A bit of a consolation...

[LOL_Hawks]

At leas the Celtics are looking MIGHTY flummoxed tonight against LeBron & Co.. I mean, I haven't seen them look this flustered since Game 6 at Philips.

It's really amazing: The Hawks lost by 34 tonight, and I still feel pretty good since I'm enjoying the C's writhe.

[dlpin]

when/if the hawks play the cavs in the playoffs, I guarantee everyone here will think the celtics are the nicest bunch of guys ever.

You think people cant stop talking about garnett? wait until its a series against Lebron. You think the celtics gets favorable calls, wait until the hawks play the cavs in a playoff series. You think Pierce is a cry baby and a flopper? Wait till Varejao comes to town. You think the celtics like to talk trash then back off... well, you get the idea.

I can't stand the man crush announcers and columnists have on Lebron.

This season people have lost all pretense of impartiality. Just this past week I've heard that: Lebron is already better than Bird's best and that he is already equal to MJ. Not "is going to be" or "has the potential to be," but "is." And the thing is, I am old enough to remember how MJ was treated before he was "MJ." Heck, MJ couldnt get the respect Lebron is getting even after having won 3 mvps and 2 titles, as Barkley was getting all the attention and treated as a favorite in the 93 finals. It took a while before people started talking about him as the "best ever." There was serious discussion when he retired the first time between him and russel (which, on a side note, is an interesting subject: everyone who saw Russel play was sure that he was the best until MJ came along, but nowadays people look at the numbers and assume Chamberlain was better).

Nevermind that Lebron has never won a title, mvp, anything. Nevermind that he was a complete non-factor the last two times the cavs were eliminated from the playoffs, nevermind that in his last two playoffs he shot 41%.

This is all, of course, without mentioning his obvious character flaws. Even cavs fans are the first to admit that he is not about winning first, but about the 'lebron james" brand first. A guy who shuts up and even avoids a teammate over the darfur genocide to avoid upsetting his chinese sponsors, a guy who one day is all about a "lebron james team this and that" and the next is complaining about his teammates and floating rumors about leaving in 2010.

I despise the guy, and would prefer anyone, even the lakers, to win a championship over this guy.

Edited January 10, 2009 by dlpin

[TruJerz]

when/if the hawks play the cavs in the playoffs, I guarantee everyone here will think the celtics are the nicest bunch of guys ever.

You think people cant stop talking about garnett? wait until its a series against Lebron. You think the celtics gets favorable calls, wait until the hawks play the cavs in a playoff series. You think Pierce is a cry baby and a flopper? Wait till Varejao comes to town. You think the celtics like to talk trash then back off... well, you get the idea.

I can't stand the man crush announcers and columnists have on Lebron.

This season people have lost all pretense of impartiality. Just this past week I've heard that: Lebron is already better than Bird's best and that he is already equal to MJ. Not "is going to be" or "has the potential to be," but "is." And the thing is, I am old enough to remember how MJ was treated before he was "MJ." Heck, MJ couldnt get the respect Lebron is getting even after having won 3 mvps and 2 titles, as Barkley was getting all the attention and treated as a favorite in the 93 finals. It took a while before people started talking about him as the "best ever." There was serious discussion when he retired the first time between him and russel (which, on a side note, is an interesting subject: everyone who saw Russel play was sure that he was the best until MJ came along, but nowadays people look at the numbers and assume Chamberlain was better).

Nevermind that Lebron has never won a title, mvp, anything. Nevermind that he was a complete non-factor the last two times the cavs were eliminated from the playoffs, nevermind that in his last two playoffs he shot 41%.

This is all, of course, without mentioning his obvious character flaws. Even cavs fans are the first to admit that he is not about winning first, but about the 'lebron james" brand first. A guy who shuts up and even avoids a teammate over the darfur genocide to avoid upsetting his chinese sponsors, a guy who one day is all about a "lebron james team this and that" and the next is complaining about his teammates and floating rumors about leaving in 2010.

I despise the guy, and would prefer anyone, even the lakers, to win a championship over this guy.

no no no no no. almost everything u said was incorrect lol forreal man. u obviously have something against LeBron or the Cavs.

The Cavs are no where near the Celtics when it comes to being cry babies and trash talkers. Cavs are a more classy bunch. Almost every team has been complaining about the Celtics and KG's taunting all season long. LeBron's swag may come off like "look at me, im the s***" but LeBron isnt nearly as disrespectful as KG, who basically curses at your fans and points fingers in your face because he knows the refs wont call him for a technical foul. Im from the streets so im all for trash talking but i dont like the fact that refs dont call him for a T but would call it on someone else real quick.

