Real Deal

We aren't talking all fronts, we're talking strictly A/TO ratio, or so I thought. And I asked that about Iverson because you just told us a bit ago that there were NO seasons where he averaged seven assists and less than four turnovers, but you were wrong. Yeah, Michael Jordan (who was an excellent and underrated playmaker, by the way) had just three seasons over six assists per game in the 14-15 seasons he played (remove the injury season and his returning season, I guess), and the season he averaged his eight, he also threw over 3.5 TO...but hey, no reason to compare, I guess. You're still doing it. Teams still doubled Bryant like crazy, much more than they have ever done with LeBron. In fact, other than Shaq, I can say that no other player has faced more double and triple-teams than Kobe. Nobody will double LeBron on the perimeter, and that makes it more convenient for him to drive and kick it out. Auto assist, if his teammate knocks down the open shot. If you think about it, eight assists for someone like him isn't shocking. Two jumpers converting his passes into points each quarter. He makes shots easier for his teammates to hit, and he has ALWAYS had teammates that can make open shots, catch passes, know how to play in an organized offense, and that depend on other players to score. If you want a championship-caliber team with just one superstar, take a dominant slasher and stack shooters around him, and make sure they can all play defense. Then you'll see LeBron backing up 40 feet from the rim, going isolation, then driving and drawing a double in the paint, and having two wide-open teammates. Every time. Same exact thing. Same thing happened with Iverson in 2001, but teams weren't afraid to double Iverson before he got into the paint, which is why you saw more turnovers. LeBron is the best playmaking forward to ever play the game, or right there with Bird. Good for him. That doesn't make him the best ever, which is what Durant was talking about in the first place.

Funniest part about all of this is that I'm not even denying LeBron's playmaking skills. I just don't agree with putting Kobe's in the dumpster just because of his A/TO ratio, when 1) he plays in a completely different offense, and 2) turnovers are caused by more than just bad passes. You stick Bryant on a team with six or seven three-point shooters, and you'll see seven assists and three turnovers (or less) as well. That's a guarantee.

I believe he had his first knee surgery when he was in high school. Someone correct me if I'm wrong...but I read that somewhere. Then two of them as a pro. So this would be his fourth...haha, what a waste. The longer we keep him, the less valuable he becomes. Should've done everything in our power to trade him for Bosh, if those rumors were true.

We all know he did that, but the point was, Iverson did have two seasons where he averaged seven assists and just three turnovers, so I guess in those two seasons, he must have been a pretty good playmaker...

Hate to break it to you, but I just remembered this thing on TV...Brett won the 2020 MVP award. So yeah, he's not retiring.

And that is countered with this: http://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/catImages/rockets96cos-1.jpg Next!

What Allen Iverson are you talking about? 2005-06: 7.4 APG, 3.4 TO, .447 FG 2007-08: 7.1 APG, 3.0 TO, .458 FG But yeah...like I said, using your numbers and logic, Iverson is just as good of a playmaker as LeBron. Case closed.

Just read that the guy head of the photoshoot was Italian. Does that make more sense to these pictures? When it comes to "fashion" anywhere else, I have absolutely no idea.

WOW LOL...those pictures are hilarious (the ones that BeeZee posted). I have nothing to say about the originals. Athletes do weird things for money.

I believe him today, 100% sure he's retiring. Can't tell you what I'll believe tomorrow, though.

See, the problem is this: you're slamming Bryant just to make LeBron look like a better playmaker. I don't see anyone doing the opposite of that in here. Allen Iverson averaged seven assists per game with just three turnovers in a few of his NBA seasons as well (at least I'm 99% sure of it, and it was in Philly), so is he a better playmaker than Kobe Bryant? Is he on the same level as LeBron? Guys that slash, slash, slash...they draw defenders better than anyone else. Drawing defenders, then passing it to the open man...basic basketball, and you rack up assists while doing it. In the last decade, you can take the top three slashers in the NBA, list them, and find that LeBron and Iverson are written on that piece of paper. You're giving me teammates like Jeff McInnis and Anderson Varejao. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was still putting up big numbers back then, and Drew Gooden was also a good player. Both were probably shooting over 47% from the floor and scoring as the second and third options (again, don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure of it). But LeBron's seven assists and three turnovers didn't mean much, because I'm also pretty sure that Cleveland team didn't even make the playoffs (James first got in during his third season). Funny enough, the same thing happened with Allen Iverson, when all he really had to work with was a young Iguodala (second season) who didn't even contribute the way Gooden did, plus a dirt-old Webber who wasn't shooting well from the floor and didn't look as good as Ilgauskas. Korver and Salmons were pathetic shooters, by their standards, in that season, and the Sixers didn't even reach .500 that year...but, believe it or not, Iverson did get his seven assists, and three turnovers... There are plenty of instances of it, I'm sure. You're comparing apples and oranges when you start talking about what roles these guys had on their teams, and what teammates they had. You didn't want Kobe passing the ball to Kwame? Because Odom didn't play in the post, Brown and Mihm were their only post threats...and that's why Kwame was taking six shots per game in the triangle. Not Bryant's problem. In fact, Kobe and Odom (and Smush, Kwame, and Cook) were the starters for a team that won 45 games and made the playoffs. Odom was no better than Ilgauskas was in 2004-05. Chris Mihm, Luke Walton, and Devean George all started games that season as well. Scrub city. You don't see people talking about how Kobe led that team to a playoff spot, yet LeBron didn't lead his to one in a weaker East, with basically better post scorers and much better defensive-minded teammates. So if we're going to play it by your rules, Allen Iverson is a better playmaker than Kobe, and he's just as good as LeBron in that department. I'm not really sure if that's true.

