NBA Finals Cleveland vs Golden State

[Russ Smith]

No you can't but that doesn't diminish Steph's greatness, that's more a difference in build and style. I love all the judging of Steph here as if this proves something about him but this isn't the guy that dominated this season. He hasn't been quite the same since his two injuries, especially since his 3 week absence. But that's okay, even at less than his best, Cleveland has to spend a lot of effort keeping him in check and in the end, that's all that will matter.

Oh I love Steph he's one of my favorite Warriors of all time. I'm just saying he's not on the LeBron level. LeBron won 2 games in the series by himself last year against a superior team.

Steph is a great player and he makes his teammates better because he draws so much attention, but if a team insists on just not letting him get off, it's entirely possible to hold him somewhat in check. you just have to hope all the other guys don't kill you as you swarm Steph.

Steph is the 2 time MVP but LeBron is still the best player on the planet, he just doesn't do it every night now because he paces himself over the course of a season.

And I agree Steph isn't 10)%, Adonal Foyle on local tv after the game last night pointed out he'd told his co host 2 hours before the game he thinks Steph is sick he looked under the weather in the pre game shootaround.
Nobody has said that's true and kerr said he didn't see it but he just never looked right last night. But much of that was due to Cleveland. They attack him on both ends trying to wear him down.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Oh I love Steph he's one of my favorite Warriors of all time. I'm just saying he's not on the LeBron level. LeBron won 2 games in the series by himself last year against a superior team.

Steph is a great player and he makes his teammates better because he draws so much attention, but if a team insists on just not letting him get off, it's entirely possible to hold him somewhat in check. you just have to hope all the other guys don't kill you as you swarm Steph.

Steph is the 2 time MVP but LeBron is still the best player on the planet, he just doesn't do it every night now because he paces himself over the course of a season.

And I agree Steph isn't 10)%, Adonal Foyle on local tv after the game last night pointed out he'd told his co host 2 hours before the game he thinks Steph is sick he looked under the weather in the pre game shootaround.
Nobody has said that's true and kerr said he didn't see it but he just never looked right last night. But much of that was due to Cleveland. They attack him on both ends trying to wear him down.

I agree with all of this except the "Lebron is still the best player". I think Curry is and I don't think it's close. Just because Lebron can still elevate 4 mediocre players doesn't mean he's the greatest unless you believe that elevating mediocre players is the end all. I don't. And I don't think he's ever really elevated 4 mediocre players either since he left for Miami although winning 2 games with that depleted squad was impressive. But really, we've seen that before, NBA teams often let up in the short term against wounded opponents.

I think there are teams that would play far better with Lebron added to the roster than Curry but I believe the reverse is also true. The goal is to outscore your opponent, no one contributes in that aspect as much as Curry does right now (as in, this season, not this moment). I don't know who I'd tab as the greatest player if this was still the Lebron of 5 years ago but today's Lebron is only about 75% of that player and Curry is just better.

Switch the two and with Curry on the Cavs they probably make it to the finals and perhaps win. But with Lebron in his place on the Warriors, they don't get past OKC IMO. And they wouldn't have fared well against the Spurs or a healthy Clippers team either. JMO.

 

[SO91]

Sure but they're different. LeBron has been in 6 straight finals the last 2 on teams he basically took by himself, he took the Cavs there before by himself(and got swept).

Steph is a great player but he's not going to carry the Warriors to a title by himself, they have steadily improved due to great drafting and signing of key players by the front office and then good coaching decisions(can Mark Jackson).

Steph is great but you can't put Steph with 4 stiffs and win 55 games, you can with LeBron James.

