NBA Playoffs

I don't know about the best, but one player that should get some consideration is D. Wade. When the Heat are playing well, he seems to be the one that really gets them going.
 
I could care less about who won the Boston- Miami series, but watching the Celtics throw the game away was painful..

I guess a Mavs/Thunder vs Miami final would be good.
 
I can appreciate what you're saying and I understand the points you're making about LeBron, but I'll take the likes of a Jordan or Kobe type player (and no, I'm not even remotely saying that Kobe is as good as Jordan - just that their games are similar in style) and their combined 11 NBA championships over the likes of a LeBron or DHoward type player any day of the week. Yes, Bron Bron and Howard are athletic freaks of nature that need to be studied in a lab somewhere, but I am personally not in love with their games. And since I think Kobe's still got some left in the tank, I'll stick with Kobe over LeBron for now.

LeBron may have eye-popping stats and a highlight reel that would make Dr. J feel inadequate, but a day will soon come when his supreme athletic edge over the rest of the league is gone, and when it does, you will understand what I'm saying.
 
Nuclear Bear, this is getting a little absurd.

Lebron has won BOTH of his MVP awards is Kobe won is ONLY MVP., so I guess some people really do think LeBRon is better.

Did LeBron ever get to play with Shaq or Gasol or any player of that caliber before this season?

Where were Kobe's titles from those 3 seasons he played with Cleveland like talent 2005-2007? Oh, that's right, he was averaging 40 wins/season & not getting out of the first round of the playoffs...

And you're saying because LeBron doesn't have the rings he isn't great. He's 26! How many titles did Jordan have by 26?

Kobe got old. Or, more specifically, his legs got old. He's nowhere near being the best player in the league. And I'm not sure he ever was for that matter.
 
Kobe Bryant has 0 points in the 4th quarter of the Finals.
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DangdirtySooner and The Greatest,

How is the guy you all are claiming is the easily the best player in the NBA the 3rd best player in the Finals?

All this series has shown me is that if Lebron didnt have an uber talent at his side named Dwayne Wade the Mavs would already have this thing wrapped up.

9 4th quarter points through 4 games.....In a series where every game has come down to the wire?

1-8 TOTAL in the past 3 4th quarters COMBINED. That's right - he's made 1 4th quarter shot in the past 3 games and is shooting a crisp 12% in those 4th quarters.
 
A team can never be called LeBron's until he gets over his phobia of being 'the guy'.

That's the bigest difference between him and guys like Kobe and Jordan. The latter two wanted the attention and pressure (and thrived under it)...LeBron concocted a free agent move no sport has ever seen so he wouldn't have deal with being #1.

Filling up the box score does not make you the best player in the NBA.

Ive watched a ton of NBA. Ive finally figured it out.

Lebron James is the 21st century Magic Johnson while Kobe is the 21st century Jordan.

People dont want to admit this, but the NBA is a selfish man's game. The reason I will continue to take Kobe over Lebron is that i want the guy that wants to take all the 4th quarter shots and has the confidence to make them.

Look, Lebron is a great, great talent....and being compared to Magic is an achivement in itself......but Magic couldnt ever do what Jordan did.

as Great as Magic was he (as did Larry Bird) also benefited from being on some stacked teams with multiple hall of famers.

All Jordan had was Scottie Pippen and a bunch of role players.

Lebron's hoop IQ, athleticism, passing and rebounding ability are all off the charts but so far he's been the 3rd best player in the NBA FInals.

I watched Kobe score 62 on my Mavs through three quarters, and then a few weeks later drop 81 points on Toronto.

I cant ever imagine Kobe only scoring 9 4th quarter points through the first 4 games of the NBA Finals.
 
How can you say lebron has a phobia of being "the man" and then compare him to Magic? That's hilarious.

Lebron is no Magic.
 
exactly, saying jordan didn't have help is ridiculous. people for some reason talk about this miami team being unfairly talented when they won all of 58 games with the big 3 pretty much being healthy and playing hard all year. jordan played on back to back teams that won 72 and 69 games. and those weren't even jordan's peak years (though '95-'96 was close). and they had to lose 3 of their last 4 to only get to 69 wins the second year. do you know how much talent that requires? those teams were loaded.


also, not sure what stat i saw, but looks like mj scored under 21 4 times going back to 1991, with a low of 17. still a really high lowest scoring game.
 
LeBron James is easily the best player in the NBA, and these Finals have proved that.

Triple Double Baby!

Any of you that think Kobe is better are positively crazy.

As Kobe ever had a triple double in a Finals game?

We are WITNESSES.
 
I just heard on the radio that Lebron averaged 26 ppg during the regular season and only 17 in the Finals.

That 9 point drop is the biggest disparity in NBA history.

Yes, Lebron is actually much better then Kobe, Dwayne Wade and Dirk.

He is easily the best player in the NBA.
 
Just got back from a cruise and got to see the 2nd half of game 4, and all of game 5 and 6 from my very small little room. But man was that SWEET. Look, it's this simple with James. He just lost the finals and it's ok. He's got a life to move onto. He's not going to be "The Guy" to lead your team until he does what Dirk has done. Put in the work to be unstoppable. As good as James is, you can stop him and the Mavs proved it. Mavs put strong defenders on him that he couldn't over power and all of a sudden he looked good, but not great. He also clearly tightens up in big games. Michelson did this for many years in golf and although he was a great shot maker, he couldn't finish when it mattered the most. Phil finally found the maturity to finish under pressure.

James isn't there yet. And regardless of how well he does in the regular season, until he gets it done in the playoffs, he's not the best player in the NBA. There is no arguing this point. He's laid down 2 years in a row. The playoffs are the best place to rate a player and James has not even been close to the best. He's still fairly young and he may get there, but he has a lot to prove to put him in that conversation.

If you just look at stats, Wade had the best series, But if you look at the 4th quarter when it matters the most, it's Dirk. Pharm will try and argue that all points count the same, but points in the 4th are different. Defense is going to put out to the max because it's the end of the game. Concentration goes up, pressure mounts. Some guys can hack it, and some can't. I can tell you for me, a birdie put was always a lot harder to make then a boogie put. It's the same one stroke, but it's not the same putt as the circumstances are different.
 
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