Game Thread: Cavs @ Spurs

[WiggyRuss]

6 weeks ago, James didn't play.

I think the freakish thing about both games was the amount, the difficulty, and the shooting % of the 3s that were made.

And, in comparison, there were many, many nights when the Heat Big 3 would combine for 75+ points.
I don't at all think it's a good thing when that much scoring is required from just 2 players.
The result was fools gold.
Like I stated earlier, except for the eventual final score, there wasnt much the Spurs should have been upset about.

Usually I would say its not good for only 2 players to score like that- if i were to ever make an exception it would be for players like RW and Durant playing together, like Wade in his prime and LeBron, like Kobe and Shaq.

Kyrie is that good of a scorer. We are all seeing it- you dont have 55 and 57 point games 6 weeks apart- and shoot like he does, and finish the basket like he does, and have the handle like he does. Kyrie is just so unique. Its so rare to have a guy that has that kind of handle, that can shoot that well, and can finish in traffic that well.

Do you know who absolutely loves Kyrie? Kobe Bryant! In Bill Simmons annual NBA value rankings, he has KYrie at #10 in the league. Here is some quotes from his piece on Kyrie that he published today:

"When Jalen Rose and I taped The Grantland Basketball Hour with Kobelast month, we were killing time during one of the commercial breaks and I asked Kobe if he had any “new” favorite players. You know how great chefs always identify the other up-and-coming great chefs? Kobe fancies himself as that guy for the NBA alpha dog/badass/overcompetitive mf’er corner. Knows it when he sees it. Even brags about being able to see it. He sniffed it out early with Westbrook (his favorite current star) in 2012 and — to my surprise — he’s sniffing it with Kyrie now and said as much. Heloves Kyrie. So that was a game changer for me. When Chef Kobe blessed Chef Kyrie, I knew it was time to wipe my Kyrie Opinion Hard Drive and start over."

"Jalen loved the fact that, even after LeBron had arrived, Kyrie never changed how he played and who he was. Didn’t kowtow to LeBron. Didn’t start doing an awkward John Stockton impersonation. Just kept attacking and getting buckets. For Jalen, that mattered. That told him, unequivocally, that Kyrie was here to stay."

"There IS something special here, as we witnessed during his epic destruction of San Antonio last night. I always thought Kevin Johnson had the best first step of any point guard I’d ever seen; he had a downhill dribble, if that makes sense. Opponents were petrified of him. They would start backpedaling even before he made a move. That’s how the poor Spurs looked last night. They were just moving backward, almost like a defensive line getting pounded. Throw in his crazy finishes and his Curry-like 3s, and … I mean, JESUS. Has anyone ever eviscerated the Duncan-Pop Spurs quite like that? He threw up 57 and it felt like 75."

Now, Kyrie is going to have to pay his dues. He is not yet one of the very elite in the game. He needs to be through more battles and what not. But tis clear- he is on the path to being one of the very best in teh game

 

[OutlawImmortal]

I once saw Kobe score 50+ in 4 straight games, relax!

 

[WiggyRuss]

I once saw Kobe score 50+ in 4 straight games, relax!

and Kobe is one of the very best in the entire game. - and Kobe himself thinks that Kyrie is a killer- and has a similar mindset that is so rare in this league.

Its just funny. A few years ago I was on the Russell Westbrook bandwagon- and told to "relax"- hes not elite- hes a liability- some clowns went as far as saying the Thunder should trade RW for Rajon Rondo- can you even imagine the disaster that would have been. I would always say that RW is a killer with a simlar mindset as Kobe, that he is ultra talented, that he is one of the very best in the game despite not even being close to his prime.

Kyrie is the same way. He already is one of the best in the game. He just got his third all star game appearance. He just scord 55 and then 57 points- the TWO BEST Scoring games in the NBA this year. His mindset is Kobe like- he is a killer- and he is not going to kowtow to LEBron- though he has done a great job working with him to accomplish huge goals.

