Infinite Llamas wrote:Imagine being in a world thinking that 2022-23 Cleveland was better than Miami or Sacramento was better than Lakers because of “seeding”. News flash. In this era of load managing, seeding isn’t important as it used to be. So to say that they beat an “8th seed” in the Finals lacks context on so many levels.
First off, Sacramento was definitely better than LA that year. I’ll give you Cleveland being inferior to Miami, but not the other.
Second, there’s much more to it than seeding. Again, it’s important to note their records and why they had said records to begin with. Again, the West was considered weak that year and for very good reasons.
Third, load management? That isn’t why Miami had a lower seed, same with LA. In reality, LA didn’t actually get better until they traded away Westbrook and acquired better fitting supporting pieces for their roster. And even then, they just barely squeaked their way in. Nice try but if you’re going to play the “apply context” game, do it correctly.
Infinite Llamas wrote:Jokic battled Bam, AD, Gobert in the playoffs last year…
Yeah and how’d that work out for them? None of them were capable of guarding Jokic and LA even stopped having AD guard Jokic at one point because they actually did better when he didn’t since they knew Jokic was usually looking to pass. But again, nice try.
Infinite Llamas wrote:who’d Lebron battle in the east once the Celtics core broke up? Paul George? DeRozan? Joe Johnson????
Significantly better teams, with higher SRS ratings and much better records. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but basketball is a team sport. Name dropping people and completely ignoring what kind of teams they were on (DeRozen was on multiple 50 win teams and wasn’t even the best player on his own team, Paul George was on the best defensive team in the league on multiple occasions). And I’m sorry, why are you ignoring the Thunder, the Spurs and the Warriors? Hell, the 2011 Mavericks were much better than the 2023 Heat. Are you just ignoring the Finals opponents?
Infinite Llamas wrote:Lebron had the easiest path to the Finals year in and year out and even if those Chicago and Indiana teams were feisty, they were still no match for a team with Lebron and Kyrie.
And yet none of those teams Jokic faced were a match for his Nuggets squad, so why aren’t you applying that same logic to them? Meanwhile when paired with Irving, LeBron had to face multiple 50 win teams and even a 60 winner at one point, on top of facing the Warriors every single time. Keep in mind that my argument is about having the easiest path to a title… you trying to move the goal posts isn’t going to help you here. And I know why you’re doing it, because that alone kills the argument that LeBron had an easier path.
There is only one year where you can argue LeBron had an easier path, and that’s 2017 when no one stood a realistic chance of defeating the Cavaliers even on their worst day… until they got to the finals, where they faced the greatest team ever put together. Please do tell me at what point did Denver face anything close to that? If they didn’t, your point is mute and your argument is automatically refuted.
Infinite Llamas wrote:“Quite literally the easiest path” is absolute lmao
It’s the absolute truth. Not my problem if you aren’t smart enough to understand why.