PeterMP Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 I agree with you but it's Lebron, Kyrie, and a very physical defense. They cheerfully rolled in the muck with Chicago and punched the Hawks offense into a trembling sad submission. Two elite scoring threats and a great defense? That kind of team can be beaten, but it usually doesn't make for an easy out. How much are they going to get out of Kyrie? (Clearly, Lebron can't guard Curry for long periods of time.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma There Goes That Man Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Green and Barnes can make it hard enough for Lebron. That's all they need is to make him work. Lebron is going to have to save his energy a bit on the defensive end so he won't be able to chase around the Warriors which means Thompson and Curry are going to get their shots. They'd get them anyway but its going to be easier for them. I expect a short series but usually when I go all in on a prediction it blows up horribly in my face so be prepared for a Cavs title Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 How much are they going to get out of Kyrie? (Clearly, Lebron can't guard Curry for long periods of time.) He looked fine last night and none of his injuries seem to be major. His knee tendinitis flared up because he was compensating for a recently twisted ankle but his ankle appears to be fine and the've gotten his knee under control. I think he'll be fine by the time the finals start unless he reinjures himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Shumpert and Smith will be on Thompson. Shumpert will probably be on Curry a lot as well. They held the Splash Brothers to 10 of 30 when they last played. Warriors don't have anyone who can guard Lebron. Igudola and Green couldn't. It's going to be an interesting series, but I think the Cavs match up with the Warriors a lot better then the Rockets do. Is there anyone in the league that can really guard Lebron? Kawhi Leonard "held" Lebron to 28.2 ppg (.571) in the finals last year. He's going to get his. I think the biggest mistake teams make is that they try too hard to stop Lebron. If you send doubles at him it usually makes things worse. The Warriors need to defend him with one guy and provide no other help other than the standard rotation to defend the rim. IMO they need to focus on not giving him easy passing lanes and shutting down the Cavs offense, not Lebron's individual scoring ability. That's what the Spurs seemed to have done last year. The year before that they just dared Wade and Lebron to shoot all the open jump shots they wanted... it worked right up until it didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Shumpert and Smith will be on Thompson. Shumpert will probably be on Curry a lot as well. They held the Splash Brothers to 10 of 30 when they last played. Warriors don't have anyone who can guard Lebron. Igudola and Green couldn't. It's going to be an interesting series, but I think the Cavs match up with the Warriors a lot better then the Rockets do. No one can guard LeBron. However, even he has his limits. Eventually he has to wear down being the primary ballhandler, primary scorer, primary rebounder for game after game against a good team. I expect the series to go 6 or 7 games, but maybe by the end LeBron's teammates will let him down. Is there anyone in the league that can really guard Lebron? Kawhi Leonard "held" Lebron to 28.2 ppg (.571) in the finals last year. He's going to get his. I think the biggest mistake teams make is that they try too hard to stop Lebron. If you send doubles at him it usually makes things worse. The Warriors need to defend him with one guy and provide no other help other than the standard rotation to defend the rim. IMO they need to focus on not giving him easy passing lanes and shutting down the Cavs offense, not Lebron's individual scoring ability. That's what the Spurs seemed to have done last year. The year before that they just dared Wade and Lebron to shoot all the open jump shots they wanted... it worked right up until it didn't. Yep. I'd concede LeBron his 40 points, and try to control the rest of them and keep them off the boards and out of the flow of the game. I'd rather see him get 40 than get 12 assists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Is there anyone in the league that can really guard Lebron? Kawhi Leonard "held" Lebron to 28.2 ppg (.571) in the finals last year. He's going to get his. I think the biggest mistake teams make is that they try too hard to stop Lebron. If you send doubles at him it usually makes things worse. The Warriors need to defend him with one guy and provide no other help other than the standard rotation to defend the rim. IMO they need to focus on not giving him easy passing lanes and shutting down the Cavs offense, not Lebron's individual scoring ability. That's what the Spurs seemed to have done last year. The year before that they just dared Wade and Lebron to shoot all the open jump shots they wanted... it worked right up until it didn't. It did work, the Spurs handed that series away in 2013. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DM72 Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 If JR shoots like he did against the Hawks, GS might be in trouble. And like someone just said, go back to the last time they played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveakl Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 If JR shoots like he did against the Hawks, GS might be in trouble. And like someone just said, go back to the last time they played. Ugh. And if they do, with the way the east is, what's their window? Four more years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 If JR shoots like he did against the Hawks, GS might be in trouble. And like someone just said, go back to the last time they played. More specifically, If JR shoots like he did in games one and four of the series against the Hawks, GS definitely be in trouble. Any team would be. Heck, Houston just convincingly beat the Warriors the other night by doing the obvious - making almost all their shots from anywhere. Of course, statistically it isn't very likely JR can shoot like that for an entire series. However, LeBron can be LeBron for an entire series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 More specifically, If JR shoots like he did in games one and four of the series against the Hawks, GS definitely be in trouble. Any team would be. Heck, Houston just convincingly beat the Warriors the other night by doing the obvious - making almost all their shots from anywhere. Of course, statistically it isn't very likely JR can shoot like that for an entire series. However, LeBron can be LeBron for an entire