CLE D not nearly as good as OKC's. The on-point switching and length aren't there. GSW went through the wringer during the Western Finals and it has made them stronger and more confident against the shorter Cavs. GSW in 5 if Cavs are lucky.
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- Thread starter Bodie The Cursed
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You guys say CLE is much better this year because Love and Kyrie are healthy but are they better defensively? Is their D good enough to beat the Warriors 4 times?
I wouldn't say 4 times..but I doubt they will get swept. We have to remember this is love and Kyrie's first finals. They were shell shocked and it showed. Now they have one game out of the way, they can calm down.
Warriors scored 45 points over Cleveland's turnovers. There was no blowout. Just good defense and bench consistency by GS.
Barbosa and Livingston won't shine like this every game. Game 2 is a question, but Cleveland will play better in their home games.
One huge advantage to GS, is if there is a possible gm7, it will be in Oakland again.
I still say this will go to at least six games
Dude, your hate for arguably the greatest basket ball player of all time is ridiculous. Early in MJ's career he had to go through stacked Boston and Piston teams to get through the East. I'm talking multiple Hall of fame players on those teams that won multiple championships. Who the hell did LeBron have to go through to take his team to the Finals? What great teams in the East did LeBron have to overcome? It's evident to me that you must be too young to have ever had the privilege of watching MJ play.
As for comparisons between LeBron and MJ in the Finals. Do you really think MJ would have only gone 2 for 4 in the Finals with the talent LeBron played with on those Miami teams? Not a chance.
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I don't expect much to change from Cle. The strategy was not to allow Curry / Thompson to beat them which they didn't....I agree with most GS bench won't play lights out every game which is what I bet Lue is banking on as well...,it is one game, see how it goes...
BurningRage
Super Freak
JR Smith was terrible.
You think lol... at least he had a good view of the game along with the rest of the cavs that stood around & watched Kylie & lebron play iso & post up for 45 minutes. Also u can't just guard 2 players on defense, they got to switch & move. Warriors had seven players score double digit points..
I already miss the okc series, it was nerve-wracking but some damn good basketball & fun to watch
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BurningRage
Super Freak
DinoDB1975
Super Freak
My thoughts on last night's game are pretty much on par with everyone else's assessment. My key point for Game 2, if not the rest of the series, is "Regression to the mean".
Simply put, as everyone else has stated, neither Steph Curry nor Klay Thompson will have a combined 20 points again, but neither will the GS bench have 45 points. And JR Smith will have at least one game where he's hitting ridiculous threes.
You've been posting in the NBA thread as long as I've been here, and I respect you because of your basketball knowledge as well as that fact that you can rationally debate people with opposing points of view (at least those that afford you the same consideration), but we will always disagree about Lebron.
His Finals record is what it is; there's no denying that.
In his first Finals, he pretty much single handedly beat the Pistons and took a vastly overmatched Cavs team way against a superior Spurs team (a majority of fans were expecting a Pistons/Spurs rematch).
His second trip to the Finals and first with the Heat was probably the most damning: by all accounts, Miami should have won the championship that year. But Lebron deferred to much to Dwayne Wade, and should have been the alpha dog. Not to take ANYTHING away from the Dallas Mavericks that year (shout out to mikedanger), and Dirk Nowitzki was a beast, but Miami was LITERALLY five points away from sweeping the Mavs and winning the championship.
In 2012, the Heat beat OKC, and in 2013, they beat San Antonio, with a little help from Jesus (Shuttlesworth) in Game 6.
The 2014 NBA Finals, Popovich had a great game plan for the Heat (not to mention SA sabotaging the AC...
...I kid, I kid...). I've already rehashed his Finals history enough without mentioning last year, but yeah, his record is not great. But it's also better than Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Ewing...a few of the greats in the 80's/90's.
The man has two NBA championships, two Finals MVPs, four regular season MVPs, two Olympic Gold Medals, one scoring title, Rookie of the year, 12 All Star nods, 12 All NBA Teams, and six All Defensive teams...his legacy is safe.
And by way of comparison, Jerry West, Mr. Logo himself...is 1-8 in his NBA Finals appearances.
Exact reason I picked GS to win after saying earlier in the playoffs that I thought Cleveland would beat GS if they met in the Finals. Being battle-tested/put through the crucible (whatever metaphor/cliche' one wants to use), adversity will either crush a team or make them stronger...and GS got stronger.
Probably not. Cleveland needs to hide Kyrie defensively the same way GS hides Steph Curry defensively. And I don't think Tyron Lue can play Delladova and Kyrie together in the backcourt for long stretches.
Simply put, as everyone else has stated, neither Steph Curry nor Klay Thompson will have a combined 20 points again, but neither will the GS bench have 45 points. And JR Smith will have at least one game where he's hitting ridiculous threes.
You've been posting in the NBA thread as long as I've been here, and I respect you because of your basketball knowledge as well as that fact that you can rationally debate people with opposing points of view (at least those that afford you the same consideration), but we will always disagree about Lebron.
His Finals record is what it is; there's no denying that.
