Do you rate losing?

Smash3 · Post #1 » by **Smash3** » Wed May 13, 2015 4:56 pm

I see a lot of posters are saying if Cleveland were to make the finals that would be a huge achievement which makes no sense to me. How are you happy getting to the finals? Especially for LeBron it would be 2 out of 6, and than people are saying yeah but he made the finals 6 times... The goal is to win the championship and how do you rate losing? Why would it feel better to make the finals? You still haven´t accomplished anything... Seems like a really bad argument: his teams finished second 4 times... So what? What do you guys think about it?

Post #2 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Wed May 13, 2015 6:45 pm

The Cavs have been godawful ever since LBJ left. Obviously winning it all is preferable, but why shouldn't they be happy with getting to the finals in his first year back and with a rookie head coach? Hell, they should be happy with this season by virtue of getting rid of Bennett and Waiters alone.

mastermixer · Post #3 » by **mastermixer** » Wed May 13, 2015 6:46 pm

Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

ishoy123 · Post #4 » by **ishoy123** » Wed May 13, 2015 6:47 pm

mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

what...

bmann626 · Post #5 » by **bmann626** » Wed May 13, 2015 6:49 pm

mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

You must be from West Virginia....or Detroit I cant tell.

Chronz · Post #6 » by **Chronz** » Wed May 13, 2015 6:52 pm

I rate a teams success relative to their talent base. Cavs making the Finals would be a huge accomplishment given the context of their situation, just like it was when they beat Detroit (who was superior talent/efficiency wise).

Post #7 » by **infinite11285** » Wed May 13, 2015 6:57 pm

mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

bleeds_purple · Post #8 » by **bleeds_purple** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:06 pm

You can characterize it as losing in the finals.

You can just as easily characterize it as winning the conference championship.

I'm sure anyone would rather lose in the finals then lose in an earlier round or not make the playoffs. With Love out they should view that as an accomplishment. That being said, Kyrie/Shumpert/Smith/James/Thompson(Mozgov) can hang with anyone.

Revived · Post #9 » by **Revived** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:10 pm

Once Love got injured for the season and Irving playing on one foot, the expectations for the Cavs are to just make Finals.

Most important thing is that all their young and in experienced players (minus Love) will get playoff experience and exposure to the biggest stage in basketball...NBA playoffs.

WIN · Post #10 » by **WIN** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:12 pm

mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

Only if your name is Jaime Lannister

andremcosta · Post #11 » by **andremcosta** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:14 pm

This IS just dumb.

People are suggesting that finishing #2 is worst than finishing #4? Is that Serious?

Lebron is arguably a top10 ever And players that Never made to Finals rarely breaks The top20, for good reason.

His legacy would be worst if he had lost a lot of times on the first rounds. T-mac is mocked all the time for that reason.

Your goal as a player is to go as far as you can. Since the West teams are better, you should try, even knowing you are a underdog.

Also, I don't understand why people care that much about Finals record. CP3 Never lost in the Finals. Is it good?

The Penguin · Post #12 » by **The Penguin** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:21 pm

bmann626 wrote:
mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

You must be from West Virginia....or Detroit I cant tell.

Last time I checked a map Akron was a lot closer to West Virginia than Detroit.

andremcosta · Post #13 » by **andremcosta** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:27 pm

Also, a lot of teams and players are respected by playing hard. You cannot look at sports history by only looking at champions. #2 is better than 28 teams in the league.

Malone, Stockton, barkley, Kidd, Kemp, nash, maravich, garnett, Gervin, Ewing, payton, baylor, ray allen.

Some of this guys have rings as older players, but were HOF locks before winning the first one.

I cannot accept to call all those guys losers and suggest that always losing in the first round would make them the same players.

WIN · Post #14 » by **WIN** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:29 pm

The Penguin wrote:
bmann626 wrote:
mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

You must be from West Virginia....or Detroit I cant tell.

Last time I checked a map Akron was a lot closer to West Virginia than Detroit.

The Realist · Post #15 » by **The Realist** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:40 pm

It would be interesting to analyze has losing in the finals become a disgrace only since Lebron started to threaten MJ and how that has changed how people view players in history, or was it always considered better to not reach become the conference champion but rather lose earlier.

Fact or fiction?: Michael Jordan would have been a greater basketball player than he ended up being, had his superior play been the deciding factor in Bulls reaching the NBA finals in 1989 and 1990, where in this hypothetical scenario they would've lost, giving Jordan a finals record of 6/8.

The Realist · Post #16 » by **The Realist** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:41 pm

mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

Underrated post.

nickhx2 · Post #17 » by **nickhx2** » Wed May 13, 2015 7:43 pm

Just making it to the finals is fine if you think your team isn't good enough to win it that year. It shows that your team is making progress or has made progress and has done enough to at least get there. From that point on, as a fan you can just say "yeah we need one more dude or some luck not being injured and we can do it next year."

If the cavs made the finals and pushed whoever it was in the west to 6 games, I'd be like "yeah damn if they had love they could win. Next year will be awesome." There wouldn't be a lot of shame in losing to a superior WC team, imo.

However, if you actually have expectations to win (i.e. you were rooting for the spurs or miami the last few years) and you got there and lost, then that is pretty crappy. The difference is really where your franchise is at and how championship-ready they are.

on a slightly different tangent, i'll never understand how most NFL players and media seem to talk about how just making it to the superbowl is the end-all, be-all. like when champ bailey finally made it with denver, everyone was so happy for him and talked about how he deserved it more than anyone. as a denver fan i was like wtf? how about you win it first and then you can be happy? just a weird thing to me, especially given that the broncos were considered heavy favorites.

Beffiosa · Post #18 » by **Beffiosa** » Wed May 13, 2015 8:58 pm

If not winning a championship is a failure, why are we saying Jordan is 6-6?
Jordan 6 wins 9 losses
Lebron 2 wins 9 losses
Kobe 5 wins 14 losses
Duncan 5 wins 13 losses
Durant 0 wins 8 losses

NBAfan3024 · Post #19 » by **NBAfan3024** » Wed May 13, 2015 9:04 pm

mastermixer wrote:Making it to the finals is like "kissing" your cousin.

Winning the finals is like "kissing" your sister

wtf

Post #20 » by **Goudelock** » Wed May 13, 2015 9:11 pm

The Realist wrote:
Fact or fiction?: Michael Jordan would have been a greater basketball player than he ended up being, had his superior play been the deciding factor in Bulls reaching the NBA finals in 1989 and 1990, where in this hypothetical scenario they would've lost, giving Jordan a finals record of 6/8.

I kind of wish that was reality so that I would't have to listen to the moronic "6 for 6 is better than 6 for 10" argument when it comes to comparing MJ and KAJ, or MJ and anybody else.

And yeah, I do think that it's stupid that losing in the second round/conference finals is better than losing in the finals.