(Saturday, May 26, 2018 9:50:46 PM)
The lead-up to the Knicks’ 2018 draft can be entitled “The Bridges of Madison Square Garden.’’ With the No. 9 pick, the front office seeks a versatile combo forward as a priority. The 6-foot-6 Villanova junior Mikal Bridges, 21, and 6-7 Michigan State sophomore Miles Bridges, 20, best qualify. “They got the same name, nearly…
[NYTimes] Warriors’ Game 6 Revival Keeps Series Alive Against the Rockets (Sunday, May 27, 2018 5:44:37 AM)
Warriors guard Klay Thompson hit nine 3-pointers to lead Golden State to victory over Houston after an early 17-point deficit.
[NYTimes] Cavaliers’ Kevin Love to Miss Game 7 vs. Celtics With a Concussion (Saturday, May 26, 2018 6:38:23 PM)
Love, who banged heads with the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum in Game 6 on Friday night, has at least two other known concussions in his career.
50 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.05.27)”
“So, yeah, you’re going to have to beat a team that hasn’t lost a single home game all playoffs long, with a bunch of scrubs since your best teammate has a concussion.”
The deck is certainly stacked against Lebron this time around. It would be pretty darn shocking if he can pull it off.
I don’t know, I’ve heard that too many times now. (And this Celtic team is a lot less formidable than some of the other teams he’s had to single-handedly go up against over the years). I’m not going to bet against him.
Having Love’s minutes go to Nance might be a blessing in disguise.
I’m looking forward to seeing the end of LeBron’s dominance in the East.
Love’s minutes are going to Green says ESPN.
Tragic.
Lebron will keep it interesting, but unless Boston chokes- he won’t advance.
Yeah, that was precisely what I was thinking. The thought of them leaning on Jeff Green in an elimination game is….ungood.
Jeff Green is just Jamal Crawford East.
Just wait until he opts in and gets traded to Boston for Hayward+ picks and salary filler. Unless Cleveland or Boston somehow win the finals (or if Boston is really competitive) it’s probably as likely a landing place for him as any.
And rejoin Kyrie? That’s very unlikely I would say. I’m of the opinion that every single team would add LeBron if they could, but Boston and Golden State are the last ones in the list in terms of what they would actually give up for him, meaning unless James for some reason really really wants to join them, there’s other better options. As good as LeBron is he’s at this point basically a 2 year rental at most for any team and I don’t think Boston would want to create this mess for themselves when they are currently positioned to dominate the NBA anyway 2 years from now.
Yeah, LeBron to the Celtics is never gonna happen.
Philly, on the other hand, doesn’t seem totally crazy.
I wish we weren’t embarrassing ourselves by putting up banners suggesting he come to NY…
But what if they trade Kyrie, which they should probably do anyway? (Like, say, to the Wolves for Jimmy Butler?)
Boston has an embarrassment of riches to throw into trades. Ainge can operate like it’s 2007 all over again. (Only from the position of top team in the east already).
LeBron is never playing with Kyrie again. Boston is also not going to trade for Jimmy Butler, as Jaylen Brown is probably going to play 2500 minutes next year.
LeBron is either staying in Cleveland to appease Ohioan mouthbreathers (and maybe get an ownership stake from Gilbert), going to Philly to win 2-3 more championships, or wearing a Lakers’ uni and being as revered as Dwight and Nash were, as LeBron makes $35M to carry the Lakers to an 8-seed and first-round exit.
But why would they trade Kyrie? He played very very well the entire year, improved on pretty much all the relevant stats including a great year efficiency wise and the team is one game away from the finals with a PG who’s playing the best basketball by far in his career and is still producing at a very inferior level to his numbers. He’s also 26 and under contract. Unless his injury is IT level, which would be a huge surprise, it makes no sense at all.
I get wanting LeBron, because he is that good, but it seems like too much of a mess to get into. They would have to trade Kyrie for either a PG on the same level or hope Rozier can keep up, move at least one of Hayward / Brown / Tatum since they would all want starting minutes and LeBron takes at least 35 mpg already, all to still have a chance to lose to the Warriors and have LeBron leave in 1 or 2 years.
What if they traded Kyrie, Ojeleye and a pick for KAT and salary filler?
