Duncan Robinson is Back!
He made five 3-pointers and now has 124 in his Heat postseason career, passing LeBron James (123) for the most in Miami history. And it looks like he'll get another chance to be part of an NBA championship series.
A heat v nuggets final is the NBA's worst nightmare and I think it's going to be an incredibly fun series
Why (about it being a worst nightmare)?
Two very small TV markets. They were having wet dreams about a Lakers-Celtics blueblood final.
I don’t know that I’d call two of the top 20 markets in the country “very small.” Though I’m sure the NBA definitely preferred the history behind a Lakers-Celtics matchup.
The media was creaming all over themselves clamoring for a Celtics v Lakers finals. We'll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the NBA is fixed if the Celtics and Lakers come back and win their series'
Does anybody really still view Lakers v Celtics as a “rivalry” anymore? I feel like the NBA operates as completely divorced from “history” at this point. Players have rotated through both franchises at such a frequent pace at this point I don’t even thing the fans of the teams view them through a lens of history or even familiarity anymore. I can only speak for my self but when I watch those teams play it certainly does not stir up the echos of great teams past.
Yes it's a rivalry. Probably the biggest in that sport.
Name me a rivalry in the NBA aside that for all the reasons you state. Golden State - Cleveland?
Precisely. There isn't one.
I guess because it had a chapter in the last 10 years the Lakers-Celtics is the closest thing there is but it is not a game-changer in terms of how much I would pay attention to the series. There is really no "casual NBA fan" that the series is going to attract. Lakers-Celtics has been out of the lexicon for so long that it is of no consequence to the amount of attention the series would get.
i take your meaning, but i think that's colored in some part because the lakers and celtics have looked so lousy in this round. if it were 3-0 lakers, 3-0 celtics i think you'd see some serious casual-fan attention getting revved up right now.
for my part, insert overused "can't wait" gif here (wink)...i love the idea of spoelstra trying to solve jokic in a long series. i don't know that he can (or if it's possible, to be honest), but i'm excited to see the chess match.
That is a very good point.
Ok he just convinced me. Give me my dollar back.
That seems correct.
I can remember a few years when the NBA heavily promoted Knicks vs. Bulls games around the holiday season during mediocre seasons for both. Big markets, (hopefully) big viewing numbers.
I wouldn't exactly say that Miami is a small market in the NBA. Miami is very popular with NBA fans because of its NBA history, GM/Coach, its team concept, etc. Now Denver is another matter but they do have a popular star that won Most Valuable Player in 2021 and 2022...
TV markets by size There are only 30 NBA teams so being in the bottom half of the TV market size isn't great. That said, Miami should pick up the West Palm Beach market as well along with other Florida folk.
Tempa doesn't have its own NBA team either.
Southern Florida is definitely not a very small TV markets.
Have them play for a 3rd place trophy - win / win!!!
I love watching both teams from a basketball standpoint.
the real nightmare is both regional final end in 4 games
Yeah, the finals' schedule is locked in because of TV, so we're looking at a week plus off at the end of conference finals.
Yes, I think both conference finals ending in sweeps would be the bigger issue for the NBA with the Finals having a fixed start date on June 1st.
I think the media market thing is overblown. It would be a bonus for the NBA to have LA or NY in the Finals, but the more important thing is having a long, competitive series with marketable stars. I would guess NBA executives may be more worried about an 8-seeded Miami team that may end up being the worst team to make an NBA Finals in 25 years than the market size.
Lebron is just trying to play LA into drafting Bronny. Further setting back, a once proud Franchise, on the whim of a Superstar.
How is L.A. being set back by Lebron's whims when they're deep in the playoffs after being a joke just a few years back? Have we forgotten the Swaggy P era already? Maybe you were being sarcastic and I missed it?
He wasn't and you didn't. Not only are they in the WCF this year, you didn't even mention the NBA championship from all the way back in 2020. LeBron haters gonna LeBron hate, I guess.
