Lets get a seperate thread for this blockbuster Finals matchup. I'm fully over the Spurs loss(changing the avatar soon Bagels, I'll leave it up a week longer), and ready for this. Lebron will have to significantly outplay Durant for the Heat to win. Thoughts, predictions?

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I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
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Miami in 6.

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I was thinking the Thunder in 6 but it's hard to bet against lebron right now, even given his recent history.

Not to go all ESPN hype machine but when is the last time we had two guys looking this unstoppable squaring off in the Finals? Kidd and Duncan were both MVP candidates in '03 but they didn't play the same position and it wasn't quite like this. Ditto for AI/Shaq in '01. I guess Jordan/Malone but we all knew who was winning that and as most people here agree Pip was at least MJ's equal by then. The '08 Finals were surprisif but Kobe didn't live up to his potential and pierce was never this good. Guess I'm rambling but I've been stuck being up all night and am getting excited about this matchup despite not liking either team much. This will be some great basketball.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Thunder in 6

Durant/James is pretty much a wash
even if Bosh plays well, think Thunder frontcourt cancels that out or even has a slight advantage

Miami has no answer for Westbrook/Harden...who is going to guard them? Wade? Chalmers?

Thunder bench is better

Only 4-7 nba games left in the season and for that reason alone we are all winners.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I think Wade can guard Westbrook in crunch time. I think the problem is Harden. If him, Westrook, and Durant are all out there with Harden running pseudo-point in the half court Miami really will be lost.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

exactly...they can match up with two of them but not all 3. the heats big thing is obviously getting out on the break, i don't think OKC can completely stop that but i think they'll fare better than Boston did and that they have great shotblockers inside, boston despite kg and steimsa are pretty small inside

Harden will be the difference maker.

Thunder in 4.

Ok maybe not 4, but definitely 5

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I think Miami has two big things that could possibly swing the series their way.

I've sorta been hating on him most of this season, and he's played well overall in the postseason, but I still think Westbrook can cost them a game or two if he goes into "get mine" mode. There's been probably a half dozen times this season where he lost or almost lost them a game even by shooting something like 16-22/36 pts/3 assists meanwhile Durant finishes with 14 shots and Harden 10 shots. But the reason I like the Thunder in 6 is because Durant seems more assertive and Westbrook seems to have gotten much better and knowing when to switch gears in his offensive roles. I think back in February if there was a situation like the WCF Game 4 Russell would've jacked an ill-advised 3 or 18 foot fadeaway or two in the middle of Durant's 16 straight or whatever it was streak at the end of the game, and it would've cost them. He seemed to recognize it last week and fed into it and pretty much shut down Parker for most of the quarter and did everything else. If he keeps that up he can go like 5/13 with a few turnovers because he'll also have double digits assists, multiple steals, etc.

Second thing is the obvious one, biggest name in the series. LeBron James is going to have to carry a shitload of fucking heavy work for the Heat to win this. He was having to pull 45-48 minutes to beat Boston in 7. I think he's better than Durant right now although it's do hard to say. LeBron is the one guy with the size, strength, and skill set to best be able to defend and challenge Durant's offensive game. LeBron is going to have to get his usual 30/9/9 or whatever and play excellent defense in Durant, enough to at least cancel him out in points and shoot less than 50%. Oh and he'll also probably need a few of those 40/15/7 games to, I'm hoping in a classic where he has to keep up with Durant. Throughout the last few weeks I've gained respect for LeBron. Thats not usually a pretty popular opinion and it KS didnt get sent back to jail he'd mock me and call me a flip flopper, but its true. I don't think people in the media have talked enough about how he's carried Wade more often than not in this postseason. Game 4 @ Indy and Game 6 @ Boston were all-time great road playoff performances. Obviously even though OKC has the better team LeBron still needs to close the deal to get all the justified past criticisms to somewhat go away.

Damn I hope this doesn't read like a Sini post. It kinda felt like one typing it.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

There was no mention of Alexa Chung, Vlad Guerrero, or Doctor Who.

You're fine.

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it needed more nonsequitors to qualify for that.

i think it's a great matchup. i think the thunder takes it all...in 6.

