The NBA Finals- Warriors vs Cavs

[Machinator 32099]

The East sucks in part because the best front offices are concentrated in the West - GSW (especially with Jerry West), Lindsey at Utah, Spurs (though arguably they've been slipping lately), Morey. The East has... Ainge?

[BigOrange1 6476]

i can not imagine that this will be competitive or intriguing.  out of respect for lebron, i'll say warriors in 5 but it really should be a sweep.

[WJC88 97]

1 hour ago, aggie08 said:

I get the feeling that this is going to be like the first two games of the '16 Finals, when Golden State was so excited to not be playing in quicksand like they were against OKC that they ran Cleveland out of the gym.

...except it's going to last the entire series this time.

This.

47 minutes ago, TommyGufano said:

I actually think last year was closer than ppl now state, but LeBron played to about 98% of his ability, so he can only be so much better this go around and everything around him is a lot worse than it was last year.

GS sweep

The fact that they have not swept the Finals and LBJ getting all this better than MJ talk will have GS locked in.

Warriors will be out to put a big beat down on the Cavs. 

[TexArcher 38081]

Golden State demolishes Cleveland in the first two games.

LeBron goes apeshit and Golden State gets bored, so they split in Cleveland.

Golden State wins Game 5 by as much as they want.

[texasstrong12 4668]

I don't think Warriors will sweep the Cavs. 

Warriors are entirely too cocky. Rightfully so because they are good, but they will have a game where they just don't give a shit.

Edited May 29, 2018 by texasstrong12

[aggie08 21560]

4 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

I don't think Warriors will sweep the Cavs. 

Warriors are entirely too cocky. Rightfully so because they are good, but they will have a game where they just don't give a shit.

I don't know. They were pretty pissed that they missed the sweep last year. They're a team fully aware of narratives and trying to be memorable. They desperately wanted to crush the Rockets, a 65 win team, to show how much better they are than everyone else, but they flat out underestimated how good--and how tough--Houston is. Their last chance to leave a lasting impression on this season is to fucking boat race LeBron.

[Bobby Light 76]

Interesting fact:

This will be the first Warriors-Cavaliers NBA Finals since 2017, and only the fourth since 2015.

Also per Marv Albert, this is the first time in North American sports history the same two teams have met four straight years in a championship series.

[Longboard Horn 40563]

2 hours ago, Machinator said:

 

TV ratings will definitely be interesting to monitor. Of the four Cavs-Warriors matchups, this one has the largest talent disparity, even the 2015 Finals with both Love and Kyrie out.

Ratings will be low

[Vic Mackey 47177]

1 hour ago, aggie08 said:

What in the actual fuck? We just watched Golden State have to come back from 15+ point deficits in consecutive games against a GREAT team without its 2nd best player (probably 1st best in the playoffs, and certainly its leader) to win in 7, and now everything's back to, "well, that was inevitable."

Oh stop. There was never a doubt at all GSW was winning this series. You can hype it up and spew all this shit you want but yes, it was inevitable. GSW is so stacked, they can get down 20 and turn a switch on and run you out the gym with ease. 

And no, Houston is not a great team. GSW is a great. Houston is just a solid team who won a lot of regular season games like the Raptors. 

You make it seem like GSW actually overcame so many obstacles to win. 15-17pt leads early in the today's NBA isn't shit. Especially how good GSW can shoot 3s. And with Houston shooting so many 3s at a terrible rate, you can erase those deficits really fast. 

There was never any point in these games where you thought GSW might lose. Once that 17pt lead was cut to single digits soon after, it was church. And tonight, when GSW got it close, you knew it was over with. There was zero drama at all these games. You act like they erased these deficits with some heroic effort at the end. This isn't the Mavs erasing huge deficits in the later parts of the 4th in the 2011 playoffs.

[WJC88 97]

32 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

I don't know. They were pretty pissed that they missed the sweep last year. They're a team fully aware of narratives and trying to be memorable. They desperately wanted to crush the Rockets, a 65 win team, to show how much better they are than everyone else, but they flat out underestimated how good--and how tough--Houston is. Their last chance to leave a lasting impression on this season is to fucking boat race LeBron.

Yep.

Only 8 teams in history have swept the finals. Jordan's Bulls is not one of them. GS will try very hard to add their name to that list. 

[aggie08 21560]

9 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Oh stop. There was never a doubt at all GSW was winning this series. You can hype it up and spew all this shit you want but yes, it was inevitable. GSW is so stacked, they can get down 20 and turn a switch on and run you out the gym with ease. 

And no, Houston is not a great team. GSW is a great. Houston is just a solid team who won a lot of regular season games like the Raptors. 

