NBA Playoffs 2016

[The G Man]

I won a $100 bet on Cavs -1 last night, though I rooted to lose. One team was desperate and playing before their home crowd whereas the other felt invincible.

Curry and Kerr had especially bad games. Andy looked lost out there and Kerr should have known better than start Bogut for the second half as opposed to going small after what happened to the Dubs at the start of the game. He also left Curry on the bench way too long with his foul trouble. You don't do that when you are way behind.

Is Curry only an MVP during the regular season when the refs call a tighter game? Just like LeBron got a lot of scrutiny after game two, it's time for Curry to get some. He seemed like he was in a stupor during the game.

Is Jefferson starting or Love in game four?

[Captain Hate]

Every one of you needs to thank God and your parents that you don't look like Adam Silver.

[Enforcer]

Is Curry only an MVP during the regular season when the refs call a tighter game? Just like LeBron got a lot of scrutiny after game two, it's time for Curry to get some. He seemed like he was in a stupor during the game.

This is what I've been asking out loud. I'm not convinced it's just health at this point.

[Captain Hate]

Kerr being caught on camera asking Curry if he was ok was a telling moment.

I was blasting Lue after the first two games for his coaching on defense but now it looks like he was well prepared for the Splash Brothers but concentrating on just them until last night and getting killed by everyone else. I think they're beating Curry to spots he likes to shoot from and then making it difficult for him to pass out of those situations. Granted you're not going to completely shut down somebody with strokes and handles like he and Thompson have but you can minimize the insane outbursts.

At least I think you can...

Klay Thompson is already working the refs for game 4 by complaining about Mozgov; imagine a Warrior complaining about picks.

[walto]

I think I'd give Love the 12 minutes Frye got last night. He was useless.

It's not so much starting Jefferson that's important, as it is moving Lebron over to the 4 spot where he can guard Draymond. Seems like that was the big difference on D (well, that and more active hands by Smith). Jefferson wasn't fabulous, but getting Love the hell out of the way is important. A lot of forced turnovers because of aggressive, handsy Cavs D.

[walto]

Every one of you needs to thank God and your parents that you don't look like Adam Silver.

I was surprised what a bad interview he was. Stammering, run-on sentences, wouldn't come up for air. Couldn't really figure out what the key points were that he wanted to make. Not prepared or over-prepared or something. I guess, though, that not having somebody as smooth and smarmy as the SHF was is kind of a relief.

[Captain Hate]

It was a terrible interview, for which I blame SOOPER DOLLBABY SAGE STEELE, but Silver didn't help matters by coming off like a twitchy dweeb. At least they didn't talk about the WNBA celebrating twenty years of nobody giving a fuck.

Btw did any of you watching on live tv think there was any way LeBron would snag that weird lob from Kyrie, which looked like it was outside the backboard, much less dunk it through?

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

The worst I've seen Steph play in a couple of seasons. He had never had two consecutive sub-20 point playoff games before, now he has three. I'd be shocked if Kerr doesn't start small tomorrow, Andre for Bogut. Help with the spacing.

Draymond Green: "They came out like their season was on the line, and we came out like it was peaches and cream."

[walto]

celebrating twenty years of nobody giving a fuck.

That's a great line. I think the WNBA should consider integrating it into their marketing materials.

[Noj]

Btw did any of you watching on live tv think there was any way LeBron would snag that weird lob from Kyrie, which looked like it was outside the backboard, much less dunk it through?

That was a thing of beauty. Like the lob Grant Hill caught at Duke, only LeBron took the same degree of difficulty and made it look completely controlled.

[jon abbey]

gutsy game by GS, Varejao of all people with a big energy burst to help turn it around in the third. no real help for LeBron and Kyrie, they need Love or JR to come up big and you can't count on either.

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

Followed the first half on radio, driving to the dance; caught portions of the second half on a big HD TV between sessions at the club dance. The dancers (who well know my decades-long fanaticism for the team) let me watch much of the last nine minutes -- until all the intentional fouling started -- without docking me.

Back home now, watching on my computer the LeBron/ Draymond 4th Q dustup (before I sit down to watch the whole game on the dvr/tv) -- looks to me like LeBron knocked Draymond down, then stepped over him to keep him down. Then Draymond punched him in the crotch, semi-flailingly. LeBron vehemently objected, Draymond called him a 'bitch,' LeBron objected to the characterization, yadayadayada . . . Not sure what the league will do to Draymond, if anything. Maybe a fine. Even if it's a suspension, I'm not sure they'll actually need Draymond to win in Oaktown.

Kyrie followed LeBron's post-game complaints about Draymond with an admirable 'no excuses' declaration. (I think Steph doesn't dare say anything about his knee because he gave that sarcastic apology last year for being healthy.)

If the Dubs close it out on Monday, which I think is likely, I think the Cavs will probably roll the dice and make some big changes for next year.

