Haters.. put some respeck on his name. LeBron does it AGAIN!!

[Lord_Chief_Rocka]

03 hell no that’s the weakest spurs champ team

05 arguably

Bruh Duncan in his prime >>>>> 2014

Ninjas saying they’re goats just because they beat Lebron badly

 

[Professor Emeritus]

If athleticism was a surefire winner then Harden wouldn't be better than Derrick Rose and Westbrook. Larry Bird was better than most of the "athletic" players of now

So WHERE are all the White Americans then? Why can a Finals team start 4 unathletic White Americans in 1998 when you can't find four starting in the whole league in 2018?

The fact that you picked such a bad example for your point too.

1) James Harden is 6'5", Black, and in his prime, he's not no 6'1" White guy over 35 years old.

2) James Harden has STILL washed out of the playoffs in embarrassing fashion every single year in part because he's not athletic enough.

3) I didn't say that athleticism is "surefire" winner, but someone who is unathletic and skilled is gonna be passed over if there's a better athlete with the same skills. And someone who is unathletic and unskilled is going to be passed over by another guy who at least has athleticism. The athleticism in 2018 is light years better than 1998.\

And if it's not, then explain why there ain't no teams in the entire NBA constructed anything like the 1998 Jazz. Did White people stop playing basketball and no one told me?

 

[Lord_Chief_Rocka]

Another post that deserves a low-quality tag.

The Lakers had four all-stars because they stuff ballot boxes and because talent sucked in the West, not because they were magically better than some other team 20 years later.

Kobe averaged 15-2-2 on 42% shooting in 1998. You really think a player doing that in 2018 would have a chance in hell at an all-star nod?

Eddie Jones and Nick van Exel were better than Kobe, but they don't have a chance of making a 2018 all-star squad. Lowry/Derozan >>>> van Exel/Jones.

And on top of 3 of their 4 all-stars being mediocre, that team played together horribly in 1998. They weren't good yet at all.

Pointing out that van Exel, Jones, and teenage Kobe all made the All-Star team in 1998 is NOT a good argument for the West being strong back then.


If the Utah "we start 4 White guys and none of them can jump or run for shyt" Jazz were so dominant in 1998, where the hell are all the Greg Fosters and Adam Keefes starting for Finals squads in 2018? Where are all the 35+ White legends going to All-Star games and being the #2 on a Finals team? Where all the White Americans at now?

But the 2015 hawks were a great team because of 4 all-stars

That 98 Lakers team would have dragged them

 

[Bryan Danielson]

And just for the stupidity of a coward.....

I'm gonna double down



Martha

 

[ManBearPig]

Where is the low quality posting tag for you?

NO ONE on the Jazz other than Malone scored more than 12ppg in the Lakers, Spurs, or Rockets series either. Stockton only scored 9ppg against the Bulls, but that was only a bit worse than the 10ppg he scored against the Lakers. NO ONE on that team other than Malone could really score. They were old and they weren't all that skilled to begin with, not at the level of today's players.

To claim that a 36-year-old John Stockton barely averaging 10 and 8 would outplay prime Kyle Lowry.

Where are all the 36-year-old White Americans dominating the NBA in 2018? You think it's just a coincidence that a 1998 Finals team could start FOUR White Americans at the same time, while nowadays it's practically worth a news article when a White American breaks a starting lineup past the first round of the playoffs? What, did they get different juice back then or something?

36-year-old John Stockton started all 20 playoff games
35-year-old Jeff Hornacek started all 20 playoff games
Greg Foster, who couldn't score, couldn't defend the rim, and nearly averaged more fouls than rebounds, started 16 playoff games
Adam Keefe, an unathletic and unskilled oaf who couldn't start at any other point in his NBA career, started 10 playoff games and 75 regular season games

That's FOUR White guys starting double-digit playoff games for one team, and all four are either 35+ or were never even athletic to begin with.

Imagine that being the Big 3 of a 2018 NBA FInals team, with the two short White guys both being 35+.

And imagine that those were the other two starters.



Now tell me, what the hell happened where you're saying a 1998 team with FOUR White Americans starting could wash the #1 team in the East in 2018 when in 2018 there ain't four White Americans starting in the whole damn NBA combined?

You think White people born in the 1960s had some special basketball skill gene that they lost 20 years later?

