Props to Danny Granger…

It’s nice to see competitiveness from Granger and the Pacers though Lance Stepheson is a dumbass.   This is what is missing from basketball that exists in football , general distaste and dislike for your opponent at least during the games.  If that means you hate a guy off the court as well so be it , but we don’t need guys like Pau Gasol.

This "being friends" sh*t is something that just started the last several years with this new generation. Back in the old days, they were trying to beat the sh*t out of each other on the court. Now days you have guys hugging on the court, training together, joining each other on teams. One of the reasons it made me cringe to see LeBron and D. Wade join together was because I wanted to see them compete against each other.

This is why I love players like Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul… They’re old school type. They have no friends on the court.

But about Danny Granger… There were a lot of people on this site saying he was soft… I didn’t get it then and still don’t get it now.

As a Heat Fan,i want to THANK Granger for Waking Wade & Lebron up and showing them that just by being Lebron & Wade teams werent going to let them walk away with an easy win..Yesterday in the 3rd Quarter they finally showed the Dominance everyone expected after Lebron took his talents to South Beach…

Getting back to Granger i think he has been trying to make a name for himself by trying to start fights with Lebron..Granger has been holding,grabbing pulling guys jerseys and when they’re trying to free themselves, he wants to fight…Instead he should continue to play his game….

 @IndianaBasketball

I think people label Granger soft by the way he plays.  He is more of a jump shooting, finesse type of player.  He doesn’t use his body to his advantage as he should.  He doesn’t take physical contact all that well when you watch him play.

Granger never had a problem barking at other players and standing up for teammates, which is a great thing, and every team I was on I loved playing with people like that.  I just wish he used his "toughness" to play a little more physical instead of vocal.

Great discussion – agree fully with Indy and KD.  Here’s the thing about Granger – he’s not right for this system.  I often wonder how good he could be coming off screens or setting them in more complex plays. I don’t love Indiana’s offense, though Vogel is such a good motivator and defensive coach it isn’t a crippling deficiency.  I do feel that either moving Granger for a guy who can get his own shot or finding a facilitator at the 1 (NASH!!!!) would do wonders for this club.  I seriously could see them winning a title with this exact team plus Nash.

Granger is making himself look like the lil brother who always wants to be a pest but the big brother is like ahhh go somewhere….he wants the name they have and he doesnt have it…he is a good player but…he just does something stupid or whatever happens, happens and then he just runs into the persons face and stands there talking…when u constantly start fights or try to run into a fight but never actually fight…i dont think u would be considered a tough guy…he needs to channel that into being more aggressive on the rebounding and defensive end and maybe he wont have people giving him record breaking playoff number games like lebron did last night…and honestly when hibbert was in foul trouble so was their rebounding…

Let sleeping dogs lie. DWade did not look like the player we’re accustom to seeing. Game 2 24 points 8 – 22 and 8 – 10 at the FT line, game 3 5 points 2 – 13 and 1 – 2 at the FT line. Why jaw jack with this guy? Just to show you can get in someones face? The only thing Granger needed to say to Wade was scoreboard. Although Wade missed the technical FT, it was meaningless it only slows down the momentum of your own team. You can also infer from Granger’s halftime comments they were more worried about Wade going off than LBJ.

Razor – Didn’t say trade him for Nash. I said trade him OR get Nash.

 I dont have a problem with Granger getting in someone’s face every now and then, but if its too much then it dilutes its effectiveness and to a point cant be taken as seriously.  He proved his point, that they are not intimidated….but dont get so cocky and lose so much respect for your opponent that you get hit with a punch you dont see.  Basically, the Heat are already backed into a corner, they dont need any additional motivation.

The Pacers are a small market team and they struggled for awhile rebuilding their team, so Granger isn’t the most popular, but let’s not act like this guy isn’t a former All-Star.

You have to know the history in order to realize why he’s quick to jump at LeBron. They haven’t gotten along since LeBron was in Cleveland. I don’t think it has anything to do with trying to make a name for himself… He just can’t stand LeBron and won’t back down to him. People need to understand that despite the greatness of LeBron and D. Wade, the Pacers aren’t going to walk on the tips of their toes or on egg shells around them. That’s not the way you compete. LeBron was going to go off eventually. D. Wade was going to get hot eventually. But for the most part, the Pacers have held them both in check.