I wasn't trying to compare and contrast the two players, merely commenting on the perception and treatment in the media of current superstars. I enjoy watching the Warriors, and that includes Steph. He had a horrible game 1 in the OKC series. Played poorly in the 4th qtr and they lost a game they shouldn't have. If the roles were reversed and another superstar had been in that position and played that way, they would have been ripped. Happened to KD later on in the series, as a matter of fact.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I wasn't trying to compare and contrast the two players, merely commenting on the perception and treatment in the media of current superstars. I enjoy watching the Warriors, and that includes Steph. He had a horrible game 1 in the OKC series. Played poorly in the 4th qtr and they lost a game they shouldn't have. If the roles were reversed and another superstar had been in that position and played that way, they would have been ripped. Happened to KD later on in the series, as a matter of fact.

Not really the same, one is injured (or recovering) the other tends to go away from team ball at the worst moments. I don't think there's any doubt that Lebron would have been ripped to shreds but I'm not sure there's ever been a more polarizing great than James. He has an incredible army of blind supporters and yet there is a large group of detractors that continue to try and hold him to a standard that the greats of the past would have struggled to measure up to.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Switch the two and with Curry on the Cavs they probably make it to the finals and perhaps win. But with Lebron in his place on the Warriors, they don't get past OKC IMO. And they wouldn't have fared well against the Spurs or a healthy Clippers team either. JMO.

I'm a Curry fan FWIW... but man I think the above is a bigtime stretch. Of course, here on a message board it's fun for us to toss around these hypotheticals... But while I believe Curry is one of the best shooters the game has ever seen, I don't see him nearly as being as complete of a player as is Lebron. James can literally play all 5 positions... and play the at a high level. Curry can't. And I believe James is simply better at making the other guys on the floor better. I think this post season has shown that the Warriors don't need Curry to be even average in order for them to win...

 

[SO91]

Not really the same, one is injured (or recovering) the other tends to go away from team ball at the worst moments. I don't think there's any doubt that Lebron would have been ripped to shreds but I'm not sure there's ever been a more polarizing great than James. He has an incredible army of blind supporters and yet there is a large group of detractors that continue to try and hold him to a standard that the greats of the past would have struggled to measure up to.

I wasn't referring to why they played poorly, but rather the way each were treated by the talking-heads after playing poorly. Poor shooting and/or taking terrible shots when they weren't falling by both players and the narrative was completely different in the series.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm a Curry fan FWIW... but man I think the above is a bigtime stretch. Of course, here on a message board it's fun for us to toss around these hypotheticals... But while I believe Curry is one of the best shooters the game has ever seen, I don't see him nearly as being as complete of a player as is Lebron. James can literally play all 5 positions... and play the at a high level. Curry can't. And I believe James is simply better at making the other guys on the floor better. I think this post season has shown that the Warriors don't need Curry to be even average in order for them to win...

I think the postseason has shown quite the opposite. The Warriors are a good team without him but they've already lost 6 games (out of 20) with him out or playing at less than 100% and it would have been far worse if he hadn't played at all. Healthy they only lost 9 games all season, that's a huge difference and you can't explain it away by saying it's the playoffs and opponents are tougher because history says dominant teams dominate in the postseason too (barring injury etc).

I agree that James is more versatile but it's a huge stretch to say he can play all 5 positions. He can function in most roles for a very short stretch but he can't really play the point and he can't even pretend to play the shooting guard position. Maybe several years ago before he changed his body to handle the contact but not today.

And I'm not sure Lebron is flat out better at making his teammates better, look at Bosh and Love and players like that. He's capable of making some players better but he also takes away from some. He's an all time great but if today's Lebron was the best he's ever been, he wouldn't even be in the top 10 and probably not even the top 20 conversation IMO.

