Metalheads who like Mike (March Madness and NBA)

Got any fascinating Basketball takes? Post em here.

March Madness is upon us.

I do love me some Mike. But I don’t have anything interesting to share other than that it was cool growing up during his 90s dominance. 

MJ>LeFlop

I remember thinking Space Jam was a good movie when it came out.  That's as much into basketball as I ever got.  

You just had a crush on Lola Bunny.

Haha I was nine years old.  I can't remember who my crush was at that time... but I'm pretty sure it wasn't her.  

Warriors are the first team in NBA history to lose by 50+ pts and win the next game by 30+...

https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/bounce-back-win-nba-history/1710174/

As a Suns and Cavs fan, can't stands him! 🤬

Lebron James averages 27-7-7 for his career.

He's never had one game with exactly 27 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

There's been an interesting case going around saying that Bird is the greatest of all-time, because whenever Bird would play Jordan, he usually won big-tme AND out-performed him.  It's an intriguing idea:




I already knew that Bird's Celtics dominated MJ and the Bulls cuz I was there.  I saw the Bulls get waxed every time out as a Bulls fan and knew they had no chance.  However, I also knew Bird had a superior team and Mike's teams in the 80's were mostly a joke.  Still, I didn't know Larry was so good on defense and his stats were incredible whenever he played against MJ.  While I still consider MJ the greatest, I was naive to think Bird was not a top 10 player, but now I have been educated and probably put him in top 5.

Bird has a legitimate argument.  

He led the NBA in... Defensive Win Shares 4 times!

He's the charter member of the 50-40-90 club, and almost did that for his career.

He AVERAGED 10.0 rebounds for his career.

He was a Triple-Double machine long before the modern usage rates and game pace-of-play made that more common.

Honestly; Bird is more skilled than Doncic, Jokic and Lebron. He'd average a career TD in today's environment.  

**I recognize Lebron is physically more impressive,  but that's his one advantage  - Bull In A China Shop.

His MVP Finishes were:

4,2,2,2,1,1,1,3,2... then 10,9,14.

He did the last 1/3 of this with severe back problems.

A fully healthy Bird for 15-18 years?

Bird was a thorn in the side of everyone he played. He had a nice rivalry with Magic Johnson too.

scottmitchell74 wrote:Bird has a legitimate argument.  

A fully healthy Bird for 15-18 years?

Agreed a healthy Bird might be the greatest. 

I also think Bill Walton would be the 2nd greatest player of the 70's had he not run into injury issues.  He was statistically dominant at the height of his powers even going toe-to-toe with Abdul-Jabbar.  I believe he can only blame himself, you can't be a full-fledged vegan and be a professional athlete, especially back then.  You just don't get the amino acids to recover from 8-12 hours of basketball a day, which Walton was known to do.

It’s funny (and ironic) that his last name was “Bird”, but he wasn’t known for any big jumps or slam dunking. 

Regardless, he was one of the greatest! 

I’m aware that not all birds fly… like turkeys, chickens and ostriches. 

That post was so inane that I had no choice but to like it.

TZ75 wrote:It’s funny (and ironic) that his last name was “Bird”, but he wasn’t known for any big jumps or slam dunking. 

Regardless, he was one of the greatest! 

I’m aware that not all birds fly… like turkeys, chickens and ostriches. 

Funny thing is, his VL was 28"... which has basically forever been the League average.

He was athletic, but not given credit for it because of how he looked and his crazy high skill level.

Speaking of Bill Walton, his Conference, the Pac-10, which he deemed "the conference of champions" (who haven't won the NCAA since '97), is officially dead.  Now they all get absorbed into other conferences and makes the Big "10" the Big 18 or something ludicrous like that.

NCAA selections this weekend after conference championships.  I'm a Big 10 homer and just root for Big 10 teams.  Let me tell you its been a painful past three years.  It'd be cool if Purdue won it all after getting knocked out in the 1st round last year, being the second team to pull off such a feat after Virginia.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

TZ75 wrote:It’s funny (and ironic) that his last name was “Bird”, but he wasn’t known for any big jumps or slam dunking. 

Regardless, he was one of the greatest! 