Some people just hate LeBron for no real reason. I mean honestly, the worst thing you can say about him is he made a bad marketing/PR decision over a decade ago in doing The Decision and that people who hate him probably disagree with his politics (I happen to largely agree). He's one of the greatest players of all time, never gotten in legal trouble, gives back, represented the USA on the world stage well.
As another poster points out, the Lakers fell on really hard times following their last championship in 2009/10. Swept by the Mavs in the second round, lost 4-1 to Thunder in the second round, swept by the Spurs in the first round, didn't make the playoffs, didn't make the playoffs again, didn't make the playoffs again, didn't make the playoffs again, didn't make the playoffs again, didn't make the playoffs again, Beat the Heat for a title, lost in the first round to the Suns, didn't make the playoffs, and now, this year, in the WCF.
Lebron may be the best player to ever play but let’s not act like he doesn’t say dumb shit all the time. “If I’m Britney Griner, do I even want Russia to send me back to America?” Come on, dude.
Yes, he is more or less a good person, but he can be really obnoxious. And it’s not really “politics,” he just has pretty bad takes all the time. I like Lebron for the most part but I understand people who don’t.
Bro if the worst thing you can say about a guy who has been in the spotlight over 20+ years is he had a bad take on the Britney Griner situation…I’d say he’s done pretty remarkable and seems to lean more on the good person side(this coming from a non-Lebron fan myself). He may not lean your way politically, but saying he had a bad take and classifying it as “he says dumb shit all the time” is very obtuse! A kid who grew up dirt poor in Akron and then chose to make sure a ton of kids in his area have better opportunities in their future through his foundation is a pretty admirable thing to do. The guy may whine or flop on the court more than I like but he’s very far from being a “bad” guy.
My comment regarding things he says was not political. And I said in my post that I like Lebron James. I am a fan. But from The Decision through a bunch of public statements until present day, he has said some stupid things. I understand how some people could be turned off by him.
You say it is not about politics but picked a decidedly political situation with Griner. He was commenting on racism and nationalists did not like it.
If by “nationalist” you mean “likes America,” guilty as charged I guess.
She was in a Russian prison for 10 years for having trace amounts of THC. He indicated she should think twice about coming back to the US when our President was actively trying to bring her back.
That isn’t political. That is just really stupid. I think “nationalists” and “anti-nationalists(?)” could agree.
It is 100% political. He was obviously being hyperbolic but it was commentary about racism and the state politics in America.
For the record, I said nationalists because I also "like America" but I acknowledge we are far from perfect and I do not let criticism (or kneeling during the anthem, refusing to say the pledge, flag burning, et cetera) negatively impact my life or the way I view the people making said criticisms. Maybe it too was hyperbolic but I believe it is fitting.
Yes, we disagree that it is fitting. To imply that it is a close call between returning to the United States and remaining in prison in Russia is an objectively idiotic thing to say. Not "hyperbolic" but "extreme."
Look I have clarified the statement pretty well and I don't want to go to Room 101, so let's drop it.
Lebron is an all time great player and generally a pretty good guy. We agree.
If read carefully, I was saying my use of the term nationalist could be hyperbolic but fitting, not that Lebron's example is fitting.
But yes, we do disagree, I do not find Lebron's words "objectively idiotic" or "extreme", simply hyperbolic. Many Americans celebrated Griner's arrest because she, like Lebron, used their platform to speak out about racism. People interpret that as "hating America" and want black athletes to just "shut up and dribble". It is not a huge stretch to see how he would make that hyperbolic comment given the context.
But sure, I will now drop it.
10 years? Time flies…
I think they were referring to the length of the sentence, not time served.
She was imprisoned for 10 months.
Yeah, but he's had microphones shoved in his face every ... single ... day (way more, in this day of 24-hour media coverage, than Michael Jordan ever did) since he was what, like, 14 years old? It's surprising to me he hasn't tripped up way more than he he has. I think he's handled a kind of life-long media pressure that the rest of us can't even imagine amazingly, for so long.