Kyrie is only 22- but he is already without a doubt a top 20, if not top 15 player in the league. Someday soon he will be top 10 in the league. There have been a lot of naysayers- but its clear that he is on the same trajectory as Westbrook. PErsonally- I have always been a huge fan of Kobe Bryant- and to read how Kobe thinks so highly of Kyrie is pretty damn awesome- becuase I have a ton of respect for Kobe's opinion. HE does not give out praise lightly.

Tons of NBA insiders have expressed just how special of a player Kyrie is- but at this point Kyrie's actions on the court have spoken louder than any words.

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

I would have liked to seen Manu Ginobili be able to play. The Spurs Big 3 was a Big 2.
Manu was deathly ill. He tried to play...scored zero in about 9 minutes..and than sat out the game.

The truth is that Manu Ginobili while no longer an elite super defender is the best guard defender on the Spurs.
He is still a very very good defender...father time drops him for fearsome defender.

Manu cannot defend post up big muscular guards as well anymore But He specializes in controlling the dribblers. Pop would have put Manu on Kyrie (had Manu been able to play) and all that dribbling is slowed a bit.

Pop had to put Danny Green on the dribblers...he is best defending 2's and 3's, and post up guards.

Kyrie still might have had a great night...but I doubt its historic because his handle would have been hampered by Manu.

 

[WiggyRuss]

I would have liked to seen Manu Ginobili be able to play. The Spurs Big 3 was a Big 2.
Manu was deathly ill. He tried to play...scored zero in about 9 minutes..and than sat out the game.

The truth is that Manu Ginobili while no longer an elite super defender is the best guard defender on the Spurs.
He is still a very very good defender...father time drops him for fearsome defender.

Manu cannot defend post up big muscular guards as well anymore But He specializes in controlling the dribblers. Pop would have put Manu on Kyrie (had Manu been able to play) and all that dribbling is slowed a bit.

Pop had to put Danny Green on the dribblers...he is best defending 2's and 3's, and post up guards.

Kyrie still might have had a great night...but I doubt its historic because his handle would have been hampered by Manu.

true enough. We learned today that Love sat out and was largely ineffective because his back tightened up- which has been a recurring thing for him this year.

I remember how good in-his-prime Manu was. He was so freaking fun to watch play- and I do mean fun- He was just so creative and clutch and played with a flair that not many other guys have.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

and Kobe is one of the very best in the entire game. - and Kobe himself thinks that Kyrie is a killer- and has a similar mindset that is so rare in this league.

Its just funny. A few years ago I was on the Russell Westbrook bandwagon- and told to "relax"- hes not elite- hes a liability- some clowns went as far as saying the Thunder should trade RW for Rajon Rondo- can you even imagine the disaster that would have been. I would always say that RW is a killer with a simlar mindset as Kobe, that he is ultra talented, that he is one of the very best in the game despite not even being close to his prime.

Kyrie is the same way. He already is one of the best in the game. He just got his third all star game appearance. He just scord 55 and then 57 points- the TWO BEST Scoring games in the NBA this year. His mindset is Kobe like- he is a killer- and he is not going to kowtow to LEBron- though he has done a great job working with him to accomplish huge goals.

Kyrie is only 22- but he is already without a doubt a top 20, if not top 15 player in the league. Someday soon he will be top 10 in the league. There have been a lot of naysayers- but its clear that he is on the same trajectory as Westbrook. PErsonally- I have always been a huge fan of Kobe Bryant- and to read how Kobe thinks so highly of Kyrie is pretty damn awesome- becuase I have a ton of respect for Kobe's opinion. HE does not give out praise lightly.

Tons of NBA insiders have expressed just how special of a player Kyrie is- but at this point Kyrie's actions on the court have spoken louder than any words.

That's true, and Kobe also called it when he said that that the Cavs would regret trading Wiggins. Imagine having Kyrie, Wiggins and LeBron all with the ability to create off the dribble and play good defense. It would have been Bron and Wade on steroids.

