Support NeoGAF

[PadWarrior]

Michael Grange @michaelgrange

Lue says Tristan Thompson's minutes are no reflection on his play, just belief he needs more scoring/shooting on floor to keep pace w Dubs.
9:51 AM · Jun 6, 2017

 

[Nafai1123]

I really hope we get that hot Durantula ft. King James track before the Finals are over.

 

[Galactic Barret]

What is confusing about my post? The thread was moving at a nice clip even on off days until recently. The lack of competition in Games 1 and 2 have blunted interest and slowed the thread.

I don't think its solely due to lack of competition.

 

[Stabby McSter]

I really hope we get that hot Durantula ft. King James track before the Finals are over.

lebron is probably going to go to kd's house to destroy the track so it'll never see the light of day

friendship with kd is over

 

[J2 Cool]

Curious, what's the best lineup Cleveland can put on the court against this GSW team? Not really a lineup expert, but just looking at how you can possibly matchup, and can't much find any other lineups.

Shumpert/ Kyrie/ Love/ Tristan / Lebron
Curry/ Klay/ Iggy/ Draymond/ Durant

Best I can come up with. Having to hide Kyrie (and Love) just makes it so difficult, cause Klay should body him all day, and Curry's too good. Blows my mind how Kyrie came into the league as this super fundamentally sound young guy, but doesn't look like he'll figure out defense.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

I don't think its solely due to lack of competition.

Yeah, exactly.

Interest generally wans in the days between. That was the reason I was like "wat".

 

[ryutaro's mama]

lebron is probably going to go to kd's house to destroy the track so it'll never see the light of day

friendship with kd is over

Is Curant a thing yet?

 

[Nafai1123]

Is Curant a thing yet?

Durmond seems to be a thing more than Curant.

 

[phanphare]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU_2E32gkDH/?taken-by=dorsal8games

 

[Fluffhead14]

while i'd agree the warriors are likely to win, namely because of the addition of durant, a lot can happen. obviously game 3 is do or die but i cannot count lebron and kyrie out quite this easily. i expect game 3 to look a lot different than the last 2.

 

[BMO = GOAT]

Watching First Take, damn, Marcellus really has a lot invested on Lebron and the Cavs. Full defense force.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

Watching First Take, damn, Marcellus really has a lot invested on Lebron and the Cavs. Full defense force.

He's a Clippers fan. Dude has been getting used to Warriors abusing his team for 11-12 games in a row. He's salty as fuck, it's both hilarious and embarrassing to watch.

 

[Fjordson]

Watching First Take, damn, Marcellus really has a lot invested on Lebron and the Cavs. Full defense force.

Clippers fan. Dubs took whatever tiny championship window Lob City may have had these past 2-3 years and slammed it shut.

 

[BMO = GOAT]

He's a Clippers fan. Dude has been getting used to Warriors abusing his team for 11-12 games in a row. He's salty as fuck, it's both hilarious and embarrassing to watch.

Clippers fan. Dubs took whatever tiny championship window Lob City may have had these past 2-3 years and slammed it shut.

Ooh that's right!! Lmao, funny whenever he got the SN set with Clipper stuff 😂

 

[Latvian Hitman]

Idk. What's stopping KD from just rising up over him and shooting?

Somebody didn't watch the 2014 Western Conference Finals. Kawhi bothered Durant tremendously in that series. Then went on to bother Lebron tremendously in the Finals.

 

[CopperPuppy]

LeBron needs to get the banana boat for next year

Bron
CP3
Mello
Wade

LMAO.

Seeing this take will never get old.

Pun intended though because that lineup is geriatric.

 

[PadWarrior]

Al Iannazzone @Al_Iannazzone

Cavs coach Ty Lue said J.R. Smith will start Game 3. #NBAFinals
11:39 AM · Jun 6, 2017


NBA on ESPN @ESPNNBA

Steve Kerr was asked how he got the Warriors to be a defensive-minded team 👀

 

[Hyperactivity]

Wouldn't adding rookies with even less experience make the talent level even worse?

NBA teams are generally better at developing rookies, given that the rookie is given face to face experience with veterans, is in an organization that is going to be with him for a few years, the NBA team is more in tune with the trends of the modern NBA, and an NBA team is less likely to just plug its players into a preset system

Also, the NBA is on the middle of a talent upswing right now. It will be fairly obvious in a few years.

 

[rokkerkory]

Al Iannazzone @Al_Iannazzone

Cavs coach Ty Lue said J.R. Smith will start Game 3. #NBAFinals
11:39 AM · Jun 6, 2017


NBA on ESPN @ESPNNBA

Steve Kerr was asked how he got the Warriors to be a defensive-minded team 👀

JR Smith starting? Oh boy, thanks

 

[PadWarrior]

“That’s not our game,” said James. “We don’t play slow-down basketball.”

