^^ That's another reason. But I'm sure my point also stands. See the size:
Bosh: 6-11 235
Haslem: 6-8 235
LBJ: 6-8 250
Battier:6-8 225

Who else can guard Perkins?

6/13/2012 10:22:16 AM

And you can't put Lebron on Durant/Westrbook early in the game, because those guys draw fouls like no other. Save Lebron for the fourth to defend those two.

I don't think you get it...nobody needs to guard Perkins because the guy isn't going to do shit offensively. You could leave him wide the fuck open and he might not break double digits. His only value in this series is to set screens and get rebounds. He doesn't even need to defend because it's not like Haslem and Anthony are threats.

So put Lebron on him so Lebron isn't chasing some dude around for 20 seconds...but then he can switch off to guard Westbrook/Durant off the pick and roll while the shot clock is winding down. I think it's probably one of Spolestra's best coaching decisions these entire playoffs.



[Edited on June 13, 2012 at 10:26 AM. Reason : .]

6/13/2012 10:23:02 AM

If I'm Lebron I'm really fucking nervous right now.

Last year was their best shot, and this is their second best shot.

It's not a secret that wade is declining and that athletic SG age like milk. The heat have no flexibility to add players. They are locked into aging vets like battier and haslem. Mike miller looks almost decrepit out there his body is breaking down so bad. Boshs game has completely deserted him.

Lebron can't get any better, although he certainly can play better than he has in the past couple finals games.

In the meantime the Thunder have the makings of a dynasty. They are the clear favorites the next two seasons with harden and ibaka. Maynor will return to replace fisher. Aldrich is blossoming into a beast to replace Perkins and mohammads lack of production. Westbrooks fg% has been steadily improving and his turnovers have been declining. Sefolosha is locked in cheaply. Durant has become a good defender with a complete offensive repertoire.

Now when ibaka and harden are eligible for their max deals, will the thunder be able to commit to 4 max players??? Perhaps not. The demise of the natural gas industry, coupled with a global economic nightmare may make a ~$100 million payroll impossible to swallow in a small market. I think the obvious solution would be to trade Westbrook since there are 20-30 pgs in the league they could replace him with and still win a title if they keep their core guys intact. But regardless, the thunder are so loaded that they could trade harden or ibaka for some cheaper productive options and draft picks and still perhaps compete for championships. Realistically, if the thunder win this year they are likely headed for a 3peat with no other teams looking likely to challenge them. They'd certainly be in a strong financial position to offer a bigger payroll than your average small market team.

6/13/2012 10:29:06 AM

Perkins played important role two yrs ago against LA. He can still score now but not much.

6/13/2012 10:30:28 AM

Why thunder goes up so quickly and nobody notices them? The government wants the team to boost mid-west economy? KD and Westbrook are so young, as young as KB winning the 3-peat.

[Edited on June 13, 2012 at 10:35 AM. Reason : grammar]

6/13/2012 10:34:52 AM

stopped reading here

Quote :

"Last year was their best shot, and this is their second best shot. "

6/13/2012 10:35:10 AM

stopped reading here

Quote :

"DROD900"

[Edited on June 13, 2012 at 10:38 AM. Reason : x]

6/13/2012 10:37:28 AM

I thought big 3 should be at their best this year but I'm surprised how quickly Wade is declining.

6/13/2012 10:41:21 AM

^^ Good burn.

I love this:

Quote :

"The demise of the natural gas industry, coupled with a global economic nightmare may make a ~$100 million payroll impossible to swallow in a small market."

Only with face do you get the Stock Market and NBA threads combined.

I have to disagree about Westbrook. You get rid of Harden or Ibaka before Westbrook. With the continued maturity of his game coupled with his athleticism...you just can't replace that. He can get his shot whenever he wants. As that shot keeps improving and his turnovers decline...fucking unstoppable. He put them in position to win that 4th quarter...not Durant.

Harden and Ibaka are the dime dozen players out of those four. Harden doesn't defend and Ibaka gives you a few knockdown jumpers a game on the offensive end. Scoring SGs and shot-blocking big men can be easily found if those guys start demanding big money. Shit...Collison had the best +/- numbers last night.

6/13/2012 11:26:24 AM

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Jgo8KcoKuVs

6/13/2012 12:05:53 PM

6/13/2012 12:21:56 PM

Ommm...soooo....Stern was just on Rome and got all pissy about Rome asking if the draft was rigged and fired back by asking Rome when he was going to stop beating his wife. Not a good move...

6/13/2012 3:09:06 PM

Wuh?

6/13/2012 3:11:47 PM

http://deadspin.com/5918141/?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

6/13/2012 3:15:36 PM

hilarious

6/13/2012 3:23:08 PM

scott wood's like "i did it better than that".

6/13/2012 3:26:49 PM

even though there isn't a game tonight, that Dream Team special is on NBATV at 9 oclock and then again immediately afterwards at 10:30...should be good

6/13/2012 3:27:07 PM

Stern sounded like he was halfway lit-up. Dude was not happy.

6/13/2012 3:27:44 PM

man, calling stephen a smith more important... that's a harsh burn.

6/13/2012 3:39:50 PM

I think shoot is ESL

6/13/2012 9:31:24 PM

You are right. Not fluent enough.

6/13/2012 9:37:52 PM

Stern asking the weirdest question... this shit is rigged like wrestling...

6/14/2012 12:46:08 AM

that The Dream Team special on NBATV was fucking awesome

6/14/2012 1:04:18 AM

did they show actual footage from the mythical best-basketball-game-of-all-time-scrimmage?