 

[Mecca]

Damn, Kyrie was a frickin MONSTA last night.

But, the Spurs let one get away.

Great game...

Why is K Love is just garbage 3 out of every 5 games?

 

[WiggyRuss]

Uh, Wilt AVERAGED 50 in a season. Pretty sure he had more than two 50 point games that season. In fact, Wilt was so good, he had two 50 point games in the same game once.

This is kinda off subject-I guess it tangentially is relevant- but i just wanted to comment on the Wilt comparison

I think comparisons to the "NBA" or whatever it was at that point are not very relevant. 1962?

Its hard for me to compare to back then- of course i acknowledge that Wilt is a great player- as was Russell- by all acounts those are 2 of the best of all time- just as in football- Otto Graham and Jim Brown are heralded by many as the best QB and best running back- and in Jims case - the best overall player- to ever pick up a football

but for me- especially in basketball- the comparisons ring hollow. Wilt Chamberlain played in an era with so many fewer teams, with such a paucity of talent.

I would imaigne you know that the game was played in 1962- over 50 years ago- that there is no tape of the 100 point game- that the 100 point game was played in a "stadium" that was more like a high school gym in Hershey PA- where before the basketball game- an exhibition game was played between the Colts and Eagles- of the just over 4,000 fans that attended- most of them came to see football players play basketball more so than the actual pro basketball- which at the time was not even close to being a major US sport. Baseball, boxing, pro football, college football, college basketball, horse racing, all dwarfed the size of the fledgling sport of pro-basketball. Hardly any media attended.

just to recap-

-the game was played in Hershey PA

-it was not televised or even taped

-just over 4k fans showed- many to watch an exhibition between football players

-pro-basketball was hardly even a big time sport.

-the shot clock was less than 10 years old, and the 3 pt line would not even be instituted for a long time yet

-the league was tiny and any athlete worth their salt mostly gravitated to different sports

my point to reiterate is- I think comparisons to that bygone ERA are pretty useless. Do I know Jim Brown was a great player, a man amongst boys as they say? Yes. Was Wilt the same? Yes.

Some people might care. Some people think that the 100 point game was one of the most impressive feats in sports history.

I do NOT. I do not at all. I roll my eyes when I watch basketball with my brother and he lets the channel stay on some old grainy footage of basketball from the late fifties, early 60's. I think comparisons and stats are absolutely positively useless. I want to throw up when I hear how great the Celtics were in a 12 team league with a bunch of 6' 5" white guys winning championships with a league wide talent pool that could be filled with an eye dropper.

I truly LOATHE it. Nothing bores me more.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Damn, Kyrie was a frickin MONSTA last night.

But, the Spurs let one get away.

Great game...

Why is K Love is just garbage 3 out of every 5 games?

Lloyd reported that Love's back tightened up last night.

and yes. Kyrie Irving was a monster- and to do it in San Antonio against that team, in that fashion was truly amazing. We would all be lucky if we could get a Finals between those two teams if last nights game was all indicative of what the series would look like

 

[WiggyRuss]

6 weeks ago, James didn't play.

I think the freakish thing about both games was the amount, the difficulty, and the shooting % of the 3s that were made.

And, in comparison, there were many, many nights when the Heat Big 3 would combine for 75+ points.
I don't at all think it's a good thing when that much scoring is required from just 2 players.
The result was fools gold.
Like I stated earlier, except for the eventual final score, there wasnt much the Spurs should have been upset about.

reading some of the stats today- I read that of Kyrie's 32 shots, 30 of them were contested. Remember being "on fire" in NBA JAm? where you could throw up a shot with someone right in your face and drill it?

like taking a 3 point shot with less than 3 seconds left, your being double teamed, the PG is picked off, so Kawhi Leonard- one of the best perimeter defenders in the league is in your grill, knowing you have no choice but to take the 3, him wanting to make up for shitting his pants on the free throws just seconds earlier, and you still drain it to send it to OT?