You make it seem like GSW actually overcame so many obstacles to win. 15-17pt leads early in the today's NBA isn't shit. Especially how good GSW can shoot 3s. And with Houston shooting so many 3s at a terrible rate, you can erase those deficits really fast. 

There was never any point in these games where you thought GSW might lose. Once that 17pt lead was cut to single digits soon after, it was church. And tonight, when GSW got it close, you knew it was over with. There was zero drama at all these games. You act like they erased these deficits with some heroic effort at the end. This isn't the Mavs erasing huge deficits in the later parts of the 4th in the 2011 playoffs.

So weird that I couldn't find any of these proclamations and guarantees from you after Game 5.

[BigOrange1 6476]

4 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

So weird that I couldn't find any of these proclamations and guarantees from you after Game 5.

that's because these were his post game 5 takes:

Quote

Because they have never been tested. They faced a joke of a path in 2015 with every team having major injuries. Cavs missing 2 of their 3 best players. Last year, they intentionally hurt Spur's best player to make that an easier series. They gave up a 3-1 series lead with 2 of 3 at home to lose in 2016.

Rockets are really the only team to square up and punch them in the mouth. And they fold at the end. Also, why the fuck would you pass the ball to Green in that situation? Waste of a pass and they deserve to lose on that. As well as Green making a pass before calling timeout therefore no advancement. This team is just fucking dumb a lot. 

Quote

Also, does Curry not have it in him to take the big shots? 2nd game in a row he gave the ball up to a lesser player. Thompson was injured and was hounded big time. And tonight he passed to Green? Lmao. The fuck? Take the fucking shot or find someone other than Green. It reminded me of Lebron not wanting any part of big shots in the 2011 Finals.

 

[perfectchaos007 6677]

Silver needs to reseed the playoffs by dumping conferences. Otherwise we're always going to get the Warriors v. whatever lEastern conference team Lebron is on.

[Zepol87 9197]

Vic is a sports douche but you guys ever think Houston had this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[perfectchaos007 6677]

27 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

Vic is a sports douche but you guys ever think Houston had this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did until about a minute left in game 5

[Get ln My Van 927]

Harden played lackadaisical in the 4th. Shame.

[Chult86 335]

4 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

This GS team is arguably the best pro sports team of all time, any sport

 

This is surprisingly correct. I can't think of another team off the top of my head that was THIS dominant and stacked talent-wise.

[Gut Wagon 8087]

Yes, I feel adding the league’s best scorer to a 70-win title core did take a lot of the intrigue out of what might have been. In my view, the playoffs would have been much more compelling with a great Warriors title team having to deal with KD in Boston or DC or OKC or SA these past couple years. Doesn’t make it KD’s problem, of course, but my own interest is far below what it might have been.  

At no point last night did I feel Houston was going to win. At no point after halftime did I feel they had even a serious chance. That’s in a Game 7, at home, with a pretty good team...Paul or not. 

[52-80 19271]

3 hours ago, Chult86 said:

This is surprisingly correct. I can't think of another team off the top of my head that was THIS dominant and stacked talent-wise.

2002 Los Angeles Sparks.

[PittsburghTiger 6209]

I can’t, in good conscience, root for anyone, or team, from Cleveland to win, ever.

[GabrielsHorn 2186]

7 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Fucking Alabama.

Wow, Alabama has played every single NC game the past four years? Must have missed all those games.

And Alabama is at least closer to the rest of CFB than the Warriors are to the NBA. Say what you want that they finally played a 7 game series, but it's still a ridiculous team that added a MVP. Until one of the four leaves the team, no other team has a chance to win the title.

Edited May 29, 2018 by GabrielsHorn

[d2o 1602]

4 hours ago, Chult86 said:

This is surprisingly correct. I can't think of another team off the top of my head that was THIS dominant and stacked talent-wise.

Houston's own Comets.   #4peat

[Whitman 694]

6 hours ago, aggie08 said:

. Their last chance to leave a lasting impression on this season is to fucking boat race LeBron.

[Thatguy 8894]

  I know that this won't be popular, but this Cavs team is superior to other Cavs teams defensively. I think they play better on that end but can't find enough scoring. Warriors in 6.

[ernest_t_bass 1196]

Could get ugly.  Cavs in 8.

[d2o 1602]

Cavs in 6

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

8 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Golden State demolishes Cleveland in the first two games.

LeBron goes apeshit and Golden State gets bored, so they split in Cleveland.

Golden State wins Game 5 by as much as they want.

Pretty much my take on this series.  

We might feel like the games are close, but warriors seem to play down to the competition.  It's not a coincidence that they go crazy in the 3rd quarter.  They know if they keep it around a ten point game at half they can step in the gas in the third.  Now, sure they'll probably have a bad game with turnovers while cleveland gets hot from the arc.

