NBA Playoffs 2007: Conference Finals

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

At 22 Jordan was a 2nd year player missing most of the season.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I think the Pistons are done. Aside from the bad coaching/decision-making, the Cavs have outplayed the Pistons in all five games. It should have been a sweep.

 

And I agree, this is the game that takes Lebron from superstar to legend.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I think the Pistons are done. Aside from the bad coaching/decision-making, the Cavs have outplayed the Pistons in all five games. It should have been a sweep.

 

And I agree, this is the game that takes Lebron from superstar to legend.

 

I don't know. The Cavs have been in this position last year. I think the solidifying of his legend happens if they win the series, otherwise it's just a failed opportunity. This was an insane game though and will help his status.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

What an amazing performance by James, just awesome.

 

His step back jumper is now my favorite signature move

[Nightwing 0]

I like this for two reasons:

 

1) Lebron and the Cavs are really showing themselves to be a top team, rather than just a team that plays well, but then loses it in the playoffs.

 

2) If Detroit loses again, they aren't going to be able to do this crap where they just don't show up to games. If you are going to play, play. If you don't want to, then why even make it into the playoffs? Detroit has been on top for a little too long and need to develop some hunger again. Otherwise, I don't see them making it to another Finals for a while.

[Just John 0]

Figures the one fucking night I go out in the last week I miss what could be the best game this year. ESPN Classic better put that shit on soon.

[Guest George's Box]

So I go to bed early one evening and suddenly LeBron James is the greatest man to ever play the game? Jesus Christ. Well, hopefully this takes the Pistons off their vacation and they can keep the bastard out of the finals.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I bet Lebron also rebuilt the city of New Orleans after the Saints failed to do so.

[Guest George's Box]

That made me laugh.

 

 

iggymcfly wasted no time talking like a dumbass, I see. One game and LeBron James is almost certainly better than Jordan. Just one game. Whatever, man. Are we forgetting that this guy coasted through the season?

[Precious Roy 0]

Jesus Christ is LeBron ridiculous. He basically just beat the best team in the Eastern Conference 1-on-5. I think the probability that he finishes with a better career than Jordan is now definitely over 50%.

 

Easy, tiger. LeBron is great, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

 

He's 22 though! At 22, he's carrying a worse team to the Finals then Jordan ever took there. Jordan didn't get to the Finals until he was 29 years old and he had Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant. Can you even imagine what LeBron would be like 7 years from now with some good teammates? It would be "hand out the trophy in October, no one else has a chance".

 

This Pistons team isn't exactly the Pistons of the 80's....look at the Eastern Conference then compared to now. I'm not with the whole, "the game sucks compared to back in the day" crowd, but the league is different, and Jordan had it much harder. He ran up against F'n Bird and the Celtics his first two years, then the Pistons when they were an absolute terror.

 

It was a great performance in an important game, but lets see the Cavs actually finish the Pistons AND play with San Antonio before all the dick sucking begins

[iggymcfly 0]

That made me laugh.

 

 

iggymcfly wasted no time talking like a dumbass, I see. One game and LeBron James is almost certainly better than Jordan. Just one game. Whatever, man. Are we forgetting that this guy coasted through the season?

 

Oh noes! I forgot that he only averaged 27/7/6 during the regular season at the age of 22. You're right, he sucks. Seriously, I doubt anyone would even bring up how "badly" LeBron played during the regular season if Bill Simmons hadn't used it for filler in one of his columns based on the 2 or 3 Cavs games he watched this year.

 

And if you're looking at postseason performance which is the true measure of an elite player anyway, you have a lot more than one game to go on. He played great against both Washington and Detroit last year taking a Cleveland team that wouldn't have made the playoffs without him to within one game of the conference finals. Then, this year, while the Cavs kind of had a bye in the 1st round with Washington's injuries, he played big against NJ when necessary and has totally been carrying Cleveland for the last three games. Yeah, he didn't go into ridiculous mode until game 6, but in Game 3, he had a 32/9/9 and in Game 4, he had 25 points and 11 asssists.