Even in a game both LeBron AND Wade went off, the Pacers had a chance to win the game. NOT GOOD for the Heat.

Granger is soft, sure he beats his chest and gets in Lebron’s face, but mentally, he doesn’t have the stone to handle to pressure in big games offensively.

He was fine when the Pacers were riding a wave of momentum for much of the past couple of games, but when Lebron and Wade started getting super aggressive, Granger wilted, and you could tell he was indecisive about his shots. He’s just not the sort of guy to lead your team, he’ll just go with what the rest are doing.

Against Lebron especially, he just seems to lack the belief and confidence in his abilities.

I like the idea of being competitive on the court. I know I have almost gotten into it a few times with guys that I was friends with when we were playing organized basketball for different teams. After all the games, nothing was ever brought up. Everyone understood it was about playing hard and trying to win. Sometimes these guys are too much about being best friends, but AAU and Olympic basketball has changed a lot of that, especially for the bigger name guys.

With that said, my biggest problem with Granger is that it feels like he’s trying to be the enforcer. It’s almost like he is trying to find a way to get him and Lebron ejected out of the gameto win instead of stepping up his game and trying to outperform Lebron. That is great and all, but aren’t you suppose to be "the man" on this team? Say what you want, but I think Lebron is completely in his head because Granger plays like s**t against Lebron. I can either try to punk you by trying to get in your head or start confrontations with you or I can try to punk you by outplaying you and embarassing you. I will take the latter.

We’ll see how tough Granger is these next two or three games.

I personally think whoever wins next game will win the series. IF Granger really wants to help his team, he needs to start putting the ball in the basket.

I thought The Pacers were going to win game 4 and take this series in 6 games …That was until Danny Granger started getting in Lebron and Wade’s faces, yes he had to stick up to them after Darren Collison was steam rolled by Wade, but he should have just gotten him back with a hard foul on a layup attempt as opposed to Talking Sh*t 

He poured gas on a dying fire, and now the Pacers may get burned and taken out this series emotionally…

To me it’s great to see a star player like Granger getting in the face of his superstar opponents. He and David West are basicly beefing with everybody on the Heat. It creates a competitive spirit and gets the best out of everybody. Professional players should be able to forget about their "buddies" as long as their on the court cuz it’s not like anybody is trying to clothesline somebody and really hurt him.

Maybe even drop kick Wade while he’s at it.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Granger. I know alot of people do not like how he goes about it, but if you are a teammate of his, you have to love it. The guy has your back and will make no secret of it.

I didnt get to see game 4, but I did see game 2 and 3 and its clear that he and Lebron are not BFFs. I think both times were the result of incidental contact. Granger got tangled on Lebron in game 2 when Lebron got in Grangers face first, then I think Granger overreacted in game 3 when Lebron put his elbow up. Honestly though, I support it. When you are an underdog and feel like you are disrespected, it might not be a bad thing to do something a little crazy just to send a message that you arent lying down.

Granger is a really good player, and has been for a while now. He isnt an "elite" player but for fans who are not frontrunners and simply following the transcendent stars to today, we know Granger is solid. He’s probably in that 4-7 mix when ranking the top SFs in the league. I think he would be better suited in an offense where he didnt have to iso as often as he does, and was more utilized running off screens and cuts, but thats for another day.

I love what Granger and the Pacers are doing so far in this series, I really hope they win because I’m a Timberwolves fan and we have to build our team like the Pacers (through the draft and smart trades) and I would love to see that style of team building prevail over the flavorous Big 3 or "star power" approach.

Granger told a local paper that the reason why he’s showing Anger toward Lebron is becuz National TV Dont give him the Respect guys like Lebron gets…SMH

Let your game speak.

13 PPG while shooting 35% from the field isn’t getting it done.  That’s the reason he’s not respected as a top-tier level player.

A lot of people think of him as a fake tough guy.