In his first Finals, he pretty much single handedly beat the Pistons and took a vastly overmatched Cavs team way against a superior Spurs team (a majority of fans were expecting a Pistons/Spurs rematch).
His second trip to the Finals and first with the Heat was probably the most damning: by all accounts, Miami should have won the championship that year. But Lebron deferred to much to Dwayne Wade, and should have been the alpha dog. Not to take ANYTHING away from the Dallas Mavericks that year (shout out to mikedanger), and Dirk Nowitzki was a beast, but Miami was LITERALLY five points away from sweeping the Mavs and winning the championship.
In 2012, the Heat beat OKC, and in 2013, they beat San Antonio, with a little help from Jesus (Shuttlesworth) in Game 6.
The 2014 NBA Finals, Popovich had a great game plan for the Heat (not to mention SA sabotaging the AC...
...I kid, I kid...). I've already rehashed his Finals history enough without mentioning last year, but yeah, his record is not great. But it's also better than Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Ewing...a few of the greats in the 80's/90's.The man has two NBA championships, two Finals MVPs, four regular season MVPs, two Olympic Gold Medals, one scoring title, Rookie of the year, 12 All Star nods, 12 All NBA Teams, and six All Defensive teams...his legacy is safe.
And by way of comparison, Jerry West, Mr. Logo himself...is 1-8 in his NBA Finals appearances.
Exact reason I picked GS to win after saying earlier in the playoffs that I thought Cleveland would beat GS if they met in the Finals. Being battle-tested/put through the crucible (whatever metaphor/cliche' one wants to use), adversity will either crush a team or make them stronger...and GS got stronger.
Probably not. Cleveland needs to hide Kyrie defensively the same way GS hides Steph Curry defensively. And I don't think Tyron Lue can play Delladova and Kyrie together in the backcourt for long stretches.
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DinoDB1975
Super Freak
Saw that Kerr replay last night. Either that was one weak ass board, or Kerr's been taking lessons at some of the dojos in the Bay area, LOL.
It's funny the excuses Jordan fans use. Jordan is overrated. Still one of the GOATs, but just overrated. Everyone acts like he did it all himself when he always had two hall of fame players and a hall of fame coach. No one mentions the shots Jordan missed or the multiple times he was saved by his teammates during the playoffs. Everyone wants to say LeBron won a ring due to Ray Allen... yet no one mentions how Steve Kerr won a ring for Jordan or how LeBron played a terrific game in that game 7.
Then to say LeBron had no competition in the east..... he too had to face GREAT Detroit and Boston squads to reach the Finals, LeBron actually got past them though. Not to mention the two series against the Pacers. Then in the Finals he has always played great teams. The Bulls only had to go through the Knicks... so they to had an easy path. Even the teams they faced in the Finals... Suns, Blazers, Sonics.... not that great compared to the teams LeBron faced in the Finals.
Darth Madden
You Are A Tooooooy!!!
I don't care about either team so whoever wins is fine with me but after seeing the Believeland 30 for 30 story I am rooting for Cleveland even though I think GS wins fairly easily. All I really care about are the 2019 Finals when the Minnesota Timberwolves will be NBA Champs. 
Yes, but in most cases, Jordan and his Bulls faced better teams in the playoffs AND the finals. And I'm not sure the Pacer teams Miami faced even fits those caliber of teams. The best teams Lebron faced were in the finals...where he is 2-4. I'm not going to argue Lebron's ability, he's a top 10, arguably top 5 player all time....but he's not better than Jordan and I really don't think that will ever happen. I'm not a Jordan fan or homer and I still consider him GOAT.
I don't care about either team so whoever wins is fine with me but after seeing the Believeland 30 for 30 story I am rooting for Cleveland even though I think GS wins fairly easily. All I really care about are the 2019 Finals when the Minnesota Timberwolves will be NBA Champs.
I thought you were a Seattle/Tampa Bay fan.
The only good teams Jordan faced that he actually beat were the Knicks, Lakers, and the Jazz. Look back through the two three-peat playoff runs... Jordan had just as "easy" as a path as LeBron had. As far as the Finals.... the Thunder, Warriors, Spurs, Mavs are better teams than the Blazers, Suns, Sonics, Lakers, Jazz.
6 rings beat 2, but LeBron is still a GOAT and if he wins a couple more rings.... I think he surpasses Jordan.
Dispute one thing I said.Now I know you're on something
Many professional sports writers consider Jordan not only the greatest basketball player of all time, but the greatest athlete of all time, even over Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Pele, etc. (the AP poll from about a decade ago put him number 2 after Babe). I think it's a pretty objective fact that saying that he's better than Lebron is not over-rating him.
The Detroit teams from 03-08 went to six straight conference finals and beat a Kobe/Shaq/Phil led prime Lakers team in the Finals.
The Celtics, when healthy, went to three conference finals and beat another great Lakers team.
What made the Suns, Blazers, Sonics better than these Pistons and Celtics?
Edit: What makes those team better than the Warriors or Spurs teams faced by LeBron?
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