Cavs took one of the first two home games and have 3 of the next 4 at home, Golden State could be in some trouble. What an ugly game to watch though, brutal. The officiating down the stretch was so bad that some of these refs bank accounts should be looked into.
For everyone saying these games are ugly - that is 100% the Cavs' plan. They are doing everything they can to slow the game down and suck the air out of the building. It's their only chance.
LOLOLOLOL down the stretch the Cavs got screwed on a series of fairly major calls. And it's not like only Cavs fans are saying that: http://www.sbnation.com/2015/6/7/87...er-without-the-refs-doing-anything/in/8508162
Im sure even most Heat fans here will concede that, just a special one or two that have those blue n yellow goggles on tight.
As much as I like Melo, this is the fundamental difference between Anythony and James. Leadership. And that isnt a diss on Melo as much as it is a testament to James. What he is doing is one of the most remarkable things ive seen in sports.
Not leadership so much as skill set. LeBron is simply a much better Passer then Melo. But that still should help you understand why JR HAD to go. JR is such a knucklehead he nearly cost your cavs the game. I can't wait til Melo gets his supporting cast. You know, since he's never played with another star. I think a lot of people including you will be surprised at Melo's game and versatility. I don't think we've seen the best of him yet.
I'm not trying to be biased here as I'm probably the only Heat fan that has gone to bat for LeBron's jersey being raised up along side Wade & Bosh some day in appreciation of the era he brought to Miami Heat basketball. But my read on last night was that both teams played some pretty awful basketball. I didn't necessarily think the Cavs were forcing anything out of Golden State. I think Golden State just laid down a rotten egg in the Finals. Especially Steph Curry. I dunno, that was what I saw. I do find a series of tweets by Ethan Skolnick interesting though. Says that LeBron's supporters, people close to him, claim he's better than ever this year even though his efficiency numbers don't show it. Those same people used to tout the efficiency numbers though as proof that he's the best. Now they're switching the narrative to his "relentlessness".
I'm not sure what to believe, yet. The fact that the Warriors have had consecutive lousy games seems to indicate the Cavs are doing SOMETHING to force it. I think slowing down the pace the way the Cavs have has hurt the Warriors a bit. While everyone is freaking out about LeBron going ISO on every play - it has cut his TOs waaaaaay back and stopped the Warriors from getting in transition at all. I think this slow, half-court style is throwing off the Warriors' rhythm a bit and they're having trouble adjusting. I would assume they'll figure it out in the next game or two, tho.
LeBron traveled hard on the one blatant hack. The jump ball was a pretty *** call though. I had no problem with the no call at end of regulation tbh.
To clarify I'm not arguing the refs screwed the Cavs. I'm pushing back on the statement that every single call went in the Cavs' favor.
I think it's probably as simple as this being Steph Curry's first Finals. He's the league MVP, the Warriors will tend to go as he goes. He had kind of a C+ (for him) game in Game 1 and they won. He had a bad game last night and they lost. If he goes 3 of 15 from behind the arc instead of 2 of 15, they win. I've seen LeBron wilt up under the hot lights of the Finals before. Curry has to push through.
Eh - when both games come down to last second shots and overtime I have trouble just equating the wins to something like that. If Shumpert's shot is 2 inches deeper in game 1 this entire idea blows up. Same with if GS catches that rebound last night.
Miami was leading wire to wire in both games in San Antonio last year, won one of them..in the other..LeCramp-Gate happened and the Heat fell apart. An adjustment was made that was rather obvious. Same thing will occur here. Kerr used his small-ball lineup to win Game 1. Used it go on a 15-4 run to send game 2 into OT. Same exact thing happened in the Memphis series. Kerr made the same adjustment. He will do it again here. Don't be "shocked" if Golden State wins the next 3 games in a row.
Right. That's my point. CK said the Cavs weren't doing anything to force these bad games out of Golden State - it was just random. I'm saying the Cavs have come up with a scheme that has impacted the way Golden State has played. I agree with your post on adjustments and this series being over sooner rather than later, too.
Kinda wonder if the Cavs could keep their larger lineup out there and put Mozgov on Iggy since he's not a shooting threat. Mozgov has been killing the Warriors.
That one is Interesting. Problem comes in that Blatt likes to order switches on everything..that can be problematic vs. the Warriors offense.
Yeah he has this weird thing where he switches everything no matter what in the 4th. It's why Love sat some 4th quarters - Blatt was so reliant on switching that he valued it over having a top 15 NBA player on the court. Which makes little sense because the Love / Mozgov lineups were pretty decent defensively - relative to other options on the roster. I don't get it. I thought for sure when they started hacking Tristan and flipped that 11 point lead he'd bring Mozzy back. But he didn't. He reacts instead of dictates waaaay too often.
I'm not faulting them, it reminds me a lot of Van Gundy's Knicks teams, its a valid strategy when the other team wants to shoot quick and run all night. Just not all that entertaining to watch as a fan........but I'm not knocking the Cavs doing what they need to do to win.
I don't know every team the Cavs have been playing in the playoffs seems to be playing worse than they did in the regular season. Most of them seem to be having issues scoring too. I'd give them a little credit.
What are you talking about? I said it wasn't a knock on Melo, yet you write a paragraph defending him? I'm a Melo fan, your barking up the wrong tree. And nice comment "your Cavs" your fitting in just fine.
You're the one comparing Melo and Bron. Given similar supporting casts I know which one I'd want and it's not LeBron.
Predictions for tonight? I say the Warriors find some counters for the Cavs' defense and have a hot shooting night. 110-87 Dubs. Then it'll be interesting to see if the Cavs can come up with anything / have the depth to even execute a counter-move.
I don't know that's it's a drubbing to that degree. I think the Warriors win soundly, though. I think the Warriors need to continue to make Cleveland run, and maybe even more than they have. We've seen the Cavs wear down in both games because of this (Mozgov especially), and it should wear on them even more as the series goes on.
The Cavs shot 32% in game 2. All year teams that shot less then 33% won a combined 4 games. GSW had their worst shooting game of the season in G2. I'm not sure Cleveland can force that kind of terrible performance again. I'm looking at a sound GSW win by at least 10 tonight.
Regarding the draft, the Knickerbockers worked out Winslow yesterday and Russell is coming in later this week. At least 1 Western Conference exec believes Oakford will fall to 4 and the Lakers will go Russell 2 (Mudiay or Winslow go 3 to Philly in that scenario...and yes Philly IS in on Winslow). Also hearing that the Knicks like Cameron Payne a lot of they move down in the 8-12 range. Keep an eye on him as he's rising fast.
I realize I predicted something similar - but it's kind of crazy that the Cavs shot 33% in a win and the story is that the Warriors had a poor shooting night haha. Like - maybe we should assume some regression on the Cavs' shooting numbers, too. Or if we're saying it's all because of the Warriors' defense - maybe give the Cavs' defense some credit for the Warriors' shooting problems? Honestly I'm thinking back to game 1 when the Warriors shot pretty close to their season averages and it still went to overtime.
Curry looks too tired to me. I'm not sure he can turn it around. This is the must basketball he's ever played. Been a relatively light workload for Lebron.
Other than the 2 Billion minutes he has played the last 5 years? Come on....Steph Curry is 27 years old...at this stage in his life..playing these minutes is right up his alley.
Nothing to do with age, Curry is just sucking and as the leagues "darling" the media won't just come out and say it.
He certainly doesn't look like he has much energy. Even at 27 years, if your body hasn't had a season like this, it is going to affect you at this point.
