OT: NBA Finals: Cavs v. Warriors

[sunsfan88]

https://twitter.com/cavsdan/status/608326204324777984

 

[Russ Smith]

no. I still expect GS to win, probably in 7 now. I just can't believe LeBron can keep this ridiculousness up. He's incredible but he's freaking Atlas right now, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Eventually, he's going to shrug.

I am hoping this is true but I am worried that it's been 3 full games now and the Warriors have not figured out how to consistently score, and how to deal with LeBron.

The whole Cleveland offense is give him the ball 10 seconds or under and let him go to work and the Warriors can't stop it.

Just a remarkable 3 games from LeBron

 

[Russ Smith]

Yeah, I agree with this.

For all the talk about the Cavs awesome D, and they HAVE played very tough, the Warriors really missed a lot of open shots they will normally do much better with in both games 2 and 3. Especially in the first half tonight. If they make about half of those they win both games pretty easily and this series is a rout.

I'm starting to wonder how much of that is just missing shots, and how much of that is they're shell shocked.

 

[Russ Smith]

What goes around comes around...

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/6/...w-dellavedova-dive-into-draymond-greens-knees

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cavs-guard-matthew-dellavedova-hospitalized-cramps-061916275--spt.html

That's the play I mentioned during the game, Green tried to trip Delly at the end of the play too. Live I thought it was a good screen, on replay it looks like Green might have been a bit too aggressive with it where it could have been a foul but yeah the guy clearly took Green down intentionally.

There was a play later where he "fell" backwards into Curry that so pissed off Curry after the play he ran the whole length of the court and shoved him and then hit him with an elbow to the chest, you just don't see that.

There was another play where during an inbounds KLay was setting a screen on him to free up Curry and Delly did that exact thing ,he just "got lower" and went right at Klay's legs. He wasn't quite as low but Klay just got lower it was like an OL trying to cut block a NT who then gets down to protect his legs. He's in their heads now it's pretty obvious.

But the guy has been amazing, he plays so hard.

 

[Absolute Zero]

Doubling Lebron leaves jump shooters open all over the floor. You can't leave JR Smith, James Jones, Della, or Mike Miller wide open. Press him at half court to get the ball out of his hands and force him to go left.

They have other people to bring the ball up, so pressing Lebron at half court isn't a complete solution. Maybe its part of it.

I think they have to at least try trapping and doubling him, perhaps on alternating possessions to mix it up. Guarding him 1 on 1 isn't working. Sure, they will give up some 3's, but the missed 3's may also yield long rebounds and more fast break opportunities.

I would also mix up the starting line up, starting Iguodala in place of Barnes, and finding a way to get David Lee more minutes. Have Iguodala be agressive offensively to make Lebron work hard on defense.

They have to try something, what they are doing now is not working. They are lucky that they are not down 0-3.

 

[TJ]

They have other people to bring the ball up, so pressing Lebron at half court isn't a complete solution. Maybe its part of it.

I think they have to at least try trapping and doubling him, perhaps on alternating possessions to mix it up. Guarding him 1 on 1 isn't working. Sure, they will give up some 3's, but the missed 3's may also yield long rebounds and more fast break opportunities.

I would also mix up the starting line up, starting Iguodala in place of Barnes, and finding a way to get David Lee more minutes. Have Iguodala be agressive offensively to make Lebron work hard on defense.

They have to try something, what they are doing now is not working. They are lucky that they are not down 0-3.

The problem with doubling Lebron is he's such a good distributor and has elite court vision that he knows where his teammates are at all times and can find them. If doubling Lebron were effective, everyone would do it. The problem is that GS doesnt have a Kawai Leonard or DeSean Stephenson on its team to neutralize him. Iggy is a good defender, but can only manage Lebron for so long.

It's the Kobe/Jordan blueprint. You have to live with what they're going to get because there's really nothing you can do; they're just too talented. The key to beating a team with an elite player is to neutralize everyone else. In this case, Dellavedova stepped up, got 20, and that's all she wrote. GS needs to figure out how to keep Delly from going off.

By doubling Lebron, you increase the chance of his teammates contributing. Also, Lebron knows when teams are coming at him with a double team, and he is usually quick to get rid of it and move around.

I do agree that David Lee should play more. Barnes is a non-factor and probably should be relegated to the end of the bench.

 

[Cheesebeef]

That's the play I mentioned during the game, Green tried to trip Delly at the end of the play too. Live I thought it was a good screen, on replay it looks like Green might have been a bit too aggressive with it where it could have been a foul but yeah the guy clearly took Green down intentionally.

There was a play later where he "fell" backwards into Curry that so pissed off Curry after the play he ran the whole length of the court and shoved him and then hit him with an elbow to the chest, you just don't see that.

