Originally posted on 05/28/2013:

Quote Originally Posted by Menses View Post
Pacers series is not over...getting a bit ahead of ourselves...but if Miami is to move on....I would imagine Lebron would be out for blood against the team that swept him out in 07.....advantage Spurs as they have dealt with him before....
Quote Originally Posted by dmncnlou View Post
I respect Marc Gasol. He is as honest as they come. He was quoted as saying "Its a reason they always win." And, "They taught us a lesson." These 2 teams knew they would meet in the Finals that's why they were playing mind games earlier. And it's not like the Spurs haven't seen Lebron. Spurs in 6.

you guys really think "Spurs have dealt with lebron before" is actually a reason why Spurs will win the finals? That's like comparing apples to oranges. actually it's more like comparing apples to dogs or cars, they're not even the same type of object.

Back in '07 the Spurs were a much different team, with the Big 3 of TP, Ginobilli, and Duncan. They had an elite wing defender in Bruce Bowen and excellent veteran 3 point shooters in Michael Finley, Brent Barry, and Bruce Bowen was no slouch himself. The Spurs that year had an average offense (ranked 15th) and a very, very good defense (3rd).

I bet you can't even name more than 5 players on that '07 Cavs roster, cause it was literally LeBron James + and a bunch of "role players" / scrubs that they cobbled together cause LeBron made the Cavs so good instantly in a very weak Eastern Conference that they never got another high draft pick to help him out. The 2nd best player on that team was arguably Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Ask a "casual" NBA viewer who that is and I bet they couldn't tell you. LeBron single-handedly demolished the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals to carry his weak-ass team to the Finals.

The Spurs went with a different game plan than everyone else in the Eastern Conference, which was "Let LeBron have his and make the role players step up" cause they knew they didn't have to shut Lebron down to beat an inferior team. They swept the series like many people thought they would.

Oh yeah. Let's not forget Lebron was 22 at the time and a below-average midrange and 3 pt shooter, and had no post game. And they were coached by Mike Brown, who's widely known as having an offense that goes something like "LeBron, get us some buckets"

Fast forward 6 years and the Spurs aren't the same team, and the Heat have a big 3 mostly in their primes, with a bevy of veteran 3 point shooters (sound familiar?). They have one of the best offenses AND defenses in the league, and Lebron is now undoubtedly the best player in the game. You can focus on shutting down Lebron (you can't) or you can focus on shutting down the role players (which the Pacers have done, to some extent) but you can't do both.

I'm not saying Spurs won't beat the Heat cause anything can happen and the Spurs are indeed a very good team still, but saying "Spurs have dealt with Lebron before, they have advantage" is quite possibly one of the dumbest things I've read on this forum. It's so stupid that I made an account just to type this up.

GL to you betting on Spurs, my money is on Miami in 6.