 

[beat]

friendship with kd is over

You just reminded me of the meme, soooo...

https://twitter.com/arc315/status/872165675870986240

 

[Tom Penny]

Windhorst confirming Cavs locker room banging like weed. JR hid it.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Windhorst confirming Cavs locker room banging like weed. JR hid it.

JR getting blamed when it was probably Korver blazing up.

 

[Peter Ian Staker]

Windhorst confirming Cavs locker room banging like weed. JR hid it.

We all could see that JR has been playing high the whole play offs.

He may have given some to Lebron considering the game plan they are sticking to.

 

[Crimson_Echidna]

Michael Grange @michaelgrange

Lue says Tristan Thompson's minutes are no reflection on his play, just belief he needs more scoring/shooting on floor to keep pace w Dubs.
9:51 AM · Jun 6, 2017

So in other words, they're a reflection on his play.

Watching First Take, damn, Marcellus really has a lot invested on Lebron and the Cavs. Full defense force.

Dude was in so much denial it was hilarious.

 

[Gorillaz]

Rapport foaming at the mouth going a shannon on the undisputed replay lol

 

[Boombloxer]

Clippers fan. Dubs took whatever tiny championship window Lob City may have had these past 2-3 years and slammed it shut.

Watching that salt pile talk this morning was great.

"NOPE NOPE LOOK AT LAST YEAR LEBRON NEED HELP BLEW A 3-1 LEAD CANT COUNT OUT THE KANG NEED TO BEAT UP STEPH AND ARGH YOUR LOGIC DONT MAKE NO SENSE SINCE 2 &3 BEST HAD TO TEAM UP TO BEAT #1!!!"

Between this and Shannon, I had a good laugh this morning. I like Shannon more though.

“That’s not our game,” said James. “We don’t play slow-down basketball.”

He's right. So they'll get blown out again.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

He's right. So they'll get blown out again.

This is when not having Dellavedova (or a capable PG that can control the pace of the game) starts to bite them. If Warriors continue this pace at Cleveland's home, a sweep is looking very likely.

 

[TTG]

JR and Shumpert in the starting line up? Mozgov isn't there any more and they're still getting so much run out of these former Knicks.

Anyway, it's a bold strategy Cotton etc etc.

 

[FZZ]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU_2E32gkDH/?taken-by=dorsal8games

They made it off the jump from when he double dribbled?

 

[Lionel Richie]

Coach Lebron says they won't slow down the pace. "We’ve got to this point playing our way" is not a good enough reason to not make adjustments when "your way" isn't going to work at all.

 

[FinKL]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU_2E32gkDH/?taken-by=dorsal8games

What does the Bosley hardware store signify? I get the whole spinneroni and mixing them up in a blender

 

[my name is ed]

Somebody didn't watch the 2014 Western Conference Finals. Kawhi bothered Durant tremendously in that series. Then went on to bother Lebron tremendously in the Finals.

uh the Thunder lost that series because Ibaka was out for the first 2 games and injured for the rest of the series. The Thunder lost because they couldn't catch up after losing the first two games with no interior D, not because Kawhi bothered KD into 26 pts/gm on 47% shooting and held KD to less than 25 points just once in that series.

I mean we have a lot more data points since then on how Kawhi affects KD which are probably a better indicator of how it plays out now and, not counting the last game where Kawhi went out injured, the results are:

playoff series last year:
28.5 pts/gm on 50% in 6 games

regular season last year
27 pts/gm on 47% in 3 games

He only played in one game with the Warriors against the Spurs which I don't think is a good indicator of anything
27 pts on 61%

Kawhi is all of a handful of players who could bother Durant but he doesn't seem to have very significant impact on Durant to where you can say Kwahi bothers Durant tremendously.

 

[Gorillaz]

Pace doesn't matter the Cavs literally dont have the tools for this. It would take kyrie being locked in and actually playing defense as a whole team


They might as well just play there way and hope it clicks with what they got there.

 

[beat]

In fairness, if I thought I had a killer adjustment for a series I was losing, I'd spring it as a surprise rather than talk about it days before the next game.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Coach Lebron says they won't slow down the pace. "We’ve got to this point playing our way" is not a good enough reason to not make adjustments when "your way" isn't going to work at all.

LeAuerbach is gonna do the impossible again.

