Finals: Lakers vs Heat / Who do you want to win?

[LarBrd33]

Lakers vs Heat I go with Heat without question... I rooted for them in the Finals last year as well.

  ...and the ECF, as I recall.

Wut.  Oh Timmy. 

[LarBrd33]

These threads pop up frequently and I always feel compelled to reply.   Miami Heat mean nothing.  They are a mild annoyance, no more than an itch.  Folks don't like them because they don't like certain people -- Lebron, Dwayne, Bosh, Ray -- and perhaps the way the team was constructed.  But historically this TEAM means nothing.  I am indifferent to the Heat as a franchise. 

But the Lakers are the team enemy of the C's.  The players are basically irrelevant, it is the Lakers that matter. Wilt, Jerry, Gale, Baylor, Kareem, Magic, Cooper, Kurt, AC, Worthy, Fisher, Shaq (when with them),  Kobe --   I hate(d) them all, not for any personal reason (except Kobe), but because they brought championships to the Lakers franchise. 

If Heat-Lakers happens, I am all aboard the Heat train.

This isn't true in all cases.  I don't like the Heat, and it's not because I "don't like certain people."  I've got nothing against Lebron James as a person, but I don't like the idea that one individual is bigger than the game and can create a dynasty all by himself.  If the Heat continue to win titles, it will confirm many people's belief that the game of basketball boils down to having the single, best player as opposed to having the best team.

This is the primary reason that I root against the Heat.

So had the team with the 2nd best player in the league won... it would have been so much different.   Lol.

Pretty much every champion has a top 5 player.  That's just how the NBA works.  YOu need a superstar to win.  The lone exception being maybe that Pistons team that had 4 allstars. 

[crimson_stallion]

Lakers.

I think Nash deserves a ring more as much as anybody, and anybody on the Heat team who deserves one already has one.

The downside is that Dwight would get a ring, and that would suck because I really don't think he deserves one...but Nash only has another year or two in this league and if Boston doesn't win I'd like him to have a chance.

At the end of the day though all of this is a moot point.  The Lakers right now are barely even a playoff calibre team so until they start dominating like they should be, they don't have any more chance of getting there than we do.

[Lightskinsmurf]

Lakers vs Heat I go with Heat without question... I rooted for them in the Finals last year as well.

Whaaaat!!? SMH!

[LarBrd33]

Lakers vs Heat I go with Heat without question... I rooted for them in the Finals last year as well.

Whaaaat!!? SMH!

I personally feel like the Celtics/Heat rivalry is overblown.  They beat us to years in a row in teh playoffs.  Big deal.  I felt the Pistons/Celtics rivalry had more juice than that.  I don't have some irrational hate of LeBron James.  He's the best in the league. 

I live in Seattle.  I couldn't root for Oklahoma... my friends out here would have been suicidal had the Thunder won the title.  So I rooted for the Heat in the finals.  I'll root for them in the Finals against the Lakers as well. 

You simply are not a Celtic fan if you root for the Lakers under any circumstances.  Certainly not because of some petty jealousy of King James.

[Lightskinsmurf]

Lakers vs Heat I go with Heat without question... I rooted for them in the Finals last year as well.

Whaaaat!!? SMH!

I personally feel like the Celtics/Heat rivalry is overblown.  They beat us to years in a row in teh playoffs.  Big deal.  I felt the Pistons/Celtics rivalry had more juice than that.  I don't have some irrational hate of LeBron James.  He's the best in the league. 

I live in Seattle.  I couldn't root for Oklahoma... my friends out here would have been suicidal had the Thunder won the title.  So I rooted for the Heat in the finals.  I'll root for them in the Finals against the Lakers as well.

I certainly wouldn't say "BIG DEAL" to that. Forget everything you said except you live in seattle. So this is more of an OKC thing than a heat thing, cool.

I guess alot of you don't hate the heat as much as me. Like i said i hate both teams lakers and heat but i respect the lakers which is why when they win its SLIGHTLY easier to take.

[GreenFaith1819]

The Boston Celtics.

But if it comes down to MIA-LA, then it is MIA all the way. There is no way that I want Kobe and LA to get 17 Banners.

