Do The Cavs Have A Chance Against The Spurs?

[azirish]

The Cavs had an amazing series against a Piston team that was given a solid chance to beat the Spurs. However, it seems unlikely they can duplicate the effort against the much more efficient Spurs.

 

[CaptainInsano]

There is no way because of the extreme league bias, many people think lebron will get the treatment here but we all know that the veterans get more respect then the young upcoming superstars in almost every scenario.

You cannot grind it out with the spurs because the refs will take your bigs out of the game with foul trouble, and duncan will then put up epic numbers so the cavs will have to be really smart about this.

IF the series gets close, the league will take the cavs out of the game just like what happened to the suns (hitman horry) and jazz (manu ultraflop-ref fueled 4th quarter in pivotal jazz home game). In cases like that it is simply impossible to beat the spurs because nobody has a large advantage over the spurs because they are such a great team, so than factor any ref interference in and it throws the game.

The only thing you can really hope for is that somehow the cavs are the ones who get the treatment. That would be interesting to see.

 

[cly2tw]

Actually, they have a theoretical chance as good as the Suns or the Pistons.

They have Ilgauskas, Varejo, Gooden that could slow down TD one-on-one to some extent and Ilgauska could draw TD out of the paint on offense with his shooting. If LBJ draws double team and Gibson and others get hot, they might have some chance.

However, Pop is really great at adjusting and he prepared the team for ALL possible matchups. Defensively, if the refs allow Bowen to maul over LBJ like he did Nash, Cavs have no chance at all. But a hypocrite Stern is, I don't think this will happen. So, if the rest of the Cavs can up their level of play a bit, with refs help, they'd have a chance.

 

[btimsah]

No.

The Cavs can win 1 game at home, but that's it. Okay I just saw Lebron dunk on Duncan on Espn in a past game, and actually the Cavs won 2 outta 2.. lol, but they still gonna be killed.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

I dunno...the Cavs have good rebounding and also some decent perimeter defense. If Ilgauskas can play well on Duncan, and they can slow down Ginoboli and Parker...who knows.

I am hoping for a good series.

 

[arwillan]

when it came down to the last 4 teams, i said that cleveland has the best chance and i stand by that.

they beat the spurs both times in the year. they rebound very well. they spread the d. if they want to double lebron, hes got good shooters around him and if gibson gets hot, watch out. lebron can get bowen into foul trouble, and beyond him nobody on the spurs has a chance on lbj, other than maybe horry. if the cavs can hit their shots when lbj passes it, they can easily win.

another thing, the spurs havent faced a team as good on defense as the cavs so far in the post season so who knows how they will play

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I believe San Antonio wins in 5, closing out on their home court. They are just the better team.

 

[mr_sunshine]

I think they have a great chance at winning it to be honest. Some combination of LeBron, Gibson, Snow, Pavlovic, and Hughes should easily be able to shut down Ginobli and Parker. Varejao or Z should be able to guard TD by themselves, which means no open looks for their 3-point shooters.

On offense I think LeBron is just too strong and quick for Bowen. If they double team him it means open looks for any of their shooters, and if someone gets hot that's great for Cleveland. It is also important that both Gooden and Z can step outside to a decent range to lure TD out of the lane.

In all honesty I think the matchups work out in Cleveland's favor, and I think they'll win in 5 games. Unless the officials have something to say about it of course. They might just bring it home for SA.

 

[elindholm]

Spurs in five at most. Once they got the suspensions against Stoudemire and Diaw, it's been a sprint for the finish line, and they know it. They're way too savvy to be threatened by a one-man team.

 

[TJ]

The refs will not allow Lebron and Co. to get off and win this thing

And even if they do, David Stern will suspend Lebron for flexing his muscles after a dunk

 

[arwillan]

Spurs in five at most. Once they got the suspensions against Stoudemire and Diaw, it's been a sprint for the finish line, and they know it. They're way too savvy to be threatened by a one-man team.

theres your mistake, they are highly threatened by a one man team. the lakers beat them 3/4 times in the season, and the only loss was in OT. the cavs beat them 2/2 in the regular season, and lebron averaged some monster stats.


besides all that, we saw last night lebron is far from a one man team. he has decent players around him, they just need to step up as they did last night. i think gibson is going to get his looks all night long and if hes making them-watch out.

 

[elindholm]

theres your mistake, they are highly threatened by a one man team. the lakers beat them 3/4 times in the season, and the only loss was in OT. the cavs beat them 2/2 in the regular season, and lebron averaged some monster stats.

The regular season and the Finals aren't the same thing.

I'll stick with my prediction. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Someone will have to tell me what happens, though, because I'm not watching.

 

[azirish]

I watched the Cavs struggle with a very weak New Jersey team and was shocked at how much they upped their game against the Pistons. I'm from Ohio and the Cavs were my team back in the day, plus I'll root for anyone against the Spurs. Still, I find it hard to believe they can deal with the Spurs.

The factor which has not been widely discussed is that the Cavs won mostly on defense, but did it against a Piston's team that did not shoot well in the playoffs. This is a team that shot only 45.4% during the regular season.

