Tag Archives: LeBron James is a good fantasy pick

The Heat and Our Overreactions

Posted on by
Reply

It’s amazing how quickly things change.  After game three, the world was in an uproar over Dwyane Wade, he wasn’t carrying his weight, wouldn’t mesh with LeBron James, and needed to be traded, right?  Analysts and fans immediately jumped on Wade after a five-point performance in which he was disillusioned, angry and frustrated with his coach.  Amongst this immediate reaction media we live in and encourage, we just had to draw grandeur conclusions.

I remember the first blog entry I saw on the bottom of ESPN’s homepage the day after game three was about the big three model and whether or not it was dead.  The Heat have been together since the beginning of last year, in their only full season together they made it to the finals.  Sure, they lost to a team that they were more talented than, but they made the finals!  That isn’t a failure by any measure, and here they are rolling through the Eastern Conference relatively smooth, with the only small bumps in the road being blown out of proportion and publicized until we believe the coverage.  We believed that the Heat weren’t working together well, we believed that the Indiana Pacers would beat Miami, we believed Dwayne Wade wasn’t going to work in his current situation.  As usual, our assumptions were off base.

The Heat’s tumultuous arguments and flaring tempers seem like light years ago, and any problems with the Pacers are now a laughing matter.  It will feel like an easy series in a week.  Dwayne Wade proved why he’s one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever seen since his one off game.  Last night, he scored 40 and got 11 rebounds.  It was a truly great playoff performance, but that’s what we should’ve expected.  After all these years of predicting lengthy futures after a sliver of a sampling, the only reliable analysis is that our current system of over-criticism and suffocating coverage isn’t working.

Does Bosh Injury Give the Miami Heat a Pass?

Posted on by
Reply

We all know that the Miami Heat has self proclaimed to be the dream team… if you don’t remember the quote…

LeBron James said,

“Not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7. Hey, and when I say that when I say that, I really believe it. I’m not just up here blowing smoke at none of these fans, because that’s not what I’m about. I’m about business. And we believe we can win multiple championships.”

I understand the confidence, you don’t want to come to a new team and say that you will try to win one championship. You want to win multiple, you want to be borderline arrogant with your statement.

The Miami Heat disposed of the New York Knicks this playoff season in dominate fashion. Although it should have been a sweep, the Knicks posed no threat, due to multiple injuries and chemistry issues. Now the Heat are faced with an intriguing matchup. The Indiana Pacers are a different type of team, no superstars, nothing flashy, just basketball. How will they do?

Well… Game 1 proved to be no problem for the Heat winning easily 95-86. Although they won the game with no issue, they lost a key player Chris Bosh. Chris Bosh, although he has faced many criticisms, averages 18 ppg and 8 rpg. Although he doesn’t prove as dominate in games as his teammates Lebron and Dwyane Wade, he stills bring a certain flash that helps his team get to the next level. Rebounding and scoring in certain situations has been his skill since coming from the Toronto Raptors where he was the number 1 threat.

Unfortunately for Bosh this is what was reported earlier by SportsNation.com…

Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh has been sidelined indefinitely with an abdominal strain as his team prepares for Game 2 of its Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Pacers.

What does this mean for the Heat? Can teams like the Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics or even the San Antonio Spurs/Oklahoma City Thunder. Take advantage of this important injury? With the pressure that the Heat have put on themselves, will it be a failure if the they don’t deliver a championship this season?

Brought to you by TheSportsBlitz.com

How Many Rings Will It Take to Save LeBron James’ Legacy?

Posted on by
Reply

Barring a major injury or a life ending cosmic collision, LeBron James and the Miami Heat will represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Final this season.  The Heat will likely face the Oklahoma City Thunder in what could be one of the best finals matchups NBA fans have been treated to in quite a while.  If LeBron and company can find away to get it done, his critics, who currently fault him for having none, will then emphasize the fact that he only has one.  That leads to all important question of how many rings will it take to save LeBron’s legacy?

In order to begin answering that question one must look at other NBA greats who have won titles.  We all know that Michael Jordan won six, Magic Johnson five, Kobe Bryant has five, Shaquille O’Neal four, and Larry Bird three.  Each of those players are considered NBA royalty and if LeBron James wants to join that illustrious fraternity, then he needs to at least bring in three…right?

Well maybe not so fast.  James is in his 9th NBA season and was deeply criticized for stacking the deck with the Miami Heat in hopes of bringing home multiple championships.  This is unfair criticism because all of the previously mentioned “NBA royalty” had stacked decks too.  Jordan had Pippen, and the right role players, Magic had Jabbar, Worthy and Scott.  Bird had McHale, Parrish, Johnson and Ainge, Kobe had Shaq, and Shaq had Kobe and Wade.  That was a tremendous amount of NBA talent concentrated on the aforementioned teams which allowed them to be so successful.  No one has ever done it alone yet LeBron has caught so much heat for not getting it done and changing teams so that he could.  Why?

Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley were NBA superstars of their era and both changed teams in hopes of winning a championship.  It worked for Clyde only because Jordan retired for two seasons before coming back and winning three more.  Patrick Ewing was an elite player on some solid New York Knicks teams and he never got a ring.  Hakeem Olajuwon won two, but again that was largely in part to Jordan’s brief retirement.  Even the legendary Jerry West, the NBA logo himself, only managed one championship.