 

[nashman]

To be fair James plays in the pathetic east! Curry on the Cavs with same roster dominate the east. If the Cavs team played all the west teams all year they don't win as many games. GS is the superior team imo and it's not the close, Cleveland got away with physical play that should have been called. Curry shot I believe they said his first FT of the series last night lol, apparently they just don't foul curry which is a total joke if you watch how much they hit him! GS knows they just want to win one in Cleveland imo and the Cavs were playing for their lives and the refs let them do it. GS will adjust they had an off night primarily because of the physical play, the cheap shot on Thompson was pretty bad as well. They playing like the Spurs trying to slow it down and rough you up, we shall see if the refs decide to call it straight Friday. If they let them play that physical if I'm Kerr I start knocking kyrie and smith around the same as they are Curry, they cannot beat you with just Lebron. Kyrie and JR have to show up big for them to have a chance and let's face it they had a great night everything kyrie threw up was going in. I would have to Curry is the best player in the NBA and has proven it all year! Yeah he's had a few off games, but they also just came back from a 3-1 deficit against a very tough OKC team and he was huge in that series. The Cavs have had a cakewalk to the finals honestly. I expect to see a very focused GS Friday, Cavs had a hot start shooting over 71% in the first qtr last night to get out to huge lead that still almost got away from them. Their big three went off in the same game all playing about 40 min to win that game, they can't win this series like that imo. GS is superior and has depth and a coach that's smart enough to use it. I was laughing last night after Kerr went full bench late and they still had LBJ and Irving on the floor like they were so scared they played them nearly the whole game. Lue would have been roasted had one of his star had gotten injured in a game they were up 25 late and still had them on the floor.

 

[Russ Smith]

I agree with all of this except the "Lebron is still the best player". I think Curry is and I don't think it's close. Just because Lebron can still elevate 4 mediocre players doesn't mean he's the greatest unless you believe that elevating mediocre players is the end all. I don't. And I don't think he's ever really elevated 4 mediocre players either since he left for Miami although winning 2 games with that depleted squad was impressive. But really, we've seen that before, NBA teams often let up in the short term against wounded opponents.

I think there are teams that would play far better with Lebron added to the roster than Curry but I believe the reverse is also true. The goal is to outscore your opponent, no one contributes in that aspect as much as Curry does right now (as in, this season, not this moment). I don't know who I'd tab as the greatest player if this was still the Lebron of 5 years ago but today's Lebron is only about 75% of that player and Curry is just better.

Switch the two and with Curry on the Cavs they probably make it to the finals and perhaps win. But with Lebron in his place on the Warriors, they don't get past OKC IMO. And they wouldn't have fared well against the Spurs or a healthy Clippers team either. JMO.

I think there's a big difference between and 82 game season and best of 7.

Over 82 games I'd take Steph. over 7 games I'd take LeBron.

that gap is narrowing as LeBron gets older and Steph keeps improving.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm a Curry fan FWIW... but man I think the above is a bigtime stretch. Of course, here on a message board it's fun for us to toss around these hypotheticals... But while I believe Curry is one of the best shooters the game has ever seen, I don't see him nearly as being as complete of a player as is Lebron. James can literally play all 5 positions... and play the at a high level. Curry can't. And I believe James is simply better at making the other guys on the floor better. I think this post season has shown that the Warriors don't need Curry to be even average in order for them to win...

part of my comment can be explained easily like this. LeBron can guard Curry and do a reasonable job on him but Steph can't guard Lebron. I know that's a dumb way to evaluate it but that's part of it.

I'm also contradicting myself because I saw Steph quite often in college and he outright DID keep a team of 4 stiffs and himself in games. UCLA played him with Love and Westbrook and I think Davidson had like a 19 point lead in the first half, UCLA eventually wore them down and Steph had a tough shooting game but UCLA basically had Collison, and Westbrook guarding him the whole game. He did the same thing in the NCAA's against Kansas keeping a totally overmatched team in the game against the eventual national champs that year(if I have my years right).

But the NBA is a different beast.

Great player, love the guy, but I don't think his peak is what LeBron's peak was.

