[NYTimes] With Sheer Will, LeBron James Leads the Cavaliers Back to the Finals (Monday, May 28, 2018 4:13:51 AM)
In Game 7 against the Celtics, in Boston, James played all 48 minutes, scored 35 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and notched 9 assists.
[NYTimes] Warriors’ Game 6 Revival Keeps Series Alive Against the Rockets (Sunday, May 27, 2018 4:53:56 PM)
Warriors guard Klay Thompson hit nine 3-pointers to lead Golden State to victory over Houston after an early 17-point deficit.
57 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.05.28)”
I can’t stand LeBron the man (save for his “u bum” tweets and other socially good things) but boy, he’s probably the most awesome athlete we’ll ever see. To dominate the game this way at 33 is pretty unprecedented.
The Cavs GM got a lot of praise on deadline day but other than George Hill none of those guys play. Courtney Lee would probably be the 2nd best player on that team if we could have worked something out. The expiring contracts and a 1st round pick they gave up for Nance and Clarkson would have been a good return for Lee and they would have gotten a player who could play for them in these finals.
Why is everyone so down on Miles Bridges? I finally got around to watch some videos and I like him better than Mikal. Strong, fast, great motor, good rebounder and decent passer for a 3, and good size for a 3. What’s the argument against him at #9?
I’m perfectly okay with either Bridges, Carter, or Porter Jr. All of them have legitimate rotation potential.
Trading down for both gaining assets (or possibly dumping Noah) as well as to draft project(s) would also be okay too. Those projects can still have both immediate as well as long term value.
Trading up for Doncic or Porter might be okay, as long as the price is right. No Melo scale deals, please. Please.
What I’m not okay with is drafting a guard. I like the guard talent the Knicks have — they just need to develop that talent. But signing one to a 2-way would be okay for a G-league project.
This FO has publicly put forth a hightened level of effort to researching 20-30 players. Then there are the off-the-radar players they’re looking into as well.
Then there’s the relationship-building Perry has done as GM with the other teams, finding out their needs as well scoping out market value for various player archetypes.
That leads me to consider that they’re developing a series of talent acquisition contingencies depending on how events unfold. This far supercedes the typical “priority” draft board that lazier teams will probably prepare.
And it will serve them well next month.
If the celtics players were wearing any other uniform, I would have been rooting heavily for them against lebron. I have to give them a ton of credit, but man, the East was so freaking terrible this year. When was the last time two such mediocre teams were in the ecf’s?
The Celtics got this far by playing good defense and making more shots than they should so it was satisfying to watch them miss everything last night against a terrible defense.
@1,
For me, it’s not the fact that he’s 33. It’s the fact that this is his 15th season! Wowsers! In the midst of that, he just completely took over a game 7 in the ECF- in which he played all 48 minutes- to get to his 8th straight Finals. He was incredible. Million turnovers and all lol. I don’t know what other superlatives you can give him after dominating the league from the perimeter in year 15 and dragging an underachieving team to the NBA Finals. People always use the 6 for 6 line in the Lebron vs MJ argument, but I don’t think you can deny Lebron. If he’s not a better player, he’s just as good. No one will ever know if MJ could have done what Lebron has, but I think Lebron’s career is just as impressive. There are 6 players that I’ve seen that I would feel comfortable saying that they belonged in the rare air that Mike enjoyed as a player. Keep in mind that when I say this, I’m not considering championships because that would be unfair. Those players are AI, Magic, Dream, Bird, Kobe, and Lebron. Those 6 were so good that they made Prime KG, Kareem, and Shaq honorable mentions in my book.
I think we can all stand together and say that Kobe’s attempts to insert himself into the Lebron-MJ discussion is hilarious.
Rozier channeled the ghost of John Starks in game 7.
After last night, I’ve never been more convinced that LeBron is doing some combination of roids, HGH and blood doping (and some other stuff I don’t know about/ never heard of). After 15 seasons, 100 games this year, and having to play distributor, leading scorer, guarding the other team’s best guy and being the leading rebounder, and not even looking tired…..it’s hard to believe he’s doing this without enhancements.
Lebron, like many other players, is probably using PEDs.
He looked exhausted last night. His shot was flat, he spent one Cleveland possession standing underneath the Celtics basket, and he could barely stand after the game ended.
The NBA does have a fatigue/health issue that results in subpar playoff basketball. It’s a battle of attrition; the season is too damn long.