High-volume, high-efficiency PGs are greater in numbers than in the past, but that just means that having an elite one is that much more valuable. Kyrie is just now entering his prime. .610 TS% on 31 USG% is exactly what you want from a PG who bails your team out when the offense breaks down. If it had been Kyrie instead of Rose on the 2011 Bulls, they probably win a chip.
Towns would be a huge scoring improvement over Horford, who is a great all-around player but not a dominant offensive superstar, but Towns is anecdotally terrible at D and at a much more important position than Kyrie. If Kyrie is a sieve, you hope he can outgun whoever’s lighting him up at 2-guard. If Towns is a sieve, your team is fucked.
If the Jazz weren’t in Utah I think LeBron going there would be the best fit for him. All they would have to do is move Burks and let Favors go and they could sign him outright. A defensive first team is exactly what LeBron needs to maximize his talents. He can carry a team offensively all by himself and with Gobert backing him up, the defense would be elite. Unfortunately, I doubt he’s finishing up his career in Salt Lake City.
Utah and New Orleans are very intriguing fits for Lebron, they would both become really legitimate title contenders with him. Just imagine LeBron playing with prime Anthony Davis for example. But yeah, never happening, unfortunately.
I don’t think Boston has to or wants to touch Kyrie at all, there’s a real argument that could be made that this core would be fighting for a championship with real chances with him. I admire what Rozier is doing and all but his absolute best games are the sort of stuff Irving was doing regularly throughout the season, and when he has been bad the production plummets. If anything they could use some of their bottomless pit of assets to improve Horford’s spot.
I think Towns would be amazing for them but they’ll only do it if they can keep Irving + at least 2 of Brown, Tatum and Hayward, otherwise he’s too expensive. I don’t think New Orleans is trading Davis too, same goes for Gobert, so their chances of improving with another superstar are somewhat limited, and there’s no use messing with this team unless you get a top 15 player.
If LeBron had never won a championship, maybe I could see him going to Utah – that would be a great fit. Never gonna happen. But New Orleans would also be a great fit and is a place I think players are happy to play. That seems possible.
There is not a snowball’s chance in hell LeBron goes to Utah or New Orleans.
Dave Bliss is out. Bye to the beard.
I almost feel bad for Lebron…he literally has to do everything in order for him to win tonight. I just don’t see it happening.
JR Smith used to be an X factor…he is completely irrelevant now
Gotta think LeBron is going to run out of gas, but then again it’s LeBron so who knows?
Without LeBron that Cavs team is lottery level at best. It’s 2010 all over again for LeBron.
Lebron not out of gas
Although that looked like a foul to me
Nope. Definitely not. I retract my statement and confirm I am an idiot for doubting him.
Honestly, this team without James and Love does not win 20 games, I’m 100% convinced of it.
If LeBron wins this series it will be such a gigantic accomplishment.
I’m already reading a bunch of people talking about how this is an example of how the NBA playoff format has to change because either of these teams will get destroyed in the NBA Finals. Why is it that a ton of NBA writers constantly complain about this but you never hear this complaint from MLB and NFL writers?? The NFC had a 13 year stretch where they won every single Super Bowl and nobody complained that they had to do away with conferences. The AL has had several stretches of dominating the World Series and nobody ever said do away with the AL and NL. Why is the NBA the only league where people deem this as a problem??
I think the doing away with the conference argument was more so in relation to teams outside of the top 4 in each conference. IIRC the main argument for getting rid of the conferences was because you had teams in the West with winning records missing the playoffs, whereas East teams were getting in being under .500. I think the competitive balance has gotten better in recent years, but I can see why some West teams would be advocating for a revamped playoffs. End of the day, most Finals series in the last 6-7 years have been pretty competitive. Last series I recall not going to at least 6 games was the Miami v OKC series that was only 5.
Celtics could really use Kyrie Irving right now.
Cavs aren’t winning this game, the Celtics are losing it.
Wow…he’s going to the Finals again! Unreal!
I think LeBron is incredible but beating this Celtics team in 7 games isn’t that big a deal. The 76ers were predicted to beat this Celtics team last round and the Bucks took them to 7 games in the 1st rd. Come back to Cleveland and beat this Celtics team next year with Irving and Hayward back, now that would be one helluva accomplishment.
Granted this Celtics team without Hayward and Irving were punching above their weight for most of the playoffs, but anyone that can drag the spuds on that Cavs team to another Finals is impressive regardless of the opposition.
If only Melo had gotten Lebron’s whistle
It’s amazing.
