ESPN NBA Conversation

mugsysmith3853

Shane for President in 2020
3 Days ago

thesportingking2

I bet Shane never imagined he was going to get his own article on ESPN :D
4 Days ago

vicnab25

he had his own new york times article... so i'm pretty sure this isn't as big
4 Days ago

Poco7777777

Too much Shane
4 Days ago

ScottiePippen33CB

Flopper
4 Days ago

keni386chips

u hater
3 Days ago

dcsportsfan224

battier PLEASE keep this up. against indiana and boston, he was missing lots of open 3s, so it's sort of perplexing that they're going in now. but much needed.
4 Days ago

acslater35

You can complain about missed calls and things like that but at the end of the day the reality is that refs miss calls and make calls that are very questionable for both teams. Throughout the entire playoffs i've seen officiating being scrutinized by analyst, fans, and players.
4 Days ago

wsfcwfu

Battier is really refreshing - I'm glad that his finals performance so far has matched all of his extra effort. He's an unassuming guy.
4 Days ago

sportspotpourri

Battier is doing exactly what eh was brought in to do. Great defense and knock down open shots. He is playing a Bruce Bowen like role and doing it well.
4 Days ago

HolgerDansk

Bruce Bowen couldn't carry SB's shorts. BB = dirtiest player ever.
4 Days ago

nitrogen311

Why is it that people dont like the Heat?... I know this all started with LBJ but what is it?
4 Days ago

MiamisFinest07

Confused forrreal lmao!
4 Days ago

MiamisFinest07

Shake2007 wow just stop lmao, did you just start watching basketball clown? really "He doesn't belong with them because he does things by the book?' really? that has to be one of the most lamest things i have ever read on these boards and that's saying A LOT
4 Days ago

asrosar

Shake is confused on quite a few levels...bare with him
4 Days ago

Aicyla22

confused is a very nice way of putting it...
4 Days ago

shake2007

FWIW, Battier is old school. He really doesn't belong with James and Wade because he does everything by the book. Battier is the difference maker between a team winning the title or getting to the NBA finals and a team that makes the conference finals and loses. If he had gone to San Antonio, they would likely be in the finals instead of OKC. Likewise with Boston.
4 Days ago

bigsmithin

You are really an idiot!!! Your points you are trying to make are ridiculous. Wade and James are most definitely good basketball players and Battier fits well with this team. Lebron is consistently in the running for DPOY every year.
4 Days ago

finale21

So I guess Wade and James don't play defense huh? That's why James is on the defensive first team the last few years and Wade is always a first or second team defensive player. Battier even said it his self that Lebron was the probably the best player end to end (defensively and offensively). Wade and James are naturally going to score because they can. The foundation of the Heat is defense. Do you look at sports or just skim through it?
4 Days ago

shake2007

Well the reason they got him is because James and Wade can't play defense all the time. Battier is a defensive player first - old school.
4 Days ago

Dolcane

really dude??.."doesn't belong with James and Wade because he does everything by the book"...Oh Wade & James don't..come on bro!
4 Days ago

shake2007

I think it started with Wade and got worse when James joined him. Everyone who knows anything about basketball knows the refs gave Wade his only championship with phantom calls and allowed him to get away with everything. This is what makes the NBA so difficult to watch. Basketball use to be a team sport but they've turned into one where marketing comes before fundamentals. This is why mainstream America quit watching the NBA a long time ago.
4 Days ago

miacool77

he is one of them that don't now when to stop in fact he really should just keep quiet and not show his ignorance
3 Days ago

shake2007

Btw, it wasn't in the WCF. That would be OKC. The Lakers just weren't a very good defensive team last year or this year, which is why they got eliminated in the second round each time.
4 Days ago

shake2007

They could afford the fouls because they went 11 deep. Dirk didn't take more free throws than the entire Laker team in the series. The Mavs won that series because they hit 3s the entire series, not because they were handed the series the way Wade was at the free throw line. The series against the Lakers had little to do with free throws because Dallas would jump out to big leads by hitting threes. Dallas is another case in point of the fact that it is a make or miss league.
4 Days ago

wsfcwfu

"everyone who knows anything knows that..." that's where you should always stop.
4 Days ago

dougieritch

I LOVE Shane Battier. Regardless if you do not like the HEAT you have to appreciate the player Shane is. He gives you 120% every time he is on the court no matter what he is doing on offense. If nothing else I hope the HEAT win so he can get a ring...he deserves it!
4 Days ago

MiamisFinest07

LMFAO homis!
4 Days ago

HolgerDansk

Completely agree with you, dougierich.
4 Days ago

Homis9533

Arkansas fans cannot be taught math, do not attempt.
4 Days ago

dmthompson23

there's no such thing as giving 120%, it is impossible to give more than 100%
4 Days ago

guywitdahat

If you give me 100 pennies and I give you 120 pennies. Isn't that a 120% return?
4 Days ago