Unbelievable. I am glad my neighbors underneath me did not call the cops when i yelled and jumped.


Kyrie quoted Kobe after the game. He said that some of the shots he put up, he was surprised they went in- but Kobe Bryant told him one time that as long as you have your elbow pointing towards the basket- you got a shot.

 

[wildturkey]

I would have liked to seen Manu Ginobili be able to play. The Spurs Big 3 was a Big 2.
Manu was deathly ill. He tried to play...scored zero in about 9 minutes..and than sat out the game.

The truth is that Manu Ginobili while no longer an elite super defender is the best guard defender on the Spurs.
He is still a very very good defender...father time drops him for fearsome defender.

Manu cannot defend post up big muscular guards as well anymore But He specializes in controlling the dribblers. Pop would have put Manu on Kyrie (had Manu been able to play) and all that dribbling is slowed a bit.

Pop had to put Danny Green on the dribblers...he is best defending 2's and 3's, and post up guards.

Kyrie still might have had a great night...but I doubt its historic because his handle would have been hampered by Manu.

Did he have EbolAIDS?

 

[WiggyRuss]

One last stat to leave you with. Windhorst has a 1 hr show every Friday morning on the station I listen to. I cant listen to it- so I just listened to it now....the question was asked to him- which team would have been better for LeBron to win it all this year?

Cavs or Heat?- he sounded hesitant- and then said- he had a stat from Ethan Skulnick of Bleacher report

"One stat I saw caught my eye from yesterday. In the last 4 games of the Finals last year- Dwayne Wade combined for 57 points against the Spurs, last night Kyrie scored 57 against the Spurs."

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

One last stat to leave you with. Windhorst has a 1 hr show every Friday morning on the station I listen to. I cant listen to it- so I just listened to it now....the question was asked to him- which team would have been better for LeBron to win it all this year?

Cavs or Heat?- he sounded hesitant- and then said- he had a stat from Ethan Skulnick of Bleacher report

"One stat I saw caught my eye from yesterday. In the last 4 games of the Finals last year- Dwayne Wade combined for 57 points against the Spurs, last night Kyrie scored 57 against the Spurs."

1. Windhorst is a Heat hating, James ball licking tool. His projecting/reporting is usually totally inaccurate.

2. The Spurs had all the answers vs the Heat in last years Finals. They made everyone struggle. The Spurs will GLADLY live with Kyrie taking that many and those same shots any and every game. What he did was awesome, amazing, spectacular......but it was once again a fluke part II.

The Spurs played for the most part, great TEAM ball, and everyone watching and/or playing in that game (including James who intentionally got a T thinking it was meaningless) felt the Spurs had it won.

You really saw anything in that game that would make you think the Cavs would win 4/7 from that team?

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

"One stat I saw caught my eye from yesterday. In the last 4 games of the Finals last year- Dwayne Wade combined for 57 points against the Spurs, last night Kyrie scored 57 against the Spurs."

Windhorst is an embarassment to journalism. Hopefully he will eat himself to early retirement.
There is no valid reason to attack Dwayne Wade in this post-game analysis. What did Wade have anything to do with the Cavs-Spurs?

Give the absence of Ginobili some credit...and stop acting if Wade faced the same defense.
He switches up a lot, but Ginobili defended Wade quite often in he Finals.

South American Ginobili gets unfairly lumped with a lot of no-defense Europeans which makes no sense on two fronts. Him being not from Europe and actually a great defender and all.....

Kyrie still probably goes off...but if Manu played he slows it down somewhat.

 

[trojanfan12]

This is kinda off subject-I guess it tangentially is relevant- but i just wanted to comment on the Wilt comparison

I think comparisons to the "NBA" or whatever it was at that point are not very relevant. 1962?