As for ratings, people will tune in to see what lebron can do.  I normaly don't care about the playoffs once spurs are eliminated, but I have been watching because lebron.  Hes at his peak and might only have 5 more seasons of greatness in him.  

 

[Mole 4333]

Lots of WNBA talk up in here.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8823]

Lulz[mention=1398]vic[/mention].

 

Those are about as 2 sides of a take that I've seen since........derka said lebron is the best player of all time but MJ is still the goat

[Robin Masters 122]

Think of all those open 3s Boston clanked in game 7. Now imagine Curry, Durant, Thompson shooting them.

This Cavs team might be better on defense just because of no Kyrie, but Kyrie was wearing asses out at the other end, George Hill is not.

Kevin Love is still going to get owned by Draymond. Hot take warning,  they might be better with Jeff Green.

Tristan is no Capela. GSW might even get to play some of their spares at C.

Only negative is no Iggy to guard Lebron, but it's not like they did anything with Lebron last year and still won easy. 

 

[d2o 1602]

4 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Lulz[mention=1398]vic[/mention].

 

Those are about as 2 sides of a take that I've seen since........derka said lebron is the best player of all time but MJ is still the goat

The way he frames it makes it sound sillier than it is.   Just an effort to say he isn't changing his original statement about MJ being the GOAT.

I'll try and give him some credit though.  I'm guessing he means LBJ is the best player ever but MJ has had the best career ever.  If you are making it about best career though its hard to say its not Russell or Cap.

[Thatguy 8894]

17 minutes ago, Robin Masters said:

Think of all those open 3s Boston clanked in game 7. Now imagine Curry, Durant, Thompson shooting them.

This Cavs team might be better on defense just because of no Kyrie, but Kyrie was wearing asses out at the other end, George Hill is not.

Kevin Love is still going to get owned by Draymond. Hot take warning,  they might be better with Jeff Green.

Tristan is no Capela. GSW might even get to play some of their spares at C.

Only negative is no Iggy to guard Lebron, but it's not like they did anything with Lebron last year and still won easy. 

 

  The Cavs struggle with physical inside play. It's why they struggled with Indiana and Boston, but not with Toronto. Boston was getting a lot of wide open looks when the Cavs had to help on Horford and Morris. It's no coincidence that the games where Horford was a no show the Cavs had a relatively easy time with them. Everyone makes fun of this Cavs roster, but this roster is better fit to defend GSW than it is traditional offenses.

[52-80 19271]

Lebron has gone through the full drama already this playoffs, and exorcised all the demons.

-survived 2 7-game series

-got a sweep

-made buzzer beaters

-fell 2 games behind to a young and energetic AND disciplined team

-recovered and beat them on the road

What else in the story book can you throw at him?  

Shows no signs of fatigue, and still plays like a goddamn beast.  If Nance and Thompson and Love play tough, its going to be a real competitive series.  I cant see Lebron letting this thing finish quicker than 6 games....unike Harden hes not going down without a fight

[Hate 20149]

I won't watch a minute of it, but go Cavs.  They should get swept, but might win a game (like many others have already said).  Fuck the Warriors.  

[aggie08 21560]

Wait, there are people out there that think this year's Cavs are better than last year's?? Based on what? I know that Golden State probably isn't as good as last year's version, especially if Iggy never gets right (though Houston's defense deserves more credit for making the Warriors' offense look vulnerable), but Cleveland is not a good basketball team. Last year, they weren't particularly good defensively, but they were the best 3 point shooting team in the league and were absolutely unstoppable offensively. This year's team is very, very stoppable.

Even defensively, they finished 2nd to last in the regular season THIS year and are currently a decent 7th among playoffs teams--but they've played offensively challenged Indiana and Boston and scared shitless Toronto.

[VolenteHawk 495]

1 minute ago, aggie08 said:

Wait, there are people out there that think this year's Cavs are better than last year's?? Based on what? I know that Golden State probably isn't as good as last year's version, especially if Iggy never gets right (though Houston's defense deserves more credit for making the Warriors' offense look vulnerable), but Cleveland is not a good basketball team. Last year, they weren't particularly good defensively, but they were the best 3 point shooting team in the league and were absolutely unstoppable offensively. This year's team is very, very stoppable.

Even defensively, they finished 2nd to last in the regular season THIS year and are currently a decent 7th among playoffs teams--but they've played offensively challenged Indiana and Boston and scared shitless Toronto.

Yeah, that's crazy.  Last year the Warriors were a 3/1 favorite to win the Finals series, this year they're 10/1 and climbing.

