ESPN is a JOKE!

[BballTim]

With the best player in the game and the 2nd or 3rd best player it would be an embarrassment for the Heat to lose the ECF any year in the next 6 seasons or so.

I just hope it's the Celts dishing out that embarrassment and not anybody else.

  You think Wade's better than Durant (and every other star in the league)?

[esel1000]

The Heat should be favorites whether or not we like it... the part that makes ESPN a joke in my opinion, however, is that these so called experts have the Lakers above OKC in the West... they put an unproven, hasn't even played a game together yet with a lot of question marks team over proven OKC, forgetting the Lakers have been 2nd round exits the last two seasons...

Last year the Celtics proved, with a worse roster, they could take the Heat to 7 games in the ECF and only receive 4 votes, yet an unproven Lakers squad receives like over 50 against the defending Western Conference champs? That's where the joke comes in...

[Moranis]

Out West

Lakers - 56
Thunder - 42
Nuggets - 1
Spurs - 1


I see nothing wrong with either the East or the West (except for Denver and San An, those two guys are just odd).

I can see SA. Not Denver though.

If someone can vote for Denver over LA and OKC I am a little surprised that same person can't vote for Brooklyn, NY, or Philly over Miami or Boston.

Denver is going to turn some heads this year and be a great team under Karl. I still think they are one veteran playoff tested banger away from contention however. Not this year. And you can never count out the spurs as long as Duncan is in uni.

Oh don't get me wrong, I think Denver has a decent shot, but there is no way they should be favored ahead of LA or OKC, none at all. 

[Moranis]

The Heat should be favorites whether or not we like it... the part that makes ESPN a joke in my opinion, however, is that these so called experts have the Lakers above OKC in the West... they put an unproven, hasn't even played a game together yet with a lot of question marks team over proven OKC, forgetting the Lakers have been 2nd round exits the last two seasons...

Last year the Celtics proved, with a worse roster, they could take the Heat to 7 games in the ECF and only receive 4 votes, yet an unproven Lakers squad receives like over 50 against the defending Western Conference champs? That's where the joke comes in...

The Lakers played OKC very tough last year and easily could have won that series if they didn't choke game 2 away.  They add the best center in the game and a HOF PG for a young oft injured very immature center.  I could easily see why more than half of the writers would pick LA over OKC.

[esel1000]

The Heat should be favorites whether or not we like it... the part that makes ESPN a joke in my opinion, however, is that these so called experts have the Lakers above OKC in the West... they put an unproven, hasn't even played a game together yet with a lot of question marks team over proven OKC, forgetting the Lakers have been 2nd round exits the last two seasons...

Last year the Celtics proved, with a worse roster, they could take the Heat to 7 games in the ECF and only receive 4 votes, yet an unproven Lakers squad receives like over 50 against the defending Western Conference champs? That's where the joke comes in...

The Lakers played OKC very tough last year and easily could have won that series if they didn't choke game 2 away.  They add the best center in the game and a HOF PG for a young oft injured very immature center.  I could easily see why more than half of the writers would pick LA over OKC.

On paper the teams amazing but at least in my opinion I feel there's too many question marks to rate them higher than OKC and even the Spurs (whom ppl always seem to forget).

Here's a few

1. Nash's age/back
2. D-12's back
3. Kobe playing with a real pg (we saw how well it worked with the Knicks and Melo last year when an iso player plays with a real pg)
4. Mike Brown...

(and those are just internal problems, excluding matchups probs, etc)

I honestly see the Lakers as 2nd or 3rd in the West... I think the media hype is pinning them as number 1 and they honestly could end up being that but ill take the proven rosters first until this one proves itself

[Finkelskyhook]

Why would you not pick the Heat? They had two of thier top 3 guys injured and still won the title. Still beat the Celtics, and Bosh was moving like he had one leg. Personally I'd wait until after the all-star break to ensure Pierce and Garnett were healthy.

