>You have a tendency to traffic through in the absurd...

You are talking out of your ass, as always.

>GTFOH w/that stupidity - this is essentially the same
>supporting cast that DIDN'T score one basket in last year's
>finals that WASN'T facilitated by Lebron...NOT ONE IN AN
>ENTIRE 6 GMS...

Big Dummy, how many minutes did Love play in the Finals again? Love went from a top 10 player to a spot up shooter b/c of LeBron. Besides, Delly is much improved from last season & they also added Mo Williams.
-The Pacers big-man rotation is laughable & they were the 2nd seed.
-The Raptors have been playing without Jonas/Carroll & beating teams w/ Scola as their #1 big.
-Celtics have a bunch of role players & Marcus Smart has been out w/ injury.
-Orlando was the 2nd seed for a minute.....so Love/Bron/Tristan/JR/Delly/Mo should be able to get the #1 seed considering the Hawks were slumping to start the season & Rose has been the worst starting point guard in the league.

>You obviously don't understand how much better Lebron makes
>that team when he's on floor...and they are equally as bad or
>mediocre when he's not on the floor (see last year stretch
>when Bron was out 2 weeks, they only won 1 gm w/o him but they
>still had everyone else including Kyrie/Love)

That's what happens when you refuse to feature Love build the team around Bron. (See what Bron did to Bosh)

>People said the same thing abt the Heat the season after
>Lebron...that they will still be competitive in the East w/o
>Lebron and how that played out...same for the Cavs the first
>go around when they won 62 gms and the following season minus
>Lebron they went straight to LAST PLACE

Oh yeah, Bosh wasn't on his death bed & Deng (Bron's replacement) played 82 games.

>And FTR, the east is more competitive than the West this
>season

The West top 4 seed are still a powerhouse & the East isn't seeing the West in the 2nd rd after the mediocre West teams get weeded out. Last I checked the Cavs left their western road trip w/ their tails b/c their legs.

>I say all that to say there's no way in hell Kawhi could carry
>the Cavs if he were on this team instead of Lebron
>The disparity in their passing ability is huge...and what
>separates Bron from any other SF in today's game
>Leonard is not that type of player, period...and I seriously
>doubt if he'd have the same type of success playing
>elsewhere...

Have you heard this thing called "defense", you might want to look it up b/c it's pretty important & Kawhi is the best at it. Kawhi shuts down his matchup thus his point differential is better than LeBron's. Scoring 30 & giving up 25 isn't better than scoring 20 & giving up 10. Not to mention Kawhi is the much more efficient than LeBron & doesn't need to hog the ball to be effective.

>That's because PG is on a really bad team and has to put the
>ball up which sometimes leads to ill-advised and terrible shot
>selections...if PG were on the Spurs I have no doubt he would
>be more efficient and the Spurs best player

PG was also checking Kawhi & he got destroyed on BOTH ends. Jimmy Butler also gave it to him during their recent meeting along w/ Klay Thompson & Kris Middleton. PG isn't seeing Kawhi on defense. If Kawhi was gunning like PG (who is a turnover machine) he would average close to 30.

PG wouldn't be as valuable in the Spurs system he can't affect the system as well as Kawhi without scoring (Kawhi/LMA have had quarter where they didn't get a shot attempt thanks to Tony Parker). Kawhi is also a better spot up shooter which is also a requirement in the Spurs offense.

>And while Kawhi did get in his jersey, PG did have abt 3 awful
>gms in a row after that game...so while I do think some of his
>offensive woes were due to Leonard's D, I do think he happened
>to go through a horrible stretch...we'll see when they play
>again if it mainly because of Kawhi's D or just a 3 or 4 game
>stretch of bad bball...

Excuses, excuses, excuses....remember what happened to in 2013-14, I guess he had a bad half a season.


>No, the real question is how much of a better (post) player is
>LA than Love? I bet most GMs would rather have LA

That's not what they said before Love signed up to play w/ Bron. Bosh went from top 10 to not mentioned at all playing w/ Bron.

>Smh dude, Kawhi averaged an amazing 17.8ppg in the finals lol

Big Dummy, he was in early foul trouble in the first 2 games which messed up his rhythm & Tony Parker was ball hogging. He matched LeBron at better efficiency from Gm 3-5. Kawhi is a big game player not a front-runner like Parker.

>And? He was NOT better than Barkley by any stretch and Karl
>Malone moreso than Pippen was probably the reason he didn't
>make 1st team ALL-NBA since he and Malone played the same
>position

Big Dummy, both forward position are treated the same for All-NBA teams which is why Kemp/Barkely were 2nd team but keep making as shyt.

>No, it was the Spurs defense he was struggling against which
>is why Kawhi was giving him space to shoot instead of letting
>him get in the paint.

http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/pos...

