OT: Cavs vs. Warriors (Who Wins the NBA Finals?)

Curry and Thompson get 11 and 9 points respectively and the still beat the Cavs by 15.

rochrist said:

Curry and Thompson get 11 and 9 points respectively and the still beat the Cavs by 15.

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Everyone else balled out. Reminded me of the Mavs in 2011 where the bench was just so solid. That said, one down, three to go. Enjoyed watching LeBron's body language throughout this one.

The Warriors bench outplayed the Cavs starters lol only one game but I'd be biting my nails if I were a Cavs fan.

KontradictioN said:

Everyone else balled out. Reminded me of the Mavs in 2011 where the bench was just so solid. That said, one down, three to go. Enjoyed watching LeBron's body language throughout this one.

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Did you notice how he reverted to just taking the ball and charging at the basket near the end of the game. Got stripped two or three times in a row.

GS in 5.

Bad sign for the cavs. It's just one game. I thought the cavs where overrated but we will see.

GS is clearly the deeper team and it's hard to see CLE pulling this one out. Key stretch of the game was when Lebron went out of the game near the end of the 3rd quarter, CLE was down 3. When he finally came back into the game, CLE was down 14, and it was too late at that point.

KontradictioN said:

Everyone else balled out. Reminded me of the Mavs in 2011 where the bench was just so solid. That said, one down, three to go. Enjoyed watching LeBron's body language throughout this one.

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One swallow does not make a summer but the people saying the East has not prepared the Cavs for the West look like soothsayers right now. Let's see if Cleveland can lift their intensity in game 2 but on the strength of this contest, Golden State looks decidedly stronger and deeper.

Unless James and Irving change their games, Cleveland's going to get steamrolled.

I guess i was wrong. Cavs in 6 instead of 4 now.

First off...I'm a huge C's fan since the Russell days.

Secondly, I played ball from a young age all the way into my late 30's, in school and adult leagues with other ex-college types.

I have no real preference in this series. I love all the long range jump shots GS throw up...and I think Kyrie Irving is a practically unstoppable offensive force min any game.

GS won tonight BUT...as far as I'm concerned, the game was marred all night by theses obvious "LeBron" rules.

Now some long timers will argue that the NBA stars SHOULD get preferential treatment and should be called for less fouls than regular players BUT...I mean, just how many fouls DOES James get in a game these days? 15? 24?...let me explain something as I know it, like I said after a lifetime in love with this game...lowering your shoulder, ramming INTO the defender, extending your arm and elbow pushing the defender OFF and then shooting the ball is NOT a legal basketball play. It's not even basketball..it's rugby/basket ball./.[.....just call it Basketby ball from now on. Don't insult Naismith's memory and the century of true basketball by calling this "final" a basketball game.
Of course, it seems everybody gets three steps in this league when they pick up the dribble but astoundingly, Lebron seems to get four, five and six steps or just however many steps he wants to take. This ISN'T basketball. Call it LeBron ball or Basketstarguy ball or some other damn thing but don't insult our intelligence telling us THIS BULLSHYT is basketball.

Kerr toyed with Liu tonight. Seriously, one guy was playing Chess and the other was playing Checkers. How many combinations did we see on the floor tonight? It was fun to watch. LeBron kept the Cavs in it because he's LeBron, but the Cavs are going to need more from their bench with the kind of quality guys they have on it. They're going to need more from Love as well. He was putrid. Kyrie had an off shooting night, but he'll be better.

GS did what they were supposed to do and they did it in style. They are the better team. AI was spectacular. Livingston was insane. Barbosa played young and loose. Even Barnes, who I feel is a bit overrated by some, had a good start to the game. They were switching on LeBron a lot and the versatility shows. I've come to the conclusion that AI and Green are the only "great" defenders on the team. It's the team D that's mostly impressive and makes them what they are . . . they played well.