 

[Russ Smith]

To be fair James plays in the pathetic east! Curry on the Cavs with same roster dominate the east. If the Cavs team played all the west teams all year they don't win as many games. GS is the superior team imo and it's not the close, Cleveland got away with physical play that should have been called. Curry shot I believe they said his first FT of the series last night lol, apparently they just don't foul curry which is a total joke if you watch how much they hit him! GS knows they just want to win one in Cleveland imo and the Cavs were playing for their lives and the refs let them do it. GS will adjust they had an off night primarily because of the physical play, the cheap shot on Thompson was pretty bad as well. They playing like the Spurs trying to slow it down and rough you up, we shall see if the refs decide to call it straight Friday. If they let them play that physical if I'm Kerr I start knocking kyrie and smith around the same as they are Curry, they cannot beat you with just Lebron. Kyrie and JR have to show up big for them to have a chance and let's face it they had a great night everything kyrie threw up was going in. I would have to Curry is the best player in the NBA and has proven it all year! Yeah he's had a few off games, but they also just came back from a 3-1 deficit against a very tough OKC team and he was huge in that series. The Cavs have had a cakewalk to the finals honestly. I expect to see a very focused GS Friday, Cavs had a hot start shooting over 71% in the first qtr last night to get out to huge lead that still almost got away from them. Their big three went off in the same game all playing about 40 min to win that game, they can't win this series like that imo. GS is superior and has depth and a coach that's smart enough to use it. I was laughing last night after Kerr went full bench late and they still had LBJ and Irving on the floor like they were so scared they played them nearly the whole game. Lue would have been roasted had one of his star had gotten injured in a game they were up 25 late and still had them on the floor.

The foul thing bugs me too, Curry has 4 FT'as in 3 complete games. yes he shoots lots of 3's but he averaged just over 5 FTA's per game all year and has been over 4 the last 3 full seasons so averaging 1.3 PG is a big dropoff.

But much of that is Cleveland basically saying you are not going to beat us we're going to make you give the ball up. He has to stop trying to go wide to the sidelines and drive the middle which is what he did in the 3rd quarter that worked a bit. The help is still there but there's no sideline to worry about.

With the current Cleveland lineup Thompson adn LeBron are their best rim protectors so when they overplay that much, he has to be willing to attack the rim and try to finish or draw the foul.

 

[AzStevenCal]

part of my comment can be explained easily like this. LeBron can guard Curry and do a reasonable job on him but Steph can't guard Lebron. I know that's a dumb way to evaluate it but that's part of it.

I'm also contradicting myself because I saw Steph quite often in college and he outright DID keep a team of 4 stiffs and himself in games. UCLA played him with Love and Westbrook and I think Davidson had like a 19 point lead in the first half, UCLA eventually wore them down and Steph had a tough shooting game but UCLA basically had Collison, and Westbrook guarding him the whole game. He did the same thing in the NCAA's against Kansas keeping a totally overmatched team in the game against the eventual national champs that year(if I have my years right).

But the NBA is a different beast.

Great player, love the guy, but I don't think his peak is what LeBron's peak was.

I agree but IMO we have yet to see Curry's peak and for Lebron it's just a memory. One is on the way up and the other is watching him pass him by. I'm quite sure that Curry will not have the career that Lebron will have had but his his best season will rival anyone's greatest IMO.

Lebron is still good enough to be the second best player but the margin is disappearing. I do agree that Lebron can come much closer to guarding Curry than the other way around. I just don't think it defines greatness in any way. And I don't believe that today's Lebron could guard a fully healthy Curry. He'd be more effective than Steph would on James but both would get burned IMO.

 

[Ronin]

Jason Lloyd
‏@JasonLloydABJ
Kevin Love expected to be cleared in time to play Friday and will likely come off the bench. Story: http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland...of-nba-finals-likely-in-a-bench-role-1.689321 …

 

[Cheesebeef]

True but who has ever suggested Steph is a LeBron type all time player? LeBron is like top 5 all time. Steph is a great player, quite likely a HOF player but I don't think anybody thinks he's a top 5 or even top 10 alltime player right now his peak is really about 3 years right now after all the ankle injuries.

come on... Steph is now a 2-time MVP, first time UNANIMOUS MVP, for a team on it's way to a back to back title run, including the best record of all time. People were DEFINITELY starting to ask where Steph ranks amongst the all-time greats and he's a shoe in for the HOF.

