# NBA Playoffs are here! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 21, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259 "2011-04-21T18:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/222 "2011-06-10T16:06:06Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What’s not to like about Dwyane Wade … for that matter? > **[NBA News, Expert Analysis, Rumors, Live Updates, & more - Yahoo Sports](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news/?slug=dw-wetzel_dirk_nowitzki_wins_nba_finals_game4_mavericks_060811)** > > Sports News, Scores, Fantasy Games > [@](#): > > Well, not everybody. During his postgame interview, Dwyane Wade listened to a question that stated, “Dirk was sick.” > > Wade immediately rolled his eyes and under his breath expressed his doubt. > > “Sick?” Wade said softly. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-lebron-wade-mock-nowitzkis-illness-20110610,0,5393495.htmlstory](http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-lebron-wade-mock-nowitzkis-illness-20110610,0,5393495.htmlstory) > [@](#): > > If Miami Heat stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James awoke with a sick feeling this morning after falling behind 3-2 in the NBA Finals, they may wish they hadn’t been caught on camera apparently mocking Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki’s illness. > > In video taken after the Heat’s morning shootaround before Game 5 Thursday in Dallas, Wade and James are shown laughing, pretending to cough and wiping their faces on their shirts, mimicking Nowitzki’s appearance during Game 4 when he struggled to play while battling a fever and flu-like symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/223 "2011-06-10T16:11:59Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Why is LeBron taking his talents to Long Beach worse than Jason Kidd beating the shit out of his pregnant wife? I’m pretty sure that Kidd’s wife wasn’t pregnant. Also, you are leaving out the fact that Kidd ended up divorcing his wife for her abusing him. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/224 "2011-06-10T16:35:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I don’t really understand why the Heat are supposed to be the “bad guys” in this series. What’s really so bad about them? Why is LeBron taking his talents to Long Beach worse than Jason Kidd beating the shit out of his pregnant wife? What’s not to like about Dwyane Wade, or Chris Bosh, for that matter? > > I like Nowitzki ok, and Mark Cuban too. It would be nice to see them get a ring, but I don’t want to see Jason Kidd get one. > > I thought LeBron should have stayed in Cleveland, and I thought "“the decision” was tacky too, but it doesn’t bother me as much as Jason Kidd being a confessed wife beater, and no one ever says anything about that. Because getting together with you friends to make a super team when you can’t win on your own is a total bitch move. Not to mention celebrating like you already won the championship before the season starts really rubs everyone the wrong way. I have nothing against Wade, he is a proven champion and he is playing like a champion, but i would be incredibly happy if Lebron or Bosh never won a championship. Neither you nor i have any idea what happened in Jason Kidds personal life, and to be honest i really do not care. I’m also not a Dallas Mavericks fan, i am a “not Miami” fan. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/225 "2011-06-10T16:40:55Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#): > > [QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] > > Why is LeBron taking his talents to Long Beach worse than Jason Kidd beating the shit out of his pregnant wife? I’m pretty sure that Kidd’s wife wasn’t pregnant. Also, you are leaving out the fact that Kidd ended up divorcing his wife for her abusing him. [/QUOTE] I just looked up the arrest report, which can be found [here](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/land-uprising-suns). I’m not going to in any way excuse the fact that he did commit spousal abuse; however, it’s a far cry from “beating the shit out of his pregnant wife”. He apparently spit a french fry at her while feeding his kid then backhanded her after she attempted to hit him. The injuries she sustained were a “small scratch under her nose” and a “small scratch located on the bottom of her lip”. She declined medical attention, and he plead guilty to a misdemeanor. She also defended him in public afterwards. Clearly he was in the wrong, but let’s not act like it was worse than it really was. