1. Lebron Going From Beast Mode to Galactus Devourer of Worlds Mode
It's hard to capture exactly how well Lebron is playing. I could talk about his jump shot for 300 yards away, or how he ripped off James Johnson's arm and beat him with it, or how he palmed a medicinal ball but those are just images that represent his dominance. How about this fact, Lebron has taken 1 less shot than Kobe and scored 44 more points. His playoff PER is 38 (for reference D-Wade's is 31 , Derick Rose's is 17, and average is 15) Currently Lebron is ranked 18th in the AP College Football Poll.
2. It Takes a Village
While I'm just as guilty as everyone else of focusing on stars the Boston - Miami series probably highlights the limits of individual greatness. Yes superstars are necessary to win in the playoffs but they in their own right are hardly sufficient to guarantee victory. Dwayne Wade has been playing better than anyone not named Lebron this first round (He's averaging nearly 34 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists on 60% shooting). However given how bad his surrounding cast is Miami is barely alive in the playoffs. Stars are important but they aren't the be all end of all of winning the playoffs.
3. Wild West
It's day 34950 of the 2010 playoffs (man are the NBA playoffs slow) and all of the lower seeded teams are still fighting for their lives with 2 holding commanding leads. In particular the Spurs and Jazz look to be ready to go onto the next round. The Nuggets haven't been same without George Karl for whatever reason (41-20 w/Karl 13-12 w/o Karl) . The Mavs still haven't lived up to what they should be on paper.
3 comments:
Mike, I can't believe you forgot some of Lebron's playoff accomplishments:
1. At halftime he split the atom and then pummelled Jokim Noah with all the quarks.
2. He tracked down all of AIG's board members and murdered them.
3. He gave Dick Chaney a heart
4. He successfully negotiated a merger deal between UNICEF and the NRA.
5. He bodyslammed Andre the Giant in Wrestlemania III.
6. He beat Bender and Peter Griffin in a drinking contest
7. He successfully found Dorothy a way back to Kansas
1) whoa... I didn't think one could top "Beast Mode." But "Galactus Devourer of Worlds Mode" would indeed be even better. That just blows my mind. A PER of 38 is just off the charts.
2) Wild west - Nuggets are playing awful. The Jazz play small (Boozer and Millsap together) or use one of them w/ someone named Fesenko at center. Crazy. The Mavs-spurs series is highly entertaining but I will have to write my full thoughts on that later after watching the entire game 4 (and there's a lot to mention).
"Yes superstars are necessary to win in the playoffs but they in their own right are hardly sufficient to guarantee victory."
I don't think anyone ever said superstars are sufficient to guarantee playoff victory. This has been proven time and again over the course of NBA history given the number of teams that had only one superstar and never won anything (Dominique Wilkins on the Hawks, Charles Barkley on the 76ers, Shaquille O'Neal without a second banana, etc.).
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