CB DRAFT FINALS THREAD: Sixers Win!!!!!!!

[indeedproceed]

FINALS DEBATE THREAD
Sixers (1) Vs Blazers (2)

Send votes to CB DRAFT VOTING. Voting ends at midnightish Friday.

[Roy H.]

Sixers. They're simply a better team, and Wade has shown (twice) that he can dominate on this stage.  A superstar plus two other star-level players in West and Iguodala is simply too much for the Blazers to handle, in my mind.

Sadly, my objectivity tells me to vote Philly, Mod Conspiracy and all.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Every one matches up well I think. The Wade over Harden situation is covered by Amare over West.

The deal breaker for me is Derrick Williams. He's gonna be too big and too powerful for Andre Iguoudala, no matter how good he is defensively and athletic. That is just a big mismatch the whole series in my opinion, and that breaks the even matchups.

[dark_lord]

i want to see what the discussion brings.  as of right now, i like philly over blazers.  

[Rondo2287]

i want to see what the discussion brings.  as of right now, i like philly over kings. 

Kings arent in it DL, we lost to the blazers

[dark_lord]

i want to see what the discussion brings.  as of right now, i like philly over kings. 

Kings arent in it DL, we lost to the blazers

omg....i am such a dink!  i meant blazers, not kings.  no disrespect to u or nick for the slip up.

[Rondo2287]

i want to see what the discussion brings.  as of right now, i like philly over kings. 

Kings arent in it DL, we lost to the blazers

omg....i am such a dink!  i meant blazers, not kings.  no disrespect to u or nick for the slip up.

None taken, I almost started posting strategy here this morning!

[Who]

Very tough matchup for Harden or Delfino.

Wade is just too quick and explosive for either guy to handle defensively. Neither guy or anyone else on the Blazers roster is a good matchup defensively for Wade. Nobody with enough quickness on the wing.

They are going to have to rely pretty heavily on their team defense to try and slow Wade down.

[Who]

Blazers have matchup advantages at the four and five.

Anderson Varejao is an elite man-to-man defender at the PF position but not at the center position. He is still an above average one-on-one defender but not an elite one. Varejao is vulnerable to size/power and doesn't have the explosive leaping or shot-blocking. I think Andrew Bogut is talented enough offensively and has enough size to take advantage of that.

Amare Stoudemire's explosive offensive scoring is too much for David West. Healthy or not.

The Sixers backup big man, Kenyon Martin, will be a great defensive matchup against Derrick Williams. I think Martin can neutralize D.Williams' offensive talents and out-rebound him.

I think T.Splitter and R.Lopez would be used against one another if either player. I think that matchup is even. Likewise, I think M.Bonner and A.Tolliver is fairly neutral too. Tolliver has got a bit more to him but not sure it's a significant enough difference.

[Who]

Andre Iguodala should take the James Harden assignment. I think Iggy will be able to completely take him out of the game. Iggy is too quick, too strong, too tall and long and too talented defensively for a very good but unexceptional offensive talent + good but unexceptional athlete like James Harden. He is going to make Harden's life a misery.

That loss offensively (J.Harden) is a big blow to the Blazers.

Iggy will have to switch to Derrick Williams defensively when Williams enters at SF. Moving Wade off of Delfino and back onto Harden. Wade is a good defensive matchup but he won't blanket Harden the way Iggy can. But most of the damage will probably already be done at that point and Wade is a strong enough defender to continue bothering Harden making it difficult for him to get back in the flow of things.

As for D.Williams, I think Iggy can defend him very well. Iggy has really good size and strength and excellent quickness + one-on-one defensive skills. His defense is going to be nightmare for D.Williams whenever Williams catches the ball 15+ feet from the rim. Iggy is going to force low percentage shot after low percentage shot.

Williams only hope is to pound Iggy down in the low post. Establish deep position and then use his superior length to get off a short distance shot attempt. He can cause damage there and would demand a double team. Likely from Varejao. But outside of the low post, I think Iggy owns him defensively.

On the other end of the court, I think Iggy lights the rookie's rear end up. Too quick and talented a slasher for a rookie combo forward with a questionable ability to defend quick threes in the NBA. Overall, it's a matchup that is firmly in his favour.

The Sixers will need to keep Iggy on the floor whenever D.Williams is at small forward. I don't think enough of Josh Childress to think he can contain D.Williams. That matchup would go Portland's way. But it's not an issue because Phily can easily sync Iggy's + D.Williams' minutes together.

They should rest Iggy while Delfino is the game at SF. Iggy will probably need to play 42-44 minutes a night in this series. So only 2-3 minutes rest a half. He is simply too important defensively to keep off the floor.

Sixers are probably best off using Barbosa or Douglas against Delfino while Iggy rests. I'd go Barbosa. Too quick and too talented offensively for Delfino to check. Barbosa should be serviceable enough on the other end of the floor but will be a liability on the boards. For only 4-6 minutes a night, I don't think that (liability on boards) is a big deal.

