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I'll give Timmy a pass for that miss, given his body of work. How many times did LeBron choke...or rather disappear..during key games? Stuff happens, shots miss. Even the best of them.
If I was a ballclub owner, I would be making offerings every day to the Basketball Gods for being blessed with a frickin 38 year old who can still ball with the best. It's like driving a Honda Civic, it can keep going even at 150,000 miles.
Lebron has gained confidence in becoming a closer mainly because he realized that he has a talented and deep supporting cast. In 2011, he and the Heat were already a championship caliber club but they couldn't figure out what to do in the most important time in playoff games: the final five. Much like the Bulls of the late 80s. That's what separates NBA finals teams (runner ups) from Champions.
OKC has the same issue though this year, their exit will be attributable to injuries, just like last year, which is a shame. You hate to see a team lose because of losing a star player like Ibaka. I'm not sure they'd be SA anyway, but they'd at least go down swinging. I'd be surprised if it takes more than 5 games for SA to take out OKC now though.
I also think that the development of Leonard's game is going to be a major factor in the Finals, whether it's against the Heat or Indiana, and I would not rule out the possibility of a Pacers upset at this point. I've been a Spurs skeptic ever since 2009 but this year is the year I think they finally get it done and send Duncan out in style.
It takes a special kind of obtuse thinking to cherry pick a guys 16+ years in the NBA for things to label him a choke artist over....especially from when the guy is 37.
It would be like trying to label Kobe a choke artist because of his horrible 4th quarters during the OKC playoff series a few years back.
OKC has the same issue though this year, their exit will be attributable to injuries, just like last year, which is a shame. You hate to see a team lose because of losing a star player like Ibaka. I'm not sure they'd be SA anyway, but they'd at least go down swinging.
Amen. Amen. Amen........
I'm really disappointed that the past few years we haven't gotten to see 2 of the better teams in the league when healthy (Chicago, OKC) at least play at full strength win or lose.
It's made what should be competitive playoff series turn into zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
NOt that I think Chicago or OKC would have made the finals, I just want to see a fight instead of a beating.
OKC will still go down fighting. I actually see the series going 7 games. As long as they have Durant and Knucklehead, things will be competitive though by no means can they do a two man show and hope to win. At the same time, I do expect the team to step up at some point in the series, hence my prediction above. The pressure is even more now on the Spurs to take care of business since Ibaka isn't there. I, too, would have loved to see a full OKC squad vs. SA. I want to see a true revenge match, without an asterisk for injury. At the same time, it is what it is and the Spurs need to take whatever's given to them.
OKC will still go down fighting. I actually see the series going 7 games. As long as they have Durant and Knucklehead, things will be competitive though by no means can they do a two man show and hope to win. At the same time, I do expect the team to step up at some point in the series, hence my prediction above. The pressure is even more now on the Spurs to take care of business since Ibaka isn't there. I, too, would have loved to see a full OKC squad vs. SA. I want to see a true revenge match, without an asterisk for injury. At the same time, it is what it is and the Spurs need to take whatever's given to them.
We'll see. I personally doubt 7 games....I think 5 is more likely.
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