Here’s the point.  In order to salvage his legacy LeBron James needs one ring… period.  It doesn’t matter what team he wins it on, or whether he dominates the series to get it done, his name just needs to be affiliated with a team that won an NBA title when his career comes to a close.  In sports, the disparity between those who have won championships and those who haven’t is so great because any one player can be good, but it takes a special team at the right moment in time to become elite.  Maybe this is the year that James and the Heat begin that run of three or four championships that they are capable of winning.  Only time tell.

Brought to you by TheSportsBlitz.com

Pacers Path

Posted on by
Reply

When the playoffs come around, there are those teams that you just don’t take seriously.  I love Al Jefferson, but the Jazz have as good a chance at making a run as Brock Osweiler has at starting for the Broncos next season.  And last year, the Pacers were one of those teams.  They talked a lot, and Tyler Hansbrough pissed the Bulls off as much as he pisses off anybody who has to watch him play, but in the end their competitive play was nothing more than a team playing as hard as they could when faced with season-ending elimination.  This year, things are different!

The Pacers play a Magic team ready to rollover without Dwight Howard.  The Magic’s offense is centered around spacing the floor, creating open shot opportunities for their marksmen, but without Dwight the double-teams dwindle and J.J. Redick has to shoot with a hand in his face.

If Indiana can win a series that they should easily, they’ll face either the Heat or Knicks, it’d be an ironic series, really.  The east coast metropolises with major superstars facing a cohesive but low-key unit stationed in a small city in the Midwest.  Overlooked and underrated, the Pacers would go into the series an underdog to either team.  Do you really believe that LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony take the Indiana Pacers seriously?  After three victories in four games against each other, the Heat wouldn’t even leave LIV to watch game film on the team.  If the Pacers are lucky, LeBron will let Paul George jump with fluorescent shoes to drink form his gigantic ace of spades bottle.

That being said, it’s this sort of arrogance thatt got the Heat in trouble last year.  The clever jokesters that made fun of Dirk Nowitzki for being sick just can’t resist provoking opponents and audiences with general hateable behavior.  The Heat and Knicks will be a great series, and Miami is in no way a lock, but either of these teams will have their hands full with the Pacers.  It’s been a while since that kind of statement actually held weight.

Who Should Win the 2012 NBA MVP?

Posted on by
1

There is no clear cut front-runner in the race for the most valuable player award, which creates a real interesting finish this month. Five candidates have surged in the forefront (in no particular order): Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

With the exception of Love, each MVP contender is in the middle of a heated chase for playoff positioning. Durant and Westbrook are spearheading the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West, with Kobe Bryant’s L.A. Lakers not too far behind. In the East, LeBron has carried the Miami Heat to the second-best record in the East with still a good chance to catch the Chicago Bulls for home-court edge.

We break down the MVP race and who deserves to be holding the Maurice Podoloff trophy at the end of the regular season.

KEVIN LOVE

Where would the Minnesota Timberwolves be without Kevin Love? In his fourth season in the Association, Mr. double-double has elevated his game from all-star status to superstar status. He ranks fourth in scoring (26.0), second in rebounds (13.4) and has racked up more than 100 3-pointers. Love is considered more as a power forward than a center, which eliminates him from being named to the All-NBA first team. But if you’re going by performance alone and no position restrictions, Love deserves to be on the first team.

KOBE BRYANT

At 33, the Black Mamba remains one of the deadliest scorers in the league. His 28.1 scoring average is No. 1 in the league, and if he can stay on that number he’ll be the oldest scoring champ since Michael Jordan. Bryant’s season has been somewhat of a roller-coaster. He got off to a fast start, then tailed off a bit in March, but picked it up in early April. He’s currently nursing an injured shin, which has forced him out of the lineup. The Lakers may have shifted the offense to their big men (centers Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol), but when the game is on the line there is no one better than No. 24.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK

Oklahoma City’s best player is Kevin Durant, but what makes the Thunder special is Russell Westbrook. When Westbrook is on, there is nobody better in the league going end-to-end. He is kinda like that wild race horse that has a difficult time getting into the starting gates. But once the race starts, he explodes out of the gates. Only Derrick Rose can match Westbrook’s coast-to-coast skills. He can attack the rim, he can pull up for a jumper, and he can defend. He is fifth in the NBA in scoring (24.3) and sixth in steals (1.7). Westbrook still has trouble with turnovers, but if can dial it down just a tad he’ll drive past Rose as the best point guard in the world.

LEBRON JAMES

If the MVP was based purely on statistics, then LeBron James would be a cinch to claim the trophy. He is third in the league in scoring (26.8), 14th in assists (6.4), and third in steals (1.9). He also averages 7.9 rebounds and shoots 53% from the field, the highest shooting percentage among the top 10 scorers. But because James plays on a team with all-stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, some voters may mark him down along with the fact that he hasn’t been able to shed his reputation as a terrible fourth-quarter performer. Regardless of his shortcomings late in games, James remains basketball’s most complete player and it’s not even close.

KEVIN DURANT

Kevin Durant came into this season on a mission. He posted four 30-point games in the first week of the lockout-shortened season, and he is finishing strong with two 40-point games in April. He also had a 51-point outburst on Feb. 19 against the Denver Nuggets and hit a memorable game-winning shot against the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 29. Durant ranks second in scoring (27.8) and is well on his way to post career bests in rebounds (7.9), assists (3.5), steals (1.4), blocks (1.2), and field-goal percentage (50%). If the Thunder finishes with the best record in the West, it’s going to hard to ignore KD as the league’s MVP. And when it’s all said and done in the regular season, Oklahoma City could have the MVP (Durant), the best sixth man (James Harden), best defender (Serge Ibaka), and best coach (Scott Brooks).

Brought to you by OneManFastbreak.net