NBA

[Guest GO!zilla]

Interesting question...Since it's almost an decade, who is the player of the decade? 2000-2010

Tim Duncan, Shaq, or Kobe Bryant?

I'd say Duncan, he was the leader for the whole decade, and he was consistent and clutch. Kobe was the sidekick to Shaq for a few years before he became the leader of the Lakers and Shaq was only dominant until 2005.

Well here is their biggest accomplishments from 2000-2010:

Duncan

3 championships, 2 finals MVP, and 2 MVP

Shaq

4 championships, 3 finals MVP, and 1 MVP

Kobe

3 championships, 1 MVP, and 2 scoring titles.

Right now I have:

1st: Duncan

2nd: Shaq

3rd: Kobe

If Kobe wins it all this year than I will might put him ahead of Shaq. Maybe not, because Shaq was absolutely a monster.

Next year all 3 players have chances of becoming champions again.

must be one of the more stupid questions asked on here... different peak ages, different game play, and most importantly, different positions/styles

[1love]

^No brain there. It not a question asking who is the best player. Duh, I know it would be a dumb question if I ask who is the better player. Oh and all 3 players were in their primes in the 2000s, so what you mean different peak ages. Peaked different years? Yes. Peaked different decades? No.

Who is the player of the decade. It's more of who accomplished more, who was more important to their team, lead their teams better as the leader and as the #1 option, stepped up when asked upon etc. versus who had better basketball skills. Of course you would consider each player's individual skills at their position into the thought, but it's a small part.

If it's the best player I would easily say Kobe or Shaq. But Kobe haven't accomplished anything as a leader yet, so he is last on the list. After this year, he could be #2 and if he wins in 2010, I would put him as #1. Duncan on the other hand lead the spurs to 3 championships this decade as the leader and Shaq lead the Lakers to 3 and 1 in Miami as the leader.

[Guest SurpriseSex]

Shaq pretty much piggybacked on Wade for the Miami championship.

[1love]

Shaq pretty much piggybacked on Wade for the Miami championship.

Yes, Wade was the MVP of finals. Also early injury and coach limited his playing time to a career low. Not a good Shaq year, but he was the leader.

He became fat and lazy after that season. If only Shaq had strong work ethic.

Eh doesn't matter, when Shaq was the leader of the Lakers and what he did for the Lakers was incredible. One of my favorite Shaq finals game was game 2 against the Pacers in 2000 when Kobe played only 9 minutes and scored only 2 points. Shaq proved he is the leader and he took it upon himself and single handlely took over the game. He put up 40 points, 24 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks for the Lakers' victory without their other star. Shaq got to the FT line 39 times and controlled the pace of the game and did not allow the other team get out and run.

Damn, I don't know why most Lakers fans hate Shaq after all what he had done for the Lakers.

--------------------

More reasons why I choose Duncan....

Tim Duncan is pushing to be the greatest PF of all time. In this decade, he made the playoffs every single year. Also the Spurs were averaging 50+ wins every season. He is the definite leader on every single playoff run, you can argue Parker won 1 finals mvp, but Duncan was the man on top too. It's true he slowed towards the end of this decade, but so did Shaq. Kobe was the dominant scorer in this decade, but when Kobe led Lakers, they were nothing to write about in the middle of the decade. Missed the playoffs once and never made it passed the 1st round. Last year led the Lakers to the finals, but failed to defeat the Celtics. Kobe can confirm his legacy this year and next year.

[Guest GO!zilla]

its still stupid to compare.

plus, one of duncans rings should be taken out... shorten season.

also its not like duncan couldve done without help.

duncan had robinson for a bit

shaq couldnt have been able to do it without kobe (ie: When he was with Magics, he still had Penny)

kobe couldnt have been able to do it without shaq.

kobe got a mvp pretty much stolen from him by one of the white boys... forgot if it was nash or dirk

its stupid to compare. all 3 have accomplished similarly, not one should stand out.

[1love]

its still stupid to compare.

plus, one of duncans rings should be taken out... shorten season.

also its not like duncan couldve done without help.

duncan had robinson for a bit

shaq couldnt have been able to do it without kobe (ie: When he was with Magics, he still had Penny)

kobe couldnt have been able to do it without shaq.

kobe got a mvp pretty much stolen from him by one of the white boys... forgot if it was nash or dirk

its stupid to compare. all 3 have accomplished similarly, not one should stand out.