 

The fact is that he's doing something (singlehandedly carrying a team to the Finals) that's almost impossible at any age, and he's doing it at an age when a lot of players are just entering their rookie seasons. (Jordan turned 22 in February of his rookie season. LeBron turned 22 last December.) I never said he was better than Jordan at this point of his career, but yes, I think the chances that he gets there are pretty damned good.

[Guest George's Box]

He doesn't really have the same drive as Jordan, Kobe, Stockton, and other legends.

 

This is one game, guys. One game against the lazy-ass Pistons. We can't go from "LeBron will be a very good player" to "LeBron James will be better than Jordan" in just one game. This is another symptom of instant gratification culture. Just one game. Let's bear that in mind before we ride his dick for the next three days. Oh, and it's considerably easier to singlehandedly lead your team this far when you're only leading them past the corpse of the Wizards and the perpetually average Nets. It's not like he's beating the Suns, the Lakers, or even the Heat.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Figures the one fucking night I go out in the last week I miss what could be the best game this year. ESPN Classic better put that shit on soon.

 

If you have NBA TV can you see it at 12:00ET

[Coffin Surfer 0]

So I turn on ESPN and there talking how Lebron now ranks among Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan...blah, blah, blah.

 

"This is one game, guys. One game against the lazy-ass Pistons. We can't go from "LeBron will be a very good player" to "LeBron James will be better than Jordan" in just one game. This is another symptom of instant gratification culture. Just one game. Let's bear that in mind before we ride his dick for the next three days."

 

 

Exactly. Just to throw my two cents into the Jordan thing. He was great for an entire series against what was possibly the greatest Bird led Championship Celtics team. Still, evidently an awesome performance from LeBron, and what do you know they can actually show replays of him socring as opposed to the Wade crap from last year where he's just standing at a free throw line.

[Guest George's Box]

And I agree, this is the game that takes Lebron from superstar to legend.

one

 

game.

 

You're all such a bunch of rubes. Booyah!

[iggymcfly 0]

Actually, I've been on the "LeBron will be better than MJ" bandwagon since his rookie season. He's just been accomplishing more at a younger age than anyone in NBA history since he came into the league. Again, it's not just this one game. If anything, this is big in that it's his breakthrough to get by the Pistons and reach the Finals more than it is that he scored 25 points in the 4th quarter + OT or whatever the final number was. If the Cavs lose in Games 6 and 7, you can go ahead and write this off and say he still hasn't accomplished anything yet. Honestly, though I don't see it happening. LeBron and the 11 stiffs have been outplaying the Pistons all series long.

[Guest George's Box]

If the Cavs lose in Games 6 and 7, you can go ahead and write this off and say he still hasn't accomplished anything yet. Honestly, though I don't see it happening. LeBron and the 11 stiffs have been outplaying the Pistons all series long.

Well, you got burned on the Mavericks-Warriors prediction, Mr. Nowitzness, so I hope you're wrong again and the Global Icon gets sent packing.

[iggymcfly 0]

By the way, more proof that Mike Brown doesn't actually pay attention during the games:

 

"For him to score 29 of the last 30 points, somebody told me that in the locker room and I could not believe it," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "I could not believe he scored 29 of the last 30 points.

 

Honestly, how could you be coaching the game and not notice that LeBron was the only one who was scoring. Maybe Flip Saunders didn't notice either and that's why he never bothered to double team him down the stretch.

[iggymcfly 0]

If the Cavs lose in Games 6 and 7, you can go ahead and write this off and say he still hasn't accomplished anything yet. Honestly, though I don't see it happening. LeBron and the 11 stiffs have been outplaying the Pistons all series long.

Well, you got burned on the Mavericks-Warriors prediction, Mr. Nowitzness, so I hope you're wrong again and the Global Icon gets sent packing.

 

You can't really expect me to be objective when the team I've followed since childhood is on the verge of pulling the biggest choke in playoff history. Especially after watching what Dirk did last season against San Antonio and Phoenix, it was hard to believe that he could disappear so completely throughout an entire series. Just from watching Cleveland and Detroit though, I really do think Cleveland's better. They were a bad no-call away from winning Game 2, and both games in Cleveland, they won by semi-comfortable margins. (As in, they didn't go down to the last shot like both of Detroit's wins did.)

