The 2014 NBA Finals Thread (Spurs vs Heat)

bigfoot5415 said:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>BAH GAWD...STOP THE DAMN <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NBAFinals&src=hash">#NBAFinals</a>....THE <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT">@MiamiHEAT</a> HAVE FAMILIES DAMMIT!!!</p>— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/JRsBBQ/statuses/478357974281617408">June 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
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I love WWE, but JR annoys the piss out of me.

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How do you get your tweet to show up like that? I have been trying for the longest

Sorry I wasn't around last night to send Pyro (and anyone else giving non-Spurs fans a hard time) on vacation. CavsTalk is a place that accepts fans of all types as long as they follow the rules. It's one of the reasons we have good discussions.

And yes I'm glad that the Spurs stomped them. :chuckles:

And, if I have to read any other bickering session between Pyro and Cassius X 1965, they will both be gone for a month.

s1ced said:

How do you get your tweet to show up like that? I have been trying for the longest

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Click on embed when you view the tweet by itself. Then just copy & paste that code.

I know the Cavs got swept by the Spurs, but I think the games then were generally closer when the Cavs played them than this series was.

Redzone said:

I know the Cavs got swept by the Spurs, but I think the games then were generally closer when the Cavs played them than this series was.

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They were closer score wise, but the Spurs definitely controlled that series.

Game 1: 85-76 (-9)
Game 2: 103-92 (-11)
Game 3: 75-72 (-3)
Game 4: 83-82 (-1) *But as I recall, Damon Jones hit a three as the clock expired, so this is closer to a four point loss.

I don't remember the Cleveland fans walking out midway through the fourth like the Miami fans did either.

Redzone said:

I know the Cavs got swept by the Spurs, but I think the games then were generally closer when the Cavs played them than this series was.

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True, however this spurs team is much better than that one was, IMO.


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pl4tinum said:

1. What if he had played all 42 minutes like he did, but the game was tied at that point? Does he sit down with exhaustion?
2. Who's smart idea was it to not give him a breather and run him into the ground if it isn't his fault?
3. Do you think Michael Jordan sits down with a 16 point deficit and 7 minutes remaining in an elimination game in the finals with the chance for a 3-peat on the line? Let's just stop comparing Lebron to Jordan, can we? I mean for good.
4. Is Lebron really the best player on the planet or is he the best player on the planet until the game is on the line?
5. I can't help but wonder about if he comes back here and gets us to the finals and then chokes it all away again because we don't have the Ray Allen 3 pointer or Chris Bosh offensive rebound or Mike Miller barrage from downtown to save ourselves. Sure it'd be nice to go to the finals again, it'd be great. But just knowing that Lebron is going to pull a "Cleveland Choke" out of his ass at any moment makes me want to let our talent lead the way and bring in a Parsons-type instead of hoping for LeQuit to take his choke back to North Shore. The second the situation isn't to his liking he's going to throw a freakin tantrum and walk up and down the court like he did last night, exhausted or not.

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The hate is real :chuckles:

Obawan12 said:

He had played the entire game to that point. He's a great athlete but LBJ gets tired too. He could only do so much. 31, 10 and 5... where the fuck were any of his teammates?



Could somebody with insider access post this Kevin Pelton Article?

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/stor...inant-finals-performance-ever-2014-nba-finals

Much appreciated

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You know, most of me believes this. But there's that thought in the back of my head that keeps on popping up, "If LeBron knew his teammates weren't showing up, why did he only take 21 shots?"

I know LeBron's game is to make the right play every time down, and that's great. But even the guys that "made the right play" knew when it was time to give that up and go for it themselves. Even in the 3rd and 4th quarters, when it was obvious to everyone the rest of the Heat just weren't up to it, LeBron was out there trying to get Michael Beasley going. Michael. Beasley. There's a time and a place to get your guys going. That was not it. LeBron needed to start chucking and ducking.

There's really no reason he should have taken fewer than 30 shots per game in this series.

Czvosec said:

You know, most of me believes this. But there's that thought in the back of my head that keeps on popping up, "If LeBron knew his teammates weren't showing up, why did he only take 21 shots?"

I know LeBron's game is to make the right play every time down, and that's great. But even the guys that "made the right play" knew when it was time to give that up and go for it themselves. Even in the 3rd and 4th quarters, when it was obvious to everyone the rest of the Heat just weren't up to it, LeBron was out there trying to get Michael Beasley going. Michael. Beasley. There's a time and a place to get your guys going. That was not it. LeBron needed to start chucking and ducking.

There's really no reason he should have taken fewer than 30 shots per game in this series.

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unless he was a overwhelmed by the weight of the situation and the thoughts of ridicule and he was waiting for one of his friends to bail him or support him, only that never came.

