Series Thread: ECF: Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavs

[TurnUpTheHeat]

it would be interesting to see LeBron with a legit top tier coach.....but to a certain extent i dont think he wants that- i dont think he wants a system etc.....he is the system and i think he likes it that way.

How about Pops?
If you really break down all of his scenarios for next year, the 2 that honestly make the most sense are to either stay where he is, or go to the Spurs.
Going to Philly is a unilateral move.
Go to the Finals and lose. So why bother?
Lakers. No. Not if a championship is what he wants.
Houston. Not unless hes willing to play considerable time in the post.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Cavs laugh off Hood's apology for not entering Game 4

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — Rodney Hood got an unusual reaction when he apologized to his Cleveland teammates for refusing to check into Game 4 against Toronto.

They laughed.

The chaotic Cavaliers have dealt with bigger nonsense this season.

“They was like, ‘Hood, that’s not really a distraction’ because of everything that they’ve been through this year,” he said. “So they all took light of it. They understand, so it wasn’t anything really.”

There was the heated team meeting in which some players confronted Kevin Love for missing time. There was the roster overhaul at the trading deadline. There was Lue’s medical absence, Tristan Thompson’s relationship with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and almost constant speculation surrounding superstar LeBron James’ future.

A season-long soap opera.



The Cavs have two seasons as Windhorst said--- Drama Season, and Playoff Season....every year....

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Cavs laugh off Hood's apology for not entering Game 4

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — Rodney Hood got an unusual reaction when he apologized to his Cleveland teammates for refusing to check into Game 4 against Toronto.

They laughed.

The chaotic Cavaliers have dealt with bigger nonsense this season.

“They was like, ‘Hood, that’s not really a distraction’ because of everything that they’ve been through this year,” he said. “So they all took light of it. They understand, so it wasn’t anything really.”

There was the heated team meeting in which some players confronted Kevin Love for missing time. There was the roster overhaul at the trading deadline. There was Lue’s medical absence, Tristan Thompson’s relationship with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and almost constant speculation surrounding superstar LeBron James’ future.

A season-long soap opera.



The Cavs have two seasons as Windhorst said--- Drama Season, and Playoff Season....every year....

But let’s rip Whiteside for answering a question.
The Cavs need to laugh off anything Hood does cause if they’re banking on him to contribute its a problem.

 

[Shanemansj13]

But let’s rip Whiteside for answering a question.
The Cavs need to laugh off anything Hood does cause if they’re banking on him to contribute its a problem.

I mean before the playoffs, when he was getting 20 plus minutes he was averaging 12 ppg. They can get a solid role out of him but other guys are playing better, it’s the reason why they didn’t want to bring him in later. All they need out of him when he comes in is to knock down some shots and be aggressive. I think this little thing could actually get him in the right direction

 

[WiggyRuss]

I mean before the playoffs, when he was getting 20 plus minutes he was averaging 12 ppg. They can get a solid role out of him but other guys are playing better, it’s the reason why they didn’t want to bring him in later. All they need out of him when he comes in is to knock down some shots and be aggressive. I think this little thing could actually get him in the right direction

I agree.

Hood is a very very talented player- the whole time i have been questioning his aggresiveness. He is a really quiet guy and needs to grow a pair. Hes a guy that could put up a 30 point game once in a series if he was rolling and confident and playing aggressive.

Lets hope that him or Clarkson really have a couple good games in this series. The CAvs will need to use their young more athletic guys a little more this series against Bostons young athletic guys.....i dont think the CAvs can rely on korver and smith as much as they did in the last 2 series.

 

[gordontrue]

Why would anyone pick against the Cavs this year? It could not shape out any better after round 1.

With Kyrie available, Boston likely finishes 1st and Philly probably make it to the ECF.

You could very well make a case for the Cavs road to the finals in mid to late March looking like this:

Indiana>Boston (with Kyrie)>Philly

Sounds much more challenging than Indy, Toronto, and Boston (without Kyrie)

Saying that Philly is harder than Toronto is big-time recency bias. Don't agree at all.

 

[bksballer89]

Saying that Philly is harder than Toronto is big-time recency bias. Don't agree at all.

Toronto is scared of Cleveland. They're better than Philly but they're so mentally weak and scared of Cleveland that Philly would provide a bigger test.

You think Philly get swept vs Cleveland with HCA? NAH

I would have said Cleveland in 6 or 7.

You think too highly of Toronto who is clearly scared of the Cavs.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Toronto is scared of Cleveland. They're better than Philly but they're so mentally weak and scared of Cleveland that Philly would provide a bigger test.

You think Philly get swept vs Cleveland with HCA? NAH

I would have said Cleveland in 6 or 7.

You think too highly of Toronto who is clearly scared of the Cavs.

We’ll never know, but I think the series would have played out very differently had the Raptors not handed away game 1.
That created a hangover into game 2.
Once down 0-2 , both homes games, they knew it was over.

 

[bksballer89]

We’ll never know, but I think the series would have played out very differently had the Raptors not handed away game 1.
That created a hangover into game 2.
Once down 0-2 , both homes games, they knew it was over.

I agree. Game 1 was like a game 7 for Toronto IMO.

Win that game and for the first time ever, they would have a lead in a playoffs series vs Cleveland. Lose and it feels like deja vu

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Saying that Philly is harder than Toronto is big-time recency bias. Don't agree at all.

Philly still has a ways to go to even make the Finals, let alone win one.
Thats why Im no fan of any planned out long term ‘process’.
Aren’t they basically right now back to a 1st or 2nd round TKO?
Teams can be in the same position without tanking for years.

 

[gordontrue]

Part of the "east is so weak" narrative comes from truth, of course. But a huge chunk of it is directly because of how successful LeBron has been in the East.