I mean, it’s a big deal because as much as Boston isn’t the greatest team, the Cavs would struggle against the Westchester Knicks without LeBron, so there’s this little detail.
His best teammate for today’s game was Jeff freaking Green who would probably not be a starter on the Knicks.
This fawning over LeBron’s games played and minutes this year is hilarious. Jordan in his 2nd 3peat played all 82 games EVERY season and played 100 games+ total all 3 years at ages 33-35. He played over 3800 minutes all 3 years too. I get the comparisons between them now and LeBron is legitimately the only player who can and should be compared to Jordan but their is alot of short memories when it comes to Jordan by these younger writers who didn’t cover Jordan.
In fact Jordan in 179 playoff games averaged 41.8 minutes per game.
Worth noting that by the end of these playoffs LBJ will have played almost 6000(!) more career minutes than Jordan. The fact that LBJ is still the game’s best player this deep into his career is mind-blowing.
You’re right, Al, but conversely we shouldn’t underestimate the benefit of taking two years off.
I think Stevens is a really good coach but why in hell he didn’t instruct the Celtics to cut back on jacking up threes in the second half is beyond me. They shot themselves right out of the fucking game. That one sequence in the 4th was a killer when Smart got the rebound on the missed free throw and kicked it out, they quickly put up and missed a three, got Another offensive rebound and promptly shot and missed Another three. Just awful. That being said, Boston will be back and better next year with Kyrie and Hayward.
LeBron going to his Eighth finals in a row, truly amazing. If he can somehow beat Golden State or Houston with this roster and win another ring then he is straight up the GOAT, no debate at that point.
Of course Hubert, I’m not downplaying what LeBron is doing this year but playing alot of games and minutes in a season is not a big deal to me considering when I grew up watching the NBA it was pretty much commonplace for the best players. I mean shit Ewing in the 1993-94 season played 104 games and 4,000 minutes. It is pretty remarkable that LeBron is doing this in his 15th year but this was only the 3rd season he played at least 80 games and the first he played in all 82. Jordan played at least 80 games in 10 seasons and 8 of those he played in all 82. He also lead the league in minutes played 3 times too while averaging 38.6 mins per game in his 13 seasons with the Bulls. I already mentioned his playoffs minutes played earlier which was pretty insane too.
The last time Jordan led the league in minutes played was when he was 25. LeBron is 33. By age 33 James had played almost 300 more games than Jordan. That’s 11500 more minutes. LeBron never gets hurt. He never stops. You can argue Mike was better on a rate basis or that he had a higher peak, but even if that’s true it doesnt overcome LeBron’s insane durability
“Lebron’s insane durability” is truly unique.
Consider he started playing an NBA schedule straight from high school, played in several Olympics, year after year of deep playoff runs, and he’s still the best player in the league after 15 years at 33 . Just incredible.
Well in reality LeBron and Jordan’s durability pales in comparison to Wilt Chamberlain’s, holy crap his games and minutes played are beyond ridiculous. Different era I know but still his numbers seem fake.
When LeBron made his first Finals, here are some players that made an All-NBA team:
Gilbert Arenas
Amar’e Stoudemire
Yao Ming
Tracy McGrady
Chauncey Billups
Gilbert, I repeat, Arenas
LeBron will soon have made his 9th Finals appearance, and I wouldn’t bet against that number ending up at 11 or 12 if he makes some good decision this offseason. LeBron will never go a perfect 6 for 6 in Finals appearances, and Jordan will never have made 9 Finals appearances. Who cares? The fact that we’re talking about “82 games played” vs. “leading the league in MP” is a sure sign that these are some bad bitches who dominated eras stacked with Hall-of-Fame talent.
Well according to many people Jordan didn’t beat anybody good in the NBA Finals which is why he went 6 for 6 while LeBron lost so many Finals because he played the best teams ever. LeBron certainly had some shitty teammates this year (and in 2007) but many people are forgetting how stacked his Heat teams were and the last 3 Cavs teams weren’t exactly lacking talent.
Debates are what makes sports fun and it’s pretty obvious that Jordan and LeBron are the 2 greatest players ever. But considering how so many people always points to championships when debating who are the best players, in all sports not just the NBA, it’s going to be impossible for LeBron to match Jordan’s 6 rings. With how close statistically Jordan and LeBron are in the end isn’t the significant championships edge to Jordan the tie-breaker??
Anyone that saw Kareem and Wilt would disagree.