Seeing as we're all in agreement that the east is/has been pathetic

[theoneneo]

Then I guess we all can agree that Kobe dominating the West and WCF during his championship runs holds more weight than his Finals performances, No?

Which in hindsight makes his playoff runs far more dominating than Lebron, no?

Just imagine for a second that Lebron had to get past Timmy D and the Spurs damn near every year to get to the finals, would he have any rings? http://www.thecoli.com/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/yeshrug.png

Y'all Stans Mad as Fvck

[Dragic4Life]

no.

[Budadiiii]

It's great but he had a great second option and arguably the best coach.

Durant has a 42% shooting second option and arguably the worst coach and no big men.

What Durant does is more impressive. A lot more impressive actually.

Magic had Kareem/Pat Riley and vice versa. Jordan had Pippen and Phil Jackson. Kobe had Shaq and Phil Jackson. LeBron had Wade/Spoelstra

Durant has a 40% shooting PG and Scott Brooks yet is expected to win every year. :facepalm

Not to mention he plays in the most stacked conference ever.

[AirBourne92]

It's great but he had a great second option and arguably the best coach.

Durant has a 42% shooting second option and arguably the worst coach and no big men.

What Durant does is more impressive. A lot more impressive actually.

Magic had Kareem/Pat Riley and vice versa. Jordan had Pippen and Phil Jackson. Kobe had Shaq and Phil Jackson. LeBron had Wade/Spoelstra

Durant has a 40% shooting PG and Scott Brooks yet is expected to win every year. :facepalm

Not to mention he plays in the most stacked conference ever.

switch kobe and durant in 09 and they lose in the 1st or 2nd round

durant needs a loaded squad to do anything, he has weaknesses in his game

if his shot is not falling, he could not disrupt the defense by going post heavy

he will hit 1 or 2 high post dirk like fadeaways a game and fool you guys into thinking he can post up but the guy cannot operate consistently out of the low post to open up spacing in intended ways like kobe can

[Budadiiii]

switch kobe and durant in 09 and they lose in the 1st or 2nd round

durant needs a loaded squad to do anything, he has weaknesses in his game

if his shot is not falling, he could not disrupt the defense by going post heavy

he will hit 1 or 2 high post dirk like fadeaways a game and fool you guys into thinking he can post up but the guy cannot operate consistently out of the low post to open up spacing in intended ways like kobe can
:facepalm

Worst post ever. He would lose to the Utah Jazz in the first round huh?

And why would he need to be posting up consistently with Pau Gasol and Andrew ****ing Bynum.

Durant on that 2009 Lakers team would be the greatest team of all time. I can't even imagine how anyone could stop them.

[MP.Trey]

Since the West was pathetic in the 80's, do Bird's playoff performances mean more than Magic's despite less chips?

[Magic 32]

And why would he need to be posting up consistently with Pau Gasol and Andrew ****ing Bynum.



Can we just stop mentioning Andrew Bynum please?

He was worthless outside of the 11-12.

[Hey Yo]

Then I guess we all can agree that Kobe dominating the West and WCF during his championship runs holds more weight than his Finals performances, No?

Which in hindsight makes his playoff runs far more dominating than Lebron, no?

Just imagine for a second that Lebron had to get past Timmy D and the Spurs damn near every year to get to the finals, would he have any rings? http://www.thecoli.com/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/yeshrug.png

Y'all Stans Mad as Fvck
If the East is pathetic then why did Kobe play pathetic basketball against the East in the Finals?

He only has like 2 Finals performances worth mentioning.

[Budadiiii]

Can we just stop mentioning Andrew Bynum please?

He was worthless outside of the 11-12.
Yet he was better than any C OKC has ever had. :oldlol:

****ing spoiled Lakers fans.

[Showtime80']

Gotta love the whole myth of "the 80's West was as pathetic as today's East" has grown over the last few years!

There were only two seasons in the 80's in which the West aside from the Lakers could be classified as pathetic, 84-85 and 86-87 (injuries had a lot to do with it). From 79-80 to 83-84, after the Lakers, Celtics, Sixers and Bucks (top 4 in the league) the best teams were in the West with the Spurs, Nuggets, Sonics, Suns and Mavericks (check the rosters for these teams when you can)

After the transition period in the mid 80's when you still had the Twin Tower Rockets and Denver Nuggets challenging the Lakers, from 1988 to 1991 (Magic's last season) some might argue that the West was equal or stronger to the East with teams like Utah (Stockton Malone), San Antonio (Robinson Elliot), Portland (Drexler Porter, Kersey), Phoenix (KJ, Majerly Hornacek), Golden State (Run TMC) becoming powerhouse title contenders.

The 21st century east as a whole is not even in the same ballpark as the 80's West!