Tristan Thompson is a f*cking beast. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Dubs did in the second half to somewhat constrain him. I've really only watched him closely during these two finals series, but he may be one of the most talented offensive rebounders I have ever seen. His relentlessness reminds me of the Warriors Larry 'Mr. Mean' Smith, but Thompson can actually put the ball in the basket, too. At this point in his career, he's not as good as Rodman or Barkley; but he might already be as good as the next tier, say Oakley or Grant. I've been more impressed by TT than Kyrie, Love, and the ageless RJ. And TT just turned 25, hasn't reached his prime yet. He's not a keystone piece for a franchise, but he's a first rate complementary player, and the Cavs have him under contract until 2020. I can see the Cavs trading Kyrie and Love and JR; but I wouldn't move TT for anybody less than a Carmelo or a Chris Paul (of the names LeBron has recently mentioned). Would love to see him come out here to the Bay!

Kerr wheeled out every big the team has tonight -- Bogut, MacAdoo, Ezeli, Andy, and Speights. Gave them an average of 4.4 minutes each, make TT work and bang a bit, but he knows the Death Lineup and its siblings (with Draymond at the 5) are the team's strength. Bogut, MacAdoo and Varejao actually made significant contributions during their limited minutes, as well as wearing down the opposition.

Glad to see those long jump shots for LeBron and JR didn't keep falling. JR we can live with, but if LeBron starts hitting regularly from outside again, that would radically change everything, would enable The King to show off his once-in-a-generation combination of talents that have kept him on the covers of SI since the 8th grade.

But LeBron must now be seeing his windows of opportunity slamming shut, he must see that his brilliant career will likely leave him with a disappointing and unsatisfying legacy in terms of championships. As with Jerry West, it will be no fault of his. B-ball is not a one man game. But it will be disappointing if he wins no more championships.

Who knows. Maybe the Cavs will make some brilliant off-season moves, and -- like the Dubs -- find players who can play inspired team ball to complement a generational superstar.

Glad Steph had a strong game. He almost always responds to bad games with performances like this.

On one play I saw, highlighting perhaps the most flawed part of Steph's game, Klay saved his butt: Curry made one of his dim-witted behind the back passes (he's pissing of Coach Kerr with this stuff, but fortunately Steph is grounded enough to listen carefully and take the reprimands from his coach to heart). The fancy pass got picked, Cavs got a fast break; but Klay made an otherworldly recovery: a spectacular clean block followed by an amazing save of the ball from going out of bounds. Curry knows he can't make those showtime passes in the Finals and is struggling to get his hands to obey his mind. His hands sometimes thinks he's a Globetrotter playing the Generals, and he gets away with this stuff often enough in the regular season to reinforce the delusion.

All right! No work until Sunday's dance -- a connoisseurs' feast and wine tasting at a nearby vineyard with guests from France, Hungary, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, and Holland, all of whom have in the past hosted their own food and wine events with local musical talent. Time for tip-off and that sirloin.

[jon abbey]

I like Tristan Thompson too, but let's not go crazy. very few people ever in the NBA have as little to do on offense as him while being surrounded by scorers like LeBron and Kyrie and JR and Love, his only job on offense is to go after every rebound. someone like Oakley shot 20 footers quite well in addition, for instance. he is a good fit with LeBron but there aren't too many other teams he'd be anywhere near as good a fit on.

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

Was just talking about his talents as an offensive rebounder, not overall game. Larry Smith was third all time in offensive rebounding percentage, no shot at all but it hardly mattered when he could pass to Purvis Short, World B Free . . . I can think of a number of teams that could use him strictly for boards -- Dubs, Blazers, Raptors, Kings . . .

Second chance points are a weakness for the Dubs, makes a talent like that stand out.

[Captain Hate]

Hard to improve on SqDCS's analysis of the game. Kerr thoroughly outcoached Lue last night, using his resources much better which is the major reason the Cavs defense on the Splash Brothers fell apart in the second half. The two of them would've gone off anyway but giving them wide open looks just isn't gonna yield anything positive.

Love's softness has been revealed in this series. I don't think Wiggins is setting the league on fire in Minnesota, in fact he's probably as inconsistent as he was at Kansas and prone to disappear for long stretches, but Love proves you can be there padding your stats and still not be that good on an absolute level.

The Warriors defense was incredible. Even when the Cavs were leading they had to work for everything and were gassed at the end. I didn't think LeBron had a particularly good night on offense because of their defense.

The Warriors are just a better team. Period. They were put together better and are coached better than any team in the league. I don't know where the Cavs go from here but Gilbert has put together an excellent front office whom I trust to make the right moves.

That twitchy fuck of a commissioner should fire that ref crew from last night for missing calls all over the floor on both sides and being the primary cause of the LeBron/Draymond dustup. Fatass was correct for once for saying letting them play is one thing but they were just missing obvious calls. They missed fouls on both sides, which mainly favored the Cavs, out of bounds calls right in front of them, which mainly favored the Warriors, and were just horrible. But I guarantee nothing will happen.