Personally, even though I (always) cheer against the Lakers, I find myself appreciating how he's playing these days. Almost no preening, trash-talking, over-the-top celebrating of meaningless buckets. It's rare, in these days of "look at me." The guy looks genuinely focused on trying to help his team win.
(Still. Go Nuggets).
No real reason? The king of flops? The constant whining? The insistence on creating 'dream teams' instead of staying at a place and building it through you?
He is an unwatchable POS and one of the main reasons i cannot watch the NBA anymore.
I can’t get on board with all of that…. There are unwatchable POS-s but James is not one of them. From a pure basketball standpoint I could watch him on a loop all day.
Yea not to mention always “crowning” himself. Like literally placing an imaginary crown on his own head after a big play. Telling reporters after his Heat lost that at least he doesn’t have to go back to their sorry lives and he’s still rich even though he lost. But most of all HE’S A DIE HARD BUCKEYE FAN and always gifting the team swag and trashing M!!!
I’m genuinely sorry you can’t appreciate one of the very best basketball players to ever live.
Part of the problem is that Lebron makes nearly everything look so easy that it is kind of hard to appreciate how good he is. What he does does not look hard because it isn't hard to him. His play is transcendent and in his prime it was almost disorienting.
an "unwatchable POS" is super-dumb.
Duncan Robinson is proving that two-way wings, while undeniably the type of player that every team wants littering their roster, are not the only valuable basketball commodity. His shooting and the resultant space it allows non-shooters like Adebayo, and Butler (to a lesser extent), is invaluable. And he isn't the defensive sieve he is made out to be.
LeBron has done a lot right in terms of his play but his insistence that the Lakers add Westbrook most certainly set them back for a couple of seasons. His GM skills are awful. Once Pelinka retook control he cobbled together another (almost) championship level squad basically out of thin air.
i love duncan robinson - the fact that he's even IN the league, let alone playing meaningful minutes (again!) for a soon-to-be-nba finals team is, honestly, pretty amazing...a testament to sticking it out and busting your ass.
but he's a lousy defensive player, at least at the nba level. spoelstra is running so much zone, in some part because he has lineups where he has to play kevin love and robinson at the same time. the fancystats bear it out - he's a 117 DRtg at basketball-reference.com, which is 362nd in the league, 328th in defensive win shares. he's not on the floor if you need a stop, because he WILL get hunted.
Duncan's success is a combination of incredible hard work (he's made himself into an entirely different player), his deep basketball intelligence in knowing where to be and where to cut, and absolutely brilliant coaching by Spoelstra, who has been able to figure out a way to use him on offense that forces opposing defenses to totally warp themselves and to avoid having his defensive liabilities completely counteract the advantages he brings on offense. (I've heard some interesting commentary that Hero getting hurt actually deeply benefited the Heat because he's almost as big a defensive liability but the Heat have never found a defensive strategy to accommodate his limitations).
One thing to keep in mind is that we really have no idea what actually goes on behind the scenes of player transactions. It's an easy and possibly semi-accurate conclusion to say that LeBron's teams do what he asks, but the reality is probably a LOT more complicated and the one constant is that we should take leaks about parties' motivations with a shit-ton of salt.
All of that is to say that what I think happened (and my guess is worth the paper it's typed on) is that LeBron wanted a secondary playmaker to take some of that off his plate, which is understandable. And Westbrook was the closest approximate thing that the team could swing a deal for. Pelinka also let Alex Caruso (who LeBron loved playing with) walk in free agency in favor of THT who they later traded when he didn't develop, so he's not blameless in our disaster season either, though he did redeem himself by later transmuting Westbrook and other scrap metal into an almost-championship squad.
This is a really bad take
A Duncan Robinson thread talking about Lebron and people complain when espn does it
right? took a weird turn, there.