Seems like your not a big basketball fan. Oh well if you don't like to discuss, then don't.

Lol white boys, it was Nash if you must know. Nash didn't stole it, in fact Kobe came in 4th place in the voting because of the Lakers' record. IMO, Nash deserved the mvp.

I think we all know no one can win a championship by themselves. Don't get me wrong, I love Shaq and Kobe. Both are my favorite players after McGrady. Duncan had an old and injury prone Robinson and a rookie Manu and Parker, so he stands out more as a leader. Tim Duncan won the 03 ring as singlehandedly as possible. He had Steve Kerr, Tony Parker (he was not a star at this point), Bruce Bowen (Good for defense only), and a young Stephen Jackson. Manu was not any good yet and Robinson was old. But that was against the Nets, any team that came out of the East during that time was icing on the cake. Another reason why Duncan stand outs more to me, he did not need another superstar to win a championship.

[Guest SurpriseSex]

David Robinson is one of the 50 Greatest Players of All Time.

I'd argue that Parker and Ginobli are legit superstars. They just play on a boring Spurs team that no one cares to watch.

And Dirk did not deserve to win the year he won, as evidenced by getting thumped from the playoffs by the Warriors.

Nash definitely should not have won it one of the years that he did and it's debatable whether he should have won it the other year as well.

[1love]

I'm not saying their not superstars. But in the 20002-2003, they were not established superstars. Manu was a rookie that season. Robinson was great, but he was old and plagued by injuries.

I hate the MVP voters for that precise reason. They focus a lot on the team season record and because Dirk led the Mavs to a franchise record in wins, he was the MVP. The reason why Kobe didn't win the MVP those years was because of the Lakers season record. But should a man one show really be the mvp of the league? MVP award is really hard to define. Its not not best scorer, its not guy who's team will do best in playoffs, and sometimes its not even best player on the best team. Is the MVP is the best complete player in the league? I think that's what is questioning whether Nash was the mvp. The man plays absolutely no defense.

Each person have their opinion on what the MVP of the NBA is....

[Guest melo.breeze]

lol, found the 'white boy' comment a bit funny.

but i'd have to agree, kobe was robbed of the mvp award that year.

he came in 4th place which i just cannot understand why.

if wade this year can generate more first place votes than kobe has,

how does kobe get 4th place wen his achievements in the 05-06 season

could arguably have been better than wades' this year.

sure the lakers didn't have the best record, but if i remember correctly,

the record they had back in 05-06 is better than the heats' record this year.

not to take anything away from wade though, he's done exactly wat kobe did but is getting more recognition.

i've lost faith in mvp voting, they should let players have a vote as well, not just analysts.

[1love]

Like I said, MVP voters focus a lot on team record. For the Suns: Amare was also injured all season long, he played 3 games only. Joe Johnson was traded to the Hawks before the season even started.

Despite that, Nash led the Suns to a better record and won the division. Also Nash proved it in the first round when the Suns came back from 3-1 to beat the Lakers.

You need a good supporting cast to be a MVP, something Kobe nor Wade had. Analysts don't choose one man shows as MVPs, and I'm glad they were consistent this year and did not choose Wade. Kobe, Lebron, and Wade all went through it.

Why did Wade get more attention and recogniton? Easy, the year before the Heat won 15 games (last in the league). Once Wade is back, they were back into the playoffs. If you watched Dwayne Wade after the all star break and in the month of March, you know why he got more recognition. There was a games where he scored 50+ points or 30+ points and 14+ assists. The guy was putting on a show every night and it was entertaining watching him play. Also I believe during this season, he was the first player to put up the most points, assists, steals, and blocks in a season.

The guy deserved the recognition 100%. Wade was definitely more entertaining to watch.

Edit: He was the first and only player to accumulate 2000 points, 500 assists, 150 steals and 100 blocks in a season.

[Guest DOVAHKIIN]

Really? Bynum is not a good post up scorer? Then I wonder what he does? Shoot three pointers, maybe? Bynum has some of the best footwork I've ever seen for a 21 year old, many more post moves than Dwight Howard has, but then again, it's quite easy to have more than zero. Coupled with his 13 foot jumpshot, he is a serious threat on the low block.

If you put Turkoglu on Bryant, Kobe will blow past him for a layup or a foul every time.

If you put Pietrus on Gasol, he's just shoot over him every time.