Now to analyze LeBron's 2014 Finals in full context. LeBron was only productive for the first 2 games of the series. In the final 3 games, LeBron didn't show up on offense or defense, and was completely outplayed by 13 ppg Kawhi Leonard across the board. The majority of LeBron's stats over the last 3 games were padded in blowout situations (being down 15+).

Games 3-4-5
Lebron scored 51 of his 81 points (63%) being down 15+
Leonard scored 27 of his 71 points (38%) being up 15+
Leonard outscored Lebron 44-30 in non-blowout situations

Leonard 23.7 ppg on 69%
LeBron 27.0 ppg on 55%
(Leonard 14% more efficient)

>And the notion that "Ray Allen bailed him out" is absurd even
>coming from you - you seem to conveniently forget that w/a
>little under 7 minutes to go in gm 6 the game looked all but
>over (86-68)...and it was Lebron who SINGLEHANDEDLY got them
>back in the game scoring *20 straight point* all while being
>guarded by Lebron's "defensive stopper," Kawhi Leonard LOLOL
>And he even hit a big 3-pointer to get the Heat within 3
>(95-92) which set up Ray's shot

Bruh, Kawhi was a 2nd year player & LeBron was having his best season ever in 2012-13, it should have NEVER come to Ray Allen hitting a 3 to bail out LeBron committing 2 dumb turnovers that almost cost the Heat the championship. LeBron 4th quarter outbrust came after a shitty 3 quarters so he simply dug himself out of a hole.

If Manu wasn't intent on passing the ball to the Heat throughout the 2013 Finals, the Spurs would have come on top in Gm 6 b/c LeBron was throwing up bricks for a good chunk of the series.

>Boy, stop! (C) Big Boi - are you forgetting gm 1? Lebron was
>beasting on Leonard before he had to sit for crucial minutes
>on the bench dealing w/cramps
>And he damn near won gm 2 by himself torching Kawhi for 35 pts
>- scoring in spurts my anus lol

How many of those did he score on Kawhi? (b/c he was on the bench w/ foul trouble)

>Even the blowout gm 5 Lebron had abt *31* pts AT THE HALF and
>tried (in vain) to keep the Heat in sttiking distance but that
>SPURS TEAM (not Leonard) proved to be too much for Lebron who
>was the ONLY Heat player to show up for that series

Gm 3: LeBron had a great first 8 minutes (14 pts, 0 turnovers) but from that point on was locked down by Leonard and the Spurs defense with 8 points and 7 turnovers in the last 40 minutes

Gm 4: Lebron had 9 points in first half and the Heat were blown out by 19 at halftime. He padded his stats from there, and did not score on Leonard in the first half.

Gm 5: Lebron had 1 FG in 2nd quarter (2:30 mark) to bring the Heat within 5. Then he did not score again until the Heat were down 21 with 4:40 in the 3rd. He shot 1-6 against Leonard in this game according to ESPN "MVP Leonard Does it All," and according to that same article Leonard shot 65% on LeBron's overrated defense - http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/91529/mvp-leonard-does-it-all

>Because you don't seem to understand that it has more to do
>w/the Spurs system than anything else
Why didn't Richard Jefferson (the guy Kawhi replaced) excel if it was the Spurs system?

>That system allows him to flourish - the same it did Tony
>Parker who GREW into an elite PG (remember Parker's earlier
>seasons in San Antonio?) - he was perfect for that system
>which is why most ppl didn't feel like he was better than CP3
>even when Parker was playing his best basketball (and wi ning
>the head-to-head battles against CP3) and finishing 2nd in the
>MVP voting - because many believed he wouldn't have the same
>type of success playing on another squad whereas CP3 could do
>what he does on any team you put him on

Tony Parker is a system player but Kawhi is like Manu/Tim, he can ball out on any team. Parker in his 3rd year was getting benched in the Finals (2003) meanwhile Kawhi outplayed "best player in the world" for the last 3 games of the Finals. The Spurs closed out 2 series (Blazers/OKC) in 2014 w/ Parker in the lockerroom. Besides, he was scoreless in the championship clincher until the game was out of hand in the 4th quarter.

Tony had one great season (2012-13) but he was never better than Chris Paul. It's not a coincidence that the Spurs got swept by the Suns (2010) when it was Tony's team. He would have been Ty Lawson status without Tim/Manu.

>I can watch Leonard and how he plays and see that he's
>benefiting from playing in a system that gets GREAT SPACING
>on the floor AND EXCELLENT BALL MOVEMENT...which is why not
>only Leonard but the ENTIRE Spurs team is very
>efficient...because they pass up good shots for great shots
>and turn bad shots into good ones

The Spurs got swept by the Suns & got bounced in the 1st rd by the 8th seed Grizz when Richard Jefferson was the starting SF & then proceeded to draft Kawhi who led them to 3 consecutive WCF. I guess Kawhi must be the system b/c Richard Jefferson along w/ the plethora of Bruce Bowen replacements couldn't cut it.