 

[Patrick Bateman 3933]

23 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Wait, there are people out there that think this year's Cavs are better than last year's?? Based on what? I know that Golden State probably isn't as good as last year's version, especially if Iggy never gets right (though Houston's defense deserves more credit for making the Warriors' offense look vulnerable), but Cleveland is not a good basketball team. Last year, they weren't particularly good defensively, but they were the best 3 point shooting team in the league and were absolutely unstoppable offensively. This year's team is very, very stoppable.

Even defensively, they finished 2nd to last in the regular season THIS year and are currently a decent 7th among playoffs teams--but they've played offensively challenged Indiana and Boston and scared shitless Toronto.

Not having Iggy is going to have an impact, much bigger than most folks understand, but at the end of the day, I'm just not sure the Cavs have enough offense to keep up.  If Iguodala was healthy, I'd say a sweep was on the table, but without him it forces a lot of Looney, who's way too slow and lacks athleticisim, and Bell, who's way too green, on Lebron for at least 20 minutes a game.  KD will probably play on him another 20 minutes.  Lebron should have another big series, especially at home, but they don't have home court and they don't have Kyrie, who had averaged 27 on 47/40/94 two years ago and 29.4 on 47/42/90.  Where the hell is Cleveland going to find production to replace this???  They can't.  Bron may be slightly better than last year but they just don't have the horses....

I laughed when Barkley was blurting out names that were good on the perimeter like Clarkson and Hill and Korver.  The latter are nice supporting players but they ain't going to make you forget about Kyrie carrying the offense at times....

[Goo Punch 4275]

The Warriors just held the Houston Rockets to under 100 for four straight games, and that was without Iggy. Cleveland has nowhere near enough offense to compete with the GD defense, which doesn’t even begin to mention the Warriors offense. This would be Lake Placid 1984 except over a 7-game series if the Cavs were to win.

[Vic Mackey 47177]

 

[Thatguy 8894]

2 hours ago, aggie08 said:

Wait, there are people out there that think this year's Cavs are better than last year's?? Based on what? I know that Golden State probably isn't as good as last year's version, especially if Iggy never gets right (though Houston's defense deserves more credit for making the Warriors' offense look vulnerable), but Cleveland is not a good basketball team. Last year, they weren't particularly good defensively, but they were the best 3 point shooting team in the league and were absolutely unstoppable offensively. This year's team is very, very stoppable.

Even defensively, they finished 2nd to last in the regular season THIS year and are currently a decent 7th among playoffs teams--but they've played offensively challenged Indiana and Boston and scared shitless Toronto.

   Not better overall, better equipped to defend the Warriors(if there is such a thing) then they were last year.

[d2o 1602]

12 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

   Not better overall, better equipped to defend the Warriors(if there is such a thing) then they were last year.

They do have Jeff Green.   Not that he is some defensive stalwart.   Just gives them at least one player outside of LBJ who stands a chance against KD.    Honestly that is what killed them last yr.    LBJ having to guard KD 100% of the time and then do everything on the offensive end.

[Thatguy 8894]

18 minutes ago, d2o said:

They do have Jeff Green.   Not that he is some defensive stalwart.   Just gives them at least one player outside of LBJ who stands a chance against KD.    Honestly that is what killed them last yr.    LBJ having to guard KD 100% of the time and then do everything on the offensive end.

Plus George Hill can actually stay in front of someone. They also have a big to spell TT, and a couple 6'5 plus guys to give you a couple minutes off the bench.

[d2o 1602]

10 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

Plus George Hill can actually stay in front of someone. They also have a big to spell TT, and a couple 6'5 plus guys to give you a couple minutes off the bench.

Are we counting Rodney Hood in that?  Cause I wouldn't count him hahahhaha

[immortal13 4059]

34 minutes ago, d2o said:

They do have Jeff Green.   Not that he is some defensive stalwart.   Just gives them at least one player outside of LBJ who stands a chance against KD.    Honestly that is what killed them last yr.    LBJ having to guard KD 100% of the time and then do everything on the offensive end.

LJ did not guard KD 100% of the time in last years finals

[Orca of Peace 109]

will Love play?

[Dutchrudder 11154]

5 hours ago, Mole said:

Lots of WNBA talk up in here.

Well yeah, we all learn so much from watching them...

[d2o 1602]

6 minutes ago, Orca of Peace said:

will Love play?

I imagine he should be ready but haven't seen any official report.    It will be a week since his concussion by tip.

[MoJames 8256]

It will be interesting to see if we can spot the exact point where Lebron decides he is leaving the Cavs this time around.

[Machinator 32099]

49 minutes ago, Orca of Peace said:

will Love play?

Still in the protocol, status unknown.

[Lhorn 4971]

1 hour ago, Orca of Peace said:

will Love play?

Love will find a way.