I’m aware that not all birds fly… like turkeys, chickens and ostriches. 

Funny thing is, his VL was 28"... which has basically forever been the League average.

He was athletic, but not given credit for it because of how he looked and his crazy high skill level.

Concur.  Bird was athletic just not crazy athletic.  He was actually pretty fast on the fastbreak filling the wings and has a variety of dunk highlights.  He was pretty agile for 6'10" and had a quick first step.  Obviously he was obnoxiously coordinated for his size and far from a lumbering oaf.

Superjuice wrote:That post was so inane that I had no choice but to like it.

It was meant to be a nonsensical post. But the irony of his name is still kinda funny. Because basketball is known for gravity defying athletes.

Tournament time notes:

First triple double in awhile and only the 10th in history w/ Illinois' Domask going for 12, 11, and 10.

In Oakland's upset over Kentucky Gholke became the 5th player in history with 10 or more threes.

Northwestern upsets last years final four team Florida Atlantic for their second tournament win in school history.

Charles Barkley looks like a fool in prediction segment saying Miss St was the better team over Michigan St and still thought they would win even down at the half.  And Mich State wins by 18 controlling the entire way, leaving Sir Charles with egg on his face.

Game of the weekend: Creighton v. Oregon in which 7-footer Kalkbrenner nails a three in double overtime to put the game away.

Cinderellas flounder after 1st round upsets:  Duquesne gets destroyed by Illinois, James Madison lays an egg against Duke,  Grand Canyon fails against Alabama despite all three analysts (Kellogg, Barkley, Smith) picking GC.  After shocking Charles Barkley's Auburn, Yale gets ousted vs. San Diego St with a poor showing.

UConn still looks like the favorite after dominant wins.  North Carolina was not as impressive, but had to deal with a pesky Michigan St. team who gave them problems even with a home court advantage. Purdue answered a lot of questions with impressive wins.  Houston struggled mightily to put the game away vs Texas A&M.  Illinois turned some heads with their lopsided victories.

Right now I see UConn, Arizona, Marquette, and Purdue in the Final Four.  Arizona will be in comfortable waters playing out west where Carolina is leaving the comfy confines of Charlotte.  Even in Dallas I'm going to pick against Houston who seem to have issues coming down the stretch and put heavy minutes on their starters.

If Purdue ends up playing UConn in the championship, I favor Purdue because UConn relies heavily on their big man and Purdue's Edey is much more imposing than him and would crush any opposing centers they would throw at him.

The two must see fights next round are Creighton vs. Tenn and Arizona vs. Clemson.  Those games will be dynamite.  If Creighton wins they will give Purdue (assuming they win) problems as they have a big man to match up with Player of the Year, Edey.

Illinois vs Iowa St will be a classic offense going up against a defensive team match up.  Illinois scores a ton with defensive lulls and has the most explosive player in college, Terrence Shannon, whilst Iowa St is one of the best defenses in the country.  If Shannon doesn't get you on the fast break they dump it down to Domask who runs the offense from the post, scoring a triple double in the 1st round (the 10th in history).

Crazy night of ball.

Nobody saw Alabama beating NC, but I am glad since I always cheer against perrenial powers like Carolina.  Watching Kenny The Jet grieve is fun as always.  Illinois was clearly the better team than Iowa St. who I thought was over-seeded with Illinois leading the entire game and playing pretty good defense themselves.

I thought Clemson had a shot at Zona but wasn't convinced they would beat them as I underestimated their defense.  Zona did not get many turnovers to lead to scores, since Clemson plays sure-handed offense.  And Zona probably lost it once they stopped dumping it down to Bolla who clearly had an advantage instead shooting threes or driving with guards who failed.

UConn destroys what I thought was a one-dimensional San Diego St. team.  They will get a greater test vs Illinois on Saturday.

Caught a replay of NC vs 'bama and I thought the Tide were a 1-man show initially. However, Sears hardly scored the second half having 2 points the last 10 mins of the game at least.  It was Nelson and Estrada who carried the team past Carolina who had an awful game from three w/ Davis going 0-9.  They went away from post play with Bacot only having a couple of touches the last 10 minutes.  Few thought NC St. was going further than NC.