Huffington Post: LeBron Makes Nicolas Batum Fall Down With Amazing Crossover

Batum is becoming the king of floppers. I would hate it if he wasn't on the Blazers.

 

That wasn't even really a cross-over. It was a sharp cut to a pull-up jumper. While it looked like LBJ might've pushed off, it's more likely that Batum flopped. He should know better - he's not going to get that call against The King.

 

Lebron executes crossover he does every game, and the Heat lose. That should have been the headline. For all the spectacular plays Lebron and Wade make, they still only count the same amount as the plays with not so much publicity.

 

LBJ gave Batum a little shove and when your running like that a little extra push no matter how hard is gonna put you off balance and send you flying.

 

Did you watch Sports Center last night? They had basically all Heat highlights and one of the hosts even made some comment about what a poor defensive play the Blazers made. If you hadn't watched the game you'd think the Heat had won. Until finally one of the guys admits that Portland might be a tough "out" in the play offs.

I also had to laugh when CWebb, et al. were doing the "shut up and play" lecture and either McHale or Webber mentioned that the Heat had gone some adversity with injuries this year which is challenging. Are they serious?!? Don't they realize what Portland has dealt with over the last two seasons? For a while there I thought there was something in the Tualatin practice facility water that causes knees to explode!

 

Yes it was Ridiculous. They would talk about the Blazers scoring runs without actually showing any highlights of them! They didn't show a Blazer player score until the fourth quarter highlights, the previous five were all Heat.

 

ESPN is part of the "NBA is a superstar league" movement. If they could've gotten away with only showing Heat highlights of Wade and James, they would've. Next best? Show only B-Roy and Aldridge. But since Matthews hit the "dagger," they had to show him, too.

 

I like this play better. Does anyone have a link to that stuff G-Force had on Wade?

[video=youtube;qHeLM-PgGyk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHeLM-PgGyk[/video]

 

Yep. It was all Heat, no Blazers. But let's be honest: no one outside of the Portland Metro area gives a rat's shit about the Blazers. Miami's supposed "meltdown" makes better news in Peoria than "Blazers play great and destroy slumping Heat". I'm surprised that the SportsCenter talking goofs even mentioned the Blazers at all.

 

Yes Yes YES!

I know, I guess I give sportscenter too much respect thinking they would show highlights of what good basketball is.

Drama Sells. Before you know it ESPN will have no sports at all, just reality television shows about superstar athletes. Following in MTV's footsteps!

 

Initially thought it was a push off, but in the replay it doesn't appear to be, still hard to see though. This leads me to believe it was Batum flopping again. Honestly I wish he'd quit doing it. I hate flopping.

 

I hate flopping as well but it goes along with Nik's stellar Defensive style. He shadows, getting so close to a player without actually touching them. It's extremely tough to do, keep your balance, and stay with the player your guarding at the same time. He's like the Brandon Roy of Defense, a natural silent killer. It's fun to watch players get annoyed of it and push off.

 

I don't mind the Blazers being over looked by the media when it comes to the title of "contender" but it really sounded to me like the media saw the Blazers as an easy win (like a game again the TWolves or Cleveland).

I don't think this is just a continuation of the Miami funk, I think Portland is much better than the media thinks. It's a totally weird make up and would be so tough to deal with. If Nate can keep this going and get everyone's buy in about this rotation (i.e. Wallace and Roy coming off the bench). We've got two recent All stars with high basketball IQs coming off the bench and a should be an all star in LaMarcus starting. There no let down when the starters need a breather. That's a pretty relentless and brutal team that could be very successful in the play offs. I think we'd be able to play more players in the play offs than most teams and hopefully that would keep them healthier and more rested. It's like we have two very very good teams in one and they're both peaking at the right time.

Also, I think the problem with Miami is that they spent all their money on 3 players who have played well for them (including Bosh who averaged around 18 and 8 this season). They just have no money for any quality bench/role players and it's killing them in the regular season. When they get to the play offs the bench will play less minutes so they're going to be all right for the post season. I think what they really need is a road trip to get away from all the invasive media in Miami and develop some us against the world attitude on the road. IMO they're going to right the ship going into the play offs like the Lakers alway do. I really wouldn't be surprised to see them beat the Lakers on Thursday at all. They won't over look them like they may have overlooked the Blazers.

 

nic is a very avg nba player.

 

And an above average, I'd say Great Defender.

Man he had a slight fade-away 15-20 ft jumper last night over someone that looked so clean. If he could polish a high post game like that he would could be a great offensive threat. he's only 22 after all.

 

He is good defender with the right matchup. He tends to not be so effective against physical players and some point guard matchups. His offensive game has a lot of holes and teams consistently hide their worst defender on him, with effect.

 

It's not a flop, it's a genetic condition called "French Surrender Reflex". Anytime anyone comes at you, you raise your arms in surrender and fall backward.