2012 USA team VS 1992 USA team who has the edge?

Image from Chicagonow.com

This summer marks the 20 year anniversary of that legendary 1992 dream team that took the international basketball world by storm. So as is always the case in sports, there must be comparisons to this years team. Could the 2012 version beat the original dream team? Kobe Bryant thinks they can, while Scottie Pippen mentioned in national television that they would beat the 2012 team by 25. Where do we side on this argument? With the legendary 92 team of course, and there shouldn't be any debate here.
First lets analyze the 2012 version, they are obviously fast and loaded at every position, but they have one major weakness, and thats their lack of size. This is a very glaring need when you consider that Tyson Chandler is on the team, now this is by no means a cheap shot at Chandler who is the reigning defensive player of the year. Yet, Howard's injury left a big gaping hole for this year's group. In addition, this team's starting 5 will most likely not even feature a true PF, it will most likely see Lebron at the 4 and Melo at the 3, with Kevin Durant coming off the bench and filling the role that Dwyane Wade had in 08 (who also happens to be out of this year's olympics because of injury) as the team's leading scorer.
Kevin Love and Anthony Davis are the other bigs with Blake Griffin out with that meniscus tear. That leaves Team USA with only 3 legit big men, not to mention that Davis will probably not see a lot of time on the court. They are however very versatile and fast, and besides Chandler and Paul, every other player can play multiple positions.  This provides a matchup nightmare for opponents, they can put Lebron at just about any position. While Lebron can hold his own guarding the other team's center for some time, the same cant be said about the center that will have to guard Lebron. Not to mention having to guard the 6-10 Kevin Durant who plays like a 2 guard. All these matchup problems is what makes this team so hard to defeat at the international level (not to mention the supreme difference of talent) BUT, not if they play the 92 dream team.
The 1992 team has one overwhelming advantage, size, even if Howard had played for the 2012 team, the advantage would still be considerable down in the post. The 92 team had 11 hall of  famers, some of which were: centers Patrick Ewing and David Robinson, Power Forwards Charles Barkley, and arguably the best PF of all time (second in our humble opinion only to Tim Duncan) Karl Malone. There is no way that the 2012 version could match up with these 4. The 2012 team have three potent scorers in the wing in Durant, Lebron and Melo, but the 92 team had Scottie Pippen who was considered at the time the best defender in the WORLD,  he would no doubt spend most of his time on Durant and Lebron.
Then there's that issue of Michael Jordan, at the peak of his powers in 1992, still young and Athletic, a former defensive player of the year, he would be a problem at both ends of the floor. Everybody wants to talk about Michael vs Kobe, but think about it, 2012 Kobe is 34 years old, 92 Jordan was 29, and even if they were both at the top of their prime, Jordan would still have the advantage. Where the 2012 team could possibly have an advantage is at the point guard position, with Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Russell Westbrook running havoc with their speed and athleticism, but which one of those 3 would be able to guard the greatest PG of all time in Magic Johnson? Johnson was already at the twilight of his career, but only because he was absent due to his HIV sickness, unlike Larry Bird who had a very bad back, Magic was still a very very good player. Not to mention that 92 team had Stockton who was a underrated defender, and the all time leader in steals in the history of the league.
Overall, the game would be splendid, but the lack of size of the 2012 team, in addition with the experience and the fact that about 9 of those players in the 92 squad were in the peak of their prime (it also doesn't hurt when one of those players is the greatest of all time), we give the edge to the 92 dream team.
Do you think the size would be a big problem for the 2012 team? How could the 2012 team counter such problem and turn it into an advantage?
-Elton Brand and Chris Kaman will both join the Dallas Mavericks
-The Houston Rockets now seem to be making the most noise in their bid for Howard
-Lakers are interested in Jamison and Jermaine Oneal
-The Heat might give Greg Oden a look
-Jeremy Linn has signed his offer sheet from the Rockets, which amounts up to 3 years and 25 million all guaranteed.
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The Heat are hungry, while the Thunder settle

