Series Thread: Eastern Conference Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks

[WiggyRuss]

Cannot wait for it to start

 

[WiggyRuss]

Looks like the Hawks have a 9 man rotation-

Their starters are really playing heavy minutes:

PG- Teague
SG- Korver
SF- Carroll
PF- Milsap
C- Horford

bench-
SG-Bazemore
PG-Schroeder- seems to get their most bench minutes
PF- Antic- rarely plays real minutes
PF - Muscala- Definitely the first big off the bench

Mike Scott does play a little bit here and there.....Schroeder has played very good ball off the bench. Sefolosha is done for the season and hes just about the only guy on that team that could do something defensively with LeBron---

i dont think Carroll can- all though Carroll has been playing really good ball. Carroll has shot over 50% from the field and scored about 17 a game.

Al Horford? Only went for 17 points, 10 boards 4.3 ASSISTS PER GAME, 2 blocks, i steal and shot 50% in the series against the Wizards. He is playing positively great ball

Korver has SUCKED in the Washington series...just awful. his last 4 games he had like 2 points, 3 poitns, 6 points, 6 points, and then the first two games of the series were decent with 12 and 13 points. Shot 29% from 3 point land......That is ridiculous......either A. he is due or B. he has lost his mojo.....will be interesting to see.

Teague with 16, 7, and 4 in the Wizards series and shot 40% from the field- but had a couple big time games in games 4 and 6 to help the team win. Hes playing solid- but not great...not as good as Horford or Carroll but a hellva lot better than Korver...

Milsap, 16, 8, 4, 1.5 steals, 1.0 blocks- playing a very good all around game despite some pretty crappy shooting at 40% from the field......He is doing a lot of things for the Hawks- but has not been hugely efficient.


The Hawks in general have not looked like that 60+ win team from the regular season. I am really surprised Korver has been so bad....The Wizards D can be solid- but its not great- I am sure the Cavs will look at what the Wiz did to try and keep Korver cold......I CRINGE though when i think of all the wide open 3s that Chicago missed that the Hawks wont miss.

 

[Demonjoe93]

This should be a great series. Looking forward to it.

 

[wildturkey]

The way these two teams (really the entire East) have been playing, there's going to be some painfully bad basketball out there. Even with the Cavs hobbled, Atlanta doesn't stand much of a chance unless Kyle Korver can remember how to make buckets. If he ever finds the bottom of the net again, Atlanta can make it to the Finals (that's so weird to type out).

 

[hockey878]

I think the best cavs lineup(s) in this series will be them going small, some variation of this:

Kyrie
Delly/JR
Iman
LeBron
Thompson/Mozgov

(JR delly and Iman interchangeable in that lineup) LeBron can deal with millsap, Thompson and Mozgov can't stop horford, but no one on the roster can. Probably want to have JR or Delly chasing Korver. Shump on Teague and Kyrie on Carroll? Not a great matchup anywhere for kyrie here.

Depending on the health of kyrie, the best lineup for the cavs might not even include him (if he can't keep up defensively, his offense is meaningless)

Delly
Iman
JR
LeBron
Thompson/Mozgov

Delly chasing korver, iman on teague, jr on carroll, lebron on millsap, big on horford. that is the best matchup defensively.


This will be a series of small ball lineups IMO, the hawks bigs can shoot and they don't have a huge post presence beyond horford. This might be the matchup where the cavs (other than potentially GS) MOST miss Love. LeBron is going to have to play a lot of PF and guard Millsap a lot if they want to win IMO. Plus that forces millsap to guard JR or Shump on the other end. I think the Thompson Mozgov lineups will struggle with all the hawks outside shooting

 

[Hambombs]

Yawn

 

[WiggyRuss]

Yawn

Who would you ratherface inthe Finals? Hwks or Cavs?

 

[WiggyRuss]

I have to admit- I have not watched a lot of Demarre Carroll- he of the 25 and 10 on 9/14shooting in the close out game.

Now- his counter parts on the Wizards were Otto Porter Jr. and Pierce. --and Porter sucks and Pierce shit his pants in this game going 1-7....