Besides, I have no angst vs Ray Allen...I wish him the best vs anyone else not wearing Green. If it comes down to him winning and lobbing threes vs the Purp and Gold in June of next year, I can live with that.

What I CAN'T stand is the possibility of a summer of Lakers  Banner 17.

[Celtics18]

These threads pop up frequently and I always feel compelled to reply.   Miami Heat mean nothing.  They are a mild annoyance, no more than an itch.  Folks don't like them because they don't like certain people -- Lebron, Dwayne, Bosh, Ray -- and perhaps the way the team was constructed.  But historically this TEAM means nothing.  I am indifferent to the Heat as a franchise. 

But the Lakers are the team enemy of the C's.  The players are basically irrelevant, it is the Lakers that matter. Wilt, Jerry, Gale, Baylor, Kareem, Magic, Cooper, Kurt, AC, Worthy, Fisher, Shaq (when with them),  Kobe --   I hate(d) them all, not for any personal reason (except Kobe), but because they brought championships to the Lakers franchise. 

If Heat-Lakers happens, I am all aboard the Heat train.

This isn't true in all cases.  I don't like the Heat, and it's not because I "don't like certain people."  I've got nothing against Lebron James as a person, but I don't like the idea that one individual is bigger than the game and can create a dynasty all by himself.  If the Heat continue to win titles, it will confirm many people's belief that the game of basketball boils down to having the single, best player as opposed to having the best team.

This is the primary reason that I root against the Heat.

So had the team with the 2nd best player in the league won... it would have been so much different.   Lol.

Pretty much every champion has a top 5 player.  That's just how the NBA works.  YOu need a superstar to win.  The lone exception being maybe that Pistons team that had 4 allstars.

And the Mavericks, and to a lesser degree our Celtics.  And, possibly even, one or two of the Spurs Championships. 

Actually, when looking at the championships over the last ten years, only the '03 Spurs and the '12 Heat have featured a player that was inarguably in the top five for that season.

Except for that Pistons team, all champions have had a definite top ten player, and an arguable top five player, but there haven't been any hands down number ones outside of Lebron James on last year's Heat. 

I'm not saying that you don't need great players to win titles.  What I said was you don't necessarily need the best player . , , or even the second or third or fourth or fifth or sixth or, I'll stop there, because it's definitely helpful to have a player who is at least in the seven to twelve range of top players. 

That's a lot different than needing the best or second best player, though. 

[Celtics18]

Lakers vs Heat I go with Heat without question... I rooted for them in the Finals last year as well.

Whaaaat!!? SMH!

I personally feel like the Celtics/Heat rivalry is overblown.  They beat us to years in a row in teh playoffs.  Big deal.  I felt the Pistons/Celtics rivalry had more juice than that.  I don't have some irrational hate of LeBron James.  He's the best in the league. 

I live in Seattle.  I couldn't root for Oklahoma... my friends out here would have been suicidal had the Thunder won the title.  So I rooted for the Heat in the finals.  I'll root for them in the Finals against the Lakers as well. 

You simply are not a Celtic fan if you root for the Lakers under any circumstances.  Certainly not because of some petty jealousy of King James.

I would probably lean slightly towards the Lakers if such a finals were to occur.  That disproves your theory.  I am a Celtics fan.

[D.o.s.]

These threads pop up frequently and I always feel compelled to reply.   Miami Heat mean nothing.  They are a mild annoyance, no more than an itch.  Folks don't like them because they don't like certain people -- Lebron, Dwayne, Bosh, Ray -- and perhaps the way the team was constructed.  But historically this TEAM means nothing.  I am indifferent to the Heat as a franchise. 

But the Lakers are the team enemy of the C's.  The players are basically irrelevant, it is the Lakers that matter. Wilt, Jerry, Gale, Baylor, Kareem, Magic, Cooper, Kurt, AC, Worthy, Fisher, Shaq (when with them),  Kobe --   I hate(d) them all, not for any personal reason (except Kobe), but because they brought championships to the Lakers franchise. 

If Heat-Lakers happens, I am all aboard the Heat train.

This isn't true in all cases.  I don't like the Heat, and it's not because I "don't like certain people."  I've got nothing against Lebron James as a person, but I don't like the idea that one individual is bigger than the game and can create a dynasty all by himself.  If the Heat continue to win titles, it will confirm many people's belief that the game of basketball boils down to having the single, best player as opposed to having the best team.