[ShawkFactory]

So much OKC fail in this thread :facepalm

As for the OP...nope, also a fail.

[Lebron23]

http://i.minus.com/iKNWlDiHpaThi.gif

Stop underrating the East. Here are the Mamba's stats in the NBA finals vs. The "Leastern Conference."

Kobe Bryant

37 games - 25.3 ppg on 41.2 FG%, 5.7 rpg, 5.1 apg, 1.8 spg, 0.9 bpg, 3.3 tov, , 84.8 FT%, 50.7 TS%

[Prometheus]

It's great but he had a great second option and arguably the best coach.

Durant has a 42% shooting second option and arguably the worst coach and no big men.

What Durant does is more impressive. A lot more impressive actually.

Magic had Kareem/Pat Riley and vice versa. Jordan had Pippen and Phil Jackson. Kobe had Shaq and Phil Jackson. LeBron had Wade/Spoelstra

Durant has a 40% shooting PG and Scott Brooks yet is expected to win every year. :facepalm

Not to mention he plays in the most stacked conference ever.

You would be correct... if Durant won back-to-back rings. His squad is definitely inferior to what Kobe's was, but... Kobe won back-to-back rings. Durant has won nothing. So you lose.

[HurricaneKid]

OPs assertion is flawed. The East has been the lesser conference to be sure but they have definitively been better defensively. So if anything, the avgs would come down. Kobe may have an extra finals appearance or two but his stats would be lower due to better defense and slower pace. And Kobe DID get the benefit of several suspect games in G6 against the Kings and G7 against Portland as well as the entire second half of the 2012 season.

[AirBourne92]

:facepalm

Worst post ever. He would lose to the Utah Jazz in the first round huh?

And why would he need to be posting up consistently with Pau Gasol and Andrew ****ing Bynum.

Durant on that 2009 Lakers team would be the greatest team of all time. I can't even imagine how anyone could stop them.


says the guy that says Durant has been more effective than Kobe has ever rotfl

Durant has a fraction of the offensive arsenal Kobe had when he was in the 3 peat.

and Durant is also a fraction of clutch Kobe was in the 3 peat.

dont even get me started on the repeat where Kobe took a bunch of chronic playoff losers and an overgrown crybaby named Andrew Bynum to the finals 3 times and won twice back to back

[Magic 32]

http://i.minus.com/iKNWlDiHpaThi.gif

Stop underrating the East. Here are the Mamba's stats in the NBA finals vs. The "Leastern Conference."

Kobe Bryant

37 games - 25.3 ppg on 41.2 FG%, 5.7 rpg, 5.1 apg, 1.8 spg, 0.9 bpg, 3.3 tov, , 84.8 FT%, 50.7 TS%

Are you including his play with an sprained ankle, and his matchup against two of the greatest defensive teams of all time (04/08)?

The argument against the east has always been about 1 or 2 legit teams surrounded by garbage.

Kobe played them and sometimes won.

Lebron alwayts lost.......until those teams got old (07/12)

[Magic 32]

Yet he was better than any C OKC has ever had. :oldlol:

****ing spoiled Lakers fans.

When he had two healthy legs maybe.

Which was never.

[ShawkFactory]

Are you including his play with an sprained ankle, and his matchup against two of the greatest defensive teams of all time (04/08)?

The argument against the east has always been about 1 or 2 legit teams surrounded by garbage.

Kobe played them and sometimes won.

Lebron alwayts lost.......until those teams got old (07/12)
With inferior teams that Kobe had. How is this an argument still being made? I thought we were past this...

[theoneneo]

It's pretty simple, Kobe played down to the level of his competition. :confusedshrug:

But he actually played and dominated better teams on his way to the finals, call it nerves or fatigue or whatever the reason he didn't play as well against those weak east teams.

Fact is guys like Kobe, Duncan, Dirk duked it out in the tough ass west, where you pretty much had to play a 50 win team in every round.

And Lebron... well, I don't think I have to revive my classic thread about Lebron only beating 7-8 50 win teams in the east over the course of a 10+ year career now do I?

Lebron simply can't be in an argument to be better than those greats simply put he played in the weak east and still had to stack the deck, twice. His MVP awards, the ones in Miami at least really don't hold any weight:no:

He's still Top 10/Borderline Top 10 right now tho. But he realistically can't be higher than Duncan on any list, and he ain't catching Kobe's 5 Rangz.

[knicksman]

If the East is pathetic then why did Kobe play pathetic basketball against the East in the Finals?

He only has like 2 Finals performances worth mentioning.

Well kobe is alpha who only tries if its a challenge. Thats why hes the best player during western conference finals or clutch time unlike some beta playing in cleveland who tries hard during the regular season or 1st quarters to compensate the dropoff in stats during finals or 4th quarters.