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2019-20 NBA: 2nd Half


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You know what team doesn't get enough attention for "tortured fanbases"? 

In the 21 seasons between 93-94 and 13-14, the Indians Pacers lost in the NBA Finals once (2000) and the Eastern Conference Finals 7 times (94, 95, 98, 99, 04, 13, and 14.) And that's not even getting into how the Malice tore down arguably their best team ever in the 04-05 season.

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On 5/6/2020 at 7:33 AM, RIPPA said:

Fuck the Pacers and Fuck Reggie Miller

Oh, I'm not a fan of theirs at all. I mean, really and truly, fuck Ron Artest.

But that's a brutal twenty one years of being good, but not good enough.

Edited by Brian Fowler
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7 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

You know what team doesn't get enough attention for "tortured fanbases"? 

In the 21 seasons between 93-94 and 13-14, the Indians Pacers lost in the NBA Finals once (2000) and the Eastern Conference Finals 7 times (94, 95, 98, 99, 04, 13, and 14.) And that's not even getting into how the Malice tore down arguably their best team ever in the 04-05 season.

Yeah, it sucks.  If Artest hadn't flipped his shit, I think the Pacers probably win the title that year and are a legit title contender for the next two years at least.  

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On 5/6/2020 at 6:33 AM, RIPPA said:

Fuck the Pacers and Fuck Reggie Miller

 I rewatched Reggie score 8 points in under 15 seconds vs the Knicks on a whim the other day. That's as good a reason as any to hate him.

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I'm watching game 6 of the 96 Finals and there's a few minute stretch in the third where Dennis Rodman just temporarily becomes the best player on the court. Harper airballs a three, Rodman grabs the board and lays it in. Pip gets a steal up top, Rodman runs from under the opposite rim full speed to beat everybody down the court, fills the lane, gets the pass from Pippen, hits a reverse layup while being fouled. He actually hits the the free throw. Back on defense an obviously frustrated Kemp shoves his forearm into Rodman's chin and shoves him down, the third offensive foul Rodman had drawn in the game. Back on the other end he drops a beautiful pass to MJ for an easy layup and the Sonics call time out suddenly down fifteen and the United Center crowd is losing their fucking minds for Dennis.

After the timeout, they sit Rodman and Seattle goes on a 9-0 run.

Edited by Brian Fowler
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Just curious about something. When did this turn into the what-if thread? Seriously get out of here with garbage articles about hypothetical finals matchups from almost thirty years ago. 

What’s next an intriguing what-if piece on if the Magic had kept Chris Webber, and paired him up with Shaq? And no that’s not my idea. I actually stole it from a show on NBA TV. Or I know maybe a what-if on Tim Duncan leaving the Spurs for Orlando in free agency. 

Edited by MavsFan77
Clarified part of my post.
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Honestly the twin "what ifs" for Orlando that off-season are fascinating. If Duncan goes and Hill's ankle doesn't dissolve into tissue paper, that might've legitimately been one of the best teams ever assembled.

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Episodes 7 and 8 were pretty emotional. Definitely the best episodes in the series. The price of winning stuff cast Jordan in a new light. I mean, we all know he wanted to win at any cost, but I didn't know how aware he was of the cost. 

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I did 20 years in the USMC and the goal of leadership is always mission accomplishment and then troop welfare. It's fascinating to me that Jordan's leadership style closely resembled that. I don't have to tell anyone the difference between decisions in the military and the NBA but I was clearly getting that vibe.

I forgot about the SI cover with Jordan "embarrassing" minor league baseball, what a joke. Minor league baseball has two objectives, make money and develop players. Trying to win is what they do, but nobody, including the parent clubs in the MLB really care if they win or not. So if I'm a team owner that can field at least a semi-competent player that can probably double my season revenue? That's a no-brainer. 

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My thing about Jordan's leadership though: a whole lot of guys were the best player and leader of teams that won titles, and you don't hear their teammates talk about them like that. That "I kinda hate him but it worked thing."