They weren't injured. Don't make excuses, because for the most part they were healthy. Bosh was the only injured and the Celtics had their share of injuries too. Both teams never used injuries as an excuse. The Celtics have a bad habit of not closing games out, simple.

Unlike the Heat......
The Celtics and Thunder also weren't guaranteed by the NBA to win Game 2 in every round of the playoffs.  The officials were wearing Heat uniforms.

[indeedproceed]

Why would you not pick the Heat? They had two of thier top 3 guys injured and still won the title. Still beat the Celtics, and Bosh was moving like he had one leg. Personally I'd wait until after the all-star break to ensure Pierce and Garnett were healthy.

They weren't injured. Don't make excuses, because for the most part they were healthy. Bosh was the only injured and the Celtics had their share of injuries too. Both teams never used injuries as an excuse. The Celtics have a bad habit of not closing games out, simple.

Dywane Wade put off knee surgery and Chris Bosh could barely move during the Celtics series.

[Finkelskyhook]

The Heat should be favorites whether or not we like it... the part that makes ESPN a joke in my opinion, however, is that these so called experts have the Lakers above OKC in the West... they put an unproven, hasn't even played a game together yet with a lot of question marks team over proven OKC, forgetting the Lakers have been 2nd round exits the last two seasons...

Last year the Celtics proved, with a worse roster, they could take the Heat to 7 games in the ECF and only receive 4 votes, yet an unproven Lakers squad receives like over 50 against the defending Western Conference champs? That's where the joke comes in...

The Lakers played OKC very tough last year and easily could have won that series if they didn't choke game 2 away.  They add the best center in the game and a HOF PG for a young oft injured very immature center.  I could easily see why more than half of the writers would pick LA over OKC.

After the last two years you'd compare Howard's maturity favorably to Bynum's?  In what way?  He's a better defensive player.  But not close to the offensive player Bynum is.  Their both divas.  I'd say it's close to a wash.

The HOF PG will ultimately turn the team into a train wreck unless Brown, through no fault of his own, gets fired very early on.  But I have no idea what Herman Munster, if rehired....Or anybody else does to rectify Los Nash's complete disregard for the defensive end of the court.  Their core is aging or have bad backs.  None of them, including the best center in the game, can play 2 positions defensively at the same time.

Why would a team with a defensive-oriented head coach bring on the worst defensive player in the NBA?  Los Nash's complete disdain for defense will undermine both his coach and ultimately....His team.

I don't see the Lakers having home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs...Or getting out of that round.

This is a rerun of the "fo futur hallafamas" with a grossly mismatched coach.

[Moranis]

The Heat should be favorites whether or not we like it... the part that makes ESPN a joke in my opinion, however, is that these so called experts have the Lakers above OKC in the West... they put an unproven, hasn't even played a game together yet with a lot of question marks team over proven OKC, forgetting the Lakers have been 2nd round exits the last two seasons...

Last year the Celtics proved, with a worse roster, they could take the Heat to 7 games in the ECF and only receive 4 votes, yet an unproven Lakers squad receives like over 50 against the defending Western Conference champs? That's where the joke comes in...

The Lakers played OKC very tough last year and easily could have won that series if they didn't choke game 2 away.  They add the best center in the game and a HOF PG for a young oft injured very immature center.  I could easily see why more than half of the writers would pick LA over OKC.

After the last two years you'd compare Howard's maturity favorably to Bynum's?  In what way?  He's a better defensive player.  But not close to the offensive player Bynum is.  Their both divas.  I'd say it's close to a wash.

The HOF PG will ultimately turn the team into a train wreck unless Brown, through no fault of his own, gets fired very early on.  But I have no idea what Herman Munster, if rehired....Or anybody else does to rectify Los Nash's complete disregard for the defensive end of the court.  Their core is aging or have bad backs.  None of them, including the best center in the game, can play 2 positions defensively at the same time.

Why would a team with a defensive-oriented head coach bring on the worst defensive player in the NBA?  Los Nash's complete disdain for defense will undermine both his coach and ultimately....His team.