The 98 Jazz played very smart basketball. The Jazz will beat the Raptors in 5 since they was good enough to smoke the spurs that year too

 

[ManBearPig]

Bruh Duncan in his prime >>>>> 2014

Ninjas saying they’re goats just because they beat Lebron badly

Nah bro the spurs were lucky that webber went down.

The 2014 spurs team was better than the 2003 one. The 2014 one was way more balanced and can kill you in more ways than just Duncan going one on one hoping hell get double teamed

 

[Professor Emeritus]

The 98 Jazz played very smart basketball. The Jazz will beat the Raptors in 5 since they was good enough to smoke the spurs that year too

Yes, the all-White team played very "smart" basketball.

You sound like you could get a television job with your effective use of code words!

So tell me, did White players get not so smart anymore? If four unathletic White guys could "smart ball" their way to the Finals in 1998, why can't they even break into the league today?

The idea that four unathletic White Americans born in the 1960s, two of whom averaged 6'2" and 35yo and the other two who were completely unskilled, could dominate a modern team when even the most athletic, skilled White Americans are hardly touching the league nowadays is just nostalgia juice.

Adam Keefe and Greg Foster wouldn't have a prayer of making a G-league squad in 2018, and 35yo Hornacek would be getting embarrassed by Jimmer in China while 36yo Stockton was getting his Jose Calderon on off the bench as the positive veteran influence on some playoff team.


And I watched a lot of Utah games in the 1990s when they were battling with Portland. They weren't "smart", half the team was just goons and Stockton/Malone were the dirtiest players in the NBA. They won a ton of games because they got away with anything they wanted on their home floor and because the expansion era had watered down the NBA like no one's business, but they ran the same basic sets over and over again, leaning on Malone's skill and a lot of cheap shyt, but those repetitive pick-and-rolls always ended up getting exposed in the playoffs and then their offense cratered.

That Jazz team was the one who turned a 20yo big white auto mechanic who had never played a minute of ball his life into one of the greatest defensive forces in the NBA and STILL couldn't do anything even with Malone, Stockton, and a nice scorer at the 2. They weren't really that smart, they were just around.

 

[ManBearPig]

Yes, the all-White team played very "smart" basketball.

You sound like you could get a television job with your effective use of code words!

So tell me, did White players get not so smart anymore? If four unathletic White guys could "smart ball" their way to the Finals in 1998, why can't they even break into the league today?

The idea that four unathletic White Americans born in the 1960s, two of whom averaged 6'2" and 35yo and the other two who were completely unskilled, could dominate a modern team when even the most athletic, skilled White Americans are hardly touching the league nowadays is just nostalgia juice.

Adam Keefe and Greg Foster wouldn't have a prayer of making a G-league squad in 2018, and 35yo Hornacek would be getting embarrassed by Jimmer in China while 36yo Stockton was getting his Jose Calderon on off the bench as the positive veteran influence on some playoff team.

Bro. We are putting Dwane Casey up against Jerry Sloan too.

John Stockton even at that age is who i'd rather have on my team than Kyle lowey choking ass. the Lakers that year had Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, and kobe on the same roster and how did the athletic advantage work for them?

I dont see this current Raptors team can compete. their star players dont show up and Serge Ibaka is no Dennis Rodman so Malone is gonna, with or without stockton passes

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Think about it. The Jazz played 90% of their games in 1998 starting Greg Foster and Adam Keefe next to Malone....two centers who were both fat, unathletic, couldn't shoot AND couldn't protect the rim...and people are actually saying that could beat a modern team.



Literally start two non-scoring bigs next to your big power forward and NEITHER can protect the rim...you're gonna have some fantastic spacing on both ends there.

Bro. We are putting Dwane Casey up against Jerry Sloan too.

Jerry Sloan, the fantastic brains who lucked into 15 straight years of two HOF players AND a solid scoring guard AND an all-time defensive talent....and yet never even sniffed a finals until 1997?

I agree that Sloan was a great coach. Which is getting really strange...because if Sloan was a great coach...and Malone was an all-time great....and Stockton was an all-time great...and Hornacek was an all-time great...and yet their outcomes were ....something is not computing here.

John Stockton even at that age is who i'd rather have on my team than Kyle lowey choking ass. the Lakers that year had Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, and kobe on the same roster and how did the athletic advantage work for them?