TIME: 8:00 PM EST TV: TNT

TIME: 10:30 PM EST TV: TNT

I just thought it was a little weird that Pacman didn't just do the extensive testing. I've done major blood tests before, felt fine the next day...and plus, Money would've done the same damn test as well. Felt like he was hiding something, or he found a good excuse not to fight.

That's weird. Go to your Control Panel and uninstall Firefox (save your passwords if you need to). Then download, install and run CCleaner. http://www.filehippo.com/download/file/1a879c091999023377760ca8a7ca4e50f7ac710d2e796cc179b0383c4ba78cd5 Go back to firefox.com (using IE) and re-download it, install, and see if you have any problems.

Tons of Pacman fans were mouthing off about Mosley being a tough fighter for Money, and that it might result in his first defeat. So much for that. Is this fight official, though?

Damn, you're gonna propose to her? Any plans on how yet?

What do you mean when you say you check the profile? With Firefox, your downloads go into a particular folder, or on your desktop. Open up Firefox and hit CTRL+J and your downloads window should pop up. Should be a list of things. As far as images go, that's usually unrelated to your browser's download directory. Are you using any downloading programs (ex. Orbit) or a download accelerator?

Turnovers aren't always the passer's fault. As Poe pointed out, Kobe had to put up with quite a bit. There were hundreds of times where Atkins would start to cut, then just suddenly stop, and Kobe's pass would fly out of bounds. Stone hands Kwame couldn't catch anything, and those would go against Bryant (for some reason), or a Bryant pass would fly right past Kwame's face, and he would be too busy still trying to establish post. You're telling us that Kobe isn't that great of a playmaker, basically, and using the AST/TO ratio to prove it. He's a four-time champion as a playmaker in the triangle offense. Ask Shaq about Kobe's playmaking skills, and just how many perfect passes he delivered to him in the post, on penetrations, wrapping them around players' backs and through their arms and legs. An assist is a two-way street, as said earlier. Out of the triangle offense, which demands five able-bodied passers on the floor at all times, Kobe's help has been one-on-one shot-creators or players with bad hands, the inability to convert, or a lack of offensive awareness. In fact, having watched Bryant more than anyone else back in 2004-05, a ton of those turnovers were due to his teammates, but a few were also due to Bryant splitting doubles (attempting to), getting trapped 35 feet from the rim (because teams doubled him anywhere on the floor), and just driving into traffic and trying to make something happen.

Denver never had a chance this season, even when healthy. The Lakers, Spurs and possibly even the Mavericks would've tossed them in the playoffs. By the way, before this season, Chauncey Billups had reached the conference finals seven consecutive times. That has to be a record (or close to it) for an individual player, at least in the last 20 years.

I absolutely hate how Phil sat Kobe for five minutes in the fourth. It lost our lead, and it was just stupid. And sadly, he does this all the damn time. I believe it was Mark Jackson saying how it seems like Kobe and Gasol have to win the game twice, once in the first three quarters, then again in the last six minutes. I know he's one of the greatest (if not the greatest) coach of all-time, but damn man...fix your rotations. If you're trying to save Kobe's legs for a fourth-quarter surge, give him 2-3 minutes max on the bench, and don't force him to have to catch up late in the game.

Just one thing I wanted to quote...you know that's not fair. That one season he played out of the triangle (which was only half of the season, by the way, and 44 of Kobe's 66 games), he had Caron Butler and Lamar Odom to pass to, with no shooters. Butler creates his own offense, and Odom is best as a facilitator. Even then, Atkins and Odom both averaged four assists that season, in the same lineup as Bryant...and Atkins handling the ball, and the lack of help on defense, is why the Lakers missed the playoffs that season. Tomjanovich was 24-19, though...but once the triangle was re-introduced by Hamblen, it was evident that the team was toast by the way the roles reversed.

Fill in the following. Ten points for each correct answer, minus ten for each missed (which includes extending the series over the correct amount of games). If you feel the series will extend past four games, continue to add an answer to each game you think the series will play to. +10 bonus for the correct series winner, +15 for a perfect series. For example, if you believe the Magic will win the series 4-2, you should fill in six winners. Orlando has home court advantage.

Solid win by the Hawks, but no-show-Joe has to play better in crucial games such as this one. If this was Orlando, the Hawks would've lost by 20. And I'm willing to bet they will, eventually. I don't see Atlanta getting to a Game 7 against the Magic. Milwaukee would've been swept, in my opinion...but Atlanta isn't going to do much better.

Boston didn't do what they were supposed to do in this game, and that's work over Jamison for the entire time he was on the floor. They ended up watching Rondo do everything at certain critical points of the game, and it did get a little weird in that second half, especially when they decided they weren't going to defend ANY shots, by ANY player. It almost looked like most of them were out of gas, but who knows.