NBA Playoff Megathread

dnc said:

Doogles said:

backthepack said:

Gladstone said:

backthepack said:

Gladstone said:

ugh the romanticization of 90s NBA defense is one of biggest sports misnomers ever

Jordan rules.

As I said, there is nothing LBJ can do to change this narrative. Nothing at all. Round in circles we go.

I mean he lost to a team with an aging star and a bunch of guys from the retirement in 2011 w/ Bosh and Wade. Ray Allen bails em out in 2013. Kyrie bails em out.


Difference between Lebron and Jordan?

Jordan hit the big shots. Although, Lebron hit one today.

https://youtu.be/S2BlOTeoZVE

Study up new fish!

Yikes. I hate to do this because you've always been one of my favorite, classy poasters, but this is an awful comparison so here goes.

First the obvious - Jordan predicted to his teammate (Kerr) that there'd be a double team and if there was that Kerr would need to be ready to hit the shot. Jordan got an assist on the stat sheet but more importantly he actually foresaw the events and had his teammate prepared to capitalize.

LeBron, OTOH, bricked his shot, needed a teammate (Bosh) to pull the bored, who then assisted another teammate (Allen) who hit the shot.

Jordan was an integral part of his "bailout", whereas LeBron actually missed his shot and needed multiple teammates to pick him up.

Advantage Michael.

But wait, there's more. Let's assume for a moment that neither MJ and LeBron got "bailed out" - both of their teammates miss these big shots. What happens? In the Bulls-Jazz game Kerr's shot went through with 5.0 seconds left on the clock. In MJ's case the game was tied. Had Kerr's shot have missed, maybe Utah gets a game winner of their own but that feels unlikely since they didn't score after Kerr's bucket. Realistically we're talking overtime in this instance. Who you betting on in overtime in Chicago? Conservatively we can say Utah has a 40% shot at winning in that situation (I'm being very generous). And if Utah somehow pulled that off, it would have only evened the series and Game 7 was also going to be in Chicago. You think anyone would have bet against Jordan's Bulls in Game 7 at home? If we call it another 40% shot for a Jazz win (generous again, IMO), we're talking a 16% chance the Bulls lose the series if Kerr misses the shot.

Not likely.

Kerr didn't bail MJ out, he simply executed the inevitable (with a double assist from Jordan).

What about Bron's game? Again, the shot goes in with around 5 seconds to play (5.2 in this case). Had Allen's shot missed Miami would have had time to get of another shot assuming they a) got the offensive rebound and b) handled it cleanly, dribbled/passed to the 3 point line in time. According to 82games, offenses get the rebounds 28.5% of the time on jumpers. I'd assume that's a bit higher on 3 pointers but I can't find the data. Let's say 1/3 shot at the rebound. We'll assume they handle it cleanly and get a shot off. Miami shot 39.6% from three that year. I suppose a more rigorous study would get the percentages of the 5 on the floor at that time, but I don't care badly enough to math that hard for this. We'll call it a 40% chance they hit the shot, leaving us with a 13% chance Miami gets the rebound and hits the shot. And that's without factoring in the chances someone gets fouled on the rebound or doesn't understand the game situation and takes a 2 or can't make the pass in time or the pass is stolen or a myriad of other unlikely but possible scenarios that would eat deeply into that 13%.

And as we all know, if the 87% chance happens, and Miami doesn't hit a 3 there to tie it up the game, and series is over.

Allen absolutely bailed LeBron out. Without his shot (which LeBron didn't help), Miami goes home. Kerr got help from MJ, but MJ didn't need Kerr to hit the shot to likely win the series anyway.

Fuck LeBron for making me defend Jordan (whom I hate). And fuck you for making me defend BTP.

FYFMFE