He's getting off WAYYYYYY easy right now and got off pretty easy last year for a ho-hum Finals performance. If that was LeBron he'd be getting crushed.

 

[Russ Smith]

come on... Steph is now a 2-time MVP, first time UNANIMOUS MVP, for a team on it's way to a back to back title run, including the best record of all time. People were DEFINITELY starting to ask where Steph ranks amongst the all-time greats and he's a shoe in for the HOF.

He's getting off WAYYYYYY easy right now and got off pretty easy last year for a ho-hum Finals performance. If that was LeBron he'd be getting crushed.

The closest I've seen to that is people asking how he ranks compared to Isiah Thomas the original and most seemed to say he's behind him and needs to go back to back titles with a few more big years to push Zeke.

I think Thomas was a great player but he certainly doesn't rank in my top 5 or even close, maybe not even top 10 I'd have to think about it.

People tend to add "shooter" when ranking Steph. Best shooter of all time(I agree), I really don't hear people say all time top X player.

I'd have to even think who my tops would be to be honest. Jordan Magic, Kareem, Wilt(never saw him) Russell(never saw him), Bird. no real order other than Jordan first.

Steph needs to play better that's for sure and that's what essentially every article on last nights game says, Steph needs to step it up.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I think the postseason has shown quite the opposite. The Warriors are a good team without him but they've already lost 6 games (out of 20) with him out or playing at less than 100% and it would have been far worse if he hadn't played at all. Healthy they only lost 9 games all season, that's a huge difference and you can't explain it away by saying it's the playoffs and opponents are tougher because history says dominant teams dominate in the postseason too (barring injury etc).

I agree that James is more versatile but it's a huge stretch to say he can play all 5 positions. He can function in most roles for a very short stretch but he can't really play the point and he can't even pretend to play the shooting guard position. Maybe several years ago before he changed his body to handle the contact but not today.

And I'm not sure Lebron is flat out better at making his teammates better, look at Bosh and Love and players like that. He's capable of making some players better but he also takes away from some. He's an all time great but if today's Lebron was the best he's ever been, he wouldn't even be in the top 10 and probably not even the top 20 conversation IMO.

I think Russ summed it up best I guess... Lebron's peak is higher than Steph's peak.
For me, when I think about Lebron I think about the myriad ways he can help a team win...Scoring, Rebounding, Defense, Dishing, Leadership... When I think about Steph, I think about shooting/scoring...
If you were to look at their career stats, other than assists per game where they are dead-even at 6.9, Lebron blows away Steph in PPG, RBG and even shooting %.
I don't see Steph as being the type of leader that inspires and fires up his team in the way that James does.
And I still say that I think it's easier to see the Warriors in the finals without Steph, than it is with either the Heat or the Cavs without James. The Heat and Cavs - IMHO, would not have made it to the finals and in the case of the Heat, they wouldn't have won a Championship, without Lebron...But I can honestly see a Warriors team contending, maybe not winning a Championship but definitely contending all the way to the finals, without Steph.... Again, it's all conjecture I know. But I truly don't see Steph being anywhere near the total package of a player that James is, or that Jordan, Magic and Bird were...

 

[82CardsGrad]

come on... Steph is now a 2-time MVP, first time UNANIMOUS MVP, for a team on it's way to a back to back title run, including the best record of all time. People were DEFINITELY starting to ask where Steph ranks amongst the all-time greats and he's a shoe in for the HOF.

He's getting off WAYYYYYY easy right now and got off pretty easy last year for a ho-hum Finals performance. If that was LeBron he'd be getting crushed.

Why do you think he's getting off so easy?? I believe it's because people still just don't see him on the same level as Lebron, or ever Durant and Westbrook for that matter. People don't see him as being as multi-dimensional as the other three. And people know that shooters will have their off-nights. And since I believe most people see Steph as little more than a shooter, as prolific as he is, he's prone to have a few off nights as do all shooters...

