A King Asks For Seconds & A Chef Obliges: Official Warriors vs. Cavs 2016 NBA FINALS Thread

Who You Got


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MVike28

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Can't wait to get to the Bay area this Friday

GUESS WHO'S GOING TO GAME 2!!!

:blessed:
 

Ms. Elaine

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I think this series is going to revolve around Kyrie/Love's defense to a large extent. That and whether Cleveland's role-playing shooters (especially J.R. and Frye) keep hitting their threes, or whether they choke on the big stage. If JR/Love/Frye/Irving (and to some degree Shump/Delly) can hit threes and Cleveland's defense isn't completely embarrassing, they can absolutely win this series.

I still have GS in 7 though. I trust GS's shooters and GS's defense a lot more than Cleveland's, even if they don't have a Lebron. And I think the digging down they had to do in the OKC series put them through the fire already, so they're more battle-tested than they ever have been.

Random out-there thought - I think Kyrie needs to play with the second unit more. Delly isn't bad with the first unit, because they don't need him to score and his defensive effort is great. Kyrie's defensive flaws are minimized when Shump is on the floor with him and Love isn't. I would play Kyrie every second of the game that Lebron isn't on the floor so that an actual creative scoring threat is on the floor at all times, and reduce Kyrie's minutes overall so that he can give full effort on both ends of the floor every minute he's on it. Then give Delly more burn with the first unit, to force GS's guards to work as hard as possible. I also think that running Kyrie with the 2nd unit would allow Lebron to rest a bit more and make him more effective for the rest of the game.

Roughly (of course everything always depends on game situations and a shytload of other stuff).

Lebron-TT-Love-JR-Kyrie: 20 minutes
Starters with Delly: 10-15 minutes
2nd-unit with Kyrie: 10 minutes

Depending on how everything's going, the rest of the minutes would be Lebron with the 2nd unit, Lebron/Kyrie with the second unit, or whatever other various combinations are working that particular game. And I'm not opposed to Frye eating up either TT's or Love's minutes depending on how he's playing. Or a magical comeback by Mosgov.

:heh:
 

360Waves

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OKC got those leads with offensive rebounding and dominant paint defense.

fukk are Kevin Love and TT gonna do for the Cavs?
Love is a top 10 rebounder. In Minnesota where he was the focal point of the team dude was snatching 15 a game, on a Cavs team where he shares boards with 2 very good rebounders in Thompson and James he's still getting 10 a game. And Tristan Thompson is the best offensive rebounder per 36, like it's not even close. Like @Malta pointed out, Thompson had more offensive rebounds through 6 games against the Warriors last year (32), than Adams did through 7 against them this year (22). And everyone was sucking Adams' dikk, no diss to Adams that boy is nice. Granted, TT was playing heavy, heavy minutes. Thompson isn't an elite paint protector but he's actually pretty good, and Love will likely be switched onto a scrub like Barnes or Bogut so he doesn't have to work too hard. Given that LeBron can guard anyone not named Curry they can be pretty flexible with matchups and where Kev gets hidden on D.

If you don't think Cleveland is gonna win that's fine. But 95% of the Cleveland loss predictions I've read so far are clearly made by dudes who have never watched a Cleveland game in their life and are just fueled by LeBron hatred. Your dumbass really just said Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson aren't good rebounders...were you even thinking when you typed that? :mjlol:
 

FAH1223

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Cavs will outrebound them.

The issue for them is how GSW is defending the three point line and CLE's defensive issues on the other end.

Lue is going to have to sit Love out of crucial moments in close games IMO. The Warriors will eat with him in the game.

But the Cavs have more fire power this year as a whole, LeBron doesn't need to take 40 shots like last year.

This is why it'll go to 7 games and the Dubs having the home court will make the difference.
 

G-Zeus

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Love is a top 10 rebounder. In Minnesota where he was the focal point of the team dude was snatching 15 a game, on a Cavs team where he shares boards with 2 very good rebounders in Thompson and James he's still getting 10 a game. And Tristan Thompson is the best offensive rebounder per 36, like it's not even close. Like @Malta pointed out, Thompson had more offensive rebounds through 6 games against the Warriors last year (32), than Adams did through 7 against them this year (22). And everyone was sucking Adams' dikk, no diss to Adams that boy is nice. Granted, TT was playing heavy, heavy minutes. Thompson isn't an elite paint protector but he's actually pretty good, and Love will likely be switched onto a scrub like Barnes or Bogut so he doesn't have to work too hard. Given that LeBron can guard anyone not named Curry they can be pretty flexible with matchups and where Kev gets hidden on D.

