The Official Thread of the NBA Playoffs

[Smooth Groove]

Aside from the fact that Kobe is a fucking dick, he's simply nowhere as good as they think he is.  The majority of Lakers fans in LA truly believe that Kobe is the greatest player ever.  Yeah, he's good but objective analysis shows that he's clearly a tier below Jordan, Lebron and even several Lakers greats.

Putting Jordan and Lebron in the same tier. SMH.

Also, Jerry West-led teams went to the Finals like nine times. Stick to medicine, dude.

Statistically, Lebron is one of the few players who've ever performed within 10% of Jordan.  I'm not saying they're equally as good but Lebron's within range, unlike Kobe. 

So what if Jerry went to the finals 9 times?  That just made me think of the Atlanta Braves instead of the iconic figure he's become among Lakers fans. 

I'd be down with the Cavs winning a title if it weren't for Lebron. 

People say Kobe is arrogant, but Bron takes it to a whole different level. With Kobe it's all about the game. Bron has stupid gimmicks like throwing powder into the air, and comments like wanting to be the first billionaire athlete, or "If I can't wear #23, no one should." Shit like that just makes me really want to see him go ringless.

I'd rather see fucking Carmelo Anthony lead his team to a title.

Yeah, Lebron is so arrogant that he passes the ball to an old Shaq more than Kobe ever did to Shaq in his prime. 


Stick to getting annihilated in movie threads, Mr. 160!

[Smooth Groove]

It's not rape if they drop the charges! 

It's not consensual either if the accused had to issue a public apology. 

[Ichirou]

It's not rape if they drop the charges! 

It's not consensual either if the accused had to issue a public apology. 

Green Shinobi annihilated.

[Green Shinobi]

You can go back and forth on that issue all day, but at the end of the day, Kobe has been convicted of rape as many times as you or I have (not sure about Ichirou).

Lebron's put up some nice stats the last few seasons, but Jordan dominated both sides of the ball, and his defensive repertoire included more than a few highlight-reel chase-down blocks. I also feel like Lebron should win at least one title (or maybe just a game or two in the Finals) before being compared to the all-time greats. As of now, Kobe has the better career, and that's pretty much indisputable.

Furthermore, Kobe led all three of those title-winning teams in assists. So much for your "not-passing the ball" theory. Go read up on the triangle offense when you have a minute, and let me know if you come across any examples of a single player racking up huge assist averages in that offense.

Don't you have some recto-vaginal fistulas to sew up?

[Stoney Mason]

Bron has stupid gimmicks like throwing powder into the air, and comments like wanting to be the first billionaire athlete

Why in god's name would this bother you unless you are 12?

[Ichirou]

You can go back and forth on that issue all day, but at the end of the day, Kobe has been convicted of rape as many times as you or I have (not sure about Ichirou).

So what you're saying is you've gotten away with rape?

[Green Shinobi]

You can go back and forth on that issue all day, but at the end of the day, Kobe has been convicted of rape as many times as you or I have (not sure about Ichirou).

So what you're saying is you've gotten away with rape?

 

[Ichirou]

You can go back and forth on that issue all day, but at the end of the day, Kobe has been convicted of rape as many times as you or I have (not sure about Ichirou).

So what you're saying is you've gotten away with rape?

 

Well, that explains a lot.

[Smooth Groove]

Don't you have some recto-vaginal fistulas to sew up?

Not today.  Thanks for asking, pal.

How about you?  Don't you have some gooks to knock up?

[Green Shinobi]

Don't you have some recto-vaginal fistulas to sew up?

Not today.  Thanks for asking, pal.

How about you?  Don't you have some gooks to knock up?

Thanks for reminding me! 

[Ichirou]

I like the new Green Shinobi.  Takes his repeated annihilations/humiliations like a man.

[Smooth Groove]

Furthermore, Kobe led all three of those title-winning teams in assists. So much for your "not-passing the ball" theory. Go read up on the triangle offense when you have a minute, and let me know if you come across any examples of a single player racking up huge assist averages in that offense.