[Who]

The Lowry and Hinrich matchup at PG will be very interesting. Two defensive guards.

Like I said near the beginning of the draft when IP selected Lowry, I am still not sure what to make of him. So I will have this matchup being closer than IP will.

That said, I still have the matchup firmly in Lowry's favour just not by as large a margin as IP will have it because I am still undecided on where Lowry is overall at this juncture of his career.

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So ... I think Lowry will score at a slightly higher clip than Hinrich (probably 16-17 a night versus 13-14) in the series but that their scoring efficiencies will be fairly similar (TS% 55%). Hinrich could even finish with a slightly better TS% because I think he'll be very effective as a spot up shooter playing off of Wade's + Iguodala's dribble penetration and playmaking.

In addition, Lowry is a much more talented floor general + playmaker than Hinrich is. And he is a superior rebounder and overall possession generator than Hinrich.

Lowry has the edge defensively but Hinrich will be a fourth option and won't be attacking off the dribble much so that won't come into play too much in this series. I think Hinrich will be able to score comfortably against Lowry as a spot up shooter. Comparable team defenders.

So the overall edge is firmly in Lowry's favour largely due to his superior passing and rebounding.

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Sessions is an above average backup PG but Barbosa is an excellent backup combo guard. Morrow is a decent two guard but Barbosa's explosive scoring ability swings that matchup his way too.

So advantages in the backup backcourt positions for Phily.

[KCattheStripe]

I'm a big believer that a dominant frontcourt wins over dominant wings. Philly has to convince me.

[Roy H.]

According to John Hollinger, Dwyane Wade has two of the top eight best Finals series since the NBA/ABA merger according to PER:

1st overall:  2006 -- 34.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 3.8 apg, 2.7 steals, 1.0 blocks, 46.8% FG%, 33.8 PER
8th overall:  2011 -- 26.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.5 steals, 1.5 blocks, 54.6% FG%, 30.2 PER

Hollinger described Wade's 2006 performance as the best Finals appearance of all time:

It's hard to overstate how awesome Wade was in leading the Heat to their lone championship, particularly in the final four games when Miami rallied from a 2-0 deficit to stun the Mavs.

Wade started the comeback by leading the Heat back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit in Game 3, scoring 12 points in the final 6½ minutes to send the game to OT. He also made the biggest play of the series with his crazy dribbling foray to the rim at the end of overtime in Game 5 that -- controversially -- earned a whistle from referee Bennett Salvatore and a trip to the line for the winning free throws.

For the series, Wade averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals -- and this in a slow-paced series (neither team cleared the century mark in regulation in any of the six games). His basket attacks were so deadly because the Mavs couldn't stop fouling him. Wade shot a whopping 97 free throws in the six games -- the most of any player since the merger -- including 25 in Game 5.

Overall, Wade's 33.8 PER is easily the best of any Finals performer since the merger. While it seems strange to have somebody besides Michael Jordan in the top spot, the truth is Jordan never dominated a Finals to this extent. At the time, many called Wade's performance Jordanesque. It turns out they might have been selling him short.

[Roy H.]

I'm a big believer that a dominant frontcourt wins over dominant wings. Philly has to convince me.

Is Portland's front court really "dominant", though?  Will Amare hold up under the pressure?

Here's how IP described Amare last year:

amare is good, but not great.

Also, for anybody who is buying into the IP hype machine this year, here are some quotes from last year:

Ersan Ilyasova is a better rebounder than Amare by every metric available

Amundson isn't a flashy guy but he knows all of Amare's moves and he knows how to stop him.

Last year, IP was arguing that Ilyasova and Amundson could neutralize Amare; this year, he's saying that Amare is good enough to almost single-handedly carry his team to a title (over D. Wade, no less, a guy who has carried his team to a title).  Long story short:  don't buy what IP is selling.  He was wrong last year, and he's wrong this year, too.

[KCattheStripe]

I'm a big believer that a dominant frontcourt wins over dominant wings. Philly has to convince me.

Is Portland's front court really "dominant", though?  Will Amare hold up under the pressure?

Here's how IP described Amare last year:

amare is good, but not great.

Also, for anybody who is buying into the IP hype machine this year, here are some quotes from last year:

Ersan Ilyasova is a better rebounder than Amare by every metric available

Amundson isn't a flashy guy but he knows all of Amare's moves and he knows how to stop him.

Last year, IP was arguing that Ilyasova and Amundson could neutralize Amare; this year, he's saying that Amare is good enough to almost single-handedly carry his team to a title (over D. Wade, no less, a guy who has carried his team to a title).  Long story short:  don't buy what IP is selling.  He was wrong last year, and he's wrong this year, too.

Listen Roy, if  held it against someone every time they used outrageous hyperbole mainstream perception of a player to hoodwink the voting public into not voting for my team, I wouldn't be posting on this blog anymore.

But yes,  Amar'e is going to be far too much for DWest and Bogut will eat Varejo alive in the post.