If you don't think Cleveland is gonna win that's fine. But 95% of the Cleveland loss predictions I've read so far are clearly made by dudes who have never watched a Cleveland game in their life and are just fueled by LeBron hatred. Your dumbass really just said Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson aren't good rebounders...were you even thinking when you typed that? :mjlol:
People don't u understand that cavs causes more mismatch then gsw..

Last year they doubled and tripled lbj... this year the 3point shooting should handle that..can Iggy guard him one on one?
Kyrie might drop 30 on 50% .. even if green will eat love.. his returns should be even more than green..

And u are forced to guard JR with curry... this is pure bliss for cavs as okc gave them a blue print for at least an easy 3 basket a game....

How can one not see this series will be very competitive?
 

360Waves

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One thing not many people have talked about yet, whether it be because they don't know or are choosing to overlook it, is that Cleveland is deep as hell. Deeper than GS. They run a 9 man rotation and have 2 legitimate players who could really pitch in getting 0 minutes in Mozgov and Mo Williams.

And they're one of the few teams in the league who get significantly better defensively when they bring their bench in. They run a second unit with Delly/Shump/LeBron/RJ/Frye that has absolutely steamrolled teams whenever they're on the court. They play lockdown perimeter defense and everyone there sans James, and even James when he's hot (which he has been recently), can shoot the 3 ball at a great rate. I've watched this lineup stroll onto the court several times now and either bring Cleveland back from leads that looked insurmountable, or completely blow open close games in mere minutes.

For all the defensive ability OKC had they were completely lacking in depth. Only 2 dudes off the bench were getting any kind of minutes in Kanter and Waiters and one is a net negative everytime he steps on the court because of his abysmal defense (Kanter.) Cleveland has more bodies than GS and more shooters.

Channing Frye shooting 60% from 3 in the post season, and on high volume too. :dead:

Delly plays lockdown defense and actually has an offensive game now. :dead:

Richard Jefferson is a vampire. :dead:

And GS can't do what they did last year and just clog the paint to force LBJ out of his comfort zone. Cleveland was forced to often play TT and Mozgov at the same time last year which killed their spacing. The team is fully healthy and has too many shooters now. If they try that strategy LeBron will average 15 assists a game.

Let these nikkas sleep. They're in for a rude awakening. :smugdraper:
 

DPresidential

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As a Basketball fan, I need for the Warriors to lose in order to save the game.

They are amazing but the damage that their playstyle is going to wreck on the game in the next 10 years is disturbing...

Collegiate and High School basketball is going to continue to devolve away from fundamentals and into a out of range shooting contest.

As a Knick fan...who posts on the Coli... I need for the Warriors to win.

The prospect of Jr. Smith and Shmupert on a championship float will, internally, make me happy because I like them. However, even though I know the Knicks HAD to trade them because they would not be contributing positively to the organization, best believe people will reach and act like Melo was the reason for their "stunted growth" even though last year we saw Lebron deal with the same shyt Melo dealt with for years.

Dilemma... :patrice:
 
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I only wanted OKC to setup the easy ring. Win or lose, Lebron will be the unofficial MVP, can't even doubt that.

if Lebron loses again

im looking at his entire playoff career like :patrice: :patrice: :patrice:

Will you be looking at his playoff stats or are you going to forget it is a team game and one player can't do it all?
 
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ReggieFlare

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I don't care who wins. I'm just trying to feast, and this series has the potential to be one for the ages. Let's all pray no major injuries occur.
 

