Bulls 6’4″ point guard Derrick Rose was supposed to be unstoppable. He was the league’s MVP, but he was shut down by 6’8″ LeBron James at the end of last night’s game.
I loved how one of the analysts had described James in the last couple of games. He said James became Magic Johnson in game three because Chris Bosh was hitting his shots. In game four, Bosh was having trouble and Dwyane Wade was completely off his game, so he became Michael Jordan and scored 35 points to lead the Heat to victory.
Seriously, he did everything but go up in the stands and sell popcorn in game number 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference Championship Series.
“It’s extremely hard,” Rose acknowledged, “when a 6’8″ guy can easily defend you.” Rose had to settle for long jump shots rather than his dashes to the basket.
James led the team in scoring with 35 points. He grabbed six rebounds despite using so much energy blanketing Rose with the game on the line late. He dished off six assists even though his Superstar partner Dwyane Wade couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean last night. James intimidated Rose by blocking a number of shots and contesting all of them down the stretch. You have to also add two steals to his stats for the game.
I must give James credit for stepping up when it has been needed. So far he’s come through when the game has been on the line.
Of course his job won’t be completed until Miami beats the Bulls one more time, then he finds a way to help Miami win it all the NBA Finals.
It looks like James and his Heat squad are going to meet Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in what should be an outstanding NBA Finals. One of these Superstars will be able to answer the critics with an NBA Title.
people still watch the nba?
I hate the NBA, I follow College Basketball closely and the NCAA Tournament but for some reason, I have a hard time following or caring much for the NBA,
it’s teams or even it’s players… but that’s just me..
There some of the best athletes in the world and in the playoffs everyone plays d. Or your toast.
Say somthing about the series.And who cares what you grandmas like or dont like….what the heck else is there too scope on tv?
I was skeptical of the heat getting it doen but Bron has these guys ballin. His d is Pippenish. The role players are doin there thing.Great finals coming up.
No doubt that the Athleticism you see in NBA is unmatched in any other sport for it’s continuous action and motion.. It’s almost one great play after another, but when the get into half-court, Pick and roll or the 1 & 1 Isolation at the top of the key with everyone else standing around.. then I can’t watch it
I do like the Mavs winning over the Heat in 7
He also showed that NOTHING will be called against him. The hacking by the Heat and the fact that they are getting away with it by a HUGE margin is ridiculous.
LOL…Everybody loved it when Jordan went one on one and everybody watched…How do you think Steve Kerr got 3 rings …LOL
Lets see, Birdbrains (formerly known as birdo), erock,sportsbum, pman, ron glover and many others early on picked against the heat thinking they were gonna lose to the celtics, wishful thinking. Then you picked the bulls over them, yet theyre facing elimination tmr night. Seems like Gcobb may be the only one other than myself that has sense on this site.
Now i see you guys saying “i hate nba basketball, lebron sucks, that was messed up what he did to cleveland” yada yada, he was cleveland! now there nothin without him.
Now i wanna hear you guys say the mavs will beat them next series and give predictions like youve been doing and proving false each round lol…
Lebron James is the best all around player in the nba. i dont even think its close.
My Top 10 NBA Superstars in order
1. Lebron James
2. DWade
3. Dirk
4. DRose
5. Kobe
6. Durant
7. P.Peirce
8. DHoward
9.Melo
10.Amare S.T.A.T
Lebron James isn’t even the best player on his own team, shut the hell up.
The Heat are playing very well right now and will be hard to beat come the Finals.. I am still routing for the Mavs for I don’t particularly care for the Heat.
Mavs have won 10 out 11 games, though the Heat have had a tougher road getting to the Finals.. Hopefully it will be a close series with close exciting games.
I think the Heat benefited a lot with the Sixer playing them tough which got them more focused and ready to play versus the Celts/Bulls.
Birdo, look at my top 10, whose number 1? Bron Bron….Whats the title of this article G so wonderfully wrote.. Lebron James shows us theres nothing he cant do..Poor birdo, you wanna hate Bron Bon so bad its pathetic, stop picking against him you look silly every time.. Now youve resorted to saying hes not even the best player on his own team… who closed out the series against the celtics? Bron. whose coming off of a 35 point game and staring at closing the bulls out tonight? Bron. Cmon man
Pman,thats wishful thinking. when the heat make the finals they will beat the mavs. Okay the heat have a tough task of containing dirk yes, but for the mavs whose checking Bron? Dont give me shawn marion. Whose checking Dwade? Dont give me jason terry or d stevenson. And whose checking Bosh? Dirk? Not gonna happy. Dirk is an offensive player all the way, not defensive.
Heat in 5
J hart- I disagree with pierce at 7. Rondo is the best player on the celtics… then again I hate pierce so I may be biased. Also I think chris paul should be up there and dirk not as high.