One win win away from an NBA championship, and this particular group will not let it get away. The heat took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Thunder and now have history on their side (in the NBA finals, team that take a 3-1 series lead are a perfect 30-0). The thunder started out the game like the desperate team clearly looking to tie the series up. They jumped out to a 17 point lead.
This Miami Heat team though, will win the NBA championship. Faced with all the adversity possible , the Heat toughed out the win. Something that perhaps last years group wouldnt have been capable of. It is in my opinion, not a matter of a lack of talent for the Thunder, but more of who wants it more. The 50-50 balls, the hustle plays, the Heat clearly have won all those battles. Down 17, the Heat fought back using the most unlikely of sources, Norris Cole the rookie provided the offense to power the Heat back into the game.
           When Lebron James went down with what seemed to be cramps, the Thunder smelled blood in the water and still couldnt take the win. Russell Westbrook had perhaps the best game of his playoff career with 43 points, but committed a crucial foul on chalmers after a jump ball.  Speaking of that jump ball, down 3, and with 3 seconds left in the shot clock, Shane Battier tipped the ball out of kevin durant´s hands and right into Chalmers, who was then fouled inexplicably by westbrook (three seconds left in the shot clock for the heat). Thats what this team has become, a team who finds a way to win basketball games.
It hasnt always been pretty, but  when Lebron has 26, wade 25,  and Chalmers 25, you know that this team is ready for a championship. Today it was Chalmers, the previous two games it has been Battier. Okc however has gotten nothing beyond Westbrook and Durant, to the point that tonight in the 4th quarter it seemed like they were playing 2 against 5. Harden has been terrible and nowhere  near his 6th man of the year status. Before The finals, Harden had never been held to single digits scoring this postseason.
        Westbrook, has been higly criticized (myself included) for taking so many shots, but how can you blame him when nobody else has stepped up? James Harden will not sleep for a while this summer, his performance was so dull, that it came to a point where he had a wide mid range shot and still hesitated. It is important to note that he struggled as well in the semifinals when he had to spend so much energy guarding Kobe. This series he spends all his time either on Wade or Lebron, and perhaps its taking a toll on him. But championship teams find a way, the Thunder seemed content with being here, The Heat are not. Thats why, the Miami Heat will be 2012 NBA Champions.
       When the Thunder look back, they will know it wasnt because of a lack of talent, but because of who wanted it more, and right now, nobody wants it more than the Miami Heat, 1 through 12. NOT just the big three.

Heat take a 2-1 series lead after an ugly game 3

         As game 4 fast approaches, the Thunder and Heat stand on two different grounds. The Heat were here last year, up 2-1, and heavily favored over the Dallas Mavericks. A sensitive topic when speaking to anybody on the Heat roster and a lingering shadow for Lebron James. Lebron who had a very disappointing 2011 NBA finals has said that he did not make game changing plays as his team was accustomed of him doing, and vowed to change that this time and so far has delivered. Dwyane Wade, after a rocky first game to these finals, has had two great games (25 points 7 assists and 7 rebounds in the game 3 victory), his energy on both sides of the ball has been great, and he continues to be the designated offense initiator down the stretch.  While Bosh continues his dominance of the boards and providing enough offense by picking his spots. We also cannot undermine the HUGE contributions of Shane Battier who continues to shoot lights out for the Heat.

photo from bettor.com

         The Oklahoma City Thunder, managed to not fall behind to begin the game (although they started off trailing 10-4 and turning the ball over several times) and Durant despite being guarded a lot more by Lebron James, continues to be unstoppable. The Thunder opened up a 10 point lead midway through the third but Durant picked up his fourth foul after a Dwyane Wade pump fake that seemed to have little or no contact. Brooks also decided to sit Westbrook, which allowed the Heat to go on a run and take the lead back. Durant for the second straight game found himself in foul trouble and the superstar has said he´s been frustrated with the issue (ironically Paul Pierce found himself in the same dilemma last series). The Thunder have outscored the Heat 286 to 285 so far and still trail the series 2 games to 1. The thunder gave the game away when Durant sat out in the third quarter and Brooks inexplicably sat Westbrook out as well. Another factor to consider is free throw shooting, The heat went an impressive 31-35 from the line while Oklahoma went 15-24.
           The problem with Oklahoma is that they live and die by the jumpshot, and the lack of assists on their points. Okc is essentially an isolation team, their points come off isolation plays and the most pick and roll basketball you see is when James Harden is on the floor. On a night in which both teams played abismal, the Heat escaped because of their free throw shooting, and because they managed to contain Durant from midway through the third quarter all the way to the end. If Oklahoma is making their jumpshots, they are practically unbeatable, However, last night they shot 4-18 from the three point line and Durant had an abysmal 4th quarter. The Heat look poised to take this championship, but a few plays there and a few calls here, and Oklahoma could have easily been up 2-1. After all, the home team has only won all three games of the 2-3-2 format just twice, so there´s no reason to panic if your Oklahoma, the last team to win all three home games it? The Miami Heat in 2006