So why did Phil and many of Kobe's teammates have problems with him being selfish?  Phil never had that many complaints about Jordan, who btw averaged 10 assists in his 1st Finals appearance.  

[Joe Molotov]

Shots elbows fired in the Celtics/Heat game. Garnett going top shelf on some guy's head.

[Green Shinobi]

Yes, but he averaged 5.5 for the season. The triangle spreads assists around. This is a very well-known fact.

Anyway, no one will deny that Kobe has done his share of ball-hogging, but the feuds didn't really start in earnest until 2003, when Shaq delayed his foot surgery until the preseason (this was when he uttered his infamous line about how if he hurt the foot on company time, he'd do his recovery on company time). Then Shaq came in ridiculously out of shape that season and the next, while Kobe is known to have one of the hardest, if not the hardest, work-ethics in the league. Should he have passed more, especially in the 04 Finals? No doubt. But you can understand why things happened the way they did.

That's all water under the bridge now though. Two Finals appearances in a row; here's hoping they can make it three this year and hang up another banner.

[Mandark]

What I've learned about the internet:  Most Laker fans are really Kobe Bryant fans, and Kobe fans hate whomever they see as the biggest threat to his legacy.

You could tell T-Mac was done when they stopped bothering to talk smack about him.  Wade had a year or two as the main target of their ire.  Now it's LeBron, and they're not gonna win that battle.

[Green Shinobi]

What Lebron does for the rest of his career will decide that.

As of now he has one fewer ring than Dwyane Wade does.

[Flannel Boy]

You can go back and forth on that issue all day, but at the end of the day, Kobe has been convicted of rape as many times as you or I have (not sure about Ichirou).

You can go back and forth on the issue all day, but OJ Simpson has been convicted of murder as many times I have.

As of now, Kobe has the better career, and that's pretty much indisputable.

So a 31 year-old has had a better career than a 25 year-old? Awesome?

Furthermore, Kobe led all three of those title-winning teams in assists. So much for your "not-passing the ball" theory. Go read up on the triangle offense when you have a minute, and let me know if you come across any examples of a single player racking up huge assist averages in that offense.

Who was his main competition? Shaq? Fisher, who Laker fans have bashed--rightfully so--for over a decade?

It's not as if Kobe doesn't touch the ball a lot in the triangle offense. He has been in the top three in usage rate seven times.

Has a great point guard ever played in a triangle offense (outside of Phil Jackson, who has used the triangle offense in its entirety for any significant length of time)? This might explain why no one has racked up huge assists in a triangle offense (clearly, a ball-dominant point guard would not like the triangle offense).

[Smooth Groove]

Damn, Greeny just got annihilated by Malek's LSAT logic. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Malek is just bitter his favorite team will never win a championship, at least not with a pussy 7 footer

[Flannel Boy]

If I'm bitter, it's because I just now got a prescription for RAN-Zopiclone. Fuck this stuff is awesome.

[Smooth Groove]

I must have been confused 'cause I thought you said that drug didn't work.  What were you using before?

[Smooth Groove]

Who was his main competition? Shaq? Fisher, who Laker fans have bashed--rightfully so--for over a decade?

It's not as if Kobe doesn't touch the ball a lot in the triangle offense. He has been in the top three in usage rate seven times.

Has a great point guard ever played in a triangle offense (outside of Phil Jackson, who has used the triangle offense in its entirety for any significant length of time)? This might explain why no one has racked up huge assists in a triangle offense (clearly, a ball-dominant point guard would not like the triangle offense).

Another important point is that Kobe was mostly a facilitator during the Shaq years so he should have been expected to put up better assisting numbers than Jordan ever did. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Sorry, I will never consider a rapist "great"

[Smooth Groove]

Sorry, I will never consider a rapist "great"

But I'm pretty sure Cohen considered Polanski great. 