No one cries and flops more than Pierce. Pierce scream everytime he goes to the basket which causes the refs to call fouls almost all the time! lol

And favorable calls..out of all the superstars, LeBron gets the least amout of calls...he just got called for a "crab dribble" the other day in crunch time and it cost his team the game. Wade, by far gets the most calls, its disgusting actually. Kobe, Iverson, and some others get many calls too. And the difference with LeBron is, he is actually getting fouled and doesnt flop much either.

With that said, i would still rather play Boston in a playoff series because I think we have a better chance of beating them because of matchups. And it would feel really good to beat our cry baby, trash talking, modern day "rivals" too. When we beat the Cavs, Big Z wasnt there..when he did play the first time, they beat us good. he usually gives us fits because we have no one his size. we lost 2 tough games to the Celtics that I think if we played again, we would win. Thats just me tho. But your hate for LeBron and the Cavs seems kind of personal man lol

your only true statement is probably Verajao..is a BIG TIME flopper. That guy perfects the art of taking a charge lol he's a pain too..plays very hard. I dont wanna face the Cavs

Edited January 10, 2009 by r3drumNYNJ

[dlpin]

The complaints about KG taunting have only appeared after he won the title. Wait until Lebron wins one. Before last year's playoffs, everyone, here and otherwise, thought that these were the nicest bunch of guys. Lebron, on the other hand, has been acting like that before even winning anything.

And please, Lebron gets as many favorable calls as anyone, if not more. Before the crab dribble incident he traveled in at least two lay ups in that game. The guy travels the most out of anyone in the league, and rarely gets called. Just look at the numbers: Jordan only averaged more than 8 free throws a game 3 times in his career, while Lebron has averaged 8plus 5 out of 6 years. The guy averages almost double the free throws a game than bird.

In any case, just wait.

[Guest]

Actually its obvious that dlpin is a Celtics fan, and in my book you can only be a fan of one team and that means he is not a Hawks fan. Puzzling to me why you would be on the 'Squawk if you were a fan of another team.

Unprovoked you talk trash about the Cavs. If it was brought up in conversation I would agree with you, but your defense mechanism popped up and you talked about the Cavs as trash talkers. They certainly aren't worse than the Celtics and its really only Lebron who actually talks trash.

There were plenty of people talking about KG taunting before he won the championship, you act as if its sour grapes from everyone which it isn't. KG has also stepped up his taunting after he won the championship. When have you EVER seen KG go up to a point guard and wag his finger in his face as demonstrably as he did to Calderon? You haven't because he has increased taunting even more.

[TruJerz]

The complaints about KG taunting have only appeared after he won the title. Wait until Lebron wins one. Before last year's playoffs, everyone, here and otherwise, thought that these were the nicest bunch of guys. Lebron, on the other hand, has been acting like that before even winning anything.

And please, Lebron gets as many favorable calls as anyone, if not more. Before the crab dribble incident he traveled in at least two lay ups in that game. The guy travels the most out of anyone in the league, and rarely gets called. Just look at the numbers: Jordan only averaged more than 8 free throws a game 3 times in his career, while Lebron has averaged 8plus 5 out of 6 years. The guy averages almost double the free throws a game than bird.

In any case, just wait.

KG was taunting on his way to the finals...before he got the ring. pushing Zaza and then setting that illegal screen on Zaza in Game 7. Talking trash to the Cleveland fans..he always was a trash talker but having a good team, must of made it worst i guess. I dont even think LeBron is that much of a trash talker..he yells and screams at his own crowd to get them hyped and beats his chest but that aint nothing..KG curses your fans out and drops the F bombs on ya lol its all good tho. Celtics have no class

[LOL_Hawks]

r3drumNYNJ's original post in this thread

That, plus the fact that I really don't care about what the media says about LeBron. Hell, most, if not all of it, is warranted. The man is an AMAZING basketball player.

And yeah, I'd definitely love to see the Celtics in the playoffs again. Until they can prove that they can beat a team in a road game in the Eastern Conference, anybody would love to get their shot at the Celtics in the playoffs. Also, the fact that they've been exposed as "merely human" helps as well. Now Cleveland is a team that NOONE wants to see in the playoffs. They're good at all positions, they have an excellent home court advantage, plus they have LBJ playing for them as well. Drawing them would suck.