Lebron’s game was beginning to show some signs of slippage when he hit 30. That’s right around when injuries and wear and tear start accumulating to the point that most players start declining and losing a step. Then instead of continuing to slow down from there, he began having a resurgence. He’s suddenly healthier, stronger, has no back issues anymore, played 82 games for the first time in his career, and then all these minutes in the playoffs. That’s the exact pattern of PED use. They can short circuit the normal aging and injury process and lead to a resurgence.
But IMO, there’s more. IMO, he looks different physically too. Almost every athlete gains some weight as they age, but he looks physically thicker, stronger, and more wound up now. I would even argue his head looks bigger and his facial features have changed subtly like Barry Bonds.
None of that is solid evidence, let alone proof. No one in the media going to touch it, but I’m pretty surprised more fans aren’t suspicious. I’m not buying that he’s clean.
I’m okay with the GOAT debate, just not with any definitive answer. It’s not like someone trying to argue that Deron Williams and Chris Paul are on the same tier of PG. LeBron has done some crazy shit that Jordan never did, and vice versa. I’m also pretty sure that Jordan would have elevated this year’s Cavs team to a Finals run, and that LeBron would have dominated with the GOAT rebounder and another legit All-NBA perennial two-way star, too.
It kinda feels like Mike Trout vs. Barry Bonds — I thought no one would ever touch Bonds’s long-term, absurdly aberrant production, and then Mike Trout comes along and starts pacing his WAR as though he is the actual GOAT.
I mean, Steve Kerr has admitting to using PEDs towards the end of his career. You don’t need to be yoked up like Lebron to be using.
For some reason baseball is the only sport where PED’s is considered such an immoral act that you have people saying getting caught once should mean a year long ban if not a lifetime ban. Football players get caught all the time and you never hear that much about it, hell Von Miller is constantly praised as one of the best defensive players and he got suspended 6 games for PED use for a few years ago.
If you want to indict LeBron with no evidence, I’m not going to argue. PED use is rampant and the NBA is probably the worst at doing something about it.
But don’t be delusional and deny there isn’t as much, if not more, circumstantial evidence that MJ was doing it, too. The 80s and 90s were the Wild West of PED usage among athletes.
miles is a decent prospect but he gets dinged a fair amount for his low steal rates which are usually a good barometer for pro success…. it’s not only low but it’s abnormally low….
if you ever seen him play he doesn’t really have much side to side explosiveness to him… it’s basically straight line, jump off two feet explosiveness…. which is good and useful but in the nba changing direction and reacting quickly to everything around you is valued more….
it could be overblown which is why he’s still a good prospect but mikal doesn’t really have those concerns…. and miles’ edge in ballhandling isn’t so much better to overcome mikal’s edge on defense… if mikal is about a 8.1 rating miles is something like a 7.8 whereas someone like knox is like a 6 or something…. so he’s good…. and he has a chance to be one of the best wings in this draft… it’s just he has more question marks than some others….
Almost all sports worldwide have a very strict PED policy.
Soccer usually it’s a 6 months to 1 year ban and russian athletes are being banned from the olympics games two years before the qualifying.
PEDs are not a big deal only in american pro leagues.
My doctor’s been pushing HGH on me for years. I was hovering just above a 3:00 marathon for a spell, trying to get a few minutes faster. She said I would run faster, longer, and my skin would look great. I had quit following baseball around that time, feeling it was all so tainted with the PED abuse, and felt that taking HGH just for the vanity rights of saying that I was a sub3:00 marathoner was hypocritical so stayed ‘natural’. Now there’s a lot more accepted medical benefits to HGH it seems, and pretty much all the actors here in Hollywood are using it. If it prolongs the careers of great basketball players, for fans to enjoy longer, that seems like a pretty good consequence. (It’s not like basketball players can just pop steroids and become huge and be more productive like baseball players could (can)).
Thanks.
@21
Just because I used to be fond of you before you folded to your boss’ pressure to trade for Me7o I will give you some good advice. Ignore your idiot doctor.
While HuGH will surely increase your athletic potential to some degree it comes at an heavy price, namely a greatly increased cancer risk.
Ask your doctor if she understands the mTOR signaling pathway and mTOR and ILGF link to cancer. If she doesn’t suggest she does some research before giving her patients horrible advice.
Ha, yeah, I’ve ignored her suggestion, and don’t plan on reversing. She’s a typical LA doc, who services a clientele pathologically obsessed with staying young. For movie stars, like NBAers, there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake with a graceful aging process, unlike me, who was only trying to run fast marathons into my 40s:).