I mean, I know there definitely were times where the Lakers probably hated Magic, but nobody talks about him like that. The only people who don't talk about Isiah that way are his teammates who almost to a man appear to legitimately love him (well, except AD.) Larry Bird's teammates... Hell, Bill Russell won almost twice as many titles as MJ and his teammates still seem to be actual friends with him.

Kobe probably was the same way (though right now you'll have a hard time finding anyone that wants to talk about that, for obvious reasons) and Kareem for the first half of his career before Magic got him to loosen up a little.

Overall I'm loving this documentary, but Michael Jordan does not, in any way, come across like a mentally healthy, well adjusted adult.

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I think where people get it twisted is in believing that behaving like a psychopath made Jordan great, instead of Jordan getting away with acting like a psychopath because of his greatness.

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6 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

My thing about Jordan's leadership though: a whole lot of guys were the best player and leader of teams that won titles, and you don't hear their teammates talk about them like that. That "I kinda hate him but it worked thing."

I mean, I know there definitely were times where the Lakers probably hated Magic, but nobody talks about him like that. The only people who don't talk about Isiah that way are his teammates who almost to a man appear to legitimately love him (well, except AD.) Larry Bird's teammates... Hell, Bill Russell won almost twice as many titles as MJ and his teammates still seem to be actual friends with him.

Kobe probably was the same way (though right now you'll have a hard time finding anyone that wants to talk about that, for obvious reasons) and Kareem for the first half of his career before Magic got him to loosen up a little.

Overall I'm loving this documentary, but Michael Jordan does not, in any way, come across like a mentally healthy, well adjusted adult.

Russell, Wilt and Kareem were all complex individuals. They had a lot of anger. Russell had a strained relationship with the press and his teammates at times. Not because of his competitiveness but because of the stance he took during the civil rights movement. Magic fooled a lot of people with his smile, but once his diagnosis was publicized, the facade crumbled and people discovered how ridiculous his behavior at been. He may have been loved by his teammates, but he was far from perfect. And Larry behaved the same way on the court as Jordan except people find the stories amusing. Jordan is clearly flawed, but he's human too. To me, he comes across as a more emotional guy than I realized. It seemed like the burden of leadership weighed on him and that he had some regrets about how he treated people even if, in his words, he had no choice. 

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6 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

My thing about Jordan's leadership though: a whole lot of guys were the best player and leader of teams that won titles, and you don't hear their teammates talk about them like that. That "I kinda hate him but it worked thing."

I mean, I know there definitely were times where the Lakers probably hated Magic, but nobody talks about him like that. The only people who don't talk about Isiah that way are his teammates who almost to a man appear to legitimately love him (well, except AD.) Larry Bird's teammates... Hell, Bill Russell won almost twice as many titles as MJ and his teammates still seem to be actual friends with him.

Kobe probably was the same way (though right now you'll have a hard time finding anyone that wants to talk about that, for obvious reasons) and Kareem for the first half of his career before Magic got him to loosen up a little.

Overall I'm loving this documentary, but Michael Jordan does not, in any way, come across like a mentally healthy, well adjusted adult.

FWIW, there are lots of stories about Kobe being almost exactly like Jordan, especially at practice.

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That's my exact point though. MJ claims he had to be that way to win, but most of the other all-time great winners weren't like that with their teammates.

This wasn't at all me saying those others were all great guys who were never overly competitive assholes, I'm saying none of them had to break their teammates in order to win.

Jordan might be the greatest basketball player that ever lived, but he also is a sociopathic asshole, and I just do not believe he had to be that way to win.

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2 minutes ago, joseph2112 said:

FWIW, there are lots of stories about Kobe being almost exactly like Jordan, especially at practice.

Oh I know. I just don't think a lot of his former teammates want to tell those stories right now.

Kobe's entire thing was being a Michael Jordan tribute act. Really good, but quite as good as the original

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6 minutes ago, joseph2112 said:

FWIW, there are lots of stories about Kobe being almost exactly like Jordan, especially at practice.

Double post powers activate

Edited by Brian Fowler
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