NBA FINALS THREAD 2015

[Tweak Da Leak]

LOL the Bulls would have gotten destroyed had Love played, especially since the two games without Gasol were still close. ATL stood no chance with or without Love.

[eternalreflection]

yeah I think people underestimate just how good Cleveland was after the trades compared to their very lackluster start, they were at worst the #2 team in the league and arguably better than GS

also they'd never have to play James Jones which is worth 5+ points by itself

[Ramen]

thought it was pretty foolish to have him walk back to the locker room, dude could barely make it off the court.

from the play it looked like it could have been either knee and or ankles. too bad too cause dude played a good game and looked close to vintage kyrie for having only a weeks rest.

[b. johnson]

here are my thoughts:

-i disagree with reason that it was smart for kerr to play small ball at the end. yes they won the game, but down the stretch the ball bounced warriors' way. think about it...if bron is playing isolation ball, then the next biggest threat is offensive rebounds by mozgov and thompson. not to take anything away from barnes and green, but that is not a rebounding match up i would like for the warriors. the person who really fucked up was bron (more details later). if i was kerr, i would have gladly stuck with one on one iguodala/green/barnes on bron then had bigs out there just to clog up the paint and clean up the rebounds.

-the cavs are clearly better with love. depth without love is just jr swish. james jones should not be playing in the finals and dova has no business playing in the nba. i love thompson, but here's the truth: he is an excellent rebounder on both sides and a great hustle player. now the downside: can't shoot free throws, limited offensively and DEFENSIVELY (mozgov is the real defensive threat, not thompson). love is a great rebounder himself, but can also stretch the floor (yes his defensive is terrible, but mozgov hides him well plus the perimeter defense is much better with bron and shumpert which lessens the burden on love).

-kyrie had no business playing 44 minutes with his nagging injury. with that being said he was amazing offensively AND defensively (and not just because of the game saving block). he seriously stepped his game up and was flat out amazing on both sides. it's tragic that we the fans are robbed of what could have been an amazing finals. i hate to say it, but he needs to sit out the rest of the finals for his own sake.

-lebron. i don't care if you had 70 points. the last second shot was as retarded as it could have been. i know it shouldn't have to come down to one play, but for this game it did. you only need to win 4 games and they had the opportunity to win the first game in oakland. he needs to bulldoze his way to the rim and try to finish, no if and or butts. instead he fucking settles for an awful shot which we are far too accustomed to. he still doesn't get it and it's so frustrating. he has every god given ability to be the best player ever, but shit like this separates him from jordan and even kobe. you don't fucking need style points to win you dumbass, just use your fucking muscles (and just maybe kyrie would have not had to play in ot and get injured as well). then you compound this by going flat and passive in over time. i'm serious sick that lebron doesnt get it at this stage of his career.

-defensively, the cavs need to learn how to defend pick and roll better (go watch some college games). shumpert needs to do a much better job fighting through the screens. the cavs bigs need to hedge/bump the guards and then rotate back to their man and by then shumpert/swish needs to be back in the play. pretty fucking simple, but they ended up doubling more times than not and warriors ended up with a wide open dunk/layup under the rim.

done with my rant...

[alpha]

Just gonna say that the bron made that same exact shot and won the game last season vs the dubs. Doesn't make it a good or bad shot. Just saying.

[b. johnson]

Just gonna say that the bron made that same exact shot and won the game last season vs the dubs. Doesn't make it a good or bad shot. Just saying.

it's about percentages. just because it went in, doesn't mean it was a good shot. i bet you if he would have went for two lay ups, chances are in bron's favor compared to his contested fade aways.

[alpha]

Like I said it doesn't make it a good shot, just pointing it out.

[naturalborn103]

-You act as if Lebron took that shot for style and decided that is what he would rather get. Iggy is one of the very best players (I have him 2nd) in the NBA at guarding LeBron. Saying he should of gotten a shot at the rim is pretty simple thinking. I don't know if Lebron was able to get one shot at the rim ALL game when Iggy was on him.
-Blatt deserves lots of the criticism he receives, but playing Irving too much shouldn't be something to bitch about. This it the finals vs. a team that is better then yours. When you have a chance to steal a game at their house you don't try to save your players.
-Not buying the Cavs where #1 team 2nd half of the season. Whole 2nd half they played 6 games vs western conference teams.

[Tweak Da Leak]

How many times did Lebron go into the post last night? 25+? he was prob fatigued in the end which is why he settled for a jump shot.

[Blockhead]

Kyrie has a fractured knee cap. out for 3-4 months. Goddamn.

[b. johnson]

A lot of LeBron defenders huh? Not to take away from his dominance in game 1, but you guys think that was an acceptable shot to end a finals game? You guys really think that was the best shot you can get from the most gifted player possibly ever? He was too tired?Iggy is too good? See this is the problem too many ppl accept bron and his glaring deficiencies...too many yes men around him letting him do whatever he wants even online.

Don't get me wrong im a huge Bron fan, but he's not immune to criticism ( same way curry needed to dunk the damn ball instead of a casual lay up drill at the end if the game ). Its very frustrating watching Bron and that's the truth. He's capable of sooo much more in my eyes and he makes the same mistakes again and again prolly because every one around him is too scared to speak up.

[TheBigSleep]

Oh shit you were there? How much you sellin' those laptops and camera equipment for, breh?

I mean who leaves a car with tens of thousands in gear around Hegenberger anyway? Heads be dyin' just to steal the scratch marks right off the side of your bucket 'round there.

This is why you don't win championships.

