Have been banned from the other thread by an apparently sensitive snowflake (ironically after dozens of pages of political discussion from others) so I'll stick my thoughts on the NBA Playoffs here from now on. We needed a new thread anyway. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy:
It's obvious who the best player is.
Yes it becomes very obvious through watching the games that LeBron is the best player in the league. Remarkably somehow still as impactful as ever in his 17th year at nearly age 36. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
Yes it becomes very obvious through watching the games that LeBron is the best player in the league. Remarkably somehow still as impactful as ever in his 17th year at nearly age 36.
Great great all player. Top 5 in the league at 36 and top 5 ever. The need to form super teams will always be why he is considered in the 2nd tier after MJ by his peers and the public in general however. [Reply]
Yeah, it's hard to defend the Heat's performance there. Herro played one of the worst games in NBA Finals history by some of the advanced metrics.
Butler was efficient but didn't dominate; didn't seem willing to attempt any sort of Alpha performance. I'd mention the Bam injury but they were getting blasted before he went down.
It was just a complete dismantling. I'm honestly surprised LeBron and Davis played as many minutes as they did. You probably could've played those guys about 25 minutes each and been just fine. [Reply]
Yeah, it's hard to defend the Heat's performance there. Herro played one of the worst games in NBA Finals history by some of the advanced metrics.
Butler was efficient but didn't dominate; didn't seem willing to attempt any sort of Alpha performance. I'd mention the Bam injury but they were getting blasted before he went down.
It was just a complete dismantling. I'm honestly surprised LeBron and Davis played as many minutes as they did. You probably could've played those guys about 25 minutes each and been just fine.
I think the Heat were scared. They’re not the same team they were in the other series. They gave no fucks about any fucking body before. None.
Now they’re deferential and passive. And Jimmy Butler was playing himself up as this fuck you guy. Soft. Weak. Shit.
Spolstra is a hell of a coach so it’s possible he can get them to play closer to their ceiling, but with Dragic our and Bam fucked up, it’s all over but the crying. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
I think the Heat were scared. They’re not the same team they were in the other series. They gave no fucks about any fucking body before. None.
Now they’re deferential and passive. And Jimmy Butler was playing himself up as this fuck you guy. Soft. Weak. Shit.
Spolstra is a hell of a coach so it’s possible he can get them to play closer to their ceiling, but with Dragic our and Bam fucked up, it’s all over but the crying.
When you have a 2 man team, one of whom is methuselah and the other has a history of nagging injuries, it's hard to say anything is truly over until the horn sounds on W4.
I mean if LeBron or Davis so much as roll an ankle, the Lakers are in deep shit.
But yeah, presuming those 2 guys have 4 more healthy games in them, this one sure seems to be tracking towards going no longer than 5 as well. Man that was brutal.
And credit to Vogel - he's come up with some really brilliant defensive schemes in these playoffs. Herro was just scorching everyone and Vogel decided "nah, we're not having that..."
He just got done keeping a white-hot Murray just in check enough to get by fairly quickly, so Herro is something of a walk in the park for him. [Reply]
Dragic and Bam doubtful for Friday. Miami can win without Dragic, but they really do need Bam to play in these games to beat this team. He's basically their team's entire defense. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
When you have a 2 man team, one of whom is methuselah and the other has a history of nagging injuries, it's hard to say anything is truly over until the horn sounds on W4.
I mean if LeBron or Davis so much as roll an ankle, the Lakers are in deep shit.
But yeah, presuming those 2 guys have 4 more healthy games in them, this one sure seems to be tracking towards going no longer than 5 as well. Man that was brutal.
And credit to Vogel - he's come up with some really brilliant defensive schemes in these playoffs. Herro was just scorching everyone and Vogel decided "nah, we're not having that..."
He just got done keeping a white-hot Murray just in check enough to get by fairly quickly, so Herro is something of a walk in the park for him.
As far as Spoelstra, Miami was switching everything on defense so all LeBron would do it repeatedly is get the guy who was being guarded by Robinson or Herro to come set a screen for him and then he'd take both those guys off the dribble. Spoelstra needs to figure out a counter for that quickly (I'm guessing he's going to have to send help or a straight out double on LeBron to force him to pass) or it's lights out. If I'm him, I'd rather take my chances on the Lakers' other scrubs hitting open shots than LeBron or AD dominating. [Reply]
Yeah, he let those 3-balls from KCP bait him into a REAL bad defensive strategy. Leaving space for AD to guy you and LeBron pick and role Tyler Herro to death was... questionable. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Yeah - that's REAL bad.
Good start time, good matchup w/ a marquee franchise, the top of the banner player and a 'revenge' element coming out of Miami w/ Spoelstra.
But again - the usual suspects will continue to come up with excuses. 'It's not basketball season!'
Aight guys...whatever you say. But getting smoked by GS (again) vs. a Canadian team....ugh. That is NOT good.
I'll be honest: It really pisses the fuck out of me that you guys use ratings as some sort of weapon, when people like me DEPEND on those ratings for earnings.
Additionally, you guys never, ever provide any context, such as this:
TV Ratings: NBA Finals Game 1 Dominates Wednesday Night, Dips From Last Season
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers secured a comfortable win in game 1 of the 2020 NBA finals versus the Miami Heat, and unsurprisingly ABC rode the team’s success to an easy ratings win.
The game averaged a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49 and 5.1 million total viewers according to fast national numbers. While that was enough to win the night, it does represent a large decline from the broadcast figures that the opener of last season’s finals put up.
Those figures are subject to significant upward adjustment once more accurate measurements come in, and the multiple COVID-19 and general TV viewership-related caveats still apply. Earlier on, Jimmy Kimmel’s countdown to the game delivered a 1.1 rating and 4.2 million total viewers.
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So, the NBA Finals lead-in had 4.2 million viewers while the game itself had an early number of 5.1 million viewers. Additionally, game time is NOT convenient for people in Los Angeles because most people that aren't working from home are stuck in traffic at 6:00pm, which of course brings in lower ratings.
And finally, using ratings as a weapon without stating that overall TV viewership is down across the board for every single program by more than 20%, regardless of network, rings hollow because Of COURSE ratings are down.
People just aren't watching Live TV in the same numbers as past years. [Reply]
Overall TV viewership is down pretty universally, but even that said, I expect the ratings to get worse. It's going to be the Lakers beating up on the corpse of the injured Miami Heat for 4 games. I'm a fan and I'm not even probably going to watch it religiously. Especially with the baseball playoffs on. I'm not sure how many other recent championship series in any sport looked so lopsided.
Plus the average casual sports fan probably couldn't name 2 Miami Heat players, and plenty probably don't even know who Jimmy Butler is. [Reply]