Well this series is over
Comments
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Great post. I have share the same thoughts....If LeBron pulls this off then he needs to be put in the discussion with MJ for greatest ever. He's basically playing with a bunch of scrubs. And no, I doubt Jordan wins without those two.2001400ex said:I don't think Cleveland wins the series mostly from a depth standpoint. But if they do, Lebron is the man. Would Jordan have won the championship if Pippen and Rodman were injured during the playoffs? Maybe, maybe not. I know there's zero chance of Kobe winning if he lost Shaq or Gasol.
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Lebron is not playing with a bunch of scrubs like he was in 07 or last year (with a hobbled Wade). He's playing with an excellent defensive team and rebounding team. Thompson and Mozgov are very effective. He has the shooters to provide some offense as well as Mozgov. Lebron is also playing better so far compared to the other finals. Certainly this team is worse than any team MJ played on.NeedleInTheSky88 said:
Great post. I have share the same thoughts....If LeBron pulls this off then he needs to be put in the discussion with MJ for greatest ever. He's basically playing with a bunch of scrubs. And no, I doubt Jordan wins without those two.2001400ex said:I don't think Cleveland wins the series mostly from a depth standpoint. But if they do, Lebron is the man. Would Jordan have won the championship if Pippen and Rodman were injured during the playoffs? Maybe, maybe not. I know there's zero chance of Kobe winning if he lost Shaq or Gasol.
Where Lebron loses to MJ is he isn't as clutch. He is 0-2 in chances to win the game. If he was more clutch they'd be up 2-0 and he'd probably be 3/5 in the Finals. Thats whats missing.
The next few years could be interesting. Cavs have a lot of good pieces and the East is a train wreck. If the Cavs could steal this Finals Lebron might be able to win 5. 6 for 6 is obviously better than 5 for 8 but Lebron has to get credit for getting to the Finals three other times. Just getting to the Finals in 16 and 17 would mean 7 years in a row. -
We've watched 106 minutes and about 100 of them have been played at the Cavs pace. It's 1-1 with both teams thinking it could be 2-0 their way. Golden State doesn't have to play fast but if they let Cleveland dictate the pace the rest of the way the Cavs have a real shot. At a fast pace Cleveland has no shot.
Can the Warriors force the issue or are they content to try to beat Cleveland at their own game? The shooting percentages are not a fluke and are because both teams are playing hard defense. You beat a fighter by taking his legs out with body punches. That's why Lebron is a volume shooter. The percentage isn't as important as the time he takes off the clock, the fouls he puts on GS, and the grind he turns the game into. He had one of the great shooting seasons in history last year. He's playing a different game this year.
You can talk about Curry getting hot but what if Lebron has a couple of hot shooting games? The Cleveland others are going home and we have Smith, Shumpert, Jones, and even Miller that can go insane for a night and light it up.
This is a long way from over. Everyone on Cleveland knows their role and they have seen it work. The collar is only going to get tighter on GS.
There is no more mystique or aura about the Warriors. It's just basketball now and Cleveland has the best player in the world putting up amazing lines.
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The pace is a good point. Isolating LeBron slows the game down and limits Golden State's transition opportunities.
Golden State was #1 in defensive efficiency this season. Their defense isn't going anywhere. Curry went 5-23 and they lost in OT. Barnes and Green had under 10 in regulation. It's easy to see where they will get more in future games.
I could be wrong, but this is an overreaction. Golden State lost two games against Memphis in the same way and obliterated them the final 3. -
This is exactly what I was about to poast. The first two games were carbon copies of the Memphis series. Scrappy guard plays some great defense and the road team pulls an upset in game two (Tony Allen/Dellevedova), GS plays like crap in both games and looks like they don't have what it takes.RoadDawg55 said:The pace is a good point. Isolating LeBron slows the game down and limits Golden State's transition opportunities.
Golden State was #1 in defensive efficiency this season. Their defense isn't going anywhere. Curry went 5-23 and they lost in OT. Barnes and Green had under 10 in regulation. It's easy to see where they will get more in future games.
I could be wrong, but this is an overreaction. Golden State lost two games against Memphis in the same way and obliterated them the final 3.
Obviously the big difference here is Cleveland has LeBron and Memphis didn't, but Memphis had a legitimately great defense and GS torched them the final three games anyway. I don't think Cleveland's defense is as good as Memphis'. Bron will keep them from getting run off the court, but Cleveland just doesn't have the depth or the scorers it's going to neeed to win this series. Warriors still win it in 6.
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Your source is Memphis?
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The pace point is great ... and what Cleveland is doing by having LBJ milk the clock has clear advantages above and beyond the offensive end of the court due to controlling the pace and transition opportunities.
Anybody that is talking about the transition 3's that GS is shooting and saying that they are forcing shots by doing that is FS. First, that's their game. Second, with the way Cleveland is doing that, the best opportunities for Curry/Thompson to get clean looks from 3 are in transition. In Game 2, they didn't go in. That's been an aberration for most of the season. It happened I believe once or twice in the Memphis series. But these guys are GREAT shooters and they'll bounce back from it because that's what they do. They will also find a way to create additional opportunities taking advantage of Cleveland's defensive aggressiveness to turn it against them. Essentially what Cleveland is saying is that they will be damned if Curry (and to a lesser extent Thompson) beats them. GS has enough other pieces that they can exploit the additional open space and be successful.
Shooters need rhythm and GS has played what 2 games in the last 10+ days? I expect as this series continues into more of a rhythm, the shooting will improve as a result. -
Memphis' D is not as good as Cavs and Cavs with Lebron definitely have a better playoff offense.
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dnc said:
That's.RoadDawg55 said:
Obviously the big difference here is Cleveland has LeBron and Memphis didn't, but Memphis had a legitimately great defense and GS torched them the final three games anyway. I don't think Cleveland's defense is as good as Memphis'. Bron will keep them from getting run off the court, but Cleveland just doesn't have the depth or the scorers it's going to neeed to win this series. Warriors still win it in 6.
The whole.
Point.
Get ready for three more games of Magic playing center. -
Cleveland was 20th in defensive efficiency, Memphis was 4th. And those numbers aren't even adjusted for competition, so Cleveland was actually worse than that since they play in the dreckfest east.HeretoBeatmyChest said:Memphis' D is not as good as Cavs and Cavs with Lebron definitely have a better playoff offense.
Even if you say they improved after trading for Shumpert and with Bron not mailing it in in the playoffs, they're nowhere near as good as Memphis defensively.