My list:
1- lebron
2- kobe
3- wade
4- d rose
5- chris paul
6- dirk
7- dwight
8- durant
9- melo
10- rondo or amare
P P, id put paul in there before rondo… I’m talking about where we stand right now in the league. Dirk is definitely the 3rd best in the league. The heat have the 2 best players in the game bron bron n wade… kobe has declined so 5th is right where he belongs. Peirce is there over rondo bc he’s been a great player before rondo came along… I feel that rondo may be a product of his enviornment, he’s effective bc of all the talent around him, another thing id he can’t shoot all pgs should be able to shoot the ball lol good ness…
I hear crickets…….. Where are all the Bron Bron haters/ Where are all the heat haters? Looks like there in the finals… didnt i say the bulls were gonna choke? There not ready yet… Now they have the mavs who are a good team, much improved, third best player in the league Dirk, but they wont stop the heat either…
Heat in 5
I had to make a revised Top 10 List adding my dude Chris Paul to the list
1. Lebron James
2. DWade
3. Dirk
4. DRose/ Chris Paul
5. Kobe
6. Durant
7. Paul Pierce
8. Dwight Howard
9. Melo
10.Amare S.T.A.T
* List is subject to change
NBA’s Top 10
1. Lebron James
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Dwayne Wade
4. Derrick Rose
5. Dirk Nowitzki
6. Kevin Durant
7. Chris Paul
8. Carmelo Anthony
9. Dwight Howard
10. Deron Williams
Where’s Blake Griffin, Zack Randolph, Lemarcus Aldridge,Danny Granger
and Andre Iglouada..
lol.. its been pretty fun watching all the hateration get shut up when it comes to lebron. Whiny fans overreacted when he left cleveland.. Look what happened to that sorry excuse of a team in cleveland…Not even Bill Belichek could win in cleveland. *smh*
congrats to lebron and the Heat on going to the finals
Ron Glover, you hated on the heat yet you have bron at 1? lol. You got a good list other than having kobe at 2. he has fallen off big time, too much wear and tear on the body, remember hes been playing nba ball since he was 17, hes now almost 33.and you have Deron williams at 10? ugh wheres S.T.A.T,id put rondo there before him…
Paulman, i think blake griffin is talented but not one of the best right now. He is one of the best athletes though just not one of the best players, zach has always been a talented with great consistent numbers but each team hes played for have sucked, this year was his coming out party. He like griffin is in my top 20
(Top 20 coming soon). As for the rest of those guess, you have great humor pman lol
Rasheed, GCobb and myself maybe the only ones with some sense on here.Whats the point of hating on greatness? i admire it, i play ball just about everyday of my life and in numerous touneys so i know what it means to win and to be a great player, i admire greatness i dont hate on it…
Got guys on here wishing they were that great and mad bc theyre not. If we had wade bosh and bron here in philly there would be noone crticizing them so kick rocks…
I like Aldridge and Granger.. Definitely not in Top 10-20 yet, but good young players who if they played on better teams in bigger markets, everyone would know more about them… “Iggy” of course was a joke..
M Ginolbi is another TOp #15 Player, as he goes, so do the Spurs..
Here is my Top #5 Most Overrated list
#1) C Anthony — What has he ever won, Soon as Nuggets trade him, they became a much better team, so then he went to the Knicks,and they faltered, both the Nuggets and teh Knicks were better teams when C Anthony wasn’t playing for them..
#2) Dwight Howard — A force around the rim no doubt, but doesn’t make the players around him any better, not the leader he should be
#3) Joe Johnson — (Hawks) – Ridiculously overpaid and has won nothing
#4) Lamar Odom — Great one game, disappears the next, very inconsistent
#5) Carlos Boozer — Signed big contract, was a big disappointment all season
Melo was on my list because of of his great ability to score the ball, notice he was 9 on my list, not any higher because he doesnt play lock down defense..
The comment about dwight doesnt make sense that you made because hes a center hes supposed to be a force around the rim, the players around him suck suck suck yet his numbers are great yr in and out
I wouldnt say dwight or melo are overrated. Melo does struggle to make his teammates better but hes a unstoppable player on offense, hes unguardable. He has to work at making his teammates better then he may move up into my top 5 or 6
The rest of those guys are ridiculously overrated. Boozer sucks under the bright light… Lamar odom? who?… and i forgot Joe Johnson still played for the hawks (joke) hes too quiet, not assertive enough so he ll always be the same
I Stand by my list..
Great Centers get other players involved by passing, setting screens,Duncan,Jabbar are great examples as well as great around the rim.. Howard is not a very good passer, does not move well without the ball and is a whiner every time he’s touched…
Melo may be an offensive machine by himself, but he has yet to elevate any Pro Team he’s been on, doesn’t play defense or rebound that well for an athlete of his size and doesn’t pass very well either.. He’s soft and a underachiever in my book..