... Well who in their right mind is gonna match up Pietrus with Gasol?

David Robinson is one of the 50 Greatest Players of All Time.

I'd argue that Parker and Ginobli are legit superstars. They just play on a boring Spurs team that no one cares to watch.

And Dirk did not deserve to win the year he won, as evidenced by getting thumped from the playoffs by the Warriors.

Nash definitely should not have won it one of the years that he did and it's debatable whether he should have won it the other year as well.

I'll still vouch for Nash.

His first year back with the Suns blew everyone's mind when the Suns soared in the rankings. People will only question it because he's not a franchise star player or great in all categories. The second year he won it, he led the Suns to a 50something win record without Amare. made Boris Diaw look good and had a mediocre supporting cast of Tim Thomas and Kurt Thomas

[Guest SurpriseSex]

... Well who in their right mind is gonna match up Pietrus with Gasol?

Well, that's what that guy was suggesting, not me.

I'll still vouch for Nash.

His first year back with the Suns blew everyone's mind when the Suns soared in the rankings. People will only question it because he's not a franchise star player or great in all categories. The second year he won it, he led the Suns to a 50something win record without Amare. made Boris Diaw look good and had a mediocre supporting cast of Tim Thomas and Kurt Thomas

Tim Thomas and Kurt Thomas were still better than Kwame Brown and Smush Parker.

And Nash also had Barbosa.

[Guest JacksonC]

To me, it isn't a surprise that the Lakers won game 1 at home. Does it really surprise anybody? I can admit that the way Orlando lost was surprising, but the end outcome wasn't shocking.

Orlando can take some positives out of this game. A lot of people have been raving and ranting about the defense the Lakers played, but I wasn't impressed with it to be honest (not a bash on Lakers D whatsoever). The Magic missed a number of open shots, Rashard Lewis was playing scared, and Dwight seemed like he didn't want to play offense. These are things that will not happen again. This team can shoot, and they will shoot better for the rest of the series. Dwight Howard rebounded well, blocked two shots, and didn't get in foul trouble. He also managed to hit his FTs. The Magic and Lakers had the same number of turnovers (8), though the score wasn't indicative of that. Also, Jameer Nelson coming off the bench and playing very well for not stepping on the court in what, four months? He's a huge upgrade over Anthony Johnson.

Now, Orlando managed to do a few things right, but they did a number of things wrong.

They needed to get Dwight the ball more. Part of why their 3 point shooting is so good, is because teams still have to respect what Dwight can do in the post. When your best player is only getting 6 shots a game, there is a problem. There's no doubt Dwight looked a little sluggish on offense, but he still is Dwight Howard. He needs to be more forceful when he attacks the rim.

They need to get Pietrus off of Kobe. Pietrus was a great defender for LeBron because of his size, length, strength, and quickness considering his size. However, Kobe is a completely different monster. Time and time again Pietrus failed at staying in front of Kobe. He simply does not have quick feet.

All in all, I expect the Magic to put up a far better showing next game and throughout the series. I still take the Lakers in game 6.

[Guest SurpriseSex]

Staples Center will be hosting the All-Star game in 2011.

[xkrndreamer]

Staples Center will be hosting the All-Star game in 2011.

hell yeah!

[Guest PB&Banana]

Lamar odom walking not looking back where rashard is pisses me off especially that one replay where he was just standing there. He needs to cover him up it's the finals, not only him but again there are too many wide open shots, its like half the threes orlando take are wide open. Come on lakers play d it's not lets watch and see if they can shoot put a hand up contest, make life harder on the shooters.

[xkrndreamer]

lamar odom didn't even put a hand up on several shots made by lewis

wake up and play some defense

it's the finals for goodness sake

all he wants to do is get the boards

[Guest lalalaSE7EN]

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKEEEEERSS all the way

[Guest melo.breeze]

OH MY FREAKING GOD !! GOOD GAME !!

turkoglu gave me a heart attack wen he blocked kobe from behind and then again wen he stripped kobe of the ball.

good defense, but it was clutch free throws from gasol and odom that you can't defend.

[1love]

Lesson for the Magic: Never depend on a rookie on the last play of the game to win the game for you.

Lee had 2 chances to win the ball game for the Magic, but it's good experience though, I remember Kobe throwing airballs under pressure in his rookie season. Hopefully he does learn to get tough from it.