NBA Finals

[sjay2k]

Sidenote would you support Lebron asking to be traded to Dallas now?

We could use him to spell Dirk in the first three quarters

[Wes]

I'd still bet Miami to win 4 of the next 5 NBA championships at everything less than -200. No one in the east is going to compete against them barring some huge free agent moves (extremely unlikely of big contracts moving with lockout coming). This years Bulls is the best they will ever be (aka stick Lebron on D Rose and watch the Bulls score 70 a game), the Magic will not have D. Howard after next year, the Celtics were old last year, and the Knicks still need any semblance of a defense. Every other team in the east is pretty loltastic as far as talent goes. The Heat are going to be the Finals every year for the next six at least.

Dwight Howard is the only man to stop Miami from winning a ton of championships. When, not if, he moves to LA (preferably the Clippers [lol at that]) it will cause some reverberations to the rest of the league. If he moves to the Lakers, expect the Heat to just thump the rest of the league. The Lakers were exposed for being old on the perimeter and that is not going to help any time soon.

Heat and Thunder finals 3 of the next five years with the Heat just nearly sweeping them every time is my expectation.

Really the only chance the rest of the NBA has is the players to win the labor negotiations with the caveat of somehow shared revenues between all organizations with a higher luxury tax threshold.

[sjay2k]

I disagree. Over the next 5 years I think the over/under for Miami championships is 1.5, nowhere near 4.

I think the Mavs, Lakers, Thunder and Celtics are all capable of beating the Heat over the next couple of seasons.

The fact is Dallas destroyed Miami. The Heat were 1-2 on their own court, and Lebron James was a non-factor in the fourth quarter. The zone defence was just nasty at times.

If that wasn't impressive enough, consider Dallas' records on the road in the playoffs against the Lakers, Thunder and Heat: 6 wins, 1 loss. That record is admirable for a January road swing, let alone against top tier teams in the playoffs.

The Mavs should be the favourites for next year.

Also, I think the Thunder would have been a good shot to beat Miami this year. They match up really well with Sef against Wade and Durant/Ibaka on James. The Thunder will be a bigger threat with a real coach (Scott Brooks has overseen his team shoot a 3-pointer in the last possession of tied games maybe 10 times this season??).

[Wes]

Actually Scott Brooks did that six times (cause haralabob said that on twitter).

The reason why the Heat will be much improved next year is that they will only improve their roster. Look at their roster. Mario Chalmers (and maybe a healthy Udonis Haslem) is the only one who doesn't completely suck outside of the big 3. Mike Bibby and Ilgauskaus are completely worthless. Mike Miller can't play defense and now he can't make 3s. For fucks sake they had Joel Anthony and Juwan Howard playing significant minutes.

If they stick any warm body in there it will be an improvement.

Lebron still averaged 18 points, 8 boards, 7 assists (roughly) in a series that he was dreadful in. Maybe he has no heart, but if he chokes and puts up 20/10 every game, yikes.

The West is the still the much better conference. Grizzlies, Nuggets and Thunder are all young and bound to improve. Portland is always dangerous, and they are always at like 80% health wise. Lakers may actually show up on defense with a better defensive coach.

The East, well, not so much. Celtics are OLD. No way the Heat get beat by them. Bulls got the #1 seed largely due to how terrible the rest of their division is (Bucks, Pistons, Cavs, Pacers). Bulls do have a good coach though so they could beat them, but Lebron on D. Rose shows how little the Bulls have for a second option offensively. Hawks are likely to only team to improve as their roster is largely young.

Dallas and San Antonio are the only teams that play a zone well in the league so I wouldn't worry too much about zone killing the Heat.

[Kurn]

Until his condescending rant after the loss, I really didn't dislike Lebron. Now, that's changed.

The Celtics WILL deny the Heat any championships. Lebron will drive the lane and KG will positions himself so "The King" lands on his foot and blows out his knee(as KG is well known to do).

With Lebron out, the Heat will be good, but not championship material. Oh, wait, Lebron's already proven he's not championship material.

Still want him to blow out his knee, though.

Dirty play >> arrogance

[GTDawg]

"The fact is Dallas destroyed Miami."

I'm not sure if Dallas destroyed Miami...

They were in every single game and had second half leads in pretty much every game. And, hell, they legitimately should've won the first 4 games. They were a ridiculous collapse away from being up 3-0 AND they had a 9? point lead in the 4th quarter of game 4.

Their half-court offense is absolutely dreadful, especially late in games. Too many extra passes, nobody excited about shooting the ball, and they are left with stupid deep 2 or 3-point shots with 2 seconds left on the shot clock.

They need a center that can help with their offensive rebounding, as well as somewhere to feed the ball and score points without relying on dribble/drives and mid-range jumpers.

They also need to get a point guard and work on the LeBron/Wade chemistry off the ball. LeBron played absolutely terrible away from the ball. He just looked completely lost at times with no idea how to find an opening where he could get a shot or drive. And, when that wasn't happening, he was standing in the corner by the 3-point line doing absolutely nothing. He might as well taken a seat in the first row.

And, LeBron needs to work on either a low-post move or a mid-range jumper. If he isn't driving, then he is dying at the 3-point line (deep 2). He needs the Dirk turnaround fade knee up shot...

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I don't see how the Heat can win 4 or anything, but they aren't going to get any worse over the next several years. In fact, there is the real possibility that they get stupidly better.

The Boozer thing in Chicago seems to be a fail of epic proportions considering his playoff showing...There needs to be a second option outside of Rose. I don't believe they currently have that on their roster. People can shutdown Rose and watch Chicago falter. And, even then, Rose can sputter on his own.

The Celtics...no. Just no.

I'm assuming the Magic are going to fail in spectacular fashion as Dwight Howard goes through a Carmelo year.

The Knicks play zero defense and will continue to play zero defense.

So, the Heat can easily be seen in the Eastern conference finals every year. And, given the things they can improve, they can go up against any team from the West.

Of course, all of this is subject to the new CBA and, personally, I'd love to see a harder cap that would render all of the above talk pointless as several teams would need to figure out how to completely revamp their roster (including the Heat....bye bye Bosh)

[sjay2k]

Sorry but this line of reasoning is absurd.

Miami "should" have won because they were up in the 4th?

By that logic, Dallas should have blown out Miami in the first 3 quarters because they were able to crush Miami in the 4th quarters.

It's a 48 minute game, and you can't mix and match the parts that are favourable to your team.

Dallas' strong 4th quarter displays reflected (in order of importance):

1. Dirk's clutch play
2. Carlisle out-coached Spo severely with better lineups, resting his players, Dallas' zone etc.
3. Well-timed defensive surges
4. Willingness to take tough shots


Dallas crushed Miami in this series in every way except for premature celebration