[Flannel Boy]

I must have been confused 'cause I thought you said that drug didn't work.  What were you using before?

I complained only after taking it for a couple of days. It's not perfect, but I fall asleep quickly and get enough rest to study effectively.

[Stoney Mason]

sorry durrant. This ain't the regular season anymore.

[Stoney Mason]

Lakers are gonna be tough to beat...

Hopefully we get Lakers Cavs in the finals.

[Veidt]

I have a major request. I really wanna watch the NBA. But there's no channels that actually show it here ( let alone the fact that I have no Cable). What's the best way for a Euro to get into this sport? It's always been the one sport I actually wanted to get into, but was unattainable due to circumstance.

[Stoney Mason]

I have a major request. I really wanna watch the NBA. But there's no channels that actually show it here ( let alone the fact that I have no Cable). What's the best way for a Euro to get into this sport? It's always been the one sport I actually wanted to get into, but was unattainable due to circumstance.

sopcast? p2p streaming services maybe?

[Veidt]

Don't know what sopcast is.

edit: googled, this look good

[OptimoPeach]

Don't bother with Sopcast and the like unless absolutely necessary. Always check the sports section on Veetle first. Best quality out of any streaming service available, and chances are that if the game is on ABC or TNT then someone is streaming it. Lakers game: http://veetle.com/view/index.html#4bcb514c71f86

If I can't find it on Veetle or it's an NBATV/LP game then I just use http://atdhe.net and http://p2p4u.net

edit:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

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Veetle

[Veidt]

oh wow, that's a GOOD stream right there!

[TakingBackSunday]

The Oklahoma City Westbrooks

[Green Shinobi]

You can go back and forth on the issue all day, but OJ Simpson has been convicted of murder as many times I have.

False equivalence and you know it. There was a great deal of evidence linking OJ to the murder, plus that hours-long car chase before charges were ever filed. The Kate Faber case was purely a he-said/she-said thing, with the defense downright embarrassing the prosecution in every pre-trial hearing.

So a 31 year-old has had a better career than a 25 year-old? Awesome?

Yes, furthermore, Kobe had also accomplished more at age 25 (three titles) than Lebron has any chance of doing until he's 27. I know he played with Shaq. 

Who was his main competition? Shaq? Fisher, who Laker fans have bashed--rightfully so--for over a decade?

It's not as if Kobe doesn't touch the ball a lot in the triangle offense. He has been in the top three in usage rate seven times.

Has a great point guard ever played in a triangle offense (outside of Phil Jackson, who has used the triangle offense in its entirety for any significant length of time)? This might explain why no one has racked up huge assists in a triangle offense (clearly, a ball-dominant point guard would not like the triangle offense).

Not sure what you're getting at here. Are you saying that Kobe should have more assists? He's a shooting guard, and furthermore, he consistently ranks as one of the top shooting guards in this category. And no, I can't think of any great point guards who have played in the triangle aside from Gary Payton, who was clearly over the hill when he got to the Lakers in 03-04. His assists dropped precipitously that season however, from 8.8 to 5.5 per game in only 6 fewer minutes. Incidentally, Jordan's assists per game also dropped once Phil Jackson became the Bulls' coach, from a high of 8.0 per game in 88-89 to 6.3 in Jackson's first year as head coach, and soon settled into an average of about 5.5 assists per game.

I'm not saying that Kobe would put up Lebron-like assist numbers in a regular offense, but saying he doesn't pass is ignorant. He has ball-hog moments, but anyone who watches Lakers games consistently can see that he passes a lot. But if you're trying to make this into a Kobe vs Lebron thing, then I'll concede now that Lebron is a better passer and just say that Kobe's passing is underrated by those who don't watch the Lakers regularly.

Damn, Greeny just got annihilated by Malek's LSAT logic. 

Bitch please.

