That's just a crazy statement. The guy has sacrficed being the big dog and scoring leader in order to be the third option, rebound and clean up near the rim--and win a title. How is that anything other than sacrificing for the team?
http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?id=320607002
I wasn't talking about Bosh. I was talking about Lebron. And Lebron was not willing to be the third option. In fact last year when the Heat was "Wades team" and Wade was making the big plays down the stretch Lebron tended to sulk in the corner being the second option. He was dismal in the finals last year against an experienced team with a good defensive center.
Sorry, I'm not impressed by Lebron "steeping up" when they faced elimination against Boston. Boston was mediocre as was the whole East this season. The fact that the C's took them to seven games in the first place with three starters that passed their prime five years ago says far more about the Heats deficiencies than Lebrons abilities.
Again, the league is mediocre at best, there are no great teams, although OK if they make the right moves could become one. This years Heat, and this years "King" won a title against the worse assembly of teams I've seen in years. In fairness you could say the same thing about Jordan's first title.
Not one team this year could have taken the 03 Lakers, 04 Pistons, or 05 Spurs to six games much less beaten them. They all beat at least two better teams than the current Heat on the way to the Finals.
Meh, they do enough pick and rolls and back cuts. Honestly, I find the pick and roll as dull most of the time as a guy backing into to the basket while dribbling--the Stockton/Malone Jazz were great, but the offense was often like watching paint dry. I'd rather watch LeBron and Wade drive and shoot or create. And they play great defense, better than most recent champs.
Nonsense, The reason Wade and Lebron can get away with "isolation- drive and dish" is they are allowed to use their forearms to create space for shots. It's called an offensive foul for most players. So naturally they draw help defense. If they weren't hitting the open man, they would be abject failures. But they don't have to run plays to get open shots, they just push off to get them. It's great work if Stern lets you.
As far as defense, they are good defensive players with lousy positioning that get away with murder as the striped shirts swallow their whistles when they foul. Battier is the difference with defense on that team (probably the only fundamentally sound defender on the team). But the Heat don't have a legitimate low post defender. If they would've played the 88 Celtics all of their big men would have fouled out in about a quarter and a half.
The Heat are a good defensive team but far from a great one, and if there were some decent post players in the league now, they'd get eaten alive. I live in Detroit, I've seen two of the best defensive teams in NBA history, so good they changed the rules because of them.