I dont see this current Raptors team can compete. their star players dont show up and Serge Ibaka is no Dennis Rodman so Malone is gonna, with or without stockton passes

We already dealt with the 1998 Lakers, Kobe was trash back then, van Exel/Jones aren't close to Lowry/Derozen's level, and the team hadn't come together at all yet.

Lowry and Derozen just beat out prime Wall/Beal in back-to-back playoffs and took out Wade, Deng, Iso Joe and Dragic in the season before that, but they wouldn't be able to score against two short white guys in their late 30s? The ONLY team the Raptors have been failing to beat is Lebron's team. They have a 100% record against the rest of the NBA in the playoffs the last three years. So the "choker" narrative is overblown...what year were they supposed to win?

DeRozen is 6'7" and you think an old 6'4" hornacek is going to stop him despite being shorter, older, slower, and not really great at defense to start out with? And who the hell is going to protect the rim for the Jazz when they have Greg Foster and Adam Keefe BOTH back there. Everyone on the Rockets would be scoring on that Jazz lineup.

And yes Malone would definitely get his, but how can you pretend he's going to single-handedly carry the Jazz past a Raptors team when EVERYONE on the Raptors would be getting buckets?

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Let's have a little history lesson. If Malone could singlehandedly will his team to victory, then why....?

1986: 22yo Malone goes up against fat Sam Perkins, Malone shoots 6-17 in the elimination game (5-11 from the line) while Perkins's 29 points on 13-22 shooting lead the Mavs to a 20-point blowout elimination in the 1st round. Quick fact: Mark Eaton, who only 7 years earlier had picked up a basketball for the first time as a 20yo auto mechanic, had 20-12-5 with 4 blocks in that game.

1987: Now 23yo Malone is up against Larry Smith (who?). Malone manages a decent 8-15 for 23 points but fouls out, Larry goes for 12 and 14 with another 21 from Sleepy Floyd and the Warriors win by 5 to eliminate the Jazz again in the 1st round.

1988: 24yo Malone has a big game putting up 31 on A.C. Green, but it's not nearly enough as Byron Scott's 29 lead the Lakers to an easy 11-point with and a 2nd-round loss for the Jazz.

1989: 25yo Malone has a big 33, but is outscored at his own position by the 35 poured in from undersized Chris Mullin, and the Warriors win by nearly 20 in sweeping the Jazz out of the first round.

1990: 26yo Malone manages 26 against Mark West, but West also has 11 boards and 5 blocks in helping the Suns eliminate the Jazz in the first round for the 4th time in 5 years.

1991: 27yo Malone gets 26 again but Buck Williams gets 14 and the Jazz go down 4-1 against Portland in the 2nd round.

1992: 28yo Malone's 23 only barely outpace Buck Williams's 15 as the Jazz go down to Portland in the conference finals.

1993: 29yo Malone gets that consistent 26, but fat old Sam Perkins is back again with 20 and the Sonics give the Jazz yet another 1st-round loss

1994: 30yo Malone puts up 31 against Robert Horry, but Horry gets 22 of his own and the Jazz go down in 5 to Olajuwon's Rockets.

1995: 31yo Malone gets 35 this time and holds Horry in check, yet the combo of Dream and Glide are still enough to down the Jazz in the 1st round

1996: 32yo Malone gets 22 on 8-22 shooting, Shawn Kemp dominates with 26 on just 12 shots and the Sonics close out the series.


So guys who could successfully win an elimination game while guarding Karl Malone include Sam Perkins (twice), Larry Smith, A.C. Green, Chris Mullin, Mark West, Buck Williams (twice), Robert Horry (twice), and Shawn Kemp.

Guys who looked unstoppable against the Jazz in elimination games include Sam Perkins, Sleepy Floyd, Byron Scott, Chris Mullin, Robert Horry....did I mention the game where Kenny Smith hung 32 on their ass? Kenny Smith! He had a 25-point game and a 27-point game in other Jazz L's that series too.

But ya'all saying that Lowry and Derozen couldn't score on them.

In his first 11 NBA seasons, Malone never once saw the Finals and was eliminated in the 1st round six times by five different teams.

Yet now the Jazz are proven winners just because they lost to MJ?