A series of Storylines will define game 3 of the 2012 NBA FINALS

Image from smtdaily.com

         The Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat will continue tonight what seems to be shaping up as a classic NBA Finals. In Game 1, the Thunder erased an early deficit and rallied behind Durant´s monster 4th quarter. Game 2, Miami once again jumped out to an early lead and the Thunder fell short of another monster comeback at the end.  Several storylines have developed, and will continue to be watched tonight. Russell Westbrook, after being severely criticized after his game 2 performance has stated that he will not alter his play despite the criticism. Westbrook will be the center of attention tonight, as everybody closely watches the amount of shots westbrook takes as well as the shot selections from the Thunder´s point guard.
         How Westbrook comes out to start the game is crucial, as Oklahoma has faced double digit deficits at the beginning of both games 1 and 2. The Heat know Oklahoma´s tendency to start out slow, and Oklahoma will not have the benefit of their home crowd for the next three games. Miami will no doubt play much better at home, if Oklahoma continues to start out slow, this series wont last as long as much people expect. On the flip side, after a bounce back game 2, it is important to keep an eye on Dwyane Wade, as he continues to battle a mysterious Knee injury. Wade (just like Oklahoma) continues his first half struggles and looks to provide another strong game to help out Lebron. With Bosh now in the starting lineup, Wade no doubt benefitted from Bosh´s floor spacing, and knee injury or not, will look to continue to attack Oklahoma´s defense.
          Tonight, for the first time in a long time, nobody will ask Spoelstra what his starting lineup will be, with bosh back in his comfort zone in the starting lineup, and Battier playing the best basketball of his postseason there will definitely be no change tonight. Bosh, who is well rested in part because of his injury seems to have embraced his role as the Heat´s center after his strong performance on the boards with 15 rebounds (a much needed effort against OKC´s strong frontcourt) in game 2. While the big 3 for Miami played like the big 3, we cannot undermine Harden´s strong 21 points on only 11 shots. Harden obviously gives the Oklahoma bench an advantage now that bosh has rejoined the starting lineup, look for harden to be much more aggressive tonight and take well over 11 shots.
            Of course all eyes will no doubt be on Lebron James and Kevin Durant, after gaining the best of lebron with his monster game 1 fourth quarter, Lebron escaped game 2 with a controversial ending in which many believe James fouled Durant on the last play of the game. However, the game was not decided on this play, it was decided on the 18-2 deficit that the thunder fell in. Foul or not, the Heat are lucky because Durant missed a shot he makes 9 out of 10 times. Just like a foul could have been called on Lebron at that moment, Durant´s six and final foul could have been called earlier when Battier was called for a blocking foul on Durant. Tonight expect spoelstra to do much of the same, and split the duties of guarding Durant between Battier and Lebron. Most would like to see Lebron on Durant the entire game, (Durant asked to guard Lebron before the series began) but lebron is already being asked to do so much, that it is not convenient for Spoesltra to leave James on Durant the whole game. Consider the worries of Heat faithful that say Lebron is playing too many minutes another factor that will stop Spoesltra from leaving Lebron on Durant for 48 minutes.
            The game will be decided in the first and third quarter, if OKC gets out to another slow start, expect the heat to leave tonight with a 2-1 series lead, the third quarter will also be crucial, but OKC will not be at home tonight, if they fall behind, they will stay behind. For the Heat, Lebron James must continue his strong play and hope that Dwyane Wade provides the Dominant 1-2 punch they need, and rebound the ball well. The heat kept Oklahoma out of their transition game in the last contest, something that hadnt been done to OKC this entire postseason. One way or another, the storylines leading up to tonight´s game will give way to an epic game 3.