Every time a LeBron-led team goes and destroys a 59-win Raptors team or a 60-win Hawks team or 62-win Bulls team... suddenly the narrative is how pathetic that team is instead of how impressive the dismantling of them was.

Do you know how many 59+ win teams the Warriors have beaten over the last handful of years?

One. The Spurs last year without Kawhi.

 

[Gman]

Saying that Philly is harder than Toronto is big-time recency bias. Don't agree at all.

You're not wrong, per se... but when factoring in match-ups and psychology... I think Philly would have made for a tougher opponent.

Cleveland still would have won the series against either, though... just as Cleveland is likely to beat Boston and take the East again.

 

[Gman]

Part of the "east is so weak" narrative comes from truth, of course. But a huge chunk of it is directly because of how successful LeBron has been in the East.

Every time a LeBron-led team goes and destroys a 59-win Raptors team or a 60-win Hawks team or 62-win Bulls team... suddenly the narrative is how pathetic that team is instead of how impressive the dismantling of them was.

Do you know how many 59+ win teams the Warriors have beaten over the last handful of years?

One. The Spurs last year without Kawhi.

^ This is a fair point.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Toronto is scared of Cleveland. They're better than Philly but they're so mentally weak and scared of Cleveland that Philly would provide a bigger test.

You think Philly get swept vs Cleveland with HCA? NAH

I would have said Cleveland in 6 or 7.

You think too highly of Toronto who is clearly scared of the Cavs.

Toronto is a better team than Philly, but yes a better matchu for the Cavs bc of the history. They are still better than any other EC team other than the Cavs right now. I would still take them over Boston

 

[bksballer89]

Toronto is a better team than Philly, but yes a better matchu for the Cavs bc of the history. They are still better than any other EC team other than the Cavs right now. I would still take them over Boston

On paper you are correct but honestly with what I've seen from Cleveland in round 1, I think Toronto is the only team they probably sweep in the east.

I think they would have defeated Miami and Milwaukee in 5.
Likely need 6 games+ to defeat Washington and Philly

 

[WiggyRuss]

Saying that Philly is harder than Toronto is big-time recency bias. Don't agree at all.

very true.

its just about matchups and momentum to a certain extent- The Cavs got healthy vs. Toronto, some of their bad luck shooting the first round corrected against Toronto, the matchups were better vs. Toronto etc.

Philly is a very talented team with an extremely bright future--- a great future- but they had gone from a high lotto team to winning a playoff series- at some point they were just going to be playing way over their heads for a 1 year jump.

Toronto did not win 59 games by accident and was not top 5 in both offensive and defensive efficiency by accident.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Part of the "east is so weak" narrative comes from truth, of course. But a huge chunk of it is directly because of how successful LeBron has been in the East.

Every time a LeBron-led team goes and destroys a 59-win Raptors team or a 60-win Hawks team or 62-win Bulls team... suddenly the narrative is how pathetic that team is instead of how impressive the dismantling of them was.

Do you know how many 59+ win teams the Warriors have beaten over the last handful of years?

One. The Spurs last year without Kawhi.

The Warriors are the ones that luck out year on and year out. Other than this year they faced teams that have injuries, they are already favorites over everyone without the imjuries. They haven’t even faced the Spurs with Kawhi. They could have zero rings if injuries didn’t hit certain teams at the right time.

2015 Cavs without Love and Kyrie 3 years ago.
2016 and 2017 Spurs without Kawhi two straight years.

I mean just those two injuries could change things a lot, so people saying the West is so great (which it is) the path hasn’t been full strength for the W’s the 2 years they won it. No Kyrie, Love and Kawhi. Huge difference makers

 

[WiggyRuss]

Part of the "east is so weak" narrative comes from truth, of course. But a huge chunk of it is directly because of how successful LeBron has been in the East.

Every time a LeBron-led team goes and destroys a 59-win Raptors team or a 60-win Hawks team or 62-win Bulls team... suddenly the narrative is how pathetic that team is instead of how impressive the dismantling of them was.

Do you know how many 59+ win teams the Warriors have beaten over the last handful of years?

One. The Spurs last year without Kawhi.

its a great point

there were people on this site that picked that 60 win Hawks team that had 4 all stars to beat the Cavs---- but thats soon forgotten after seeing the greatness of LeBron.

I mean- LeBron James people. Hes arguably the best of all time.

 

[Shanemansj13]

On paper you are correct but honestly with what I've seen from Cleveland in round 1, I think Toronto is the only team they probably sweep in the east.

I think they would have defeated Miami and Milwaukee in 5.
Likely need 6 games+ to defeat Washington and Philly

Just all depends on matchups. I actually thought Toronto was one of the bad matchups bc of their size inside, Jonas had his way but Derozan is a mental case and Lowry is inconsistent. They need to tear apart that team in the offseason

 

[gordontrue]

Here are all the playoff series wins over .700+ teams over the past decade.

LeBron has six. No team (other than Heat and Cavs) have more than two. Warriors have one. Spurs have one.

Cavs: 3 ('16 Warriors, '15 Hawks, '18 Raptors)
Heat: 3 ('11 Bulls, '13 Spurs, '12 Thunder)
Grizzles: 2 ('11 Spurs, '13 Thunder)
Thunder: 2 ('16 Spurs, '12 Spurs)
Magic: 2 ('09 Cavs, '09 Celtics)
Celtics: 2 ('10 Cavs, '10 Magic)
Lakers: 1 ('09 Magic)
Mavs: 1 ('11 Heat)
Spurs: 1 ('14 Thunder)
Warriors: 1 ('17 Spurs)
Sixer: 1 ('12 Bulls)