 

[sooperkool]

What does the Bosley hardware store signify? I get the whole spinneroni and mixing them up in a blender

Bosley hair implants

 

[Nafai1123]

Warriors:

Cavs:

 

[Latvian Hitman]

uh the Thunder lost that series because Ibaka was out for the first 2 games and injured for the rest of the series. The Thunder lost because they couldn't catch up after losing the first two games with no interior D, not because Kawhi bothered KD into 26 pts/gm on 47% shooting and held KD to less than 25 points just once in that series.

I mean we have a lot more data points since then on how Kawhi affects KD which are probably a better indicator of how it plays out now and, not counting the last game where Kawhi went out injured, the results are:

playoff series last year:
28.5 pts/gm on 50% in 6 games

regular season last year
27 pts/gm on 47% in 3 games

He only played in one game with the Warriors against the Spurs which I don't think is a good indicator of anything
27 pts on 61%

Kawhi is all of a handful of players who could bother Durant but he doesn't seem to have very significant impact on Durant to where you can say Kwahi bothers Durant tremendously.

Box scores are numbers on a page. Watch the game with your eyes.

Kawhi predominantly guarded Westbrook in last year's OKC/Spurs series. Danny Green guarded Durant.

In the 2014 WCF, the first 5 games were total blowouts, which gave Kevin some minutes without Kawhi even on the floor. Leonard made a number of well-timed strips and stops on Durant in that series. Also- since you're all about box scores and stats, take a look at Durant's 3-point % in that series. How did he do with "just rising up and shooting" over Leonard?

 

[Tom Penny]

Coach Lebron says they won't slow down the pace. "We’ve got to this point playing our way" is not a good enough reason to not make adjustments when "your way" isn't going to work at all.

He said the same thing about ISO ball with Kyrie. Y they ain't playing a team you can simply outscore even if your D sucks like against the East.

 

[sooperkool]

Warriors:

Cavs:

That 1970 Cutlass 4-4-2 is no slouch, it'll get up there but your analogy is spot on.

 

[BMO = GOAT]

I kinda understand why Lebron says they will continue to play the way they have. If they switch, they get out of there "zone" and start experimenting. Makes their margin of error smaller than it already is.

 

[Lionel Richie]

He said the same thing about ISO ball with Kyrie. Y they ain't playing a team you can simply outscore even if your D sucks like against the East.

East was too comfortable for them, they grew some bad habits they can't get out of.

In fairness, if I thought I had a killer adjustment for a series I was losing, I'd spring it as a surprise rather than talk about it days before the next game.

Well that's a fair way to look at it lol but if they don't slow down the pace and the Warriors run them out of the gym again then LeCoach deserves some shit.

 

[Vault Dweller 111]

Coach Lebron says they won't slow down the pace. "We’ve got to this point playing our way" is not a good enough reason to not make adjustments when "your way" isn't going to work at all.

So weird. They stole 2 games in 2015 with Delly the second best player by mucking up the game. Last year the final score in game 7 was in the 80's.

They know the formula, but they won't change it because this style worked against Toronto and Boston? Alright then.

 

[Hyperactivity]

In fairness, if I thought I had a killer adjustment for a series I was losing, I'd spring it as a surprise rather than talk about it days before the next game.

Basically. This is a schrodinger's cat situation - LeBron might be saying he will adjust, he might be saying he won't.

One thing the Warriors seem to be doing reminds me of some of the Rockets-Spurs games, where the star is being allowed great looks at the rim that end up tiring him out.

 

[Servbot24]

So weird. They stole 2 games in 2015 with Delly the second best player by mucking up the game. Last year the final score in game 7 was in the 80's.

They know the formula, but they won't change it because this style worked against Toronto and Boston? Alright then.

Hopefully LeBron is just talking

 

[Kickz]

Pierce dropping some knowledge on the Jump, basically said if you aren't the Warriors or Cavs start tanking for the next 2 years.

Also said Butler should bolt Chicago for Boston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQTUqKKAfCU

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

Pierce dropping some knowledge on the Jump, basically said if you aren't the Warriors or Cavs start tanking for the next 2 years.

Also said Butler should bolt Chicago for Boston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQTUqKKAfCU

Butler's not going to get the Celtics past the Cavaliers.
Anthony Davis is the only one that can.

 

[Servbot24]

Butler's not going to get the Celtics past the Cavaliers.
Anthony Davis is the only one that can.

PG/Butler makes it a 6 or 7 game series imo. But LeBron still wins.

I like Hayward but not convinced he'd have a big impact.

 

[Mrbob]

The adjustment the Cavs need to make is they need to get good to compete with this Warriors team.

Coach/GM Lebron will make off season moves. He doesn't want to finish his career with a Finals record of 3-8 (which could arguably be 1-10).