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/226 "2011-06-10T16:42:04Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#): > > I’m pretty sure that Kidd’s wife wasn’t pregnant. Also, you are leaving out the fact that Kidd ended up divorcing his wife for her abusing him. > **[Wife: Jason Kidd A Serial Abuser, Adulterer](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/wife-jason-kidd-serial-abuser-adulterer)** > > FEBRUARY 16--In a blistering legal counterattack on her estranged husband, the wife of NBA star Jason Kidd has filed a lawsuit accusing the athlete of "years of physical abuse" and serial adultery. > Jo Kidd pleaded guilty to punching his wife in the face, but he beat her throughout there relationship, including when she was pregnant. There aren’t enough rolleyes for his allegations that he was the real victim. batterers always say that. OJ simpson said that. The bottom line is that Kidd pleaded guilty to it. He admitted that he punched his wife in the mouth. He is a scumbag. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/227 "2011-06-10T16:43:53Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#): > > I just looked up the arrest report, which can be found [here](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/land-uprising-suns). > > I’m not going to in any way excuse the fact that he did commit spousal abuse; however, it’s a far cry from “beating the shit out of his pregnant wife”. He apparently spit a french fry at her while feeding his kid then backhanded her after she attempted to hit him. The injuries she sustained were a “small scratch under her nose” and a “small scratch located on the bottom of her lip”. She declined medical attention, and he plead guilty to a misdemeanor. She also defended him in public afterwards. Clearly he was in the wrong, but let’s not act like it was worse than it really was. This was only the incident he pleaded guilty to. Read the Smoking Gun report about all the other shit he did, including beating her and kicking her when she was pregnant, breaking ribs and smashing her face into the car dashboard. He’s a fucking thug. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/228 "2011-06-10T16:50:18Z")
That wasn’t a “Smoking Gun report,” that was a recitation of Joumana’s counterclaims against Jason in their divorce proceedings. By all means, let’s hijack this thread into a Jason Kidd discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/229 "2011-06-10T16:54:53Z")
Kidd pleaded guilty to spousal abuse. It’s never just once. Any guy who will casually punch his wife in the mouth at a restaurant has done it many times before. Guys who don’t hit women don’t just randomly do it once in public then never do it again. Even if anyone wants to believe he only did it that once (yeah right), that is still, in itself, worse than anything we know of that LeBron has ever done. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/230 "2011-06-10T16:56:32Z")
Yup, Jason Kidd’s an asshole. No arguments there. But that’s not really about _sports_ so much as about him as a person. When it comes to sports, there’s a clear reason why most neutrals (this one included), would prefer the Mavs to win. If you build a pick-em style superteam, you damn well better win. And if you want to be a global icon, you might want to be the best player on your own damn team. Or put another way, if the Heat were clicking on all cylinders and playing awe-inspiring basketball I’d probably just sit back and enjoy the show. But since they look vulnerable (and have since the start of the season), it’s extremely enjoyable to root against them - surely you acknowledge there is joy to be found in the fall of the proud? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/231 "2011-06-10T16:56:58Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Because getting together with you friends to make a super team when you can’t win on your own is a total bitch move. It occurred to me the other day that LeBron’s real crime was upsetting people’s ideas of sports masculinity, so I’m intrigued by your choice of words here. In any case Dallas hasn’t let him get into the lane. There are enough big guys moving around on defense that he can’t get near the hoop as easily as he wants to, so he’s passing the ball instead. Meanwhile Barea has been slicing through the Heat pretty much at will. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/232 "2011-06-10T17:05:45Z")
“Punk move” would have worked just as well. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/233 "2011-06-10T17:07:41Z")
I’m not calling you a sexist or anything. That choice of words made me wonder if maybe my theory was right. Anyway, we sure as hell don’t need another Decision rehash. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/234 "2011-06-10T17:22:28Z")