That's surprisingly realistic. Pretty good.

But no, I already caught SHARK in a blatant contradiction of thoughts on Friday, in which he wound up basically restating my original point from the previous week. I feel vindicated in the whole matter.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

What's your thoughts on the matchup Kid. I feel like you might actually agree with some of what I said about LeBron.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I was actually having this conversation last night with my GF.

I do agree with you that Westbrook tends to fall into these spells where he's looking for his next shot but like you pointed out, he has kinda calmed down and hasn't done that very much in these playoffs. Don't get me wrong, he's gonna take plenty of shots being the third best player in this matchup (Westbrook is a better player than Wade at this point), but I think he has reigned himself in as compared to early in the season when he and Durant were having friction.

OKC will win the series basically because of what you pointed out: Lebron will need to have a "Lebron" game every night for the Heat to win, and he simply isn't capable of doing that. Also, OKC pretty much has an answer for every weapon Miami has. However, Miami can't counter every OKC attack. What I'm saying is that OKC is a much more complete team than Miami, PLUS they have a player who is every bit as good an all-arounder as Lebron is.

Frontcourt = Advantage OKC
Outside Shooting = Advantage OKC
Rebounding = Advantage OKC
Post Play = Advantage OKC
Passing/Point Guards = Advantage OKC
Bench = Advantage OKC

I just don't see any scenario where the Heat should be favored in this series.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

I'm still pretty far away from the point of feeling sorry for LeBron at all, but the bitch of it is that he will probably average 31/10/7assists for the series, Wade will average 23/4/4 and shoot 70 points lower and the storyline will be that LeBron choked to his new rival Durant.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

True, but I have to blame Lebron for that. He openly embraced his hype from day 1...even before he was drafted. He and his marketing team created the monster. There's pressure that comes with that. You can put together as many highlight films and sell as many shoes as you want, but eventually you have to win. He's gotten the "superstar" part down to a tee, but hasn't done the winning yet. Until he does, the criticism will be there. Not only that, but the way he set the stage with his arrival in Miami, he literally told you that he expects to win multiple championships. It's backfired on him though because now, he has opened the door for every little thing he does on the court to be placed under a microscope.

Durant will never have to deal with it on that level because of his humility towards the game. He'll never be viewed as a choker because he didn't basically come out and tell the world, "I'm the best player on earth" like Lebron has. Durant is a more reserved, less-heralded player...even despite all his talent. Because of that, he is able to fly under the radar. It's probably unfair but that's the way it is.

Even Jordan was starting to face the criticisms of "he can fly but he can't carry a team to a title", before they actually won it. It was because of the way Jordan was heavily marketed in comparison to the guys who came before him. Trust me, if Jordan never won a title he would not be revered right now. He'd be a great flashy scorer who couldn't win the big one.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Thunder in 6.

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Thunder in 6...should be 5 but the refs will throw Miami a bone and keep it closer than it should be.

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Perkins/Ibaka control the paint and Harden outplays the Miami bench badly.

I'd love to see Wade and/or LBJ get legally mauled more than once going to the hole.

OKC in 6.

I don't wanna see anyone get hurt, no excuses..just lose to the better team and fire your shitty coach.

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That's pretty much where I'm at. But I really won't mind if the Heat win. I don't like LeBron but the Heat don't really scare me in the future as a Bulls fan. The Thunder do and I also don't want Durant to get a ring and a head start on Rose if they both end up having dueling HOF careers.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

yuuuuuuuuuppppp

I don't want to see anyone hurt either but this is the Finals and anyone going to the hole needs to be fouled hard. And I think Perkins is the man to do it and I see Ibaka swatting a few away in spectacular fashion.

The Heat really struggled with some bad teams in the post season..they are about to play the best in the league..I think they have about a 10% chance to win this series...If Spulstra was a better coach i would put it more like 50/50 chance.Lebron will do his part but the rest of the team will fail.

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this is actually a good point
heat beat the pacers.....and an aging Celtics team that took them to 7
neither of those teams were great.....slightly above average maybe
now they are facing a great team
i expect them to win a few games, but essentially get crushed