[Guest George's Box]

The mindset of the Detroit Pistons is just a mystery to me. Here's a team that can beat anyone in the league if they want to, but they don't always want to. There's no drive, no killer instinct. It's not Flippy's fault; they were like this before. If this doesn't get them to flip the switch, as they did with the Bulls last round, then nothing can ever flip the switch for any team, ever. The Pistons are a much better team than the Cavaliers. This is common knowledge, guys. At the end of April we were talking about how the Pistons should be able to cakewalk to the Finals, and how the Cavs are one of the shittier #2 seeds in recent years, and in spite of Cleveland holding a 3-2 lead right now, I don't disagree with the prior assessment at all. The Cavaliers are a bad team with one good player, who has had a few big nights in recent days because someone or something has finally managed to light a fire under his ass for the first time in god-knows-when. The Pistons can shut the Cavaliers down if they so please. I just don't think they're entirely committed to doing so, which, like I said, I just cannot fathom.

[C Dubya 04 0]

By the way, more proof that Mike Brown doesn't actually pay attention during the games:

 

"For him to score 29 of the last 30 points, somebody told me that in the locker room and I could not believe it," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "I could not believe he scored 29 of the last 30 points.

 

Honestly, how could you be coaching the game and not notice that LeBron was the only one who was scoring. Maybe Flip Saunders didn't notice either and that's why he never bothered to double team him down the stretch.

 

Flip has done an amazingly bad job this series, but he did send at least two guys at LeBron. What can a coach do if a guy is hitting fade away threes over two defenders? LeBron was sick, end of story.

 

There's a great picture of his final layup up at deadspin. It's a fairly wide shot, but you can see all 5 Pistons and LeBron. That's all. Guy took over.

 

Let's slow down on the better than Jordan talk. That can't come until the end of a career. But this game definitely moved LeBron up a level. Every great player needs a signature game. Usually it doesn't come at age 22, which makes this even more amazing.

[Ripper 0]

I am not on the "its just one game" bandwagon.

 

This isn't Willie Burton scoring 50 here (hells yeah...I have been waiting YEARS to use that reference). this isn't his first great performance. This isn't his first great performance in the Playoffs. In this series.

 

I understand that ESPN can be nausiating with its coverage, but don't let the annoying talking heads fool you, you saw one of the great playoff performances ever last night. On the road in the East finals to take back home court with a entire team of players who couldn't buy a shot.

 

And honestly, the thing that separates Jordan from all the "Better than jordan" guys is an unstoppable move. You couldn't stop jordans fade away. He jumped too high and could hit it with his eyes closed. Until Lebron gets one of those(unstoppable move) or anyone else, they won't be a better scorer than Jordan.

 

But lets not pretend being better than jordan is a unattainable goal. Because you know....there are those other guys.

[Brett Favre 0]

LeBron James is the greatest player ever!)#@(!#!@

 

Yesterday's performance was one of the best ever easily. Mike Brown nearly kept them from winning the game by wasting timeouts, keeping Marshall in the game, putting Damon Jones in the game, and taking out Big Z in portions of the overtimes. But LeBron wasn't going to be denied. 25 straight points is insane.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I am not on the "its just one game" bandwagon.

 

This isn't Willie Burton scoring 50 here (hells yeah...I have been waiting YEARS to use that reference). this isn't his first great performance. This isn't his first great performance in the Playoffs. In this series.

 

I understand that ESPN can be nausiating with its coverage, but don't let the annoying talking heads fool you, you saw one of the great playoff performances ever last night. On the road in the East finals to take back home court with a entire team of players who couldn't buy a shot.

 

And honestly, the thing that separates Jordan from all the "Better than jordan" guys is an unstoppable move. You couldn't stop jordans fade away. He jumped too high and could hit it with his eyes closed. Until Lebron gets one of those(unstoppable move) or anyone else, they won't be a better scorer than Jordan.

 

But lets not pretend being better than jordan is a unattainable goal. Because you know....there are those other guys.

 

Really, the thing to me that is most exciting about LeBron from the standpoint of being an NBA fan, is that he has the potential to almost combine the games of Jordan and Magic. Put him around another good player and I could see LeBron doing the things that Magic did so well, and adding in the playmaking ability of Jordan. Obviously, that's a high goal to set for some one, but if LeBron hits his full potential, I think that he could get there.