0021jackson

o-k?
4 Days ago

MattOli88

"Battier attributed his current scoring binge to another television program -- this time a show on Comedy Central aptly titled Workaholics. Something tells me that this writer has never watched workaholics before...lol
4 Days ago

jakezev613

cant complain a missed call at the end of the game when durant fouled out earlier in the game. if the refs got the durant charge, the thunder wouldnt have come within 10 points of winning.... so calm down everybody.
4 Days ago

juneaupie

actually the bucks got alot of nocalls and if i did my math right they won the NBA Finals a week ago
4 Days ago

jakezev613

if you're going to start being nit-picky about every single call, the whole series/playoffs/season should be different
4 Days ago

wbslive

2 other fouls before that were wrong, idiots. So he should have had 4 fouls.
4 Days ago

nitrogen311

False... he should have fouled out
4 Days ago

num1finfan

finally someone that even bothered to mention that, all we have seen is the last missed call
4 Days ago

dougieritch

SHHHHHHH!!! HEAT HATERS don't want to hear logic!
4 Days ago

6_23_LBJ_MVP_HOF_CHAMPION

I hate to say it, but no one is automatic from the free throw line. Even Durant missed two fts in Game 2. So although I agree that there should have been a foul call, don't assume that Durant would make the free throws and with 7.1 seconds remaining, that the Heat would not respond. It was a good game, missed calls on both teams unfortunately, but credit the OKC loss to Westbrook and the Heat's first half defense on Durant.
4 Days ago

Homis9533

The first hand to block the shot was not after the ball was out of his hands, even Van Gundy was blind to that.
4 Days ago

mr_shing

The non-foul occurred BEFORE the shot and the Heat had a foul to give. There would've been no free throws.
4 Days ago

C.EllisPrice

The foul occured when Durant put the ball on the floor, that's a non shooting foul
3 Days ago

C.EllisPrice

Why can't people supress their inner-school child? You can't have a debate without calling names? How old are you
3 Days ago

BigEd1972

Brooks is an idiot for making KD the primary defender on LBJ... they need, imo, to put Ibaka at the 5, move KD to the 4-- and put him against the Battier's, Millers etc. Use Sefalosha vs. Lebron and give Westbrook some help against Wade.
4 Days ago

6_23_LBJ_MVP_HOF_CHAMPION

"Use Sefalosha vs. Lebron and give Westbrook some help against Wade. " Brooks did that throughout the game and Lebron still scored. Wade is slower than Westbrook and it is not Brooks' fault that Westbrook kept on settling for jumpers.
4 Days ago

RapberrySmoothie

LeBron being aggressive and attacking the basket, thus putting Durant in early foul trouble was a major factor as well. You said it though, fouls missed on both ends. However; the refs are only human, I forget this many times while watching the game and in the heat of the moment.
4 Days ago

6_23_LBJ_MVP_HOF_CHAMPION

The funny part about that is Lebron was responsible for only 1 first half foul with Durant. The rest was a stupid foul on Wade, the Bosh fastbreak, and a stupid swipe on the Chris Bosh rebound, and an offensive foul in the third. This is almost all Durant's fault.
4 Days ago

Drew N Ronda

Basketball is about making baskets... I know this sounds so simple, but people look so many places for reasons their team did or didn't win. I love the Spurs and they lost to a better team because the Spurs missed shots and the Thunder made shots. Battier is making shots right now. It could be the difference in the series. One call at the end of a game never is the reason a team loses. Outside of Durant and Harden who played amazing ball last night, the rest of the team shot 33%... OKC fans remember the last series when Ibaka, Perkins, and Collison shot 89% in one game... that is why you won that series, and also why you lost last night. It wasn't some last second call.
4 Days ago

shake2007

As Jeff Van Gundy keeps saying, it is a make or miss league. Getting open shots isn't a problem for most playoff teams. Making them or missing them is.
4 Days ago

RylanT25

When two teams are this close, that is really what it comes down too
4 Days ago

Jhov724

The Thunder cant keep being down and trying to come back in the fourth quarter. Miami can score point for point with OKC. All Miami needed was one win in OKC and now they go back to South Beach for Three games. Miami will win at least 2 games at home.
4 Days ago

Homis9533

which the heat gave away by sitting everyone and losing to the wizards
4 Days ago

RapberrySmoothie

True that. I see the series going 7. I just wish game 7 could be played at some sort of neutral site. IF Miami wins in 7 would suck to be an OKC fan or Miami fan. Either watching a team celebrate on your court or not being able to share in the moment with your fans is kinda wack. Especially if you base home series off some unimportant All-Star game (I know that's how the World Series works, I think it is same for NBA too, right?).
4 Days ago