series. Convincingly? Not sure I'd say that. It was a single point game well into the 4th quarter and Curry missed time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 (edited) I disagree that Griffin is more diverse. Griffin is a better jump shooter and passer than Kemp was. But Kemp was a better interior scorer and FT shooter. And as good a ball handler as Griffin is, Kemp was better. And he was a better rebounder and much better defensive player. Kemp was a legitimate impact defender whereas Griffin is merely competent. I think all of that adds up to a better player than Griffin is. But I also think Griffin hasn't reached his potential yet. I could easily see him having a two or three year span in his late 20s where it all clicks for him and he becomes totally dominant and puts up a peak run similar to Barkley's. I think it'll coincide with CP3's decline, and we've already seen flashes of what Griffin can do when he carries the Clippers after CP3 goes down with injury. I was looking at Kemp during his five year peak from ages 23-27, not just the season they made the Finals. He was pretty great over that span, but during it, I would probably put him below Barkley. Barkley was significantly better over the front end of that window. I'd say '95 to '96 and '96 to '97 were the only two seasons where Kemp was better, and Barkley was still really good in the '95 to '96. Hell, even in Houston in '96-'97 Barkley still averaged 19 and 13.5. That's a first or second team All NBA selection in today's league. I think Griffin is better than both Gasols. Definitely better than Pau. Marc Gasol had a better season this year, but it was the best season of his career by far. Griffin dealt with some injuries. And Marc Gasol definitely wasn't better than Griffin last season, nor was he better in this postseason, where Griffin was one of the league's best performers. Last year Griffin was the third best player in the league behind Durant and LeBron. This year, he was behind Curry, Harden, LeBron, CP3, Gasol, Davis, and probably Westbrook even though he missed so much time. I'd probably put Griffin at 8 for the season. But again, it was an injury season, and moving forward, I think Griffin will be in that 3 to 7 range in any given year. Higher than where Kemp was relative to the other great players in the league when he was in his prime. Kemp was an elite rim protector and elite finisher. He might be one of the best finishers in the history of the NBA, and he played on a team without a real center for most of his career (anybody remember Jim Mcilvaine?) and that ran a lot. The style that they played maximized his skills. Every season he played, he had more turnovers than he had assists. Griffin is a better shooter, a better passer, and a better dribbler (more assists than turnover every that he has played and assists/TO his year was over 2.). In 1996/1997, by counting stats Barkley was still an elite NBA player. If you throw out people that played under 200 minutes, he was 6th in PER. A head of Stockton, Sabonis, Pippen, Hardway, Webber, Hakeem, Payton, Mourning, Ewing. He's the 4th forward below HIll, Malone, and Chris Gatling. Hill and Malone were first team all NBA forwards. Chris Gatling didn't make any of the teams (played in 47 games and only started 1). Despite that people like Vin Baker and Anthony Mason made 3rd team NBA before him and that's because even though he could put up points and grab rebounds, he over all stunk as a player. Mason that year averaged 16.2 and 11.4 Baker averaged 21 and 10.3. Do you really want to argue that Mason and Baker are clearly better than Duncan and Griffin (3rd team forwards this year)? Last year Griffin was arguably the 3rd best forward in the league behind Lebron and Durant (was he better than Love?). He wasn't even the best player on his team. Edited May 28, 2015 by PeterMP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Houston starting strong. So is Jeff van Gundy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrison J Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Howard came to play today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 And he gives it all right back on defense/boxing out He's that bad I don't watch a ton of the Bulls, but I don't remember watching and saying, wow, he's really bad. From what I saw/remember, the decline of Noah is what stuck with me. The stats look pretty good. I guess its possible that he's that bad even with the stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 These teams go out drinking last night? This is some unexpectedly sloppy ball by both teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Howard's post up game is weak sauce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 These teams go out drinking last night? This is some unexpectedly sloppy ball by both teams. Pressure. There is a lot on the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 NBA needs to stop with these quick trigger double techs. Howard and Bogut aren't doing half the fighting Griffin and ZBo do against anyone in a playoff series. Just let it go with a warning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma There Goes That Man Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Underrated member of the Warriors? The guy that has to replace the nets at Oracle because you know he put up a **** ton of nets this season. They are ripping these things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrison J Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 3 flops so far for Curry yet when Harden does it its a big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveakl Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Not saying uh oh. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 So many stupid fouls by golden state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveakl Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 So many stupid fouls by golden state. Those not watching will say the NBA wanted rockets to win to decrease the break and secure LeBron winning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Those not watching will say the NBA wanted rockets to win to decrease the break and secure LeBron winning.Yeah the whole "free throw disparity" argument that only makes sense if you don't think about it too much. There have been some bad calls but they've gone both ways. The warriors have committed a lot of stupid fouls. There are a lot of stupid plays in general in this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveakl Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Kevin McHale has a huge collar on his shirt and lurches when he walks. Hell of a coach though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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