Nice read. And I do remember that night Riley and the Lakers won their 2nd title against the Celtics in 1987. He said during the celebration - I guarantee you, that we will be here doing the same thing next year. They beat the Pistons next year, and in the celebration, Jabbar was jokingly gagging Riley's mouth with a towel. A Riley-run team always have tough defense. Lakers against the Bad Boys, how else can you win but with tough D. Knicks in the 90s. The Mason-Oakley mini bad boys tandem. The Miami teams, 3 eras, including this one. Anchored on an aptly named BAM.
For the record. At the 4:00 mark, Brian said that Lebron prodded Riley twice to replace Spo. Good to know Brian is throwing a flag there for a 10 yard penalty.
Obviously for me the greatest result would be a Lakers victory this year, the biggest reason to memorialize the death of Kobe and also to see Jeannie follow in her father's footsteps and take home the trophy
Agree, Steve. And I believe Miami must play perfect game execution to win each game. They cannot go trailing big like the first 2 games against the Celtics and expect to win. That was what Denver learned. You can't come back easily against the Lakers. If the Heat can limit Rondo's and Howard's points it will be good sign for them.
well we will know very soon if this proves to be the biggest upset of all time and rather than having the name "one" etched on the win, it rather has the word "redemption" on the mouths of Sports and Riley
I really believe that LeBron wants to win this one for the memory of Kobe who was one of his idols. When he is locked in and focused he is difficult to beat as we saw in the final game against the Nuggs when he took over in the final few minutes and locked in the win
well we will know very soon if this proves to be the biggest upset of all time and rather than having the name "one" etched on the win, it rather has the word "redemption" on the mouths of Sports and Riley
I really believe that LeBron wants to win this one for the memory of Kobe who was one of his idols. When he is locked in and focused he is difficult to beat as we saw in the final game against the Nuggs when he took over in the final few minutes and locked in the win
There was an article yesterday on The Athletic web site discussing the Clippers decision to let Doc Rivers go. It was written by their Clippers beat writer Jovan Buha.
Doc was always known as a players coach and he favored Kawhi and PG - to the consternation of the other team members. While the rest of the league thought the Clippers had the best team on paper, Doc claimed that there were holes in the roster that led to the up and down nature of the team's performance. There was also an internal management debate about the playing time allocation between Zubac and Montrezl. Doc played Montrezl more when team executives wanted more time for Zubac.
From the article -
"Following the Clippers’ premature postseason ouster, Rivers and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer held several candid meetings and conversations, league sources said.
They discussed where things went wrong for the Clippers in the playoffs and forecasted their visions of the organization’s future, including the team’s style of play, the makeup of the roster, player development and on- and off-court leadership.
After hours of back-and-forth, the sides concluded they had differing visions of the team’s path forward, leading to the mutual decision to separate after seven seasons together, league sources said.
From Rivers’ perspective, the Clippers’ roster was flawed, and he tried to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation. From the Clippers’ perspective, the team’s overwhelming status as the league’s championship favorites made their second-round collapse inexcusable, and was more of an indictment of Rivers’ coaching than the players’ performances.
Noise surrounding Rivers’ departure began to pick up about 24 hours ahead of his eventual departure. Still, the news shocked Clipper staffers, as well as rival league personnel. The prior chatter around the NBA was that Rivers, who joined the Clippers in 2013 and had two years left on his deal, would be given a shot at redemption next season.
The Clippers thoroughly analyzed every angle and variable they could think of before concluding that it was best to move on from Rivers, league sources said."
Richard Jefferson, ex-teammate of LeBron. Can Green and Rondo stop Tyler Herro? Herro, btw, landed at 13th in the draft via a coin flip tie breaker with who else but Danny Ainge who picked one Romeo Langford at 14th. Post Celtics trivia.
There was an article yesterday on The Athletic web site discussing the Clippers decision to let Doc Rivers go. It was written by their Clippers beat writer Jovan Buha.
Doc was always known as a players coach and he favored Kawhi and PG - to the consternation of the other team members. While the rest of the league thought the Clippers had the best team on paper, Doc claimed that there were holes in the roster that led to the up and down nature of the team's performance. There was also an internal management debate about the playing time allocation between Zubac and Montrezl. Doc played Montrezl more when team executives wanted more time for Zubac.
From the article -
"Following the Clippers’ premature postseason ouster, Rivers and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer held several candid meetings and conversations, league sources said.
They discussed where things went wrong for the Clippers in the playoffs and forecasted their visions of the organization’s future, including the team’s style of play, the makeup of the roster, player development and on- and off-court leadership.
After hours of back-and-forth, the sides concluded they had differing visions of the team’s path forward, leading to the mutual decision to separate after seven seasons together, league sources said.
From Rivers’ perspective, the Clippers’ roster was flawed, and he tried to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation. From the Clippers’ perspective, the team’s overwhelming status as the league’s championship favorites made their second-round collapse inexcusable, and was more of an indictment of Rivers’ coaching than the players’ performances.
Noise surrounding Rivers’ departure began to pick up about 24 hours ahead of his eventual departure. Still, the news shocked Clipper staffers, as well as rival league personnel. The prior chatter around the NBA was that Rivers, who joined the Clippers in 2013 and had two years left on his deal, would be given a shot at redemption next season.
The Clippers thoroughly analyzed every angle and variable they could think of before concluding that it was best to move on from Rivers, league sources said."
You can be sure it was Ballmer who sat quiet as he listened to Docs vision of the next few years and it was his way of saying they had differing opinions and had a parting of the ways