 

[Russ Smith]

I think Russ summed it up best I guess... Lebron's peak is higher than Steph's peak.
For me, when I think about Lebron I think about the myriad ways he can help a team win...Scoring, Rebounding, Defense, Dishing, Leadership... When I think about Steph, I think about shooting/scoring...
If you were to look at their career stats, other than assists per game where they are dead-even at 6.9, Lebron blows away Steph in PPG, RBG and even shooting %.
I don't see Steph as being the type of leader that inspires and fires up his team in the way that James does.
And I still say that I think it's easier to see the Warriors in the finals without Steph, than it is with either the Heat or the Cavs without James. The Heat and Cavs - IMHO, would not have made it to the finals and in the case of the Heat, they wouldn't have won a Championship, without Lebron...But I can honestly see a Warriors team contending, maybe not winning a Championship but definitely contending all the way to the finals, without Steph.... Again, it's all conjecture I know. But I truly don't see Steph being anywhere near the total package of a player that James is, or that Jordan, Magic and Bird were...

I would dispute hte shooting part. Saying LeBron blows away Steph in shooting % is like talking about batting average instead of OBP or SLG. Steph career .477 LeBron .498 but add in threes and Steph is .444 and LeBron is .340 and FT's aren't even close. Overall Shooting it's Steph, now if you look at say Win Shares, Steph's career best was 17.9 this year, LeBron has topped that 3 times and did it in a 5 year period.

Both great players I just think all time lists LeBron is there and Steph is on his way there.

 

[Russ Smith]

Why do you think he's getting off so easy?? I believe it's because people still just don't see him on the same level as Lebron, or ever Durant and Westbrook for that matter. People don't see him as being as multi-dimensional as the other three. And people know that shooters will have their off-nights. And since I believe most people see Steph as little more than a shooter, as prolific as he is, he's prone to have a few off nights as do all shooters...

Lots of reasons IMO. He looks like he's 12 so people love him. He seems to be a nice guy so people love him. The Warriors are such a fun team to watch etc.

That said if you google Steph Curry right now most of the links are what's wrong with the MVP, Steph needs to get it going etc. Even Stephen A and Bayless went after him today.

But I think in general his lack of size works to his advantage people don't see him as this freak of talent so they are more lenient of him.

If the Warriors win this series and he gets it going he'll be fine. If they win but he doesn't get it going there will be questions. If they lose this series I think he'll take some heat and rightly so.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Lots of reasons IMO. He looks like he's 12 so people love him. He seems to be a nice guy so people love him. The Warriors are such a fun team to watch etc.

That said if you google Steph Curry right now most of the links are what's wrong with the MVP, Steph needs to get it going etc. Even Stephen A and Bayless went after him today.

But I think in general his lack of size works to his advantage people don't see him as this freak of talent so they are more lenient of him.

If the Warriors win this series and he gets it going he'll be fine. If they win but he doesn't get it going there will be questions. If they lose this series I think he'll take some heat and rightly so.

this all makes sense.

 

[sunsfan88]

Switch the two and with Curry on the Cavs they probably make it to the finals and perhaps win. But with Lebron in his place on the Warriors, they don't get past OKC IMO. And they wouldn't have fared well against the Spurs or a healthy Clippers team either. JMO.

Curry's probably my most favorite player in the league right now but damn I couldn't disagree with this more. LeBron with Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Igoudala and a competent bench wouldn't get past OKC or healthy Clippers? No way, LeBron's squad would win in 6 games or less.

 

[Russ Smith]

Interesting stat from ESPN this morning. 3 games, with Bogut on the court Warriors are -19, with him on the bench they are plus 37. he's only played 44 minutes I think they said but still pretty compelling evidence to go back to iggy more.

I've been saying for a couple of weeks with him in there they have to change the "geometry" on offense. Teams are overplaying Steph and Klay so much that when they do pass the ball to Bogut he's 1-2 dribbles away from the basket and Bogut is a 1 dribble finisher. if he can get to the rim and dunk in 1 dribble he will, if it takes 2 he won't get there he'll get cut off and he usually responds with a flip shot or hook that doesn't go in. So they need to start the offense 1 dribble closer so that when he catches the ball, he's within scoring range.

