Series Thread: NBA Finals: Warriors vs Cavaliers

[tlance]

My biggest problem with him is not as a player but as a "GM." He basically told Cleveland to trade for Love and to give big deals to Thompson and J.R. Smith. Now, he's stuck with players who have virtually no chance of beating Golden State in the next couple years. From Cleveland's perspective, it's probably still worth it because they finally got a title. But I suspect they will have to trade a bunch of future draft picks to get teams to take those contracts off their hands (if they want to build a team around LeBron that has a chance of winning). It'll sort of be like the 80s, except there's now a rule in place so that they can't completely screw themselves in the future.

Well, to be fair, LeBron had two goals when he returned to Cleveland. One was to win a title for the land, and the other was to punish Dan Gilbert financially. Getting him to overpay guys like TT was an important part of LeBron's master plan.

Trouble is, he didn't see the Warriors' dynasty coming and now Cleveland lacks cap flexibility to make to Make roster changes significant enough to overtake them.

 

[bksballer89]

Well, to be fair, LeBron had two goals when he returned to Cleveland. One was to win a title for the land, and the other was to punish Dan Gilbert financially. Getting him to overpay guys like TT was an important part of LeBron's master plan.

This actually made me LMAO

 

[tlance]

DERON WILLIAMS stat line totals for the series

Zero points
4 assists
13 minutes per game

What the hell happened to this dude. He was once considered the best PG and an all-NBA fixture.
He is not even that old.

He had some injury issues shortly after arriving to Brooklyn, and has been on a steady decline since. I thought he would provide the Cavs with solid bench play, but it simply hasn't been the case. I never thought I would say this, but the Cavs really miss Delly.

 

[CitySushi]

His game, much like his hairline, has receded in recent years.

 

[tlance]

Career 3 point %, playoffs:

Allen: 40.1%
Korver: 38.5%

Career 3 point %, finals:

Allen: 38%
Korver: 25.0%

Pretty small sample size on Korver in the Finals. Like unusably small.

The point is that there are not many guys in the league today you would rather have taking that shot. Two of them happen to play for the Cavs opponent. Beyond that? I am coming up blank. Korver is an elite shooter.

 

[gordontrue]

Dude....I haven't had BBQ for two years (Seattle manages to fuck up steaks). @gordontrue, you ever had Cattleack's BBQ? Shit's delicious.

Nah. I work pretty close to there, though, I might have to try it out.

 

[Shanemansj13]

You are just too precious for words

Too bad you fail here. I still have two jerseys that I got from his rookie year. Decent effort though...I guess

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

Too bad you fail here. I still have two jerseys that I got from his rookie year. Decent effort though...I guess

Explain? Do you live any where in the vicinity of Cuyahoga County? If so, the you should certainly recall all of the idiots who were burning, shredding, and dumping their LeBron paraphernalia when he "screwed" them.

Congratulations, you own some replica jersey's!

 

[Shanemansj13]

Explain? Do you live any where in the vicinity of Cuyahoga County? If so, the you should certainly recall all of the idiots who were burning, shredding, and dumping their LeBron paraphernalia when he "screwed" them.

Congratulations, you own some replica jersey's!

Not replica. I am from Akron. I could give a shit about other Cavs fans. I was a Cavs fan before Lebron, watched him play in high school. I didnt blame him for leaving he had no help. Was I upset...fucking of course. Burning jerseys is way too far.

 

[Heatles84]

Nah. I work pretty close to there, though, I might have to try it out.

Had to get there at 10am. That place gets crowded quick.

 

[CitySushi]

Don't know if anyone has posted this, but it's a barbershop segment with Lebron, Draymond and some of Lebron's guys like Mav Carter and Rich Paul. Charles Oakley stops by too. Entertaining and kind of insightful.

At the 22:30 mark though, Lebron starts talking about him coming back to Cleveland and having to put aside the Dan Gilbert article and stuff like that. You can tell that he still doesn't like Gilbert, but you get the feeling he tolerates him because he wants to be in Cleveland. Pretty interesting.

 

[bksballer89]

 

[Montalban]

If you want to be considered in the GOAT conversation -- you are going to be compared to Jordan, plain and simple.