[etiolate]

Not sure what you're getting at here. Are you saying that Kobe should have more assists? He's a shooting guard, and furthermore, he consistently ranks as one of the top shooting guards in this category. And no, I can't think of any great point guards who have played in the triangle aside from Gary Payton, who was clearly over the hill when he got to the Lakers in 03-04. His assists dropped precipitously that season however, from 8.8 to 5.5 per game in only 6 fewer minutes. Incidentally, Jordan's assists per game also dropped once Phil Jackson became the Bulls' coach, from a high of 8.0 per game in 88-89 to 6.3 in Jackson's first year as head coach, and soon settled into an average of about 5.5 assists per game.

I'm not saying that Kobe would put up Lebron-like assist numbers in a regular offense, but saying he doesn't pass is ignorant. He has ball-hog moments, but anyone who watches Lakers games consistently can see that he passes a lot. But if you're trying to make this into a Kobe vs Lebron thing, then I'll concede now that Lebron is a better passer and just say that Kobe's passing is underrated by those who don't watch the Lakers regularly.

About everything you said here is part of the point that was being made.

Namely, that Kobe was the major distributor during the Shaq years since shaq was the focus point. Pippen was the major distributor for the Bulls, so Jordan's assists numbers going down when he wasn't the one man show anymore makes sense.

If Kobe was a willing passer earlier in his year, he'd have a shit ton more assists by now. His ability to fully play within a team offense only showed up a few years ago.

[Green Shinobi]

This is why everyone hates Lakers fans :'(

This is why Lakers fans hate everyone who doesn't watch the games and relies on hearsay and box-scores to tell them what they need to know.

Also, etiolate, you need to go back and look at Pippen's assist numbers. Here's a career stats page for him:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/scottie_pippen/career_stats.html

His numbers in that category were barely better than Kobe's.

In the triangle there is no main distributor; everyone is a distributor. That's the whole point of the offense. This doesn't need to be a big deal. I'm just stating facts.

[Smooth Groove]

This is why everyone hates Lakers fans :'(

This is why Lakers fans hate everyone who doesn't watch the games and relies on hearsay and box-scores to tell them what they need to know.

So Phil Jackson doesn't watch the games?  GTFO with that nonsense

[etiolate]

This is why everyone hates Lakers fans :'(

This is why Lakers fans hate everyone who doesn't watch the games and relies on hearsay and box-scores to tell them what they need to know.

Also, etiolate, you need to go back and look at Pippen's assist numbers. Here's a career stats page for him:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/scottie_pippen/career_stats.html

His numbers in that category were barely better than Kobe's.

In the triangle there is no main distributor; everyone is a distributor. That's the whole point of the offense. This doesn't need to be a big deal. I'm just stating facts.

The point is that Pippen was the guy who made sure the ball movement didn't die. He was a better passer than Kobe. That doesn't show up in stats, its just something you realize by having watched both players.

And there is a main ball guy in the triangle, thats why Phil runs it with ball hungry guys like Kobe and Jordan.

If you are a Laker fan, you should be noticing by now that distribution improves with Pau touching the ball, and that in the coming years he will start to become the distributor.

[Flannel Boy]

You can go back and forth on the issue all day, but OJ Simpson has been convicted of murder as many times I have.

False equivalence and you know it. There was a great deal of evidence linking OJ to the murder, plus that hours-long car chase before charges were ever filed. The Kate Faber case was purely a he-said/she-said thing, with the defense downright embarrassing the prosecution in every pre-trial hearing.

False charge of fallacy and you know it.

Let's go back:

You can go back and forth on that issue all day, but at the end of the day, Kobe has been convicted of rape as many times as you or I have (not sure about Ichirou).

My response:

You can go back and forth on the issue all day, but OJ Simpson has been convicted of murder as many times I have.

I wasn't saying that their situations were equivalent; I was trying to point out that a lack of conviction is not determinative of ultimate guilt. I used the OJ case because it demonstrates this principle clearly, not because of any similarity to Kobe Bryant's case.