And while I'm complaining, I don't think ABC's coverage has been any great shakes. There aren't nearly enough replays of questionable plays, half of which those fucking goofs don't even mention as you're wondering WTF. And stop showing homely Doris Burke interviewing the coaches while the action on the court is going on. If you insist on showing that skeezer asking dumb questions nobody cares about instead of doing a voice over then dial back on those commercials for terrible movies nobody wants to see. But stop showing an ignorant interview while on the court action is happening; that shouldn't be a difficult concept to grasp but they fuck it up every goddamn quarter.

[The G Man]

I agree with Walto's characterization of TT.

Lue made rookie mistakes last night. Irving was the best player on the court but playing him the entire second half and 43:22 overall in a fast paced, very high intensity game, where he was most of their offense AND was the primary defender on Curry was a blunder. Delly barely got on the floor. JR played 43:24, including the entire second half. He's not good enough nor focused enough to play all those minutes. LeBron played 45:34 but not at the level he played in game three. I think he decided before the game he'd be more of a facilitator than scorer because he only had one day rest from game three. His final stats are misleading because he had at least three unguarded baskets in the last minute. People here are too hard on Love. He'd a good player who matches up very badly against GS. That said, he'd be a better player on a different team.

Curry was good but he's still not MVP Curry. He's hitting threes but we haven't seen much of his incredible finishing moves around the basket.

GS won the second half by 16, really 17, because they out hustled the Cavs. IIRC, the Cavs had a nine oreb edge at halftime; that dwindled to two by the end of the game. Warriors were racing everywhere to grab boards off misses.

All in all a great game, though poorly officiated, won by the Dubs because Curry and Thompson shaked their stupor and the Warriors, having the deeper bench had more late energy.

[The G Man]

Nut shot.
https://twitter.com/CampSanderson/statu ... 6283163649

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

Curry was good but he's still not MVP Curry. He's hitting threes but we haven't seen much of his incredible finishing moves around the basket.

Agreed, and that was one of his primary areas of improvement this season. Maybe more the effect of the inactive period than injury at this point.

Harrison Barnes is having his best playoff series, solid D, rebounding, starting to hit his 3s again. Good timing for his free agency.

LeBron and Kyrie took 19 of Cleveland's 21 4th Q shots. They only made 8, half of those coming in the meaningless final minute. Lue says: "When it's time to win in the NBA Finals, you have to play as many minutes as you need to." Two straight games of that kind of thinking is taking its toll on his stars.

from ViceSports:
>>Interestingly, only one title-winning team in league history was forced to overcome a severe injury to its regular-season Win Share leader, with "severe" defined as an injury that forced a player to miss an entire game. Read that again: it has happened once. This occurred in 1980, when the Lakers were forced to play a single game without their Win Share leader, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar injured his ankle in Game 5 of the Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers. In the subsequent and deciding game, Johnson famously started at center. The Lakers prevailed in the game and won the title.

In every other season in NBA history, the biggest contributor to the title-winning team played in every postseason game<<

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

LeBron stepping over Draymond evokes memories of AI stepping over Lue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAZvvaT79g8

[walto]

Look at the (shit) bench of the Cavs (including "the spark" Jefferson instead of the faux starter Love): 7 points. And that's including garbage time. Why the hell can't Shumpert hit one fucking open three this series?

FWIW, I'd never lose Kyrie. He's one of the most fun players to watch in the league. So they've got a team of Kyrie, LeBron, and TT. The rest of it is garbage--except JR who is OK. We don't know yet whether Lue can coach: at least half of their offensive possessions were pointless and at least half of their defensive stands were confused and terrible. But this could be lack of coaching time and not particularly team-oriented players. One thing I disagree with Hate about is that I think the team would have been much better with Wiggins than it is with Love. Love can hit open threes, get defensive rebounds, make great outlet passes, and beat people in the post one-on-one. However, he can't defend, he can't get an offensive rebound, he can't hit a contested three, and it takes him so long to get to the post that he's unlikely to get many one-on-one opportunities there against a good defensive team. He's a solid plodder. As Jon and I have said all year, a decent complementary player, not a star. I LOVE Kyrie (maybe my favorite player) but he's far from a lock-down defender. If he could get paired up with a Livingston type, they'd have a solid backcourt (JR should really be coming off the bench, and Delly is too short and can't shoot). Thompson's limitations are obvious--he can't shoot and is not a great defensive rebounder. He's a very good defender, though not Rodman. LeBron is tremendous at every aspect of the game except poise and game smarts. So there are many weaknesses that are being illuminated in this series.

They need Simmons, but they don't have much trade bait other than those top three guys, who they should try to keep as long as they live. I don't think anybody would want Love anymore. Since LeBron and JR will be a year older next year, I predict they don't win the East. Should have kept Wiggins.