Going Commando Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Yeah Irving just isn't a real PG. Doesn't have the floor vision or unselfishness to be one. He only got placed at PG because he's sub 6'4. He is a pretty damn good SG though. I would probably put him third or fourth in the league at that position, behind Harden, Klay, and Butler. I'd take him over DeRozan. BTW I thought he played well on defense last night. He was fired up and disruptive. When he gets himself engaged like that, he is so much better on that end of the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Commando Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 What the hell was that? Don't say you weren't warned. A lot of the stuff I thought we were due for happened last night: - The Cavs played much tougher at home and beat the Warriors up physically a little bit. - The Cavs shot a lot better after having two lousy shooting nights in the first two games. - The Warriors showed the shakiness on the road they'd been demonstrating throughout the postseason. - LeBron woke up and started playing aggressive, breathtaking basketball. - Kyrie and JR Smith both went off. This win was a confidence builder for Cleveland. Now they know they can beat this seemingly invincible Warriors team, and I think they have a good chance to win game four too. Both of these teams have really strong home court advantages and I think you're going to see more Jekyll and Hyde home and away splits from both of them as the series goes on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Commando Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Kevin Love is the elephant in the room for Cleveland. Not Kyrie's limitations or Tristan Thompson's contract or Tyronn Lue's inexperience or LeBron's aging and debilitating workload. Kevin Love is their biggest problem. He just does not work in that roster construction. He is not Chris Bosh. And it is impossible to ignore that things just work better for Cleveland when Frye and Jefferson got his minutes. When they traded for him I thought Love could form a really devastating forward tandem with LeBron because of his pick and pop game and his outlet passing. But LeBron doesn't really form that kind of partnership with his bigs. Only his guards. And Love does not have the personality to assert a bigger role for himself, nor the game to take the ball out of LeBron & Irving's hands and create for himself. They need to trade him this summer. He doesn't fit and his value is going to continue to diminish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma There Goes That Man Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) Yeah id trade Love for some perimeter help. They need Lebron at the 4. They are so much better with him there and I think they can give GS fits with that lineup. I mean he can't do it all season but in crunch time of big games I'd move him to the 4 ---- Cavs in 6 Edited June 9, 2016 by Momma There Goes That Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Well, that was unexpected. Â Still not sure it changes anything, but at least game 4 is worth watching now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Do Itch Big Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Yeah id trade Love for some perimeter help. They need Lebron at the 4. They are so much better with him there and I think they can give GS fits with that lineup. I mean he can't do it all season but in crunch time of big games I'd move him to the 4 ---- Cavs in 6 Are your predictions ever serious? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Commando Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Someone on RealGM posted that LeBron teams have won a road game in 24 straight playoff series. First off, that's pretty amazing if true. Second, that makes game four very interesting. If Golden State wins it, then that should lock it up. Cleveland won't win two games at Oracle. But if Cleveland wins game four then I think we're going to get a real series. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sinister Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Are your predictions ever serious? As serious as a sprained ankle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chew Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Cavs in 6 Â 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taco Bell Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 I'm not going to get too hyped in the whole blowout thing, I think Cavs winning a close game with contextually right moves down the stretch (mostly to see how Lebron and Kyrie play in those pivotal possessions) would be more indicative of the Cavs chances for this series.   My money is on GS in 5, but I'm rooting for the Cavs/Lebron to pull it out.  I don't think it can be overstated enough the fact that when Lebron is being aggressive towards the basket whatever team he's on entirely transforms.  I've come in this thread and dropped the Lebron is a playoff underachiever take in the ilk of Peyton Manning or Clayton Kershaw, but because he's probably the naturally most gifted player in any sport of all time, and the fact that it's basketball - one of the universal sports of our world, he's at the top of a billion person pyramid pecking order of basketball greatness at any given moment (steph might be the top right now but same difference).  So when the guy at the absolute pinnacle of the sport, becomes apprehensive on the court, it's noticeable, because people know what the equivalent of being "scared" on a basketball court looks like.  Passing the ball away, pretending to try to get open but not so covertly positioning yourself to make it unrealistic, being scared to drive forward, etc.  It's not a big mystery.  So bla bla bla -  Point is, when Lebron is playing "like he should" - everyone knows the difference, including his teammates.  That's why when he's playing "distributor" - everyone usually seems to suck - it's because everyone else's morale goes down because they sort of know he's not doing "what it takes" to eventually win a game and it rubs off on everyone else.  So, when Lebron plays like how he did last night - that's exactly what it takes to make GS look vulnerable.  He kept going down the the basket, genuinely making guys open because the D has to truly close in instead of expecting the kickouts all the time, gets guys like Tristan a better chance for offensive rebounds, and gets guys like JR smith more space to get going.  Kyrie scored 30 but Lebron being aggressive most of the night is what sustained their lead due to everyone else contributing and is the correct process for the Cavs to win the series if they want to have any chance. And GS is tremendous at making clean blocks, so if Lebron started getting some foul calls it could be even more of a threat.  I'd say the most telling thing if you ever wanted to hear an NBA player try to psyche out another "with subtlety" was seeing that Draymond said "Lebron is at his most dangerous as a distributor" - Yea ok - if it's opposite day.  That's the problem though, I think Lebron believes it to a degree and prevents him from accepting his true most dangerous form - the locomotive - which is why it makes sense for Draymond to sneak that out there.   I do think, like all pros in all sports, Lebron definitely keeps an eye on how his game evolves as he ages so that he can deteriorate as slowly as possible.  But damn - it's the finals - a championship will be worth the wear and tear on your body of throwing yourself at the basket and rack up fouls and FTAs. Especially this one.  