Lebron is on pace to win his 1st championship and Finals MVP in one of his greatest playoff runs. But which scenario would you prefer if you had to choose?

A. The Heat win the title in 7 games, BUT Lebron plays horribly the last 3 games. His numbers are way below normal and he commits at least one massive mental error in the clutch that almost gives the series away. He is bailed out by great coaching adjustments from Spoelstra and MVP level heroics from Wade.

B. The Heat lose game 7 BUT Lebron plays at his all-time best. There is popular sentiment to give him the Finals MVP like Jerry West because of how dominant he was and how he made play after play to keep his team in it. But Wade choked and Spoelstra was completely out-coached.

have you stopped beating your wife yet

I'm not exactly a "Lebron groupie", but I like to see him succeed so I'm probably one of the people you are talking about.

Since I hate Wade, don't like Spoelstra, and like the Thunder more than the Heat, I'd prefer the second scenario.


Of course, the first hypothetical is impossible because the Heat probably can't win a game against the Thunder without MVP-level performance from Lebron.

The Lakers won Game 7 despite a Kobe 6-24. And the Mavs won Game 6 despite a horrible 1st 3 quarters from Dirk. It's not improbable to say Wade cant carry the team for 3 games.

quote:

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It's not improbable to say Wade cant carry the team for 3 games.

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What?

C. The Heat suffer a meltdown of epic proportions and are the first team in NBA history to lose in the Finals up 3-1. While Lebron forever cements his nickname "LeChoke" by clanking critical free throws in Game 5. Game 6 features a determined Lebron with 40+ Points but receives no other help from anyone. Game 7 is a total domination by OKC from wire to wire en rout to their first championship as the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I realize its a would you rather question but neither of those scenarios is likely to occur. He will continue to average his 30-10 a game. The Heat will get key contributions from unexpected places like Chalmers, Cole, and Battier.

This thing ends on Thursday. The Thunder just don't have an answer for the Heat in the last 5 minutes of a game. Westbrook played one of the best games of his career last night and it still wasn't good enough. Harden has become "casper-like" and I don't know if its because he is tired from his defense or what but it isnt the same guy we saw in the San Antonio series. Durant and Westbrook cannot win it by themselves.

Before the series started I said I was worried about my prediction of the Heat in 7 games because the Thunder have a more complete "team" and the Heat just arent as deep. This has seemingly become irrelevant for one reason or another.

If the Heat win, Lebron will have good numbers. I would prefer Lebron to get a ring since no one will be saying "he only averaged 29/9/5 and wasn't clutch". If he averages 40/14/9 and doesnt win he'll get blasted anyways which is unfair and ridiculous...

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won on Sunday - if the Heat pull it off tonight I'm going to call this week the greatest ever for overrated athletes.

Race car drivers are athletes?

Who on the Heat is overrated? LeBron? Please tell me you don't think the 3-time MVP and best basketball player in the world is overrated.

yeah, i hope you arent talking about lebron, having one of the best finals performances of all time

The obvious answer is B. Lebron Groupies couldn't care less about the Heat winning if Lebron isn't contributing. They followed him over to Miami and completely lost interest in the Cavs. Lebron is still expected to win multiple future titles, so it's not a huge loss to miss this one *if* he continues to dominate.

If Lebron puts up his usual great stats and the Heat lose then there are plenty of easy excuses. Lebron already put up the greatest stats ever in 2009 while his team failed around him. And if Lebron plays horribly like the 2011 Finals then they can say he tries to do too much, or that he impacts the game in other ways, or that there's too much media/fan pressure on him, etc.

It's just a different dynamic when you are following a player instead of a team.

[This message has been edited by InternetFan02 (edited 6/21/2012 6:59p).]

Weird.

Hate Wade, think Spoelstra is mostly a joke(although he is outcoaching Brooks in the finals which is something I never thought I'd see)...but I'd take A. Lebron to this point has gone on one of the greatest playoff runs by a player ever. If he gets his ring, even if it goes 3 more games and he struggles, he still gets his ring.

Part of me wanting to see lebron succeed is seeing him win a ring. Once he has that, most of the unnecessary hate is gone. All that's left are the people who don't like him just because they don't like him, and that's completely fine and understandable.

[This message has been edited by Bunk Moreland (edited 6/21/2012 8:00p).]

But reality is option C) a triple double in the closeout game 5.

Three triple-doubles in five games, IN THE NBA FINALS