There was another play where during an inbounds KLay was setting a screen on him to free up Curry and Delly did that exact thing ,he just "got lower" and went right at Klay's legs. He wasn't quite as low but Klay just got lower it was like an OL trying to cut block a NT who then gets down to protect his legs. He's in their heads now it's pretty obvious.

But the guy has been amazing, he plays so hard.

yup... the dude is basically the poor man's version of Danny Ainge at this point. LOVE him if he's on your side... HATE him if he's on the team.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think this series just shows how much of what happens in the finals is mental. GS is the better team, but they are newbies to the big stage. Cleveland's big stage experience rests with LeBron, but LeBron is all that matters for Cleveland anyway.

I am no fan of LeBron, but mentally, he is much better prepared to perform at this level. He has already had his failures and victories, so he can just focus.

I was absolutely confident GS was going to win this series. But I do not think so now. Their body language says they have lost already.

On the bright side. Every victory makes Kevin Love less relevent for Cleveland. He is not the darling of NBA free agents now, since Cleveland seems to be as good with Tristan Thompson as with Kevin Love at pf.

 

[elindholm]

I think this series just shows how much of what happens in the finals is mental. GS is the better team, but they are newbies to the big stage. Cleveland's big stage experience rests with LeBron, but LeBron is all that matters for Cleveland anyway.

I am no fan of LeBron, but mentally, he is much better prepared to perform at this level. He has already had his failures and victories, so he can just focus.

Well stated. And I think that losing Love and Irving has really been a blessing in disguise, because now James doesn't have to figure out when he's supposed to be deferring to a fellow star -- something he has never been comfortable with the balance of.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Well stated. And I think that losing Love and Irving has really been a blessing in disguise, because now James doesn't have to figure out when he's supposed to be deferring to a fellow star -- something he has never been comfortable with the balance of.

Maybe, but moving forward, do you think he could do this all season next year? LeBron is probably best off with ONE star next to him and the best role players money can buy. I just don't think he could take THIS version of the Cavs back to these heights without having a little help.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I think this series just shows how much of what happens in the finals is mental. GS is the better team, but they are newbies to the big stage. Cleveland's big stage experience rests with LeBron, but LeBron is all that matters for Cleveland anyway.

I am no fan of LeBron, but mentally, he is much better prepared to perform at this level. He has already had his failures and victories, so he can just focus.

I was absolutely confident GS was going to win this series. But I do not think so now. Their body language says they have lost already.

On the bright side. Every victory makes Kevin Love less relevent for Cleveland. He is not the darling of NBA free agents now, since Cleveland seems to be as good with Tristan Thompson as with Kevin Love at pf.

I think the Cavs would be pretty foolish to give up on Love if they win the title. This is a SPECIAL run, but I don't think LeBron on his own out there with role players is a sustainable formula for long term success. At worst, they should be able to sign and trade Love for even better role players, but I think if they added him to this mix next season, with a full off-season, this team would be even better moving forward.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think the Cavs would be pretty foolish to give up on Love if they win the title. This is a SPECIAL run, but I don't think LeBron on his own out there with role players is a sustainable formula for long term success. At worst, they should be able to sign and trade Love for even better role players, but I think if they added him to this mix next season, with a full off-season, this team would be even better moving forward.

Maybe sign and trade him for, say, a PJ Tucker and picks?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Maybe sign and trade him for, say, a PJ Tucker and picks?

that would be great for us, but come on... they can do MUCH better then that.

 

[Russ Smith]

yup... the dude is basically the poor man's version of Danny Ainge at this point. LOVE him if he's on your side... HATE him if he's on the team.

he is the NBA version of ex USC player Daniel Hackett. The guy who was so irritating Bill Walker punched him in an AAU game in HS, and OJ Mayo waited 2 years and then as teammates at USC, Mayo punched him too breaking his jaw(they claimed it was an accidental elbow, Hackett has since confirmed it was a punch.)

Hackett was the same guy, actually a good player but he was borderline dirty all the time and everyone hated him. In a game against UCLA he tried to trip Darren Collison, pulled his shoe off, and then picked it up and threw it into the seats.

Matt Barnes was like that at UCLA and of course is still like that in the NBA.

I do think they need to be careful with him though, he's consistently getting people at the knees, someone is going to lose it and kill the guy. Too bad Kendrick Perkins is on the Cavs not the Warriors, he'd be the perfect guy to send in there to take out Delly.

 

[FArting]

http://www.foxsports.com/buzzer/sto...=608704446026006529&adbpl=tw&adbpr=2181233851

Check this out if you are a fan of Game of Thrones

 

[JCSunsfan]

that would be great for us, but come on... they can do MUCH better then that.

I guess it depends on which and how many picks.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I guess it depends on which and how many picks.