In the first round, the Pistons shot only 49% against the Magic but 44.3% for three

In the second round, the Pistons shot 42.9% against the Bulls and 33.8% for three

In the ECF the Pistons shot 41.9% against the Cavs and only 30.5% for three

The Cavs only shot 42.2% in the ECF. It is hard for me to imagine the Cavs will be able to hold the Spurs to 41.9% shooting.

 

[fordronken]

Nobody else in the playoffs have played at the level of the Suns and Spurs this year. Once the Cavs play the Spurs, they'll realize that they've been playing an inferior brand of basketball all playoffs long.

 

[Chaplin]

No chance. Spurs will sweep this series. And probably pretty easily. Cleveland has a nice team, but the talent level is one of the lowest of a Finals finalist I've ever seen. Last year's Miami team was better and even the Philly and Indiana teams of past year were better than this Cleveland team.

 

[cly2tw]

There is some truth to the one-man show being something the Spurs might have some difficulty with. Spurs are a savvy but not really athletic team. A Kobe or LBJ would get to the line and their guys in foul trouble a lot more than the teams like Suns, Mavs, or Jazzs. There is something that you can't really solve by being savvy. That being said, Spurs will find a way to contain LBJ than most teams could. And actually, they might have it easier to win by playing Suns style fast game.

 

[arwillan]

There is some truth to the one-man show being something the Spurs might have some difficulty with. Spurs are a savvy but not really athletic team. A Kobe or LBJ would get to the line and their guys in foul trouble a lot more than the teams like Suns, Mavs, or Jazzs. There is something that you can't really solve by being savvy. That being said, Spurs will find a way to contain LBJ than most teams could. And actually, they might have it easier to win by playing Suns style fast game.

i think the spurs will fail miserably trying to play fastbreak. not only is it not what they do, but cleveland is quite good at it, and LBJ is an absolute nightmare in the open floor.

 

[jbeecham]

I see this playing out one of two ways:

1) Spurs dominate and win in 4-5 games

or

2) Stern has decided to let the next NBA golden child get his 1st championship and what better way than taking out the evil empire (Spurs) that he turned the entire country against when he suspended Amare & Boris. If the Cavs win game 1 then the ratings will jump because no one is giving them much of a chance.

 

[TucsonDevil]

This thread should be changed to read, "Do the Cavs have a chance to win more than 1 Game?"

 

[Ronin]

Who on the Cavaliers can guard Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker?
Lebron James will get his points but this series will be over in 4 games.

 

[BC867]

With the Cavs so dependent on LeBron, it should make it a simple matter for the San Antonio Thugs to stick out their foot or elbow or body slam their way to this year's championship.

The Suns had three all-stars and some solid support players. Cleveland has one and one.

I never root for an Eastern team, any time, any place.

Until this series. But that shouldn't be difficult. I'm a Suns fan. I'm used to rooting for the attackee rather than the attackor.

 

[Bufalay]

there are a lot of people that seem to believe that the officiating will not allow the cavs to win this series. I am not sure about this. I do agree that officiating is terrible and that the refs do decide a large majority of games (i.e. all 6 games in the suns-spurs series), BUT I could imagine the officiating favoring the cavs and lebron in a similar way as last year with wade.

we'll shall see. and by we I mean people who actually care about this stupid league.

 

[arwillan]

Who on the Cavaliers can guard Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker?
Lebron James will get his points but this series will be over in 4 games.

gibson is a great defender on driving players like parker, and is pretty strong/quick too. i think he matches up ok to parker. snow is an excellent defender who can guard either one of them. Lebron is a great defender and can handle one of them. larry hughes is a big PG and is very long/quick so he may be able to give parker some problems

 

[Magoo]

I think the Cavs have a chance but I see the Spurs winning in 5.

As much as I don't like the Spurs I can't root for the Cavs. I'm from Ohio but the city I lived in was 30 miles from Pittsburgh. I can't find myself to ever root for any Cleveland, Cincinnati, or Ohio State team.

"There's an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

Cleveland city of light city of magic
Cleveland city of light you're calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember
'Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin' through my dreams

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on"

 

[spurs81]

Some random points:

Game 5 will not be in San Antonio. NBA goes to 2-3-2 format in the finals.

I've been watching Gibson since he played at UT. He went off last year in Big 12 play on the road making like 7 or 8 3's in one game. Folks who follow the college game in Texas are aware of his shooting prowess. That said, the following is horribly wrong:

gibson is a great defender on driving players like parker, and is pretty strong/quick too.

Gibson is neither marginally faster than your average NBA player (certainly not Tony Parker fast) nor strong (did you not watch Chuancy and Rip get into the paint at will?). The idea that he's a "great defender" is surely some kind of a joke. Almost all points in the paint for the Pistons' guards came off of Gibson in this past series. I mean if Gibson were truly the exceptional player that some of you are trying to talk him into being it would stand to reason that he would have averaged more than the 16 minutes a game he averaged this year.

The Cavs have one shot at this thing and he wears #23 and he will have to play the entire series the way he did against the Pistons in game 5.

The M.O. for Popavich has been to allow young budding superstars to get theirs and then shut down the rest of team. I predict that Spurs win comfortably in 5 or 6 and Cavs fans --like Suns fans in 2005, and Jazz fans just recently-- walk away from the series convinced of their impending domination of the league b/c of how young player Amare/Williams/James just "dominated" the mighty Spurs in the playoffs.