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NBA Finals 2017 |OT| Same As It Ever Was

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D

darkwing-buck

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S

Syphon Filter

Member
Rvaan said:
That 07 Finals against the Spurs is worst he's done in the Finals and he avg'd 22/7/7 against prime Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, and the all dirty MVP Bruce Bowen. LBJ had Big Z, Booby Gibson, Varejao, and Shannon Brown.
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lmao at 2007 cavs team, how in the world bron took them to the finals.
 
B

Boogs31

Member
John Petrucci said:
People don't talk about this enough as well. Before GS became the GS we now know, the 2014 Spurs were looked at as one of the greatest teams of all time with maybe the best Finals performance ever.

He's now 3 and 5 in the Finals, but two of the teams he beat are considered some of the best teams ever assembled. It did take some really crazy luck to beat those Spurs and Warriors, but he got the W's.
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I don't think there is any disputing that LeBron's opponents in the Finals have been really good to great teams. The thing I don't think is talked about enough is how easy the East has been for the last 7 years. It's easier to only have to beat 1 great team in the Finals than it is to have to beat 2 good to great teams just to get to the Finals.
 
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John Petrucci

Member
LionPride said:
And if we bein honest, he'd be up 2-1 against the Warriors if Love and Irving were healthy on the first battle. He took em to six with Delly on life support and JR bein JR
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Maybe so. I would agree that it's silly to hold 2007 and 2015 against him. His Finals record is a lazy argument against him, but it's easy for people to understand without having to look deeper into how and why he has that record.

I also like the apparent idea many have that it's better to lose earlier in the playoffs than to lose in the Finals.
 
K

Kettch

Member
John Petrucci said:
After that point though game turns into a huge blowout if JR isn't knocking down some insane 3's. I think LBJ waited a bit too long to take game into his own hands as a scorer, playing bully ball. He started doing that when they were already down 10 and they just kept trading buckets.
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I think that was actually intentional on the warriors part. Like you said, they were up 10. They were happy to trade baskets as long as no one was getting an open 3 look. Lebron's defender was getting zero help, and they also took Durant off him down the stretch to keep him fresh for scoring.

The entire rest of the game, those drives were getting stopped cold, and Lebron was being forced to pass it.
 
B

Boogs31

Member
LionPride said:
And if we bein honest, he'd be up 2-1 against the Warriors if Love and Irving were healthy on the first battle. He took em to six with Delly on life support and JR bein JR
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I mean yes he very well could have won in 2015 had Irving and Love been healthy. But Golden State could easily make the same argument that they would have won in 2016 if Green wasn't suspended and Bogut didn't get hurt.
 
S

Shamrock7r

Member
At this point, Kawhi Leonard is the only hope for stopping the Warriors. Won't happen for at least 2-3 years though when the Spurs are fully done re-tooling
 
R

random25

Member
Boogs31 said:
I don't think there is any disputing that LeBron's opponents in the Finals have been really good to great teams. The thing I don't think is talked about enough is how easy the East has been for the last 7 years. It's easier to only have to beat 1 great team in the Finals than it is to have to beat 2 good to great teams just to get to the Finals.
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lol no. It's top heavy, for sure, but being a top seed gives you the advantage of facing "easier" opponents until the conference finals. It's not like MVP Rose and the Bulls, Boston Big 3 and a once-then scrappy Pacers were scrubs.
 
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John Petrucci

Member
Kettch said:
I think that was actually intentional on the warriors part. Like you said, they were up 10. They were happy to trade baskets as long as no one was getting an open 3 look. Lebron's defender was getting zero help, and they also took Durant off him down the stretch to keep him fresh for scoring.

The entire rest of the game, those drives were getting stopped cold, and Lebron was being forced to pass it.
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True enough. They seemed quite content to leave Iggy on an island with LBJ, and he wasn't putting up any fight in the paint. The strategy worked well.

I do think LBJ was purposefully trying to get teammates hot from 3 most of game and could have been more aggressive scoring wise if he wanted to be. Like I said though without JR getting crazy hot it's a blowout. He made the Cavs strategy and overall performance look better than it really was.
 
B

Boogs31

Member
random25 said:
lol no. It's top heavy, for sure, but being a top seed gives you the advantage of facing "easier" opponents until the conference finals. It's not like MVP Rose and the Bulls, Boston Big 3 and a once-then scrappy Pacers were scrubs.
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For conference finals opponents, they were scrubs. The 2012 Celtics had a core of mid 30's guys that were all past there prime. Those Pacers teams were not that good either (Just look at Hibbert and Stephenson now). They had Paul George but even he wasn't at his peak yet. And the Bulls were a good defensive team with an MVP, but they didn't have enough offensive firepower or the experience to truly be considered a contender.

The East has been extremely weak, and that includes the conference finalists.
 
V

VeeP

Member
LionPride said:
And if we bein honest, he'd be up 2-1 against the Warriors if Love and Irving were healthy on the first battle. He took em to six with Delly on life support and JR bein JR
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He might've won that series. But let's be honest again, if Curry, Iggy, etc. were healthy last year, they wouldn't have won Finals last year. Ig himself said he wasn't able to dunk because his back. You could easily see the difference in Steph's movement in this year's finals compared to last year. So yea, if both teams are healthy Cavs would've had a good chance in 2015, and Warriors a good chance in 2016.
 
R

random25

Member
Boogs31 said:
For conference finals opponents, they were scrubs. The 2012 Celtics had a core of mid 30's guys that were all past there prime. Those Pacers teams were not that good either (Just look at Hibbert and Stephenson now). They had Paul George but even he wasn't at his peak yet. And the Bulls were a good defensive team with an MVP, but they didn't have enough offensive firepower or the experience to truly be considered a contender.

The East has been extremely weak, and that includes the conference finalists.
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lol

Just because they were dismantled by whatever team LBJ is on doesn't take away the fact that they are tough opponents.
 
L

LionPride

Banned
random25 said:
You missed the greatest era of Warriors basketball. Still waiting for that Baron Davis statue.
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A grown ass man with a dad bod was a star point guard in the NBA and dunked all over another grown ass man to cement a win

Also in that game? Deron "fucking trashbin" Williams
 
F

FZZ

Banned
Can we talk about how in the last 5 minutes of this game LeBron teleported back to Game 5 vs. Detroit in 2007?

Literally the only Cavs player to score for a 5 minute stretch
 
M

Marz

Member
LionPride said:
A grown ass man with a dad bod was a star point guard in the NBA and dunked all over another grown ass man to cement a win

Also in that game? Deron "fucking trashbin" Williams
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Baron Davis was a beast.

Jazz still won that series tho... People tend to forget that Warriors team only got out of the first round.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
random25 said:
You missed the greatest era of Warriors basketball. Still waiting for that Baron Davis statue.
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BD over Kirlenko >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the entire steph curry era

Marz said:
Baron Davis was a beast.

Jazz still won that series tho... People tend to forget that Warriors team only got out of the first round.
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they beat Dallas

and made Dirk accept his fraudulent MVP award in a small room instead of in front of his home crowd during the second round

shit was glorious
 
F

FullMetalx117

Member
FZZ said:
Can we talk about how in the last 5 minutes of this game LeBron teleported back to Game 5 vs. Detroit in 2007?

Literally the only Cavs player to score for a 5 minute stretch
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This.

I get that he's an all around player and thrives on making his teammates better. But I really wish he would have a very selfish season where he averages 40/game. Him being selfish throughout the entire finals this year may have gotten him to game 6?
 
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