I hope Lue is smart enough (and the game is close enough) that LeBron isn’t gassed at the end. He deserves to be at full capacity if this game goes down to the wire.

I can only hope that was parody.

Yawn.

Alright man, you’re a fucking stubborn child. You’re engaging in an infantile sort of epistemological doubt. A dumb guy’s solipsism - how do we know anything matters, man? I’m asserting that a specific metric is worth evaluating. You are free to deny that the metric has value, but this is true of every evaluation…

Ah, fair enough. It didn’t read that way, but lord knows we all need the right to clarify.

Sure, but that makes the criticism all the more valid. It’s like Romney’s 47% bullshit. It gives you a peek behind the curtain, allowing you to see what people actually think when they aren’t putting on a show.

Then why did you say, “lighten up.” That certainly seems like criticism aimed at Draper for writing the article and commenters here for caring.

I didn’t realize that racist things were ok to say as long as the people listening are racist.

Don’t think that’s true. ‘96 + ‘97 Bulls won 141 games (171 if you count playoffs.

That’s a great point, and as I said before, it just may be the case that they’re such great shooters that over a 7 game series, they aren’t going to have 4 bad performances.

Tell us why evaluating plan B is important other than you want it to be.

I think that ship has sailed, but it’s an open question with no definite solution. It’s just a discussion, which I’m always astonished that people get so emotional about it (not accusing you of doing so).

Nonsense. This is a childish, dense, probably intentionally ignorant phrasing of what I’ve said.

Not denying that they’re great; discussing whether they can claim to be the greatest.

The best example I can think of is the ‘98 conference finals between Indiana and Chicago. Pippen’s back is sore, Kukoc isn’t hitting shots (on and off), Jordan had a bad wrist that entire year that affected his outside shooting, Rodman is clearly done as an elite player - they’re running on fumes, and that Indian…

I agree.

Sure, that’s fair, but their toughest test - OKC - wasn’t won by any of that. It was just crazy fucking bombs from the outside. Klay and Steph got hot and stayed that way for 3 games and OKC went back to their bad habits.

I think that’s why there are so many blowouts.

That’s a terrible analogy. In all sports, the best teams and players have back up plans: What happens if you can’t run the ball? Rely on the great quarterback. What happens when Pedro doesn’t have his A curveball? Focus on location and the change. What happens when MJ’s jump shot isn’t falling? Go to the rim, D up.

And I feel like I should point out that both of them struggled through that shallow perception during their lives, it’s not just now. Ella got her break with Chick Webb almost because he pitied her, and the fucking ridiculous politics around Nina Simone’s appearance are well documented (by the way, for any dummy…