NBA Finals Cleveland vs Golden State

[FArting]

Finals start on Thursday

 

[JCSunsfan]

What the heck. Cavs in 7. We've never seen what a full strength Cavs team can do.

 

[Ronin]

Warriors in 5

 

[unseenaz]

the warriors finally looked mortal against the thunder.

that series can be summed up with "WOW!"

this is a hard one to call i think.. ask me 2 months ago and i say the warriors win it all with relative ease, now? not so sure..

i'll go cavs in 6

 

[Phrazbit]

The Thunder are a better team than any Cleveland faced, they knocked out a team that IMO is significantly better than Cleveland themselves in San Antonio.

The East was better this year than in years past but the West still had all the top teams, I'd have taken OKC and the Spurs over Cleveland, obviously I take the Warriors too. Only way Cavs win this is if Dellavedova pulls one of his patented moves and injures Curry.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The Thunder are a better team than any Cleveland faced, they knocked out a team that IMO is significantly better than Cleveland themselves in San Antonio.

The East was better this year than in years past but the West still had all the top teams, I'd have taken OKC and the Spurs over Cleveland, obviously I take the Warriors too. Only way Cavs win this is if Dellavedova pulls one of his patented moves and injures Curry.

Yeah and the odds are like 3 to 2 against that (by game).

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't think Cleveland is as long as OKC was to bother the Warrior drives.

But LeBron is LeBron and the Warriors will struggle to guard Kyrie too.

 

[Covert Rain]

I just don't think the spectacle of it all phases the GSW. They just mentally don't care if they are down in a game or series. They honestly believe they can beat anybody. I said GSW in 5 but they have LeBron so it could go 7. I just don't think they can beat GSW in a 7 game series.

 

[leclerc]

*Explicit* Dellavadova.

 

[PDXChris]

Curry is healthy again, enough said!

 

[GatorAZ]

Draymond will run Love off the court and they'll target Frye on the PNR. Cleveland gave them some trouble last year with Delly and Thompson playing heaving minutes. I think they'll have to sacrifice some shooting for defensive purposes.

Plus there's like 7 days until game 3 so they'll be rested.

 

[Errntknght]

Warriors in seven... I'm voting what I hope happens...

 

[Hoop Head]

I wish OKC would have made it, Thunder vs Cavs would be a more competitive series. This is the first time the Cavs will really be tested so far in the playoffs and lack of experience for Love & Irving will be a factor if they can't steal a win in the first 2 games in Oakland.

 

[Cheesebeef]

GS in 5. They just survived the scare of their life, proving to be impressive defending champions and Curry looks like Curry again. I don't think this will be all that competitive.

 

[Carolinacacti]

I'll take the points and Cleveland

 

[Ronin]

I don't know if it is wise to run and gun with the Warriors....should be interesting.

Chris Haynes ‏@ChrisBHaynes 28m28 minutes ago
The Finals could be a track meet. Tyronn Lue adamant #Cavs will run against Warriors.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

GS in 5 or 6. It's hard to really commit to one of those two options for me.

 

[Bert]

I don't know if it is wise to run and gun with the Warriors....should be interesting.

Lebrons assistant coach should just shut his mouth. If that is meant to intimidate the Warriors they will laugh, and if it's serious than he is a moron and should be fired.

Saying you WANT to run and gun against Golden State is like saying you want to lose.

OKC just gave the blueprint to beat the Warriors. You have to play like an 80's team. Big, long, athletic and mean. You have to bother their shooters.

Next is he going to challenge them to a 3 point shooting contest?

Its funny that people are saying the Warriors look mortal now. I'm sorry that they actually had to play competition in the west instead of the 3 round bye week the Cavs just got.

Warriors in 6 only because Lebron is good enough to win atleast 2 games against anyone and he will go to the free throw line 900 times.

 

[leclerc]

Re: 900 FTs
His team mates will give him plenty of opportunities to LeFlop. Would be cool if OKC had made it. Regardless I want anyone but Cleveland.

 

[95pro]

I pick the Cavs, at some point Green gets more technicals and gets suspended. The NBA will try real hard to avoid this.

Also the Warriors hid Curry on Roberson during defensive crossmatches. I'm not sure who they can hide him on with shooters on the floor, weakest shooter is probably Dele but once LeBron takes over pg duties it'll be interesting to see.

Rebounding. LeBron is athletic enough much like Westbrook was to get extra boards then there's Love and Thompson. When the Warriors were killed on the glass it meant a lost.

We've seen what the Warriors are when they're not making the 3, it'll be interesting to see Cavs bigmen try to guard Curry or Thompson at the 3pt line. Adams is more nimble than any Cavs big but they fired at will when he came out.

 

[Phrazbit]

Curry is a good defender, the didn't hide him. And I don't think any defensive assignment in the league is as taxing as chasing Westbrook around.

 

[Russ Smith]

I pick the Cavs, at some point Green gets more technicals and gets suspended. The NBA will try real hard to avoid this.

Also the Warriors hid Curry on Roberson during defensive crossmatches. I'm not sure who they can hide him on with shooters on the floor, weakest shooter is probably Dele but once LeBron takes over pg duties it'll be interesting to see.

Rebounding. LeBron is athletic enough much like Westbrook was to get extra boards then there's Love and Thompson. When the Warriors were killed on the glass it meant a lost.

We've seen what the Warriors are when they're not making the 3, it'll be interesting to see Cavs bigmen try to guard Curry or Thompson at the 3pt line. Adams is more nimble than any Cavs big but they fired at will when he came out.

rebounds were important but basically the 3 stats that dicated whether OKC was winning or losing were FTA's by OKC, 3 pointers by the Warriors, and TO's by the Warriors. Game 6 and 7 OKC still dominated the offensive glass but they lost because the Warriors made so many 3's and cut down the TO's a bit. And even though OKC shot more FT's, in game 7 it wasn't 30 or 40 it was 17(the Warriors only shot 8 wtih all the 3's and the refs calling nothing).

 

[Russ Smith]

Curry is a good defender, the didn't hide him. And I don't think any defensive assignment in the league is as taxing as chasing Westbrook around.

He isn't great but he's better than people think and much better than Westbrook apparently thought given how poorly he shot when covered by Curry in the series.

I do think Cleveland is capable of winning because LeBron is still LeBron, and because if Smith and Love get hot from 3 they can beat anybody.

Last year they didn't have Love and Kyrie so they were weaker on offense but better on defense. This year it'll be interesting to see. The Warriors can't guard Irving any more than anybody else can but they have guys who can exploit his defense. And Love, UCLA guy I like the guy but he can't guard anybody and I expect the Warriors to treat him the way they treated Kanter and do everything they can to cause switches and then attack him off the bounce and make him defend guys who can knock it down.

As someone else said LeBron can win 2 games by himself, he's that good. The question is will Clevelands better offense offset the weaker defense.

 

[sunsfan88]

One thing that GSW did against OKC was double off Roberson to help on Durant and Westbrook.

They won't be able to do that to help on LeBron or Kyrie because out of the starting lineup of Kyrie/JR/LeBron/Love/Thompson, which player do you double off? Their all capable of knocking down the 3pt shot if you leave them open (besides Thompson who of course is the center).

 

[Ronin]

Jeff Zillgitt ‏@JeffZillgitt 1m1 minute ago
Pool of referees for NBA Finals: Brothers, Callahan, Capers, D. Crawford, Davis, Foster, Malloy, Mauer, McCutchen, Phillips, Stafford, Zarba