And you're calling the Raptors chokers just because they can't get past Lebron?

 

[Supreme365]

Bruh Duncan in his prime >>>>> 2014

Ninjas saying they’re goats just because they beat Lebron badly

In 03 D.rob had one foot out the door Parker & ginobli was a baby

They’re second best scorer was Stephen Jackson who was nowhere near how good he would be in golden state

14 spurs would punish the 03 spurs

 

[Supreme365]

Where is the low quality posting tag for you?

NO ONE on the Jazz other than Malone scored more than 12ppg in the Lakers, Spurs, or Rockets series either. Stockton only scored 9ppg against the Bulls, but that was only a bit worse than the 10ppg he scored against the Lakers. NO ONE on that team other than Malone could really score. They were old and they weren't all that skilled to begin with, not at the level of today's players.

To claim that a 36-year-old John Stockton barely averaging 10 and 8 would outplay prime Kyle Lowry.

Where are all the 36-year-old White Americans dominating the NBA in 2018? You think it's just a coincidence that a 1998 Finals team could start FOUR White Americans at the same time, while nowadays it's practically worth a news article when a White American breaks a starting lineup past the first round of the playoffs? What, did they get different juice back then or something?

36-year-old John Stockton started all 20 playoff games
35-year-old Jeff Hornacek started all 20 playoff games
Greg Foster, who couldn't score, couldn't defend the rim, and nearly averaged more fouls than rebounds, started 16 playoff games
Adam Keefe, an unathletic and unskilled oaf who couldn't start at any other point in his NBA career, started 10 playoff games and 75 regular season games

That's FOUR White guys starting double-digit playoff games for one team, and all four are either 35+ or were never even athletic to begin with.

Imagine that being the Big 3 of a 2018 NBA FInals team, with the two short White guys both being 35+.

And imagine that those were the other two starters.



Now tell me, what the hell happened where you're saying a 1998 team with FOUR White Americans starting could wash the #1 team in the East in 2018 when in 2018 there ain't four White Americans starting in the whole damn NBA combined?

You think White people born in the 1960s had some special basketball skill gene that they lost 20 years later?

You do realize that euros are white

 

[Illin Degenerate]

you talking about cant get by, they cant even win a fukking game the past 2 years yet youre nitpicking the jazz with a bunch of irrelevant shyt who beat a 61 win lakers team who beat a 61 win sonics team. keefe played in 2 games vs the lakers, avg 5.5 mpg, foster avg 14.5 mpg. in the 3 series proceeding the finals, the jazz shot 53.3, 38.5 and 37.8 pct from 3, their spacing was fine. i will certainly agree that they were dirty, but that has nothing to do with how that team would perform against the raptors. im not going to say stockton would shut down lowry, but overall the jazz would be a much tougher team to score on than these current cavs.


are you seriously arguing that a no.1 seed being down 0-3 in the 2nd round isnt choking?

 

[Rigby.]

No way Jazz had the two best players in that matchup, do you even remember 1998?

Stockton was by then, didn't even average double-digits in the Finals.

Stockton and Hornacek were 35 and 36 and they weren't even athletic in their prime...they would get destroyed by 2018 Derozen and Lowry. JV is far better than any center the Jazz had and Ibaka is better than any forward on that team not named Malone. Other than Malone the 2018 Raptors wipe the 1998 Jazz at every position.

Malone was the only player on the Jazz to average more than 10.7ppg in the Finals.
Malone was the only player on the Jazz in double-figures who shot better than 41%.
Malone was the only player on the Jazz to average more than 5.0rpg in the Finals.
Malone was the only player on the Jazz to average more than 0.3bpg in the Finals.

1998 NBA Finals - Chicago Bulls vs. Utah Jazz | Basketball-Reference.com

Look at that crap for a second. NO ONE ELSE on the team could manage 11 points, 5 boards, or even half a block a game.

And yet the Bulls were still a buzzer-beater from being taken to 7 cause Jordan/Pippen/Rodman were so themselves.

The expansion era of the NBA was something else.

I was just giving nikkas another caveat so I wouldn’t insult the washed Heroes that Jordan was struggling against

Like if 33 year old Bron chooses to slack on defense cause he can’t do everything anymore, he’s fallen off. But when Jordan gets old, then he’s still better than everybody else ever no debate