Heat escape back to South Beach with a split

Russell Westbrook guarded by D.Wade
Image source: observadorglobal.com

            The Miami Heat head back to South beach humming, at least for a night as they used an incredible start to game 2 of the NBA finals to pull out a win. The Heat once again started off well as they took an 18 to 2 lead at the beginningof the game while Oklahoma continues to struggle with slow starts. The Thunder just like in game 1 rallied but ultimately fell short after Durant missed a 7 footer on a controversial play in which Lebron may or may not have fouled him that would have tied the game with about 7 seconds left. The problem with Oklahoma City at least for this night, begins and ends with Russell Westbrook, who scored 27 points on 26 shots. Westbrook plays the ¨PG¨ position and yet he takes more shots than Kevin Durant who continues to have monster games in a very efficient way. It is not to say that Westbrook had a complete disaster of a game, he scored 18 points in the second half on 8 for 16 shooting.
         However, going 2 for 10 in the first half is a big reason why the Thunder fell behind and it makes no sense that westbrook didnt continue to feed the hot hand at the time. James Harden came out firing, making sure that his game 2 performance would be much better than his game 1, so why didnt westbrook the point guard of the team go to the hot hand? Instead his team fell in a big gap and Westbrook was decimated on national television by Magic Johnson, the greatest point guard to ever play the game. The stats show that when Westbrook shoots more than Durant the Thunder generally win, but thats because the team is better than most of the league on most nights. Yet, in the NBA finals against the other best team in the league, unless westbrook is making most of those shots at an efficient rate, the Thunder are looking at a long shot at winning the NBA championship. This series already looks like is going to be one of the best finals we´ve had in years (along with the 2010 Boston vs Lakers that went 7 games), but westbrook must be efficient if he´s going to continue to be a volume scorer. At this point of the season, we cannot expect Westbrook to change his game and be more of a traditional point guard, nor should he (they made the finals with him taking all those shots), but for Oklahoma to stop getting off to slow starts, their pg needs to follow the script of the second half of game 2, to start out game 3.

6 Fouls of the day

1. In a RARE incident involving a San Antonio Spurs player, Tony parker will be sidelined for a week after injuring his eye in the fight that broke out in New York involving Chris Brown and Drake, Parker who will play with the France national team this summer said he was with his friend Chris Brown when people started throwing punches at them
2. 2.Phil Jackson said he was not interested in coaching the New York Knicks if he had been asked nor the Orlando Magic. Jackson stated That Stoudemire of the Knicks, is a great player but that he needs to be in the right system and he just doesnt fit with Carmelo Anthony, who Jackson said needs to pass the ball more instead of just stop stopping ball movement once it reaches his hands.
3. After shooting terrible to start the playoffs, Battier has been on fire from three point range in his first two finals game, will he continue his hot streak from behind the arc? or will the Oklahoma City thunder make adjustments? either way, Battier´s shooting along with Bosh´s strong play will no doubt open up driving lanes for James and Wade, something they desperately needed during Bosh´s absence
4. Okc Coach Scott Brooks, limited Nick Collison´s minutes in game 2 and went instead with Perkins, a decision questioned by many, as collison´s intangibles were clearly missed in game 2, will Brooks once again limit him in game 3?
5. After a disappointing first two finals appearance by Lebron James against San Antonio and last year against dallas, Lebron has had 30 plus points in the first 2 games, it will be interesting to see if James will continue his strong play in the finals and maybe finally get over the hump and get his first ring
6. Spoelstra Continues to tweak and change his rotation on a game to game basis, playing Lebron James and Dwyane Wade heavy minutes, and failing to go deep into his bench, Spoelstra has changed his starting lineup numerous times during their current playoff run, and it will be interesting to see if it will continue as the finals roll on.