My question--

Can DeMarre Carroll cover LeBron in a respectable way? - and can Demarre Carroll still put up good offensive numbers while covering LeBron? Will Carroll guard LeBron MOST of the time like Jimmy Butler did- or will it be more of a committee thing?

Sefolosha was brought in to guard the SF's in the East- the LeBron's, Butler's, Carmelo's, George's, etc....Sefolosha is not as good as jimmy Butler by any means- but he made LeBron work.

Can the Hawks make LeBron work? Can Carroll make LeBron work? ARe the Hawks bigs tough enough and big enough to survive a long series against the Cavs?---

think about it- LeBron will probably guard Milsap at times- they are lik the same size- sometimes Thompson will- thats gonna make life a bitch for Milsap- and Horford is also goingto get a steady diet of Mozgov and Thompson which is no picnic. TOO BAD the Cavs dont have EITHER just Love or Varejao because they would smoke Mike Muscala who is the Hawks 3rd big. James Jonescan definitely space though- especially if Muscala or Antic are in the game and Jones can just guard one of them...


now the Cavs questions

Can the Cavs defenders chase the Hawks very good shooters around endless screens, can they guard the perimeter when the Hawks begin to swing the ball around the outsidel ikethe Spurs do?- Can the Cavs neutralize Al Horford and keep him to somehwere between 18-24 points- instead of just going off.....Can they put a boot on Korvers throat and make sure he doesnt wake up? Can Kyrie get just somewhat healthy and playdecent D- or are the Hawks going to run him ragged and make him stop and cutand go around screens until he collpases (likethe Bulls should have done)?

Will horford just beat Mozgovs ass? That is an interesting matchup.

Kyrie vs. Teague is an interesting matchup considering the circumstances. Schroeder v. Delly is actually going to be a pretty decent battle- as both of these guys are playing their best ball at the exact right time.

JR, Delly and Shumpert vs. Korver, Schroeder and Bazemore.....

 

[Hambombs]

Who would you ratherface inthe Finals? Hwks or Cavs?

Joking about the yawn part lol. But for a exciting finals I would like a finals with the splash bros, lebron, Irving in it. But would love to watch 2 teams that have 2 coaches who worked under popovich go at it

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

This series seems like the minor leagues in terms of any interest.

Outside, or Lebron going crazy (which can always happen), it seems like these 2 are playing the undercard.

Hawks in 7

 

[trojanfan12]

This series seems like the minor leagues in terms of any interest.

Outside, or Lebron going crazy (which can always happen), it seems like these 2 are playing the undercard.

Hawks in 7

 

[GNG]

This should be a great series. Looking forward to it.

I believe this will be a 7 game series.

 

[GNG]

Who would you ratherface inthe Finals? Hwks or Cavs?

The television ratings will be better with the Cavs in the finals.

 

[trojanfan12]

Hawks are starting to have a 2004 Detroit Pistons feel to them. No superstars or true "go to guys." Just a very good team with guys taking turns stepping up.

 

[bksballer89]

Cavs in 5

 

[Hambombs]

Hawks are starting to have a 2004 Detroit Pistons feel to them. No superstars or true "go to guys." Just a very good team with guys taking turns stepping up.

They do have a star in al horford though

 

[trojanfan12]

They do have a star in al horford though

Yeah, but he's only a star at the level that Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace were at the time. They were star players, but no one was mentioning them in the same breath as the superstar players that other teams had.

In that finals vs. the Lakers, 4 of the 5 Lakers starters were much bigger names than Billups or Wallace. If you count Kevin Love, the Cavs have at least 3 players who are bigger names than Horford.

 

[Hambombs]

Yeah, but he's only a star at the level that Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace were at the time. They were star players, but no one was mentioning them in the same breath as the superstar players that other teams had.

In that finals vs. the Lakers, 4 of the 5 Lakers starters were much bigger names than Billups or Wallace. If you count Kevin Love, the Cavs have at least 3 players who are bigger names than Horford.

Horford 3 time all star

 

[Heatles84]

Cavs in 5

Agreed. Both teams are fairly balanced while ATL has the superior front court. The Cavs have more quality depth, but the Hawks are better coached. One factor - Lebron.

Cavs in 5.

 

[Hambombs]

Cavs in 6 or Atlanta in 7