly indicated the point I was making. I wasn't making one point and then following that up with a completely opposite proposition. And because you apparently read that as such, you probably should've realized that you were confused instead of jumping to crazy conclusions.

Its not my job to spell things out for you, and i truly don't care if you can't comprehend what I'm saying. I haven't ran into that problem on here with anyone else before.

[Wall34]

Why would you want KD (who is already carrying a crazy load offensively) be on LBJ all game? I would like to see KD defend LBJ in 4th quarters though everytime they play he seems like the only one on OKC who can some what guard him. (Thabo can't)

[Ninjek]

Why would you want KD (who is already carrying a crazy load offensively) be on LBJ all game? I would like to see KD defend LBJ in 4th quarters though everytime they play he seems like the only one on OKC who can some what guard him. (Thabo can't)

Why would you want Lebron(who was carrying a big offensive load) to be on KD all the time? Because they were both guarding each other well.

[Ninjek]

I have to question how closely some of you watched the game. KD started on Lebron until he got a couple early fouls (1 offensive), then they had to switch schemes and moderate how often he was guarding him. But it wound up as the game progressed. Very, very poor attempt at discrediting Durant.

No one's using it to discredit durant, rather say that lebron was pretty damn impressive for guarding kd and playing that well on O too.

[Wall34]

Why would you want KD (who is already carrying a crazy load offensively) be on LBJ all game? I would like to see KD defend LBJ in 4th quarters though everytime they play he seems like the only one on OKC who can some what guard him. (Thabo can't)

Why would you want Lebron(who was carrying a big offensive load) to be on KD all the time? Because they were both guarding each other well.

I meant with Westbrook out he has been asked to carry more of the burden offensively i think it would be a mistake to ask him to guard someone like LBJ all game...especially when you have someone in the starting lineup who only purpose is the guard the opposing teams best perimeter scorer.

[Jon Connor]

I'm saying LeBron didn't get all his points in garbage time like you sarcastically suggested. And that stretch in the 3rd quarter where they were trading baskets definitely wasn't garbage time.
Maybe actually read what I said instead I assuming the worst because of my username.

I read what you wrote and you definitely made it sound like you were disagreeing with me saying "bad joke" and all that nonsense. I wasnt trying to make a haha funny joke i was simply pointing out the ridiculousness of saying LeBrons points didnt matter while Durants did (which was exactly what Fallacy said). I didnt just say it out of nowhere so i dont really see what your issue is.

You agreed with what I said about the points not being in garbage time so if you woulda left the "bad joke" part out i wouldnt have mistaken you for agrreing with your boy Fallacy who was wrong. Maybe next time you be a little clearer.

You were clearly being sarcastic when you said Durant's points counted but LeBron's don't. It was a poor attempt at humor. Thats whats I meant by "bad joke." And if that wasn't clear, my second comment clearly indicated the point I was making. I wasn't making one point and then following that up with a completely opposite proposition. And because you apparently read that as such, you probably should've realized that you were confused instead of jumping to crazy conclusions.

Its not my job to spell things out for you, and i truly don't care if you can't comprehend what I'm saying. I haven't ran into that problem on here with anyone else before.

"I get what you're saying, this is just a bad post. Its a poor attempt at explaining what happened. I agree with you though." That woukdnt confuse you at all?

Idk why you think sarcasm automatically equals joke. Did my sarcasm not fit the situation perfectly? You have Fallacy (and others implying) saying that ALL of LeBron's points came from garbage time which was obviously wrong. Apparently you agreed with me but your little dig at a supposed joke that i wasnt even making made it seem like you werent.

Anyways im over this but always down to talk bball. If you leave out your judging of jokes next time maybe that can happen.

[Jon Connor]

I have to question how closely some of you watched the game. KD started on Lebron until he got a couple early fouls (1 offensive), then they had to switch schemes and moderate how often he was guarding him. But it wound up as the game progressed. Very, very poor attempt at discrediting Durant.

No one's using it to discredit durant, rather say that lebron was pretty damn impressive for guarding kd and playing that well on O too.

Not discrediting Durant at all. It would have been dumb for KD to guard LeBron the whole game and risk foul trouble. The thing is, as fans we wanna see the 2 best players in the world go at it and the theres no easier way to judge the two then when they are actually guarding eachother the whole game. And it absolutely is more difficult to guard the other team's best player while carrying the offense, I don't see how anyone can refute that. LeBron took the challenge. With KD, we don't know if he would or wouldnt have guarded LeBron all game if he didnt get those early fouls.

[dabadguy]

--