2015-16 NBA Eastern Conference OFFICIAL THREAD

[WiggyRuss]

No Kyrie, No Shumpert, No Mo....another win vs. a good team...1st place in the conference, a 17-7 record and a solid start to marathon NBA season.

 

[bksballer89]

How far has Kevin Love falling? That without Kyrie Irving, he goes for 11/7 and it is considered a solid night for him lol just wow.

 

[WiggyRuss]

How can you say healthy and together and include every game in the stats when you haven't been whole all year and weren't during a lot of games last year?

Just say when James is healthy and near forced to kill himself.

Thing is, he's forced to do it all year, then we've all seen the ending the last 2 years.

post January- they were actually pretty healthy until the playoffs when Kyrie hurt his knee and Love had his shoudler ripped out of his socket.

Thats why you get that stat- the last like 34 games the Cavs have played where Love/LeBron/Kyrie play together- the Cavs are practically an unbeatable 31-3 or whatever.

Obviously they have not been healthy this year yet- with their starting back court missing the entire year pretty much thus far- Kevin Love and Mozgov coming off off-season surgeries, Delly and Mo being banged up...Its why I am particularly impressed with the 17-7 record.

Kevin Love being comfortable and confident is such a huge part of it. Even tonight when he only had 11 points, he found other ways to do it- having 5 assists, coming up with the play of the game late, and stretching the floor. Its great having him back in all star form. At times last year this guy could barely move- his back really bothered him. He looks 100% different this season and it has really shown.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

How far has Kevin Love falling? That without Kyrie Irving, he goes for 11/7 and it is considered a solid night for him lol just wow.

He was awful most of the night, was gifted 4 points, but he did that one corner 3 with a couple minutes to go.
He is what he is, and it isn't anything near what all the pre trade to Cavs was hyped to be.

 

[bksballer89]

He was awful most of the night, was gifted 4 points, but he did that one corner 3 with a couple minutes to go.
He is what he is, and it isn't anything near what all the pre trade to Cavs was hyped to be.

Yeah I watched the game at a bar. Seem like most were in agreement that Love played like hot trash for most of the night

 

[WiggyRuss]

How far has Kevin Love falling? That without Kyrie Irving, he goes for 11/7 and it is considered a solid night for him lol just wow.

When you have LeBron going for 33, 11 and 9 the rest of the guys are not always going to have great statistical nights- but Love played a really good game - making plays, hitting clutch shots- and generally doing what he has been doing all year- working great with Lebron.

 

[WiggyRuss]

He was awful most of the night, was gifted 4 points, but he did that one corner 3 with a couple minutes to go.
He is what he is, and it isn't anything near what all the pre trade to Cavs was hyped to be.

oh yah...Love sucks....

Best rebounding power forward in the NBA

shooting the lights out from 3

giving the Cavs 18 points a game

one of the best passing bigs in the game

he would easily be the Heats best player.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

post January- they were actually pretty healthy until the playoffs when Kyrie hurt his knee and Love had his shoudler ripped out of his socket.

Thats why you get that stat- the last like 34 games the Cavs have played where Love/LeBron/Kyrie play together- the Cavs are practically an unbeatable 31-3 or whatever.

Obviously they have not been healthy this year yet- with their starting back court missing the entire year pretty much thus far- Kevin Love and Mozgov coming off off-season surgeries, Delly and Mo being banged up...Its why I am particularly impressed with the 17-7 record.

Kevin Love being comfortable and confident is such a huge part of it. Even tonight when he only had 11 points, he found other ways to do it- having 5 assists, coming up with the play of the game late, and stretching the floor. Its great having him back in all star form. At times last year this guy could barely move- his back really bothered him. He looks 100% different this season and it has really shown.

1. It's almost all James that leads to the wins. Without him, the wide open looks to guys like Jefferson aren't there.
Now, the players still need to make the shots, but the % goes way up with the looks they get. Time after time it has shown they can mix and match others to cover for the wounded against most teams.

2. Not sure we're watching the same Love. He was pulled again today when the Cavs made the huge 2nd qtr run, and then was a total non factor the second half until he was gifted 4 points, before he did make 1 legit shot.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

oh yah...Love sucks....

Best rebounding power forward in the NBA

shooting the lights out from 3

giving the Cavs 18 points a game

one of the best passing bigs in the game

he would easily be the Heats best player.

He was the T Wolves best player which accomplished what?
He woukd put up numbers on the Heat, or any other team, but if he's clearly not a 1, and is more a 3-4 then 2, as far as pieces needed to win.

He's yanked from important situations time after time.
There is a reason why.

 

[bksballer89]

oh yah...Love sucks....

Best rebounding power forward in the NBA

shooting the lights out from 3

giving the Cavs 18 points a game

one of the best passing bigs in the game

he would easily be the Heats best player.

Currently on pace to have his 2nd lowest shooting season of his career (behind last season). The only difference in his game this year is he's rebounding better. He still shoots a low fg %, still shoots a ridiculous amount of 3's for a 4, and still plays nothing like he did in Minny.