I don't see the Lakers having home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs...Or getting out of that round.

This is a rerun of the "fo futur hallafamas" with a grossly mismatched coach.

Is Nash's defense really worse than Fisher's was.  I mean I get that Nash is horrible on the defensive side of the floor, but the Lakers haven't exactly had a defensive stallwart at that position ever. 

The Lakers will be a pretty strong defensive team on the whole.  Howard is the best defensive center in the league, Artest and Kobe are still very strong defenders on the wing, and even Gasol is much better defensively then he is given credit for.  They will overcome Nash's terrible defense and do just fine on the whole.  Nash should be able to direct the offense, which should increase Kobe's efficiency and Nash will actually get the ball to Gasol and Howard in the post. 

There are plenty of reasons to think the Lakers won't beat OKC, but there are also plenty of them to think they will.  And the Lakers will have home court for at least the first round unless Kobe and Gasol both get hurt. 

[cman88]

Why would you not pick the Heat? They had two of thier top 3 guys injured and still won the title. Still beat the Celtics, and Bosh was moving like he had one leg. Personally I'd wait until after the all-star break to ensure Pierce and Garnett were healthy.

They weren't injured. Don't make excuses, because for the most part they were healthy. Bosh was the only injured and the Celtics had their share of injuries too. Both teams never used injuries as an excuse. The Celtics have a bad habit of not closing games out, simple.

Dywane Wade put off knee surgery and Chris Bosh could barely move during the Celtics series.

see, this is what I hate about the argument, you act like the C's top unit was fully healthy out there...Bosh was the one who killed us in the last 2 games...he looked fine out there to me...hard to say he could barely move.

even the C's who were on the court were a walking hospital....the only healthy players on that squad were Rondo/KG/bass/dooling...

Pierce-playing on one leg with a sprained MCL, couldnt hit the backboard.

Ray allen- bone spurs in his ankle, couldnt hit a backboard.


our bench was dooling, half of pietrus and...Ryan hollins...thats bad

it was only the greatness of Rondo/KG that allowed us to push them to 7 games..

I agree that Miami should be favorites, but looking at our additions, I dont see how we shouldnt at least be in the convo...just adding Green/Terry to the bench means that we should score more than 2 points(like the bench did in the 4th quarter)

and lets not forget the added dynamic Avery bradley brings on defense....he's someone who can give wade fits one-on-one. if you dont have to double wade, that means you can focus your defense more on lebron or bosh.

I dont like making excuses for losing, but I HATE when people bring up "oh the Heat were walking injured team" as if they were a walking hospital and the C's were at full strength...then you look at who the C's had injured and of our top 4 players, only 2 could be considered healthy

Miami's big 3 played fine when they were on the court

[alley oop]

Dywane Wade put off knee surgery ...

Pierce had to have his knee drained during the 2010 season and didn’t mention it until months after it ended.

[alley oop]

.

[Finkelskyhook]

Is Nash's defense really worse than Fisher's was.

Way worse.  In addition to at least waving his arms and trying to stay in front of his man....Fisher's opponents had to be cognisant of his cheapshotting.

The only thing the opponent needs to be cognisant of with los Nash is that they don't get any of the grease of his hair in their eyes when he's constantly brushing it out of his.

[nickagneta]

Dywane Wade put off knee surgery ...

Pierce had to have his knee drained during the 2010 season and didn’t mention it until months after it ended.

Not exactly sure what you are trying to say but Wade's surgery became major news because he pulled out of the Olympic team. Had it been a non-Olympic year we probably would have heard about Wade's surgery as we did Ray Allen's surgery this year or Pierce's in 2010

[guava_wrench]

Miami's big 3 played fine when they were on the court

They overcame their injuries. That is what players are supposed to do.

If people have to try to hard to feel like the Celtics are better than the Heat, than maybe they shouldn't object when most people don't agree. Other people aren't trying to rationalize out a reason to be confident in their favorite team.