I think it does touch on sports masculinity, in the sense that he was almost voluntarily removing himself from the dominant role to a more co-dominant one. It’s one thing to recruit someone to help you win, and another entirely to go join someone else to help them. His clearly second-rate (to Wade) performance just solidifies that perception. Then you add in that, as fans, we invest way emotionally in these people than is healthy. So you have a bit of a jilted-lover thing going on, and even non-Cavs fans can look at their teams and see the same thing happening (for me it would probably be Pujols signing with the Cubs). So yeah, rather than fight as alpha-male to win a championship for you, his loyal fan, he abandons you to play second-fiddle to another team’s superstar. Add in the obvious differences in glamor between the cities of Cleveland and Miami and you can see why a neutral (particularly one from a similarly non-glamorous town) would feel sympathy for the jilted lover and anger towards the guy who traded up. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/235 "2011-06-10T17:28:55Z")
There’s no way Jordan would have ever done it, that’s for sure. Or Kobe either. If you had suggested to Magic and Bird that they join forces on one team back in the 80’s, they’d have probably stared at you like you had two heads. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/236 "2011-06-10T17:37:17Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There’s no way Jordan would have ever done it, that’s for sure. Or Kobe either. > > If you had suggested to Magic and Bird that they join forces on one team back in the 80’s, they’d have probably stared at you like you had two heads. This is really it, what they did is simply bad for basketball so as a basketball fan i can’t not root against them. Like i said on a previous thread about this: Magic vs Bird was glorious, Magic and Bird beat up on the rest of the league for a decade would have meant Lebron wouldn’t have a job right now. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/237 "2011-06-10T18:25:17Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > This is really it, what they did is simply bad for basketball so as a basketball fan i can’t not root against them. The ratings say otherwise. And for that matter, so does the game that’s been played on the floor. The playoffs have been great and the finals has been really good so far. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There’s no way Jordan would have ever done it, that’s for sure. Or Kobe either. I agree, but I also think it’s true that they came into a different league. I remember when the Bulls started winning championships, the conventional wisdom became that you needed two star players to win a title. Now the depth is even greater than that. And it’s also true that now, a lot of these guys grow up playing AAU ball with each other and they’re less likely to hate each other’s guts. Although some of the Dallas guys don’t like the Heat at all. By the way, those tattoos on DeShawn Stevenson’s neck make me want to puke. They’re just ugly. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/238 "2011-06-10T18:55:28Z")
Honest Abe makes you want to puke? why do you hate America? The ratings are up because everyone wants to see the Heat lose and Lebron choke, and the games have been good because Miami has been doing exactly that. This could have easily been a four game snore fest. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/239 "2011-06-10T19:02:37Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Honest Abe makes you want to puke? why do you hate America? The ratings are up because everyone wants to see the Heat lose and Lebron choke, and the games have been good because Miami has been doing exactly that. This could have easily been a four game snore fest. Speaking of Honest Abe, here was a twitter post from Caron Butler today. [QUOTE=Caron Butler] If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax, not take 2 axes. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/240 "2011-06-10T19:09:03Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The ratings are up because everyone wants to see the Heat lose and Lebron choke, and the games have been good because Miami has been doing exactly that. So what? People would rather watch the Heat than any other team in the league. Tell me how that’s bad for the NBA. > [@](#): > > This could have easily been a four game snore fest. You might as well argue that Dallas could have won games one and three and swept the series themselves. The Heat close poorly, but Dallas is also very good. This was never going to be a sweep. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259/241 "2011-06-10T19:11:56Z")
Lebron also left his hometown. Cleveland isn’t just the team that drafted him; it’s where he grew up. They were fans of him long before he was a Cavalier due to his popularity as an amateur athlete. We’re also talking about a guy who grew up in Cleveland and his favorite professional teams were the Yankees, Cowboys, and Bulls. That says something about his personality right there. Also, let’s not forget that this is a guy that gets a giant “Chosen 1” tattoo [on his back](http://nikelebron.net/lebron_james/tattoos/) (before he even did anything in the NBA no less). The guy is just as arrogant as it gets. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-playoffs-are-here/579259.md?page=13)