[h=1]The 2014 Heat Were Worse In The Finals Than LeBron's 2007 Cavs Team[/h]

I taped yesterday's game and watched it after the win. FWIW, I do believe the refs favored the Heat in game 5, and some of the earlier games. It was amusing to watch Ray Allen and his dirty tactics go unpenalized, as were much of the Heat's other players' dirty tactics. The Spurs were simply that much better, and no ref favoritism was going to deny their destiny.

Chris said:

People are still ripping on LeBron's supporting cast? He has two other Hall of Famers on his fucking team. Just because they played like ass doesn't mean the team isn't good enough talent wise.

They got beat by an outright BETTER team. No way around it. This just goes to show "Super Friends" might work in the short term but long term it ain't shit. It did get them two titles though so hard to really be too down on what they did in Miami.

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What point are you making? Wade and Bosh were, at best, typical NBA starters, and literally everybody else on the team shouldn't be playing more than 15mpg. LeBron's supporting cast played like ass; he didn't. To say they had enough talent is an outright lie that can be disputed by both the eye test and the actual numbers. Please point to their talent.. and please don't just rely on calling Wade/Bosh a hall of famer, as if his play from 3 years ago means anything to this discussion.

Marcus said:

I don't have the pure hatred for LeBron that other people in this thread do, but in no way, shape, or form do I have to feel sorry for LeBron. The guy has two other All-Stars starting alongside him and a bunch of veteran role players, including the greatest three point shooter of all time.

And right on the path to top Jordan? Dude's 2-3 in the Finals, and has lost to the same team twice with two different teams now. Hell, last year should have been three, but the Heat got incredibly lucky. Two championships in four years while playing in a weak Eastern Conference with three of the top ten players in the league on your team doesn't exactly scream Jordan-esque to me. The teams that Jordan had to go through would have mopped the floor with the Miami Heat and LeBron along with them.

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Wade and Bosh weren't even close to "all-stars" in this series; their veteran role players were atrocious; the "greatest 3 pt shooter of all time" was 38 in this series. This was an abysmal supporting cast, one of the worst teams to ever make it to the Finals. LeBron deserves ZERO blame for losing to one of the greatest teams in the NBA history while he was flanked by one of the worst supporting casts a title team's best player has had.

And yes, go ahead and parade around that 2-3 in the Finals stat. Surely, that stat couldn't possibly be skewed incredibly, right? It's not like a myriad of factors go into a championship run that are out of a player's control, right? I mean, Jordan would have won his 6 rings NO MATTER WHAT, right? It's not like we have half a decade's worth of playoff defeats that very clearly show he couldn't do it by himself, right? Lol.

But to your specific points... first of all, mentioning the weak Eastern Conference means absolutely nothing; he's gone to the Finals all four years. Not sure what you were proving with that one.

Second, three of the top ten players is disingenuous at best. And I know that you know you're full of shit with that, as there's simply no possible way you could have watched Wade and Bosh this series and proclaimed them both top ten players. Wade isn't even top 30 right now, perhaps not even top 50. It's so weird how people keep trying to say LeBron had a solid supporting cast by citing his teammates' achievements from 5-10 years ago. Yeah, 2009 Wade and 2009 Bosh would have made this Finals loss inexcusable for LeBron. Add 2007 Ray Allen, and it's even worse. But, obviously this is 2014, and they aren't even close to who they once were. LeBron had virtually no help... it's just that simple.

Bottom line: LeBron has Pippen and Rodman on his side and the Heat win the series. Other bottom line: Swap Jordan with LeBron this series and the result is the exact same. Jordan isn't God in human form, and neither is LeBron-- every player ever has needed help to win it all. Just ask Bird (McHale, Parish, Johnson), Magic (Worthy, Kareem, Scott), Kobe (Shaq, Gasol), etc. It doesn't happen without help, and to use this past series to criticize LeBron when there are literally decades of evidence saying it's not his fault reeks of bias.

KyrieIrvingDuke said:

What point are you making? Wade and Bosh were, at best, typical NBA starters, and literally everybody else on the team shouldn't be playing more than 15mpg. LeBron's supporting cast played like ass; he didn't. To say they had enough talent is an outright lie that can be disputed by both the eye test and the actual numbers. Please point to their talent.. and please don't just rely on calling Wade/Bosh a hall of famer, as if his play from 3 years ago means anything to this discussion.

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...theyre coming off back to back titles. Did their talent seep out of their assholes? They played badly and got beat by a better overall team that played at an insanely high level.

Chris said:

...theyre coming off back to back titles. Did their talent seep out of their assholes? They played badly and got beat by a better overall team that played at an insanely high level.

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I completely agree with bolded except that you have to add the caveat that LeBron was still the best player in the series. He played fine; he just didn't overachieve.

And think up whatever theory you want about Wade and Bosh's regression.. I think we can safely assume Wade's is due to aging, and Bosh's is due to an identity crisis. But that doesn't matter. The point is the Heat were outclassed to an absurd extent in terms of talent, and LeBron had nothing to do with that. Therefore, he deserves no blame.