Heard at least a few Cavs fans saying some version of this as they were leaving the arena. Don't really agree with that assessment, although Bron being more selfish than smart in the moment has been his downfall on at least a couple of occasions, that's also what you're gonna get some of the time when you completely carry a team.

[stupidregister]

LOL @ Cleveland. Their fans deserve it the way they were talking about this team. This is too good.

[eternalreflection]

Oh shit you were there? How much you sellin' those laptops and camera equipment for, breh?

I mean who leaves a car with tens of thousands in gear around Hegenberger anyway? Heads be dyin' just to steal the scratch marks right off the side of your bucket 'round there.

This is why you don't win championships.

Heard at least a few Cavs fans saying some version of this as they were leaving the arena. Don't really agree with that assessment, although Bron being more selfish than smart in the moment has been his downfall on at least a couple of occasions, that's also what you're gonna get some of the time when you completely carry a team.

Lebron has been criticized in the past for passing even when its wide open high % shots, he really can't win with you guys.

Don't get me wrong im a huge Bron fan, but he's not immune to criticism ( same way curry needed to dunk the damn ball instead of a casual lay up drill at the end if the game ). Its very frustrating watching Bron and that's the truth. He's capable of sooo much more in my eyes and he makes the same mistakes again and again prolly because every one around him is too scared to speak up.

he gets more no-calls than any player other than Shaq in nba history, he really should be shooting 20ft a game, but it'd be a little boring(kind of like how Rose and Curry got an MVP rather than keep giving them to him lol).

[TheBigSleep]

LeBron has been criticized in the past for passing even when its wide open high percentage shots, he really can't win with you guys.

Agreed.

[drobizhek]

LeBron has been criticized in the past for passing even when its wide open high percentage shots, he really can't win with you guys.

Agreed.

Why would he pass in that case? That doesn't make any sense.

[eternalreflection]

Because the goal is to win games and he ended up with a ~25% shot, it's incredibly hard to get a good shot in the 1v5 world(especially with pickup game rules for defenses) but you can find teammates wide open on these possessions and Lebron is really good at passing

[naturalborn103]

[binary]

so if you defend lebron after that performance, you're a "yes man"? lol. The guy has to go iso the whole goddamn game with a bunch of scrubs, and he has a guy on him that pretty much foiled the #2 mvp in the previous series...man, please.

[Reason]

curry didn't have to "dunk the damn ball"

the right move was a reverse lay-up

re: bjohnson, i stand by my kerr praise, your counter point was that it would open up potentially even more off rebounds by moz and thompson, the whole point is they were getting thos o rebs anyway AND giving up big plays to lebron 1 on 1 without having multiple players able to switch onto him and such

the one thing i'll say that i missed is that obviously irving was fatigued then eventually hurt so that played a factor into the dubs' success with the smnall ball

[b. johnson]

Because the goal is to win games and he ended up with a ~25% shot, it's incredibly hard to get a good shot in the 1v5 world(especially with pickup game rules for defenses) but you can find teammates wide open on these possessions and Lebron is really good at passing

My bad man..I tried but I have no idea what you are trying to say here.

Also your point about LeBron being criticised for passing up open high percentage shots...why wouldn't someone be criticised for passing up open high percentage shots. I don't get the argument .

[alpha]

I have no idea how to pull lineup stats, but the ultra small lineup with green at center has been incredibly effective all season and playoffs. I'd expect to see more of it on Sunday

[b. johnson]

curry didn't have to "dunk the damn ball"

the right move was a reverse lay-up

re: bjohnson, i stand by my kerr praise, your counter point was that it would open up potentially even more off rebounds by moz and thompson, the whole point is they were getting thos o rebs anyway AND giving up big plays to lebron 1 on 1 without having multiple players able to switch onto him and such

the one thing i'll say that i missed is that obviously irving was fatigued then eventually hurt so that played a factor into the dubs' success with the smnall ball

Yea I know what you are trying to say, but I felt like Kerr took a big gamble to go small when there wasn't a need for it...and coincidentally it paid off big time due to various factors like ball bouncing warriors way and Irving fatigue/injury. I think that warriors would have won either way as long as curry would have dunked the damn ball (lol agree to disagree because he clearly had a wide open lane and dunking is safest/easier than trying to get fancy for a reverse lay up) we've seen too many chase down blocks in the NBA playoffs in lay ups ie the infamous tayshon block on Reggie...just dunk it.

And plus we've seen what happens when teams go small at the end of games (spurs in finals two years ago when boshs rebound and kick to Ray Allen as well as pacers when bron got the easiest game winning lay up ever w out hibbert). I think small ball is much more effective on offense than defense generally speaking (unless you have Bron in your team).

[eternalreflection]

Man I don't see Lebron being able to keep this up forever but he's not going down without a fight

[capable_keL]

It's like LeBron versus 5 out there

[GUCCI CONDOMS]

Klay Thompson tho

[eternalreflection]

Remember when they gave the MVP to Rose and then Lebron totally destroyed him in the playoffs? Well Curry is lucky as fuck that the injuries happened and Iguodala is on the roster because they might lose otherwise even with the injuries

[stupidregister]

Like is this what constitutes "offense?"

On one end, it's a guy going iso every time down after holding the ball for 15 seconds.

On the other end, it's a lot of aimless dribbling followed by someone chucking up an off-balance 3.

This is awful.

[capable_keL]

Remember when they gave the MVP to Rose and then Lebron totally destroyed him in the playoffs? Well Curry is lucky as fuck that the injuries happened and Iguodala is on the roster because they might lose otherwise even with the injuries

[eternalreflection]

Curry fouled out on that 1 possession and no-call

Also James Jones is +25 and Delladova is +24

this might honestly be the worst performance in nba finals history