Game 3 Cleveland wouldn't let the warriors do that.

On Curry while I fully agree he's not playing well I should add one point people seem to be missing. 3 games he's played 36, 25 and 31 minutes. He's playing less minutes because all 3 games have been blowouts. He's averaging 16PPG which is way under his norm but he's playing about 5 MPG less as well. Doesn't explain the huge dropoff but Curry is a flurry type scorer that will get 18-20 in a 6 minutes when hot but with the 3 blowouts he hasn't really had a chance to do that.

I expect Kerr to play him more tonight unless he's in foul trouble.

 

[chickenhead]

Its easy for me to see why Steph is getting off "easier" than Lebron. Everything about their presence and perception is different. Curry was not expected to be this good. He plays for the team that drafted him. He's the best player on the team but he doesn't run the team the way Lebron runs his (and his organization in Cleveland). Meanwhile Lebron was anointed the next Jordan, and the scrutiny follows that. I'm sure a lot of it is unwanted and maybe undeserved, but he has also called himself the best player on the planet, and the best player on the planet is supposed to win. He doesn't want to be compared unfavorably to Jordan, yet he's the one who suggested he would exceed Jordan's number of titles in Miami. Frankly, I just don't think Curry has demanded as much, and on his own terms, as Lebron.

 

[Russ Smith]

Its easy for me to see why Steph is getting off "easier" than Lebron. Everything about their presence and perception is different. Curry was not expected to be this good. He plays for the team that drafted him. He's the best player on the team but he doesn't run the team the way Lebron runs his (and his organization in Cleveland). Meanwhile Lebron was anointed the next Jordan, and the scrutiny follows that. I'm sure a lot of it is unwanted and maybe undeserved, but he has also called himself the best player on the planet, and the best player on the planet is supposed to win. He doesn't want to be compared unfavorably to Jordan, yet he's the one who suggested he would exceed Jordan's number of titles in Miami. Frankly, I just don't think Curry has demanded as much, and on his own terms, as Lebron.

Yeah that's actually a great point and someone made it on ESPN a few minutes ago too. LeBron was "next" when he was 14 years old. Steph wound up at Davidson because nobody recruited him even though his dad was an NBA player. So the expectations were totally different.

 

[SO91]

Interesting stat from ESPN this morning. 3 games, with Bogut on the court Warriors are -19, with him on the bench they are plus 37. he's only played 44 minutes I think they said but still pretty compelling evidence to go back to iggy more.

I've been saying for a couple of weeks with him in there they have to change the "geometry" on offense. Teams are overplaying Steph and Klay so much that when they do pass the ball to Bogut he's 1-2 dribbles away from the basket and Bogut is a 1 dribble finisher. if he can get to the rim and dunk in 1 dribble he will, if it takes 2 he won't get there he'll get cut off and he usually responds with a flip shot or hook that doesn't go in. So they need to start the offense 1 dribble closer so that when he catches the ball, he's within scoring range.

Game 3 Cleveland wouldn't let the warriors do that.

On Curry while I fully agree he's not playing well I should add one point people seem to be missing. 3 games he's played 36, 25 and 31 minutes. He's playing less minutes because all 3 games have been blowouts. He's averaging 16PPG which is way under his norm but he's playing about 5 MPG less as well. Doesn't explain the huge dropoff but Curry is a flurry type scorer that will get 18-20 in a 6 minutes when hot but with the 3 blowouts he hasn't really had a chance to do that.

I expect Kerr to play him more tonight unless he's in foul trouble.

He's scoring way under his season average while playing 4mpg less than the regular season. The lack of scoring and worse shooting is disappointing, but I think the biggest issue I have is his overall game has gone to crap as well. He has more TO's than assists right now for the series. Other than acting as a decoy when he runs off screens, he's not affecting the game all that much when his shooting is off like it's been.