(And, yes, I do now ignore my idiot doctor completely, but that’s mostly because for the past few years she’s been telling me how great Donald Trump is…)
I have a close friend who played DIII football at a podunk college. He said he juiced the entire time, almost the whole team was juicing, and it was well known that pretty much the whole conference was juicing. This was in the 90’s. I personally think PED testing in the NFL is probably a complete joke, and that you have to be really careless to get caught.
cp3 apparently is out for tonight… which is depressing….
I do think Miles’ passing is underrated. It’s one area he’s really improved over the past year. But yes, he could be a problem defensively. I don’t think Mikal is as lock-down as some say, but I don’t think he has the potential to get picked on like Miles, who doesn’t have the side to side speed to guard 3s or the height/length to guard 4s.
I guess Capela can’t stay on the floor in relevant playoff games right?
I am positive that at least one of these teams is playing actual basketball
Going to be hilarious when the Warriors lose and Durant signs with the Rockets this summer.
PJ Tucker is the new Bruce Bowen.
This might be the worst officiated game I’ve ever seen.
I should not have to watch the most important basketball game of the year with Reggie fucking Miller and Chris Webber as the “analysts.” Who do I direct my angry email towards?
Battle for last place: Marv, Miller and Webber; the refs; Trevor Ariza’s shooting hand
they really need to not play ryan anderson….. he is getting roasted….
and hitting some 3s might work also….
Last two threes by KD and Steph were sick
So depressing to watch these last two games without CP3. Each game, they start strong but without ANY depth, they inevitably fell apart in the second half of both games. The inevitability of it all is so bleak.
Tucker is keeping Rockets in the game. Perfect example of a guy who is better on a good team than he would be on a not so good team.
@37 yes we are being deprived of great stuff with no CP3. What a shame.
I mean, whatever, I really don’t even care who wins this series, as they’re both good teams, it is just so bleak watching a team get so close only to lose such a great player like that.
KD and Steph. What more can you say? This game needed a CP3 “tunnel moment”
Miller and Webber *almost* make me wish for Mark Jackson
Hack a Pela?
Chris Paul makes this a 3OT-level game
Right…
Marv is almost senile, he calls a Thompson 2 pointer a 3 when he was 2 feet inside the line, then says “he had a finger over the line”
And Webber actually used the phrase “for that fact of the matter”
Don’t give a shit about Harden or D’Antoni, but I really hope Paul gets another shot a making the Finals.
was not reffed well at all and the warriors got the lion’s share of the calls….
houston jacked up a ton of 3s but it was probably their best shot at it…. if anyone gets hot or if ariza doesn’t suck then they probably win….
Man, Gerald Green is going to have a lot of sleepless nights over this one.
Yay, another Cavs-Warriors final!
KD and Stef hit some ridiculous shots! Would have been nice to see what would have happened if CP3 could have played. I also feel bad for the guy. He was truly a difference maker for Houston.
If we are drafting a wing, I really hope it’s Kevin Knox….
The Warriors have had some ridiculous luck over the last four seasons, but honestly, come on, who wins an NBA title without a little luck? Heck, they’d probably be gunning for title #4 in a row had they not gotten unlucky with that moronic Draymond Green technical back in 2016. Although, is it “bad luck” if it is just a player being a dummy? In any event, I think the “luck” stuff has been overblown. The Warriors very well could have beaten the Rockets with CP3, it’s not like they didn’t destroy them earlier in this very series with Paul on the team. Similarly with San Antonio and Kawhi last year and the Cavs back in 2015 (especially the Cavs back in 2015).
The Warriors almost assuredly will win this series, but hey, let’s hope that at least Kevin Love returns healthy and it is a competitive Finals.
It’ll be Lue unleashing a one-two punch of Cedi Osman and Kendrick Perkins that tips the scale #freecedi #freeperk
Osman is such an odd guy in that they really seem to like him and yet never play him.
LeBron deserves better than his shitty ass teammates, but this is the roster that he constructed himself so it’s whatever. I don’t think anybody believes the Cavs get a game, but hey. Even the Cavs know they have no chance.
By the way, how in the world can Lebron leave Cleveland now? He’s going to be adding the #8 pick in the upcoming draft to this current team that just made it to the NBA Finals. The Cavs will also have a whole new offseason to try to pick up cheap veterans and/or undrafted free agents to add to the team. They’re not going to be a great team, to be sure, but they would probably have roughly as good of a chance as Boston and Philadelphia of winning the East next year and perhaps even better if they end up with a really good #8 pick – imagine if they get Trae Young and he is a legit player, a lineup of Young/Hill/Korver/Lebron/Love would easily get home court next season and then who knows?