@Jon, so because I picked the C’s to beat the Heat, I’m a hater and I shouldn’t pick James as the best player in the League??? Are you serious. My knock on the Heat wasn’t on James, or Wade it was more about Bosh and the bench. Ok I picked the wrong team big won’t be the first or last time. Who’s mad??? You sound so sophomoric til its funny. Ok you like Lebron and the Heat and they’re in the Finals more power to you. I hope he’s able to play Tuesday cause you’re giving him one hell of a hernia.
So your lists are right now not what they have done in their career? Because if it is their career than Kobe trumps them all.
And Howard is a good player but he is limited in his low post game to the bull rush. He can’t shoot at all which obviously includes free throws. And add to that the fact that he is a gigantic whiner (probably because of Van Gundy) about how many times that he gets fouled. Shaq never complained about that crap and if you don’t want to get fouled, then make free throws and people will stop fouling you.
Boozer is overrated too. He takes entire games off.
Lastly, I will say something that LeBron can’t do and that is consistently hit a 15 footer. His FG % is only high because of dunks and lay-ups. If he took the time to really improve his jump shot, then he would really be unstoppable.
Pman, tell me who’s the best center in the league… then tell me who he has around that can draw the attention off him.. the first answer should be Dwight Howard then the second answer should be noone, same thing happen with shaq while in orlando, he had no pieces around him to make better… You do remember that dwight brought them to the finals right…
Orlando made the finals what 3 years ago when the Eastern Conference was a flat out joke… You had Celtics (before the big 3) and who else..
Best Offensive Center in the NBA is probably that Italian kid playing in Toronto that no one knows about (Is it Bargnani…21.5 Pts per Game, .82 % from foul line but needs to get stronger and get more rebounds (Averages 6 per game)
Magic had a decent squad playing well until they blew it up for that stupid trade for Guard G Arenas and traded away some good role players in the process..
The center position is as weak as it has been in my lifetime. So Dwight is the best of not a very good crop.
And he brought them to the finals last year? He averaged 18 and 11 in the playoffs last year. Did they win every game 20-18? He was the best player on the Magic, but he is no Ewing.
I tell you who did improve dramatcially this past year at the Center Position
was Roy Hibbert of the Pacers.. He keeps working hard and develops a little 14-15 ft jump shot, he will be a force for the next 6-8 years…
Pman, are you kidding me??? Bargnati comment doesnt even warrant a response… Just keep it real and say Dwight is the best center in the league with no help around him.. vince carter washed up he had to go, arenas is finished, jameer nelson is too small, turk isnt who he was a few yrs back, the guy has noone around him
Bugsy, idc that theyre arent any centers in the league as good, thats not Howards fault lol. You think when shaq was at his most dominant state that he worried about all the other centers? Heck no he didnt care who was in the league he looked to dominate each game…
You guys gotta come up with better arguments, and yalls lists are flawed big time
Rondo before Deron Williams close argument but in the end, Williams. Love S.T.A.T. but he just misses
I was kidding Jon,
Just goes to show how weak the Center Position has become in the NBA
Rondo can’t shoot and Williams can. Rondo doesn’t do everything else so much more than Williams that it makes up for that fact.
Ron, what does he miss? the guy is a beast, until melo came to the team and disrupted the chemistry Amare was a serious MVP canidate, the man stepped up on the defensive end this yr big time too, yeah you gotta have that man in the top 10, i cant believe you dont have him in your top 10…
Pman, good… but what is howard supposed to do, act like hes not as good as he is bc of the lack of quality centers?… his game is just like how shaqs was at that age, shaq was bigger and stronger yes but there games are no different… hey i ll take dwight on the sixers, we ll be a instant contender and fill a huge hole
Bug, i agree rondo cant shoot but he will help you win more games then deron williams will… the nets didnt even want deron they wanted chris paul, i just dont like his game…
My Top 5 point guards
1. Chris Paul
2. Derek Rose
3. Rondo
4. Russell Westrook
5. Jrue Holiday (Hes fearless, will step on your throat, has a killer instinct, and has super high potential, hes only 20, id take him over Deron Williams)
He’s not in my Top 10 because I have 10 players and not 11. You have 2 lists, how do you even forget to put Chris Paul on the original list but you put Paul Pierce in the Top 10?
Ron, Paul peirce is a winner, in his younger years he was in my top 5 but hes older now, but the man is an assassin, fearless.. i missed on paul the first go round, he is one of my favorite players too…. I would take chris paul over rose, i this paul know the pg position better at this point in his career…
I have chris paul and rose an even tie because theyre pretty much the two best pgs in the league, but id take paul over him so my list looks like this now
Top 10 NBA Superstars
1. Lebron James
2. DWade
3. Dirk
4. Chris Paul
5. DRose
6. Kobe
7. Durant
8. Paul Pierce
9. Dwight Howard
10. Melo
*Subject To Change