Keep complaining, that is all you can do.

Luck always plays some factor in the playoffs. Just another bit of nuance you lack.

First, when LeBron James is not on the court, Dwyane Wade and/or Chris Bosh are. That's why using raw +/- is immature and something only a dense fan would do. Dirk's backups don't compare, it has little to do with Dirk's "ranking" in the total spectrum of the NBA.

Statistical plus minus adjusts for teammates and applies statistics to award credit for on/off court impact. You've lost another argument, unless you want to argue for Dwight Howard or Lebron James, you don't have a credible case to make. LeBron = 2001 Shaq, Dirk is a terrible Steve Nash MVP candidate.

The 2001 Lakers won 56 games, your entire argument is dumb. The amount of wins doesn't factor either, Dirk is as undeserving of being MVP as Kobe was in 2008.

Dude, are you all there? Post his game score, offensive rating, +/-. anything, in ALL his games. Yeah that's what I thought. You've provided me evidence that you are scared. Show me the numbers now or don't waste my time.

Anonx2 if you're not going to provide evidence that OVERALL LeBron James, not the Miami Heat, has done badly then shut your mouth please.

Wade is getting the Ball because Lebron trusts him, and he's playing poorly. He played poorly in 2008 and he is hurt every other year in the playoffs. LeBron should hog the Ball more, but he's a nice guy. Eitherway the Heat are still better than the Lakers this year. You have a total of two losses less than Miami, and Miami has severely outplayed you since December.

Compared to the rest of the league, I think he is not an MVP candidate. The individual stats are great but it hasn't translated to the team wins that they should translate to if he was truly an MVP. The past 2 years he was clearly the MVP. I just have a hard time seeing his value when he's destroying bad teams and skating by (as a team) against everyone else. I have to question whether some of the stats are a bit hollow this season.

Playoffs will tell us who is right and wrong with that claim.

FTR, the DR claim was that because they exist doesn't mean you should always avoid then. What I was getting at was that in basketball, the optimal strategy is not always the most efficient one. Nor does it take into account what defenses are doing.

I'll say this though. While you compain about the Heat not meeting the "expectations" you had for them prior to the season, they have won the past 5 of 6 and are in prime position to win the East. LeBron, the player who doesn't "make the game easier for his teammates", has also added 13 wins/+8 point differential to his team, marks which are among the league's best. Like I said before, a down season for this man is still pretty much better than anyone else's season. You want to judge LBJ's MVP candicancy based on what HE has done before; but the award is about what he has done COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE LEAGUE. And he's got you covered there.

You can always argue if he, Rose, Howard, Dirk, etc. should win the award. But don't be stupid and claim that the best player on a title-contending team isn't even a candidate.

When a player doesn't play well should come into focus. Again, narrative.

Your argument for Wade is very similar for Lebron. When teams make him shoot long jumpers and he doesn't get the whistle, he generally struggles. Wade and Lebron are the same player, for the most part. Just Lebron is better at it.

The games where LBJ dominated the last 2 minutes against good teams, they've lost just about every single one. The few times Wade has dominated, they've won. Lebron hasn't deferred enough.

The other problem is that both Lebron and Wade basically do nothing when the other is handling the ball. No off-ball movement or anything. Maybe if 1 of them would try something rather than camp in the wing or corner almost always out of the play, making it harder for his teammates to score, I'd rethink my position.

If Lebron can't win 60 games with Wade and Bosh, he's not the MVP. Period. His stats may be great, but he's not making the game easier for his teammates. That's why they've underwhlmed.

And they award the MVP award for an ENTIRE season's worth of play, not just based on games where LBJ and Wade don't play well.

"Why is it that Wade and Bosh have all of a sudden become chokers around Lebron. Especially in Wade's case?"

Because when Wade can't get the whistle against good defenses with his drives into the paint and has to shoot midrange and long jumpers, he struggles. This has been the strategy against him his whole career.

The funny thing is, in these kind of games, LBJ has deferred to Wade on offense. That's perhaps the one thing he shouldn't be doing, because Wade hasn't played as well when taking on the primary role on offense.

#40 - Huevon: I provided you games in which he played poorly. I never argued he has never played well. Okay, here's a question. Why is it that Wade and Bosh have all of a sudden become chokers around Lebron. Especially in Wade's case? Lebron doesn't deserve any blame for this at all? It can't be partially because of how he plays? Stop being an apologist.

Did you even watch the last month or so of games? Did you miss how Lebron stunk the join up in every close game versus good teams? Did you miss how when they let Wade control the ball in crunch time that Miami finally won? How many game winning shots (or ties) did Lebron miss this year so far? 7? 8? Without a make! He has choked in the final minute of nearly every game this year taking horrible shots and bricking badly.

#41 - lol @ you. You realize SPM isn't a +/- stat, right? Oh wait, you don't. It's another advanced metric in the mold of PER. It is only presented in a +/- form but it doesn't actually measure +/- in any sort of way. Go look up the formula.

Way to fail on that one, buddy.