Its hard for me to compare to back then- of course i acknowledge that Wilt is a great player- as was Russell- by all acounts those are 2 of the best of all time- just as in football- Otto Graham and Jim Brown are heralded by many as the best QB and best running back- and in Jims case - the best overall player- to ever pick up a football

but for me- especially in basketball- the comparisons ring hollow. Wilt Chamberlain played in an era with so many fewer teams, with such a paucity of talent.

I would imaigne you know that the game was played in 1962- over 50 years ago- that there is no tape of the 100 point game- that the 100 point game was played in a "stadium" that was more like a high school gym in Hershey PA- where before the basketball game- an exhibition game was played between the Colts and Eagles- of the just over 4,000 fans that attended- most of them came to see football players play basketball more so than the actual pro basketball- which at the time was not even close to being a major US sport. Baseball, boxing, pro football, college football, college basketball, horse racing, all dwarfed the size of the fledgling sport of pro-basketball. Hardly any media attended.

just to recap-

-the game was played in Hershey PA

-it was not televised or even taped

-just over 4k fans showed- many to watch an exhibition between football players

-pro-basketball was hardly even a big time sport.

-the shot clock was less than 10 years old, and the 3 pt line would not even be instituted for a long time yet

-the league was tiny and any athlete worth their salt mostly gravitated to different sports

my point to reiterate is- I think comparisons to that bygone ERA are pretty useless. Do I know Jim Brown was a great player, a man amongst boys as they say? Yes. Was Wilt the same? Yes.

Some people might care. Some people think that the 100 point game was one of the most impressive feats in sports history.

I do NOT. I do not at all. I roll my eyes when I watch basketball with my brother and he lets the channel stay on some old grainy footage of basketball from the late fifties, early 60's. I think comparisons and stats are absolutely positively useless. I want to throw up when I hear how great the Celtics were in a 12 team league with a bunch of 6' 5" white guys winning championships with a league wide talent pool that could be filled with an eye dropper.

I truly LOATHE it. Nothing bores me more.

Do you honestly think anyone cares what you think? Just because you are too young to have seen it and don't have appreciation for the games history, doesn't mean it doesn't count or is somehow lessened.

If you want to know why absolutely no one on here has any respect for you opinions, all you need to do is re-read the above quoted post.

No one gives a shit what you loathe and once again, you deflect away from the point. The fact is that you posted incorrect information, you were corrected and then decided to write one of your novella's to try and demean a great accomplishment.

In short, grow the fuck up, admit you were wrong and understand that there was great basketball before 2000.

Additionally, it wasn't off the subject. You claimed that only MJ, Kobe and Tom Chambers had accomplished two 50 point games in a season, I showed you're wrong.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Windhorst is an embarassment to journalism. Hopefully he will eat himself to early retirement.
There is no valid reason to attack Dwayne Wade in this post-game analysis. What did Wade have anything to do with the Cavs-Spurs?

Give the absence of Ginobili some credit...and stop acting if Wade faced the same defense.
He switches up a lot, but Ginobili defended Wade quite often in he Finals.

South American Ginobili gets unfairly lumped with a lot of no-defense Europeans which makes no sense on two fronts. Him being not from Europe and actually a great defender and all.....

Kyrie still probably goes off...but if Manu played he slows it down somewhat.

Windhorst claims to be an NBA journalist, but he is a Cavs beat writer.
In Miami, he is constantly ridiculed because of his long term hate/jealousy/inaccurate reporting of the Heat.

Example: The DAY Dragic signed here, he was on TV hours before naming 2-3 Dragic destinations and the Heat wasn't even on his list.
He is HORRENDOUS at his job compared to most others who do the same thing.

 

[trojanfan12]

Windhorst claims to be an NBA journalist, but he is a Cavs beat writer.
In Miami, he is constantly ridiculed because of his long term hate/jealousy/inaccurate reporting of the Heat.

Example: The DAY Dragic signed here, he was on TV hours before naming 2-3 Dragic destinations and the Heat wasn't even on his list.
He is HORRENDOUS at his job compared to most others who do the same thing.

