Posted on 06/08/2018 9:02:19 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Warriors complete sweep of Cavaliers with 108-85 win to claim second straight NBA championship and third in four seasons
Led by Stephen Curry’s 37 points, Golden State finished off Cleveland, its Finals opponent four years running. LeBron James, a potential free agent next month, scored 23 points for the Cavaliers in the last game of his eighth consecutive Finals appearance.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I think that is true. In the NBA "one guy star" teams will not win. It is the coach's job to get big egos to play well together. That is what the GS team does. Cavilers did not stand a chance.
Time to remember, its just a game. Nothing more.
Interesting thought. It would depend on if LBJ could play as a team member, or does the Houston team become a one man show like the Cavaliers.
Exactly
Congratulations Golden State. Too much versatile weaponry for most teams to handle. Quite an assemblage of highly skilled talent. The individuals work very unselfishly together.
Impressive.
Yup. He is a poor sport and a bad leader.
Houston had Golden State beaten this year, if not for losing Chris Paul in game 5.
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Truth
If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas - Don Meredith
I’m going to stay with my assessment of the current Warrior team but certainly not the franchise. And I am in slight disagreement with your assessment of Russell and Chamberlain. But we are certainly in agreement on Shaq and (I’m assuming) Lebron.
Yes, Russell and Chamberlain we’re dominate players and great athletes but it was primarily their height that lead to that dominance. Take a few inches off either and you would have two better than average players.
And Shaq and Lebron, for example, just plow their way to the basket. That’s not the basketball I remember. The league could change with the simple expedient of calling more offensive fouls, what we used to call charging. But I don’t expect that soon. OTOH, it hard to not to concede that Lebron is one of the great physical specimens on earth. But watching him play basketball is just boring. He is a great athlete that should be playing football.
As to the dunk I have mixed emotions. I could live with or without it. But I love my three pointers particularly if the shot by Klay or Steph. What they and others have done is master a difficult skill. In sports it is skill (not height or muscle) that I admire most.
Bottom line: I prefer West and Goodrich to today’s muscle basketball. But I still love the sport and the Warriors are my team.
Many basketball and hockey players chew on their mouthguards between plays.
I don’t agree with Curry’s SJW tendencies, but he’s an open Christian and a solid family man. I live in the Bay Area and there hasn’t been a speck of trouble from the Curry house.
>>>I don’t agree with Curry’s SJW tendencies, but he’s an open Christian and a solid family man. I live in the Bay Area and there hasn’t been a speck of trouble from the Curry house.<<<
Thanks. That is refreshing to hear. Disappointed that as a Christian, he chooses to side with the thugs on Trump. Thanks.
You hate men because you look like a man. Fool....
Ooops. wrong thread. sorry.
You’re welcome. As I said, I don’t agree, but I believe he comes by his opinion honestly.
That said, the entire team is pretty straight-edge and hew to a team-oriented work ethic. The idea of LeBron joining the team is pretty much a nonstarter here - he’s too much all about him.
Congratulations to the Back-to-Back NBA Champions Golden State Warriors!!!!
You are World champions.
As for LeBron, he may play somewhere else as a free agent. Maybe the Lakers may take him.
Life is just a game if you want to look at it that way.
Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavericks: b. 1978, NBA Champ in 2011 at age 32. ....Still playing.
Reed played with tremendous heart. I think Earl Monroe, with Clyde Frasier, was more important than Bradley.
I think your comment about height would apply more to other centers of that era than Russell or, especially, Chamberlain. Both those men were track stars in college. In contrast, although very skilled and smart, Jabbar and Thurmond had less agility.
They did not count blocks back then. If they had, I suspect Chamberlain and Russell would still own most of the records. I have seen no one since then who comes close to their ability, except possibly Olajuwon. (Walton had so few healthy seasons, I hesitate to include him.)
Wilt once demonstrated his dexterity and coordination by leaping straight up and plucking a nickel from the top edge of the backboard.
Speaking of Thurmond - the defensive center most respected by Russell, Chamberlain, and Jabbar - he once said candidly in an interview that he could not have guarded Shaq because in his own era the defender was entitled to his space on the floor, while in Shaq’s era he was not.
I agree entirely about West and Goodrich; ironically, I have read journalists write of them that today they would just be good players, not great. I disagree, especially about West (or, to switch teams, about Robertson). They were (as one writer put it) “guard guards”: not ones, not twos, just guards who did it all, and traded off each night who would score or shoot. West’s jump shot was smooth, quick, and textbook - from anywhere.
Humans are not machines. The great players adapt and improve. Add today’s sophisticated footwear, arthroscopic surgery, training facilities, video replays, offensive sets, quicker travel, and many of the greats of the past would be great today. The champions find a way.
Rick Barry (my personal favorite, as I grew up watching him play) played 12 of his 14 seasons with no cartilage in his left (jumping) knee. Think about that: He played 12 seasons, 10 of them as an All-Star, with no cartilage. How might he have benefited from modern surgery?
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