[iggymcfly 0]

The Pistons can shut the Cavaliers down if they so please. I just don't think they're entirely committed to doing so, which, like I said, I just cannot fathom.

 

And you thought I was in denial about the Mavericks? Believe me, if the Pistons could have stopped LeBron, they would have done it last night. After two close wins at home, and then two losses on the road, there's no way they were "underestimating the Cavs". They did everything they could to stop LeBron last night, but he was just a little bit too good for them. End of story.

 

Edit: Also, this whole idea that the Pistons were such a juggernaut and were so much better than the Cavs this year is a little silly to me. They finished 3 games better than Cleveland in the standings. Three. Despite the criticism that Cleveland was "coasting through the regular season" and that LeBron was only giving half-hearted effort. Is it really that shocking that Cleveland's just the better team now? The 11 schlubs do play solid defense and rebound well. If LeBron has to take every shot down the stretch, so be it.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

The Pistons can shut the Cavaliers down if they so please. I just don't think they're entirely committed to doing so, which, like I said, I just cannot fathom.

 

And you thought I was in denial about the Mavericks?

 

WE WERE ALL NOWITZKINESSES! M I RITE?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

(Jordan turned 22 in February of his rookie season. LeBron turned 22 last December.) I never said he was better than Jordan at this point of his career, but yes, I think the chances that he gets there are pretty damned good.

 

That's actually my point. You cannot compare the two when Lebron at that age had already 4 seasons under the belt and Jordan was still a rookie/2nd year player by then. I don't even think the Cavaliers will win the series, but here's something to consider. The Bulls went to the conference finals with Jordan in as long as it took Lebron (4 years). So age aside, they are on a similar pace. If Lebron goes on to have a better career, it'd be because he had 4 extra years to pad his stats (assuming he retires at the same age).

 

I also would like to add that Jordan had his signature game two years into his career in the playoffs (63 points against a superior Boston Celtics) and it took Lebron 4 years (48 points against Pistons).

[Ripper 0]

This is Lebrons 2nd year in the playoffs, isn't it?

[iggymcfly 0]

Age is more significant than years in the league. Kobe's second year in the league, he was still coming off the bench, so even among great players, it's really hard to produce at 18/19. You wouldn't try to compare that to Jordan's big playoff series, would you? I think the year he turned 22 (00/01) is a much fairer comparison, especially since that's when he started scoring on a similar metric to what he'd do throughout his career, just like Jordan did in his second season.

 

Besides, don't all the talking heads always talk about how it's good for young players to stay in college and work on their game and that that helps them eventually do better in the pros? Well, if that's the case, it's pretty silly to brush Jordan's years playing for Dean Smith under the rug and say that they don't count at all toward his development. No way should LeBron's first year out of high school be compared on a 1-to-1 basis with Jordan's rookie season after three years at UNC. I'd say Jordan's rookie season compares much better to what LeBron did last season when he'd had enough time to really develop his game.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

The mindset of the Detroit Pistons is just a mystery to me. Here's a team that can beat anyone in the league if they want to, but they don't always want to. There's no drive, no killer instinct. It's not Flippy's fault; they were like this before. If this doesn't get them to flip the switch, as they did with the Bulls last round, then nothing can ever flip the switch for any team, ever. The Pistons are a much better team than the Cavaliers. This is common knowledge, guys. At the end of April we were talking about how the Pistons should be able to cakewalk to the Finals, and how the Cavs are one of the shittier #2 seeds in recent years, and in spite of Cleveland holding a 3-2 lead right now, I don't disagree with the prior assessment at all. The Cavaliers are a bad team with one good player, who has had a few big nights in recent days because someone or something has finally managed to light a fire under his ass for the first time in god-knows-when. The Pistons can shut the Cavaliers down if they so please. I just don't think they're entirely committed to doing so, which, like I said, I just cannot fathom.

 

The Cavs are a bad team? I understand that they're not the fuckin 96 Bulls or whatever but to say The Cavs are a bad team is ridiculous. Sure are a lot of ifs in your post. The Cavs are up 3-2 and about to go to the NBA Finals for the 1st time. No ifs there.

 

Raging inferno daddio!