And I agree about it being the 'right play', which is why I said, if it were the 1st quarter -- that's a nice play. It wasn't though -- he is paid the big bucks to be the man when the game is on the line. WAAAAY too many times he defers to a teammate. Cleveland isn't paying Kyle Korver 30 million a year or whatever Lebron makes.

And I agree with the Magic comparison, but with that, it takes him out of the GOAT conversation. I actually hope Cleveland gets swept, because it'd put an end to that talk. It'd make him 17-27 in NBA final games.

Yep. He does not want that onus on him. You never see him take the big shot at the end. I will say, part of that is the "anybody but Lebron will beat us" defense at the end that forces him to give the ball up but he seems to shy away from the spotlight at the end.

 

[CitySushi]

Is this a product of James and Kyrie just pounding the ball or is it more indicative of the offensive structures of the teams?

 

[gordontrue]

Don't know if anyone has posted this, but it's a barbershop segment with Lebron, Draymond and some of Lebron's guys like Mav Carter and Rich Paul. Charles Oakley stops by too. Entertaining and kind of insightful.

At the 22:30 mark though, Lebron starts talking about him coming back to Cleveland and having to put aside the Dan Gilbert article and stuff like that. You can tell that he still doesn't like Gilbert, but you get the feeling he tolerates him because he wants to be in Cleveland. Pretty interesting.

This is really cool

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Is this a product of James and Kyrie just pounding the ball or is it more indicative of the offensive structures of the teams?

Nah, Cleveland only has two reliable ball handlers (Deron might be #3 but he is useless right now). Most of that team is catch and shoot dependent guys.

GS can rely on Curry, KD, Thompson, Livingston, and even Draymond can do it when needed.

That is how the Warriors beat the Spurs. The Spurs did not even have a Lebron/Kyrie to dribble.
Without Parker and Leonard, the Spurs were down to a 19 year old Rookie and a 39 year Ginobili to do most of the dribbling. Patty Mills is a catch and shoot guy as well mostly.

 

[Heatles84]

Don't know if anyone has posted this, but it's a barbershop segment with Lebron, Draymond and some of Lebron's guys like Mav Carter and Rich Paul. Charles Oakley stops by too. Entertaining and kind of insightful.

At the 22:30 mark though, Lebron starts talking about him coming back to Cleveland and having to put aside the Dan Gilbert article and stuff like that. You can tell that he still doesn't like Gilbert, but you get the feeling he tolerates him because he wants to be in Cleveland. Pretty interesting.

It wasn't surprising at all too be honest. Gilbert trashed Lebron's name and you get an idea of what a person is like in bad moments - which with Gilbert we've determined he's a POS. Lebron's a smart man, given how his brand has grown. Once he capitalized on his return to Cleveland (winning a title), his legacy was cemented and he accomplished everything he needed to in his career.

 

[Kold]

Don't know if anyone has posted this, but it's a barbershop segment with Lebron, Draymond and some of Lebron's guys like Mav Carter and Rich Paul. Charles Oakley stops by too. Entertaining and kind of insightful.

At the 22:30 mark though, Lebron starts talking about him coming back to Cleveland and having to put aside the Dan Gilbert article and stuff like that. You can tell that he still doesn't like Gilbert, but you get the feeling he tolerates him because he wants to be in Cleveland. Pretty interesting.

Clicked on it and ended up watching the whole thing. This was REALLY good

 

[CitySushi]

Clicked on it and ended up watching the whole thing. This was REALLY good

The most interesting part for me was when they were discussing guys in the NBA not even knowing how to play basketball. Like all of them acknowledged it and even Oakley. It's pretty interesting to see how they view their opponents or even teammates at times. I feel like Javale was probably one of those guys prior to this season. Didn't know how to play basketball, but finally started to figure it out.

 

[knowyourenemy]

Career 3 point %, playoffs:

Allen: 40.1%
Korver: 38.5%

Career 3 point %, finals:

Allen: 38%
Korver: 25.0%

If we're going to use small sample sizes, let's address the fact that Korver had made 40% of his 3-point attempts in Game 3 prior to that miss.