To me if Lebron somehow won this series this would count as 2 championships essentially when it came to "all time ranking" type stuff, but it's not going to happen unless he plays the rest of this series like these are the last 4 games of his career.   --------  All that said - I still think GS wins this in 5, maybe 6 based on my assessment of the likelihood and frequency of these things occurring. Just the inner workings of my rooting for Lebron and what I hope I could see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 I think it is easy to over state the importance of the Cavs defense in last nights game. Â Yes, they came out more intense and physical on the defensive side and that certainly helped build the early big lead, but the big difference to me (that I think was the real difference maker) was the perimeter shooting. Â It started with Kyrie and Smith, and than James got involved. Â It makes playing defense so much easier when you make baskets, and when you can hit perimeter shots, it makes playing offense so much easier so you score more, and you actually score more with less effort. Â I think GS had actually survived the initial defensive intensity and started to get back into the game, and than Lebron made a series of perimeter jump shots, which he hasn't really done in this series and that was the dagger. Â Things like that 3 on the mini-break are back breaker. Â It makes him so much harder to guard and is physically so much easier for him than going into the paint and taking 2 or 3 guys. Â If the Cavs can get shooting like that out of Lebron, Smith, and Irving for the rest of the series, then we might have a series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Commando Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Irving shot the lights out early and JR Smith had a great shooting night. But LeBron didn't do a lot of perimeter shooting. What was really killer were all those drives. He was relentless and it seemed like his first 15 shots were all in the paint. He couldn't get most of them to drop in the first half, and he couldn't get the calls or the contact he wanted. But he stuck with it and eventually he started getting those foul calls and connecting on these dunks that blew the roof off Quicken Loans. I think that hyper aggressive style is the road map for LeBron. Getting Draymond Green into foul trouble is a major win and seeing LeBron throw down those vicious reverses and tomahawks has a major "oh ****" effect on his teammates and opponents. The other thing was that LeBron, Jefferson, Frye, and Thompson were all dialed in on D. LeBron kept picking the ball off over and over again for fast break opportunities, and he even stuffed Curry on that dead ball lay up attempt. That was really good defensive play from their front court. I thought Thompson was particularly good. He was also awesome on the offensive glass and his energy kept Cleveland ahead when LeBron was out of rhythm and Kyrie started chucking lousy shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Role players are well known to play better at home than on the road. Warriors not named Curry and Thompson scored 84 in game 1, 75 in game 2, and 61 in game 3. The Warriors seemed happy to use Curry and Thompson as decoys in this series so far, which worked fine at home where the role players were extremely effective. Once they got to Cleveland the roles reversed. Clevelands role players got the home court boost and the Warriors all star roster that could win easily without Curry and Thompson... suddenly couldn't.  Essentially the Cavs are betting the Warriors role players can't beat them. The Warriors are betting the Cavs can't beat them if forced to take outside shots. Each team has been right on their home floor.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) Irving shot the lights out early and JR Smith had a great shooting night. But LeBron didn't do a lot of perimeter shooting. What was really killer were all those drives. He was relentless and it seemed like his first 15 shots were all in the paint. He couldn't get most of them to drop in the first half, and he couldn't get the calls or the contact he wanted. But he stuck with it and eventually he started getting those foul calls and connecting on these dunks that blew the roof off Quicken Loans. Â Â He was 4-13 into about 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Â His last non-FT point is with 3:47 left in the 2nd quarter (the reverse dunk). Â Since that basket, he's missed the one dunk, had a trip to the line where he only made one (and the one he missed was an ugly shot), he had missed a layup, had the ball stolen by Barbossa, missed 9 ft. jumper, has the possession where he loses control of his dribble and runs into the ref out of bounds. Â So he's been 0-3 with 2 turnovers and one point in the last few minutes he's played. Â He was easily on his way onto another choke quality night of low shooting percentage with no real sign of it getting better. Â His next four shots are all 20+ foot jumpers, and he goes 4-4, including a 3 on a mini-break. Â With a 3 pointer by JR Smith, these are the next 5 baskets the Cavs make, and they extend the lead to 18 points and chew up about 3 minutes of game time. Â He finishes the game 14-26. Â I think Thompson is aided a lot when people make jumpers. Â It is harder to help on the defensive boards when you have to defend the jumper. Â When the defense is packing into the paint, it makes it hard to get an ORB. Edited June 9, 2016 by PeterMP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma There Goes That Man Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Are your predictions ever serious? Cavs in 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhead36 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Id like to see the Cavs win again. I want a long series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 The defensive MVP stuff needs to stop if Green can't handle Tristan. Watching Curry dribble, his move where he hops sideways is gone. That right leg is not right. It's no excuse because he's plants healthy enough to play, but his trademark handles are greatly diminished if his lateral movement isn't there. He's still got his step back though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 I want to know why Coach looks so confused on the sidelines. Come on coach Lue...you had a moment with one of the best of all time.  That said...I expect the Dubs to win this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsfan1523 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Lebron being super passive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Lebron being super passive So is Klay Thompson. What's happened to him? He's not drawing the crowd Curry is this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Draymond Green has stretches where he can do absolutely nothing right. The end of the 1st half was a brutal three minute stretch for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRobi21 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Where are the people that were complaining about the refs in game 1-2? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 That jumper is wet tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Why don't they go with Frey with Bogut in the game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Commando Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Looks like Klay has woken up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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