I don't think there is a team in basketball who would like their 4 shooting 43%. That's a 2 guard fg%

 

[WiggyRuss]

you guys just dont get it though. Love could get that same amount of stats if he was back on Minnesota

it just shows that you guys dont see the big picture at all. On a night where Mo Williams is out, Kyrie is still out, Shumpert is out again- the Cavs are strapped for ball handlers and playmakers, and Kevin Love comes up with 5 assists, and 2 huge clutch shots to win the game. Its not about his stats- all though those are pretty damn good and absolutely all star worthy- its that he is doing stuff on a night to night basis that is just brilliant helping a short handed team win.

I gotta say- if you would have told me that the Cavs would not have Irving and Shumpert for pretty much the first two months of the season- and told me Mo would miss games, JR would miss multiple games, Mozgov would miss games and look rusty after his knee surgery- no way do i think the Cavs are 1st in the East up 1.5 games. A lot of it is Kevin Love just playing really great basketball. Of course LeBron is still LeBron and the best there is out there- but the difference between last years 19-20 team through Mid- January- and this team- is that LeBron and Love are both o nthe same page working together and making awesome plays.

That was not the case at this time last year- and even during their great run during the 2nd half last year - was not always the case. In a way- that has helped the Cavs- forcing Love and LEBron to work it out- and its just worked awesome. They will be better for it later on even if they would probably have 3-4 more wins with KI and Shump fully healthy.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Kyrie and LeBron really took off right away last year. Both of them made the adjustment very quickly to eacother's games.

I don't think Love really truly got comfortable and in the flow fully until the Boston series last year. It was funny- in that series you could see him finally figuring it out. He made some nice clutch shots, and played pretty well- and then of course he gets his shoulder torn out of its socket.


This year Love and LeBron absolutely have been on the same page. Early on Love was being force-fed and it took a while for them to get his spots right. The other thing is that some of his offensive opportunities have come when LeBron is sitting- its not surprise they are going to go to Love when LeBron is out- but the opponent knows that too- and without Kyrie and even Shumpert to a certain extent- the other team can really focus on Love in those situations. Its one of the reasons why I cant wait for Kyrie to be back.

When Kyrie, Love and LeBron are out there together- the Cavs become unguardable offensively. Throw in a Delly and a Thompson and they also become a pretty tough team with some really really good rebounding- and shooting that is as good as anyone outside of Golden State.

 

[Bolts]

Love actually playing well as a #2 this season(not so good tonight), we'll see if he can keep it up when he's the 3rd wheel again. I'd expect more scoring from him in a game like tonight though with so many players out. He filled the stat sheet in other ways, but they could have used their #2 scoring option playing like a #2 option. I guess winning the game makes up for that.

 

[wildturkey]

Love actually playing well as a #2 this season(not so good tonight), we'll see if he can keep it up when he's the 3rd wheel again. I'd expect more scoring from him in a game like tonight though with so many players out. He filled the stat sheet in other ways, but they could have used their #2 scoring option playing like a #2 option. I guess winning the game makes up for that.

He's a Jordan Speith fan

EDIT: you changed your quote you bastard!

 

[Bolts]

He's a Jordan Speith fan

EDIT: you changed your quote you bastard!

I would have figured him to be a Tiger Woods guy.

EDIT: Yes I did, was wondering if somebody would quote that first comment.

 

[Bolts]

Classless LeBron taking out that fan .

*Not edited this time*

 

[WiggyRuss]

Gotta give some credit to Tristan Thompson for hte Cavs win too

11 offensive rebounds. thats crazy. 15 rebounds overall. 12 points on 6 of 9 shooting......they simply dont win without him playing like that. The Cavs winning games like that with him contributing like he did tonight shows why they invested so much in him. The guy plays every night and plays hard every night.

 

[gordontrue]

2. Not sure we're watching the same Love. He was pulled again today when the Cavs made the huge 2nd qtr run, and then was a total non factor the second half until he was gifted 4 points, before he did make 1 legit shot.

He was pulled because he picked up 2 quick fouls... then there was no reason to get him back in there with the 5 guys on the floor in the middle of a run.

I strongly disagree with calling him a non-factor in the 2nd half. He was a huge part of the ball movement and finished with a season high in assists... most of which came in the 2nd half. And that 1 legit shot that you're so generously giving him was arguably the biggest shot of the game.

 

[ChrisGar15]

He was pulled because he picked up 2 quick fouls... then there was no reason to get him back in there with the 5 guys on the floor in the middle of a run.

I strongly disagree with calling him a non-factor in the 2nd half. He was a huge part of the ball movement and finished with a season high in assists... most of which came in the 2nd half. And that 1 legit shot that you're so generously giving him was arguably the biggest shot of the game.

Love played 20 of 24 minutes in the 2nd half. He wasn't in foul trouble. He hit 2 big 3s in the 4th.

 

[gordontrue]

Love played 20 of 24 minutes in the 2nd half. He wasn't in foul trouble. He hit 2 big 3s in the 4th.

Right. The foul trouble was 1st half... I was replying to turnup's comment about Love being pulled in the 2nd quarter.