With that said...r3drum hit the point as well in his second post. The Celtics are not the most vilified team in the NBA right now because everybody is jealous...they're the most hated because they basically antagonize the rest of the league with their incessant trash talking led by KG, almost fool-proof flopping led by Pierce, and also the fact that they talk a big game, but when someone comes back at them, they fold or whine about how the other team started the trash talk, when EVERYBODY knows that is BS. They folded in Atlanta after Horford & Zaza got into their faces, they folded in Cleveland last night, and they will fold in any situation when the other team simply isn't intimidated. People respected the Pistons of old because they talked hella trash, but they didn't fold. That's why most people dislike the Celtics right now. Lots of talk, lots of bite (when they are FOCUSED and aren't trying to go out and intimidate the other team, the Celtics are a DAMN good team and probably the best in the league), but once the other team bites back, they fade.

I won't even go into the class part. From cussing the other team's fans, to a gatorade shower ON A BASKETBALL COURT. It's ridiculous how classless most of that team is, and that's why I thoroughly enjoy seeing them fail, and that's really the only team in the NBA that I could say that about since I really began to follow the NBA.

Edited January 11, 2009 by LOL_Hawks

[dlpin]

Well, the reason I post here is because I have lived in Atlanta for 7 years. If any of the mods feel that I dont contribute anything, they can feel free to remove me or ban me from the hawks specific boards.

But if you look through my 100+ posts, you will see that not once have I trash talked, gloated, diminished the hawks in any way. Quite the contrary.

The other reason I post here is because talking to people who are fans of different teams in a respectful manner brings a new perspective, something that I appreciate as a basketball fan first and foremost. Sometimes its tiring to read fans of your own team talk. I need a little distance from the "let's trade tony allen for jr smith" posts.

In any case, my point here and in other threads is not that Garnett is the greatest guy ever. Its just to bring a perspective of someone who does not dislike the celtics. I wish KG and Paul Pierce would take a cue from Ray Allen and shut up, but that doesnt mean that I dont appreciate the fact that, outside the lines, KG seems to be a pretty decent guy who was contributed more to charity than any other superstar. I wish he would be quiet for a while, I wish he would pick a fight with Shaq instead of Zaza, I wish people stopped talking about this team as one of the best celtics team ever. This one does not come close to the Bird or Russel teams. I say this because you will not get homerism from me. Yeah, I cheer for the celtics but I like a little perspective.

But at the same time, I wanted to remind people of how they saw the celtics one year ago. Not because I think they are being unjustly vilified. Not because I think people are unjustly calling out KG. Quite the contrary. When I point out that one year ago people treated the celtics differently, it was not to say that those who criticize them now are jealous. It is to point out that the free pass he was given in the past is now being given to others. He has always been this guy. Just read what people who cover the league every day are writing about this. This is what JA Adande had to say:"Garnett has always unleashed a stream of expletives on the basketball court. He has always blocked any shot put up after a play is blown dead. The only difference now is that there are more cameras trained on him."

Hollinger: "Garnett has been doing it for years"

Marc Stein: "KG has been doing the same stuff for almost 15 years. It's just that now his every move is closely scrutinized because he's a Celtic and because they're the champs.

No one called them "antics" when he was clapping in guys' faces and woofing all the time on a slew of mediocre teams in Minnesota. "

Now, again, this is not to say that his coverage is too negative now. It isn't. It is just to say that his coverage was too positive in the past. THAT is the parallel to the Cavs situation. Last year at this point, KG led two polls, one among players and the other among fans, which asked "other than players on your team, which player would you most likely to see win a championship."

Again, not saying that KG and the celtics are being unfairly criticized. Just that they were given a pass in the past, just as cleveland is being given a pass now.

But we dont need to worry. If things continue as they are the hawks should face the cavs in the 2nd round of the playoffs. THEN lets talk about how you like them.

[Admin]

dlpin you have been a member of Hawksquawk for a pretty short period of time relatively speaking but you're certainly welcome here and I tend to enjoy reading your posts.

However I don't agree that the Cavs will make us think the Celtics are the nicest bunch of guys ever. Sure Lebron will get more than his fair share of fouls and likely more than any Celtic would, but I've never felt that Lebron was a classless player that took cheap shots. In fact I'd say that he is one of the guys who gets the most cheap shots thrown at him in the league. Thinking back to last years season end and then the playoffs when I believe it was the Wizards who seemed to purposely try and hurt him I don't remember Lebron retaliating at all. Compare that with Garnett lowering his shoulder on blind side picks and Pierce throwing up gang signs or Cassell doing his monkey balls dance and to me it's not even close. I can't think of a single player on the Cavs that I don't like or respect whereas there are 3 that I hate on the Celtics roster plus their annoying *ss announcer Tommy Heinsohn.

At this point I'd rather not see either of them in the playoffs since we look like a team that will just get walked over.

[thefloydian]

Lebron is the most naturally talented person to ever play the game of basketball. I won't say he's better than MJ until he gets his 6 titles, though.