I really don't think it does. The Cavs can get a high lotto pick if they wanted for Love and we have nothing like that, including the wayyyyy too far in the future Miami picks who no one knows what they'll be and are too far off to help Cleveland during Bron's prime.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I really don't think it does. The Cavs can get a high lotto pick if they wanted for Love and we have nothing like that, including the wayyyyy too far in the future Miami picks who no one knows what they'll be and are too far off to help Cleveland during Bron's prime.

Only if Love wants to go, so that would leave--the Lakers, basically. Signing and trading unrestricted free agents is nothing like a regular trade. So all the "they could get more" comments do not really matter.

I am not really sure I would want Love at this point anyway.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Only if Love wants to go, so that would leave--the Lakers, basically. Signing and trading unrestricted free agents is nothing like a regular trade. So all the "they could get more" comments do not really matter.

why just the Lakers? Looks like the Celtics, SA and Hawks are apparently in the mix. and yes, sign and trade unrestricted isn't like a normal trade, but a) reports last year said Love has zero interest in us and b) we have incredibly mediocre assets to offer... unless we somehow threw Bledsoe into the mix, which might make their GM (aka LeBron) think about it.

bottom line... Love doesn't want to be here and unless we threw Bledsoe in the mix, our middle of the road draft picks don't mean squat.

 

[Russ Smith]

Side note, I hope they figure out who that woman was that yelled that at LeBron after game 2, and I hope they make sure she doesn't have tickets to any more games.

What a moron.

I've told this story before, years ago I took my ex girlfriends son to a Warriors game. They were terrible at the time so you could go down before the game and often get autographs. My favorite player at the time was Larry Hughes so we tried to get down before the game and get his autograph.

We're standing there with a group of people yelling at the players. Larry Hughes motions over to the stands and the security guards make way for this black kid to go out on the court. One of the guys behind me starts screaming oh sure take the black kid out there, plenty of other people have been waiting longer but he's black so he gets to go down there. I turned around and shot the guy a look and several of us down there told the guy "that black kid is Justin Hughes, Larry's younger brother you moron."

For those that don't remember the story Justin had a serious heart condition so Larry turned down all the big name colleges and went to St Louis to be near his brother, then turned pro early to get money to try and help his brother. IIRC the kid had surgery and got an artificial heart, but wound up passing away a few years later. So at the time this happened, Justin was being taken down on teh court by his big brother.

Even after people pointed it out the fan was still yelling and claiming racism until the security guards pulled him away. And keep in mind, this is BEFORE the game, how drunk can you get before a game, unless you were drunk before you got in.

People that think they can yell whatever they want at players because they bought a ticket make me nuts.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Side note, I hope they figure out who that woman was that yelled that at LeBron after game 2, and I hope they make sure she doesn't have tickets to any more games.

She's caught on video, so they can definitely pick her out of the crowd. I like how she suddenly lost her hearing when the security guy chastised her and said he would remember who she was. She was like "Sorry, I cannot hear you..." Yeah, right.

 

[Russ Smith]

She's caught on video, so they can definitely pick her out of the crowd. I like how she suddenly lost her hearing when the security guy chastised her and said he would remember who she was. She was like "Sorry, I cannot hear you..." Yeah, right.

Yeah I hope they never let her back in.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Hey, Russ...cheese... - is this a foul? (No foul called)

https://vine.co/v/eO5rWPx19Jp

 

[Russ Smith]

Hey, Russ...cheese... - is this a foul? (No foul called)

https://vine.co/v/eO5rWPx19Jp

I thought it was live but after seeing the replay I think the ref figured Curry had already mishandled the ball so at the point where LeBron slid into him, they were both in essence going after a loose ball. If curry has the ball in his hand it's a foul, but he's already gone behind his back and bobbled the dribble.

If there were any calls I'd complain about in that game involving LeBron I could name 3.

1) the one where he goes up, Iggy touches the ball but doesn't knock it loose, LeBron then "drops" the ball, catches it and goes back up and scores. The way it happened the only way that's legal is if Iggy knocks the ball clear out of his hands, he didn't. So it was either a travel or you could even argue a jump ball.

2) the block by LeBron on Ezeli's dunk attempt. they never showed a replay but live it looked like a foul and Ezeli is a pretty quiet guy and he reacted that it was a foul. But I haven't seen a replay so I don't know for sure.

3) 4th quarter drive LeBron lowers shoulder pushes Iggy back several feet and lays it in. It was literally like watching a football player push a blocking sled. I think the ref figured Iggy wasn't set, but you don't have to be set, if you're in front of the defender and you're both moving the same direction(him forward to the rim Iggy backward to the rim) you have the right to the ground you occupy.

But the Warriors got away with some plays too. Blatant walk by curry driving baseline cutoff by Mozgov. The hard screen by Green. There were a couple of balls I thought clearly went out off us they gave to us.

 

[Absolute Zero]

So is Kerr going to make some adjustments for tonight or what?