This is the primary reason that I root against the Heat.

So had the team with the 2nd best player in the league won... it would have been so much different.   Lol.

Pretty much every champion has a top 5 player.  That's just how the NBA works.  YOu need a superstar to win.  The lone exception being maybe that Pistons team that had 4 allstars.

And the Mavericks, and to a lesser degree our Celtics.  And, possibly even, one or two of the Spurs Championships.

Somewhere far away Timmy Dunks just felt a little more morose.

[crimson_stallion]

I personally feel like the Celtics/Heat rivalry is overblown.  They beat us to years in a row in teh playoffs.  Big deal.  I felt the Pistons/Celtics rivalry had more juice than that.  I don't have some irrational hate of LeBron James.  He's the best in the league. 

It's not only because they beat us two years in a row.  It's because of the mentality between these two teams - there is a competitiveness and hatred that goes deeper than that.

Firstly there is the Boston vs Lebron rivalry.  For years while Lebron was in Cleveland he was trying to get to a title, and each time it was Boston who knocked him off the perch.  For years it seemed like the one single idea in Lebron's head was "Beat Boston".  To make matters worse we typically dislike Lebron because he every single whistle goes in his favour - simply being Lebron gives him the benefit of 90% of calls.  That's not something that's actually his fault, but you can't help but be frustrated by it every time we play the Heat.

Secondly there is the Wade rivalry.  Wade has been practicaly fueding with Rondo for years now - the two absolutely hate each other's guts.  Aside from that there is the hatred Boston fans have towards Wade in general for his consistently dirty play, and he seems to always save the very best of his dirtiness for Boston. 

Thirdly there is the fact that they have (twice running) knocked us out of the playoffs, even though we dominated them in the regular season both years.  Again that's not their fault that they beat us (it's what they're supposed to do) but it's still frustrating to us because as Celtics fans we KNOW we are more than capable of beating them in a 7 game series...and that's annoying.

Next there is Jason Terry - last year Miami beat us in the ECF.  The year before that they knocked us out in the semi's and then went on to face the Mavs, and Dallas knocked off that Miami team that was EXPECTED to win a title.  Jason Terry hit so many clutch shots against Miami that series, so you KNOW they hate him. 

Now as if there wasn't already enough reason for hate between the teams, one of our most fan-appreciated players left us and defected over to the very same team.  They generally talk nice about him, but you KNOW half the guys on our team cannot stand Ray right now for moving over to the enemy - especially KG.  As a group of guys that were previously like brothers, I can understand that, and it''s only going to add to the rivaly.

So hell yes there is a rivarly. 

Look at LA right now and the rivaly is no longer what it used to be.  Aside from Kobe, Pau and MWP there is nobody else really on that team who has a history against us.  They are in a different conference so chances are we probably won't play them in the playoffs.  Even during the regular season, we probably only play them once or twice.  The only people in LA I really can't stand are MWP and Dwight Howard.  I dislike them both with a passion.  Kobe I actually don't hate that much because I respect his competitiveness and his desire to win, and IMHO he's nowhere near as dirty as Wade.

[OhioGreen]

If,---if they are healthy I think the Lakers in 6!  Too much size AND Kobe trumps LBJ and Wade.
If,---if WE are healthy we lose in round one to Heat 4-1!

Now if Danny gets busy here SOON, and gets us some real help via trade, well all that could change. Keep hoping! But our team NOW, is going nowhere.  Losing to Heat in 5 was really looking positively at an unchanged team.

[ScottHow]

Go Heat. I can't stand the Heat and LeBron, but my hate for LA is at another level.

[Change]

Lakers.

Believe or not, Lakers are easy team to root for this year. Would love nothing more than to see Nash, Jamison, and Coach D'Antoni join the winners circle.

[Lightskinsmurf]

Yeah, there's nobody on the lakers i hate more than lebron and wade. Also, the heat have one of the most annoying fanbases i have ever came across in my life. If the lakers won it all id be really annoyed.

If the heat won it all im a be pretty P***D off. The lakers are irrelevant to me until they reach the finals. The heat are blocking our path to even reaching that point and for that i HATE them more. That could change one day but right now that's what it is.