Windhorst is a Lebron journalist. When Lebron was on the Heat, Windhorst covered Lebron. Now that he's in Cleveland, so's Windhorst. Still covering Lebron.

What's funny about his Dragic reporting was that he left the Heat off of the list even though Dragic clearly stated that he wanted to go to the Lakers, Heat or Knicks(?). If memory serves, Windhorst even had a team on his list that Dragic never included on his.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Do you honestly think anyone cares what you think? Just because you are too young to have seen it and don't have appreciation for the games history, doesn't mean it doesn't count or is somehow lessened.

If you want to know why absolutely no one on here has any respect for you opinions, all you need to do is re-read the above quoted post.

No one gives a shit what you loathe and once again, you deflect away from the point. The fact is that you posted incorrect information, you were corrected and then decided to write one of your novella's to try and demean a great accomplishment.

In short, grow the fuck up, admit you were wrong and understand that there was great basketball before 2000.

Additionally, it wasn't off the subject. You claimed that only MJ, Kobe and Tom Chambers had accomplished two 50 point games in a season, I showed you're wrong.

you were def right- Wilt did as well.....and i just have to be honest....I think that pre-mid 70's basketball is boring and irrlevant- i knowa ton of people dont share that opinion- I mean, playoff games and some NBA finals games were not even broadcasted live during the 70's since the local news got better ratings- people really just didnt care that much about the NBA back then.

Trust me- i know thats not a popular opinion- when i roll my eyes when my buddies start talking about how good the olden day Brown are- they get upset...they say how the Browns were football royalty, Brown is the best player (and maybe the best athlete) to ever live, in Peter King of SI's own book he ranks Otto Graham as the best QB that ever lived. -it just bores me to tears.

Me personally- the modern NBA that is relevant to me really started in 1979. This is the year that the 3pt shot was adopted by the NBA- and the year that Bird and Magic came into the league and "saved" basketball.
From there on out the league has flourished- but when Magic and Bird came into the league the league was in a precarious position financially- so much so- like i said- that a fan sometimes couldnt even view a Finals game live on TV....thats hard for me to even imagine nowadays....

like i said- you were def right about Wilt averagining a ton of points- and i am sure there are a ton of people that would vehemently argue with me about the relevancy of his career when comparing it to the modern day NBA. A lot of people- my brother included- love watching grainy footage in black and white of days from a bygone era.

Me personally? As i said- if it was before 1979, and the 3 pt line and Magic and Bird- it really does not carry any weight with me and does not interest me in the slightest.

-you were totally right about Wilt though. Its strange- i got that stat from a legit reporter on twitter- and i am surprised he totally missed that *i nno way shape or form do i try and "avoid owning up to it " because i got the stat from someone else---- it just sounded wrong off the jump and i shouldve thought about it a little more

 

[WiggyRuss]

Windhorst claims to be an NBA journalist, but he is a Cavs beat writer.
In Miami, he is constantly ridiculed because of his long term hate/jealousy/inaccurate reporting of the Heat.

Example: The DAY Dragic signed here, he was on TV hours before naming 2-3 Dragic destinations and the Heat wasn't even on his list.
He is HORRENDOUS at his job compared to most others who do the same thing.

LBJ does not even give Windhorst access anymore- he got really mad at Windhorst at some point- its why Mcnamenin is the beat reporter for ESPN now- notice Windhorst will NEVER have a real LeBron quote in his posts.

Windhorst tried to play both sides of the coin for too long- he is from Akron- (actually went to Saint Vincent Saint Mary where LeBron went to HS)- and he ended up pissing off both the Heat, the Cavs and LeBron....

 

[WiggyRuss]

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Kyrie Irving joins Kobe, Jordan & Tom Chambers as only players in last 30 years w/ multiple 55-Pt games in a season.

my bad----- i forgot to add on "in the last 30 years"....