6/14/2012 2:03:28 AM

yes, and it was awesome

6/14/2012 2:04:39 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DSJK4jo2wg

here's the full doc for those that missed it.

6/14/2012 2:34:07 AM

It's deleted. So fast.

6/14/2012 10:34:11 AM

i figured that would happen

here's another link til it gets taken down again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYlk_lxUO4o

6/14/2012 11:24:40 AM

Lol, yeah we all know Perkins was good until two years ago. Maybe you missed his crippling injury ?? The guy is abysmal now, there's no argument to be had here. He can't score or rebound.

Harden is the most efficient scorer in the league and he rebounds, passes, collects steals. To say he's easily replaceable is silly, he's the #2 SG in the league right now behind ginobili who can't stay healthy.

Ibaka is the best shot blocker in the league. He s one of the rare guys in the league who can mask your other players defensive deficiencies and he's a solid offensive player unlike many defensive anchors.

Westbrook is a good rebounder and gets steals, but he can't pass, really high turnovers, and can't shoot threes so like parker his adjusted fg% is not that impressive . Coincidentally, those two are easily the most overrated PG's in the league (not even close) and perhaps the most overrated players in the league that aren't named Kobe or carmelo. And I think people are starting to realize carmelos true value.

I guess I could argue rose is equally overrated since he won a laughable mvp, but at least rose is significantly better than Westbrook and parker.

There's 20-30 pgs in the league the thunder could win the title with. There's an abundance of talent at PG in the league right now. Unless you'be got Paul, Rondo, Nash, or Lowry you don't really have a difference maker at pg compared to other teams.

It's not like SG where the drop off from harden or ginobili to klay Thompson is SO steep.

6/14/2012 12:01:07 PM

So why does Thunder want Perkins?

6/14/2012 12:06:47 PM

Best part of the Dream Team program was John Stockton getting off the bus and not one fucking soul knowing who he was. Dumbass woman has his face on her shirt and doesn't know who he is. Golden.

6/14/2012 12:26:33 PM

i also liked how minimal Laettner's role in it all was, and how all the other players were shitting on him

6/14/2012 12:29:02 PM

He was the only college player right? And one of the only 3 white guys.

[Edited on June 14, 2012 at 12:31 PM. Reason : correction]

6/14/2012 12:30:54 PM

4 white guys, Bird, Mullin, Stockton, Laettner

he's also the only one of the 12 who isn't in the Hall of Fame

6/14/2012 12:32:07 PM

I still don't get why he was on the team. They mentioned that he was the only amateur player, but they didn't need an amateur player, did they? Its like he was just on there for novelty purposes. They could have put someone like Dumars, Tim Hardaway, Mark Price, KJ, or even Rodman on there (or maybe not Rodman for character purposes...he probably would have gotten caught fucking some transvestite prostitute in the middle of Las Ramblas).

6/14/2012 12:37:54 PM

Definitely for the novely. Duke had just won back-to-back chamipionships.

[Edited on June 14, 2012 at 1:01 PM. Reason : and of course, laettner's shot to beat kentucky to go to the finals in '92]

6/14/2012 12:46:47 PM

He quickly faded away from the league later.

6/14/2012 1:16:19 PM

Will someone please shoot shoot. Laettner was a borderline All-start for the first eight or nine years of his career before that achilles injury.

6/14/2012 1:27:06 PM

OK, I didn't start watching NBA till Jordan's come back. From then on China just began broadcasting NBA.




[Edited on June 14, 2012 at 1:32 PM. Reason : grammar]

6/14/2012 1:31:14 PM

hey, ease-up on shoot, we're all friends here!

6/14/2012 1:53:25 PM

^That's the right attitude.

6/14/2012 2:43:23 PM

Laettner was an allstar in Atlanta.

He gets labelled as a bust because people hated him and he went behind shaq and mourning in the draft. Two of the greatest big men ever tends to overshadow his accomplishments.

Anyway I took the heat+240 to win the series. What an extreme overreaction that line is considering the heat dominated the first half on the road.

6/14/2012 3:02:21 PM

Re-upping on that 240 tonight as well. Might look for 250. They come hard tonight and even it up.

6/14/2012 3:12:16 PM

Yeah I like my positioning right now. Win $50 if thunder win series, lose $110 if Miami wins in 5 or 6, win $240 if miami wins in 7.

Gonna be tough for Miami to win in 5 or 6. Although if they win all three home games consecutively that could crush the thunders fragile persona.

6/14/2012 3:28:18 PM

Quote :

"Unless you'be got Paul, Rondo, Nash, or Lowry you don't really have a difference maker at pg compared to other teams. "

Face - What makes Lowry so valuable? Serious question. Just looking at his stats (I'll admit I've probably watched him play 1-2 times), he is just average. Shoots in the low .400 from the field, high .300s from 3, and gets 6-7 assists per night to go along with 13-14 ppg. Definitely should not be in the same sentence as Rondo, Paul, Nash.

6/14/2012 3:35:02 PM

Dude is a bulldog, numbers don't really show his contributions, but of course he doesn't belong in that tier regardless. Rondo and Paul stand alone as the two PG's who make any team better. Nash was there but he's fading. Irving could be there soon. Parker, Westbrook and Rose are really just 2's in a 1's body and generally don't elevate the play of their teammates.

6/14/2012 3:37:40 PM

how quickly deron has been pushed aside

6/14/2012 3:42:12 PM

I always forget about him for some reason! Must be that old Deron/Darrin thing.

6/14/2012 3:43:55 PM

Jemery Lin will be in the list.

6/14/2012 3:51:02 PM

R.I.P. Jeremy Lin-Tin-Tin

6/14/2012 4:18:17 PM