Palmetto Proving Grounds

I think Miami will make a lot of adjustments. OKC could very well end up winning in 5, but last night did not write the script for the rest of the series.

OKC had a stretch from the mid-second to about a third of the way through the 4th where they scored almost every possession. That was really the period I was talking about. Miami was playing well, but OKC just kept chipping away.

There is no good argument against saying Lebron is the best player in the league. They are definitely 1a and 1b. I don't know for sure who all played small forward as opposed to power forward or shooting guard.

I know Bird played small forward. Bird was a stone cold killer in championship games, and has the three rings to boot. Bird did not play with another top-5 guy in the league, either. Bird had an average team around him, and those guys on the Celtics would have never been talked about had it not been for Larry Legend. I mean that as no disrespect to The Chief, Danny, DJ, K-Mac, and Co., its just that they were not even a playoff team without Mr. Bird. The Celtics were out-manned pretty badly at every position against those great Laker teams back then, except small forward.

Lebron is arguably the most physically talented guy to ever play in the league. Wilt, Bill Walton before the injuries, were up there. MJ was pretty dang talented.

Parrish and McHale are Hall of Famers ... you may mean no disrespect towards them, but you are showing them little to no respect whatsoever. If simply playing next to a good player made you a Hall of Famer, we'd be seeing Bill Cartwright and Steve Kerr in the Hall of Fame.

Parrish and McHale were legit good. To call those guys (and DJ and the rest) average isn't accurate, IMO.

Anybody who has watched Lebron over the years will tell you that 3-point shooting is not the worst part of his game, its his mid-range jump shot which is simply non-existent. I guess the next 'worst part of his game' would be the fact that come crunch time he turns into a 6'8, 275 lb pansy who literally hides from the ball.

McHale was 26/10 60% from field, first team defense, all nba in 86-87. Hall of famer.

Parrish was good for 16/10, perennial all star. Hall of famer.

Dennis Johnson 15/6 all defensive team most of his career. Hall of famer.

Ainge at end of run was double figures, 40% 3p shooter.

Didn't play with anybody?

Bird was good, but he was not capable of beating magic, worthy, Kareem, cooper, showtime without elite players in support.

There is a reason why the 86 celtics are in the discussion of best teams ever and it isn't because bird was transcendent.

Yeah, McHale was the PF, and Parrish was the Center. Bird was def the SF.

You probably have not thought about guys like John Havlicek (won 8 titles, and a finals MVP), Julius Irving: "Dr. J", Rick Barry( 12x all-star and a finals MVP), Elgin Baylor(one of the most underrated players of all time), Dominique Wilkins, Alex English.

Then, there is Scottie Pippen and Paul Pierce.

Lebron is in the conversation, most definitely. We can say he is safely in the top ten. But, you cannot put him above Havlicek, Barry, Baylor, Dr. J, or Bird. Surely, you cannot put him above our own Alex English, right? I would say he is right behind Dominique Wilkins. When he gets a title, we can move him up. Note, I said when, not if.

One thing that stuck out from game one was it was apparent which team was rested and waiting and it showed in the 4th. Not saying Miami is old like Boston which clearly showed it's age in the end, but their energy level was clearly lacking down the stretch.

I'll be curious to see if they can match the Thunder's youthful energy throughout the game.

I see this one being a nailbiter to the end. If Miami wins this game, they accomplished their split and will be right in it. If not, then Katy bar the door.

To state the obvious....must game for the Heat, not so much for the Thunder who'll likely get at least one in Miami IMO.

Lebron wasn't the problem in Game 1 though. It's not like he has a whole lot of room to improve on his Game 1 stats. If Bosh and Wade don't combine for an efficient 40+ pts I don't see how the Heat win Game 2.

You don't think that position by position, the Celtics were overmatched compared to Magic, Kareem, Worthy & Co? The only position they had a significant advantage at was SF. Bird is who made that team. I do not think that, and, again, I love those guys, they would have gotten the accolades, or had the careers they had without Bird.

Danny Ainge was fiery and a competitor. He did bat .237 with 2 hr's for Toronto, all this while playing basketball for BYU. He has got to be one of the only athletes to play in both MLB and the NBA. He was a pretty good shooter, and made one All-Star team, but his best years, by far, were his years playing with Bird. He did make a finals with Phoenix and an in-his-prime Barkley, but he was basically a 3-point specialist on that team.

Parrish was pretty good. I loved The Chief. He was a good, but not great center. Very good on defense, ok on offense. Very few would remember him if he did not play with Bird. He was not overly athletic, but was a great competitor.

Dennis Johnson was pretty good. Servicable, but, again, not a guy who was going to lead a team to a championship. He was an avg PG.

Kevin McHale is the guy you can get me on. He was a pretty dang good PF. He definitely had his career helped by playing with Bird, but he could have been an All-Star on his own. Probably could have been a HOF-er even without Bird. Was not the type of fiery competitor that would have led another team to a championship.

Still, you compare this with that Laker team, and it is junk without Bird. That Laker team: Magic, Worthy, Byron Scott, A.C. Green, Kareem & Co. was long and athletic at every position, and had that Celtic teamed out-manned. Byron Scott avg'd about 20 pts per game a couple years, and he was their 3rd option, maybe.

The '78-'79 Celtics went 29-53. The '79-'80 Celtics, with a rookie named Larry Bird, went 61-21, and made it to the 3rd round of the playoffs. The next year, they were NBA champs. Thats the difference he makes. They also got McHale in '79 as well, but he only avg'd 10 pts that year. My point was, they could have plugged in any number of players alongside that Bird fella and won titles. We cannot say the same if we replace Bird with another pretty good SF. He had a good supporting cast, but they would have been middle of the pack without Larry Legend.

McHale was a different story, I thought about it a while after I posted that, and McHale was great. Though Bird made him better, he would have had a wonderful career by himself. He was not the type that would have led a team to a championship, however. He helped balance out some of Bird and Ainge's ornery-ness and intensity.

ITT steve miller gives me a headache

helluva win withstanding the run

we got us a series now