Whenever a comparison between two things is made, there are going to be differences between those two things. For our purposes, none of the differences are relevant.

[OptimoPeach]

Dirk is such a stud

[Flannel Boy]

Dirk is such a stud

19 points on 7 of 9 at the half? choker.

[Smooth Groove]

Kobe paid out a big sum of money and issued a public apology long after everyone knew of the incident.  Why do that if it were really an affair and not a rape? You don't have to be a Kobe hater to smell that something's not right. 

[Phoenix Dark]

malek, hook a brother up with a link to the game. I'm in the library, I feel lost without my favorites file

[Flannel Boy]

malek, hook a brother up with a link to the game. I'm in the library, I feel lost without my favorites file

http://www.atdhe.net/17721/watch-san-antonio-spurs-vs-dallas-mavericks

[Phoenix Dark]

*clicks*
*nsfw ad banner pops up*


smh, had to refresh like 5 times to get rid of that

[Smooth Groove]

Kobe paid out a big sum of money and issued a public apology long after everyone knew of the incident.  Why do that if it were really an affair and not a rape? You don't have to be a Kobe hater to smell that something's not right. 

Because his time is worth more than the cost of the settlement. Even if he paid her a million, that's a drop in the bucket to someone who makes $20m a year. Not having to fly back and forth to Denver for a long, drawn-out trial is easily worth that, even if he was 100% certain to be acquitted (which is likely). Especially for a guy who takes his training as seriously as Bryant does.

For 5% of your annual paycheck, the whole thing goes away. You'd be an idiot not to settle.

Or maybe he's just guilty.  It makes at least as much as sense as the PR damage control.  I'm not sure why Kobe fans just can't seem to accept that possibility. Fighting back was the only way to make himself look less guilty and he was fully capable of doing it.  Other pro athletes in his situation have done it.  Sorry but I just don't buy the argument that basketball is more important to Kobe than the taint of being a rapist. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Her story fell apart pretty quickly. Kobe was innocent.

Honestly Big Ben's situation sounds far more fishy than Kobe's.

[TakingBackSunday]

Probably smells fishier, too.

[Phoenix Dark]

smh 

[Joe Molotov]

At least Kobe only rapes girls in his hotel room. Ben does the deed in a dirty old bathroom.

[etiolate]

You could just as easily ask "If she was really raped, why did she settle?

Because money is everything today and we all here are nothing subsequently.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

sorry to be the bummer, but deal with the truth and move on

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[Smooth Groove]

Yup, victim had more to lose by not settling than the perp in this case. Case was always going to be tough to win even if she were telling the truth.  It's just how our justice system works.  The amount of justice given to an individual is directly related to that person's wealth, which makes you wonder why Kobe was willing to spend that much money just to settle for a case that he could easily have won. 

Oh well, at least we now know Greeny doesn't care if his hero is a rapist as long as he's shooting a high field goal percentage.  These two make a better combo than Shaq and Kobe ever did. 

[Smooth Groove]

Dirk only scored 4 pts in the final quarter?  What a choker!

[Ichirou]

Mark David Chapman brought Catcher in the Rye back to the forefront of literary discussion.  Good on him.

[Bacchus7]

Anyone watching this Blazers/Suns game? Best game of the playoffs so far imo.

[Phoenix Dark]

Mark David Chapman brought Catcher in the Rye back to the forefront of literary discussion.  Good on him.

[TakingBackSunday]

holy fuck at Lebron's posterization dunk on Johnson.  Pure fucking power.

[Cormacaroni]

Caught the Spurs-Mavs and Blazers-Suns games on League Pass last night. Both series look like they'll be fun, especially the latter. The Blazers are still surprisingly deep after losing Roy and Oden. I could see this one going 6 or 7 for sure. Most of the other 1st round series look like snoozers though.

[Stoney Mason]

Lebron is nasty tonight.

[OptimoPeach]

Nerf LeBron