*** Official 2015-16 NBA Playoff Thread ***

The crazy thing to me is that LeBron actually lived up to the hype. He was incredibly hyped coming out of high school into the NBA and actually met expectations. He isn't perfect, but he has had an incredible career. I can't think of anyone who had as much hype and lived up to it to the degree he has, at least out of high school.

LeBron is like Tiger Woods if Tiger hadn't fallen off the map but still came up just short of Jack's legacy. (IMHO anyway)

Which is to say pretty amazing.
 
true, true. I guess my original post was just a bit of a jab at that fact. And with everyone saying Steph is the best shooter of all time, him not being on his game in the biggest part of their season should be talked about, and not have excuses made for.

Yeah, I think you can criticize his shooting % tonight for sure. I'm more talking about his overall playoff career/future.
 
Curry also looks pretty hobbled out there compared to what I was seeing from him in the Portland series. He took some games over and he just doesn't seem to have the same quickness or agility he had in that series. That and him not finishing around the basket like he normally does is what leads some to think he might be hurt.
 
Curry also looks pretty hobbled out there compared to what I was seeing from him in the Portland series. He took some games over and he just doesn't seem to have the same quickness or agility he had in that series. That and him not finishing around the basket like he normally does is what leads some to think he might be hurt.

How much of that is a unique injury and how much of it is that playoff ball is a physical grind on every player?
 
Yeah, I think you can criticize his shooting % tonight for sure. I'm more talking about his overall playoff career/future.
Forsure, but that playoff career/future is still up in the air IMO. Even if he led his team last year, he wasn't the best player in the finals, and he had Dellavedova guarding him more often than not. Not saying that can't change at all. It is just strange to see a player of his caliber, who usually makes unbelievable shots with astounding ease, that he hasn't done that in some of the biggest parts of his career so far.
 
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How much of that is a unique injury and how much of it is that playoff ball is a physical grind on every player?

While there is definitely a grind for every player, it's impossible to say how much is a unique injury without being the guy's doctor. He did sit out some playoff games already this postseason due to injury. I would also think his style of play is more able to be impacted by such things, since he doesn't have the size to brute force anything.
 
While there is definitely a grind for every player, it's impossible to say how much is a unique injury without being the guy's doctor. He did sit out some playoff games already this postseason due to injury. I would also think his style of play is more able to be impacted by such things, since he doesn't have the size to brute force anything.
And the first game he came back from that injury he had 40 pts with an all-time NBA record of 17 points in overtime.
 
While there is definitely a grind for every player, it's impossible to say how much is a unique injury without being the guy's doctor. He did sit out some playoff games already this postseason due to injury. I would also think his style of play is more able to be impacted by such things, since he doesn't have the size to brute force anything.

I think it's more likely what you're saying here. He's just a little banged up, but just a little banged up Curry is different than just a little banged up LeBron, Jordan, Malone, Shaq, etc...
 
Iverson took himself and four stiffs to the finals. And he was tiny.

That's true, Isiah was the best player on some really, really good Piston teams that won a couple titles and were close to winning a couple more if things went their way. Iverson, like you said, led an average supporting cast through a very weak East, had an epic Game 1 win and then got ran over by the Lakers. So as far as elite teams led by undersized guards I think you have to go back to Thomas.
 
That's true, Isiah was the best player on some really, really good Piston teams that won a couple titles and were close to winning a couple more if things went their way. Iverson, like you said, led an average supporting cast through a very weak East, had an epic Game 1 win and then got ran over by the Lakers. So as far as elite teams led by undersized guards I think you have to go back to Thomas.

My original point was a guy who carried teams to championships. Sometimes it's a team title like these recent Spurs or the more recent Detroit team. More often it's one unstoppable force putting a team on his back. That guy is usually physically dominant comparative to his position.

It's really hard to win a title, even with all the young talent Golden State has it's not a foregone conclusion they'll get there again.
 
LeBron's always been graded on a tougher scale than anyone in NBA history. He's always been compared to the all-time greats rather than other guys in the league. Everything he's done has been in a historical context from the time he was a rookie, it's always going to be different with him compared to anyone else.



Bron could beat Kareem's scoring record by averaging 26 a game for the next five years.
He could do that (assuming health) but would have to kind of go away from the team game.
It's pretty amazing considering Kareem got the ball dumped into him at least half the time in non-fast break situations.
 
It really doesn't look like Curry is big enough to fight through all the off-the-ball contact that has been allowed. Teams know they can grab and pull him with regularity when he doesn't have the ball. It doesn't get called at near the rate it probably should. That's probably one thing which really helps the more physically dominant stars. They can play through that contact a lot easier.

The off the ball contact started happening in the playoffs because teams started doing it back, not necessarily because it isn't getting called. Curry creates a lot of off ball contact by pushing off on wrap arounds but he's so small that he gets away with it when he can hide it behind a big screen. Thompson does the same thing.

The Warriors started pulling Adams on every possession, including Curry, for a stretch in the third quarter to keep him off the boards and they couldn't stop him.
 
The off the ball contact started happening in the playoffs because teams started doing it back, not necessarily because it isn't getting called. Curry creates a lot of off ball contact by pushing off on wrap arounds but he's so small that he gets away with it when he can hide it behind a big screen. Thompson does the same thing.

The Warriors started pulling Adams on every possession, including Curry, for a stretch in the third quarter to keep him off the boards and they couldn't stop him.

This is the kind of stuff that is bothering me about the NBA right now. There is so much off the ball contact as part of the game plan that it's gotten crazy (that and the ridiculous amount of uncalled travels). The other night Scola was essentially hugging Kevin Love everywhere he went and always had a handful of jersey. I hate that flopping and over exaggerating has become common place in the NBA but I cannot blame some for trying it as it appears it's the only way to get a call off the ball.
 
Letting "the players decide" is fine until someone gets hurt (or intentionally kicked in the nuts).
 
That's true, Isiah was the best player on some really, really good Piston teams that won a couple titles and were close to winning a couple more if things went their way. Iverson, like you said, led an average supporting cast through a very weak East, had an epic Game 1 win and then got ran over by the Lakers. So as far as elite teams led by undersized guards I think you have to go back to Thomas.

Man, those Pistons teams were tough. I was old enough to remember them getting Dennis Rodman, and then they were just nasty. Chuck Daly was the perfect coach for that crew.
 
I really wish Westbrook and KD stay in OKC, they can easily win a couple championships.

I have the Cavs winning the next 2 games.
 
I really wish Westbrook and KD stay in OKC, they can easily win a couple championships.

I have the Cavs winning the next 2 games.

Title windows in the NBA open and close faster than you usually expect. Four years ago it looked like OKC would own the West for the foreseeable future, then all of a sudden it looked like they had completely missed their chance and now their one win from being the favorites in the Finals again.

A couple months ago Joe Lacob was going on and on about how the Warriors were going to dominate the league for years to come, suddenly they don't look athletic enough to keep up with OKC. I think win or lose, Durant comes back to OKC for at least one more year and if they get a title at any point during that stretch it will be real hard for him to walk away.
 
Man, those Pistons teams were tough. I was old enough to remember them getting Dennis Rodman, and then they were just nasty. Chuck Daly was the perfect coach for that crew.

Until someone gave it back to them or beat them and then they turned into the biggest group of whiners in the NBA.
 

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