Regular_P

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Love is a top 10 rebounder. In Minnesota where he was the focal point of the team dude was snatching 15 a game, on a Cavs team where he shares boards with 2 very good rebounders in Thompson and James he's still getting 10 a game. And Tristan Thompson is the best offensive rebounder per 36, like it's not even close. Like @Malta pointed out, Thompson had more offensive rebounds through 6 games against the Warriors last year (32), than Adams did through 7 against them this year (22). And everyone was sucking Adams' dikk, no diss to Adams that boy is nice. Granted, TT was playing heavy, heavy minutes. Thompson isn't an elite paint protector but he's actually pretty good, and Love will likely be switched onto a scrub like Barnes or Bogut so he doesn't have to work too hard. Given that LeBron can guard anyone not named Curry they can be pretty flexible with matchups and where Kev gets hidden on D.

If you don't think Cleveland is gonna win that's fine. But 95% of the Cleveland loss predictions I've read so far are clearly made by dudes who have never watched a Cleveland game in their life and are just fueled by LeBron hatred. Your dumbass really just said Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson aren't good rebounders...were you even thinking when you typed that? :mjlol:
:dead: @ thinking GS isn't going to involve Love in pick and rolls on nearly every possession. There will be no hiding him in this series.
 

Professor Emeritus

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Key to Bron winning a ship is allowing Irving to lead the team and get MVP while Bron spots up and shoots 3s.

It's possible that there's a dumber post in this thread, but damn it'd be hard to find it.

Kyrie is good at certain things, but he is NOT good at leading the team. He kills the flow by overdribbling and does not have especially strong court vision. He's been playing far better individually during the playoffs than he did during the regular season, but there are major things missing from his team game and trying to be the focal point of the offense exposes them.

And then you go and say the player who finished #3 in MVP voting this season will win the chip by limiting his role to the thing he does worst. :mindblown:

It's as if you had said that the key to OKC beating the Warriors would have been for Durant to do all the creating and Westbrook to shoot threes.:camby:





He needs wade and bosh to do that. Lbron can't win shyt without them.

Weren't you the guy making those embarrassing crackbaby-level posts about how rings alone determine how good a player is?

Everyone needs a competent team to win a championship. Wade and Bosh did not make the Heat into any sort of all-time best supporting cast when Lebron won titles with them. Bosh was out for half the 2012 playoffs, and Lebron led the Heat to a Game 7 victory over the Spurs when Bosh scored zero.



if Lebron loses again

im looking at his entire playoff career like :patrice: :patrice: :patrice:

Losing to the 73-win favorites with the unanimous MVP, who just took 3 straight from a team that had 2 of the 4 best players in the league AND a strong supporting cast, would actually make you look any differently at Lebron than you already do?






Yes, I trust the Golden State defense more than the Cavs defense. You're really going to question that?

The three most important players on offense for the Dubs are Curry, Thompson, and Green. The Cavs starters defending them are Kyrie, JR, and Love. No one in basketball history said that's a trio to "trust" on defense.

Green is a better defender than anyone on Cleveland right now. Bogut is a better rim protector than anyone on Cleveland. Thompson is a better defender than either of Cleveland's starting guards. And then they bring Iggy off the bench, who won the 2015 Finals MVP with his defense.



Who was not healthy in 2007, 2011, 2014?

In 2007 Larry Hughes got hurt and missed most of the Finals. Hughes was supposed to be the Cavs #2 player, but honestly, he might have taken away more than he added. Still, an injury that makes Daniel Gibson your second-biggest offensive threat clearly does leave you with a meaningful team. The fact that the Cavs #2 player got hurt and missed most of the Finals, and that you don't even remember that, shows just how bad their supporting cast was.

In 2011 Haslem missed almost the entire season and half the playoffs, and was awful during the Finals while still trying to work his way back. Miller also missed half the season with injuries and wasn't 100% in the Finals either, where he also played terrible. Those were supposed to be 2 of Miami's top 5 players before they got hurt. Miami was also starting the corpse of Mike Bibby at point guard and a D-league level "player" named Joel Anthony at center.

In 2014 Wade missed 30 games during the season and was clearly not 100% and looked horrible during the Finals (remember he averaged 15-4-3 on 44% shooting). Anderson, Miller, and Battier were fighting injuries during the Finals too (Anderson was hurting all year and missed multiple ECF games), though distinguishing between "injuries" and "old age" blurs the line a bit. Then, of course, you had the supposedly "accidental" AC malfunction leading to Lebron's leg cramps which took him out of Game 1.
 
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