With all that said, I see seven. The Cavs will play better. They should know Curry and Thompson will go off at some point. That's just what they do. And they'll have to do a much much better job defending GS's bench. Yeah, there are some good guys on it, but CLE has to show some more grit defensively in the Finals. I think they will. CLE is overmatched, but they'll push this thing to the limit. They've got enough good players, perhaps the man who still stands at the summit, to make this a competitive series.

GS in 7

PatsBoy12 said:

Kerr toyed with Liu tonight. Seriously, one guy was playing Chess and the other was playing Checkers. How many combinations did we see on the floor tonight? It was fun to watch. LeBron kept the Cavs in it because he's LeBron, but the Cavs are going to need more from their bench with the kind of quality guys they have on it. They're going to need more from Love as well. He was putrid. Kyrie had an off shooting night, but he'll be better.

GS did what they were supposed to do and they did it in style. They are the better team. AI was spectacular. Livingston was insane. Barbosa played young and loose. Even Barnes, who I feel is a bit overrated by some, had a good start to the game. They were switching on LeBron a lot and the versatility shows. I've come to the conclusion that AI and Green are the only "great" defenders on the team. It's the team D that's mostly impressive and makes them what they are . . . they played well.

With all that said, I see seven. The Cavs will play better. They should know Curry and Thompson will go off at some point. That's just what they do. And they'll have to do a much much better job defending GS's bench. Yeah, there are some good guys on it, but CLE has to show some more grit defensively in the Finals. I think they will. CLE is overmatched, but they'll push this thing to the limit. They've got enough good players, perhaps the man who still stands at the summit, to make this a competitive series.

GS in 7

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Lots of good thoughts. I agree that CLE is a better team than they showed tonight, and that's taking into account the fact that they were leading with 2:00 left in the third quarter. Either way, they will likely win a couple of games, particularly when they host 3/4 in games 3,4, and 6 (should it go that far).

We'll know a lot more about this series after Sunday's game #2. If they can split at GS, they have a puncher's chance. If not, the series will be all but over. Personally, I see Golden State winning in 6 again, just like they did last year.

denverpatsfan said:

I guess i was wrong. Cavs in 6 instead of 4 now.

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What happened to 5? It seems like a natural middle ground between having them sweep the series and winning in 6 games.

supafly said:

What happened to 5? It seems like a natural middle ground between having them sweep the series and winning in 6 games.

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In a perverted sense, and yes, this completely goes against my preference for tough nailbiters but I wouldn't mind seeing the Warriors sweep the Cavs with four blowouts. That would provide some extra conversation in the 95/96 Bulls discussion.

ausbacker said:

In a perverted sense, and yes, this completely goes against my preference for tough nailbiters but I wouldn't mind seeing the Warriors sweep the Cavs with four blowouts. That would provide some extra conversation in the 95/96 Bulls discussion.

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As someone who'd prefer to see the Cavs and their fans finally win something, I may prefer to get the suffering out of the way as quickly as possible, too.

I found it mildly amusing though, that the poster to whom I responded to, had to change his prediction from a Cavs sweep to the Cavs in 6 based off of last night's game. It was that dominating outside of the late 3rd quarter CLE run.

Well, if there is one thing Cleveland fans can count on, it's the fact that Tyronn Lue is going to make the necessary adjustments to steal Game 2.

Oh wait, Lue is a yes man and not an actual head coach? Okay, sorry Cleveland.

Deus Irae said:

Unless James and Irving change their games, Cleveland's going to get steamrolled.

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We'll call it the Cleveland Steamer.

rochrist said:

Did you notice how he reverted to just taking the ball and charging at the basket near the end of the game. Got stripped two or three times in a row.

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Yep. No clue why he's reverted back to that the last two seasons. I honestly think Spoelstra coached him out of that in Miami. In Cleveland, he has had nothing but yes men. So, not only was he openly pouting up and down the court, but he was also falling back into some very bad habits aside from the first quarter.

KontradictioN said:

Yep. No clue why he's reverted back to that the last two seasons. I honestly think Spoelstra coached him out of that in Miami. In Cleveland, he has had nothing but yes men. So, not only was he openly pouting up and down the court, but he was also falling back into some very bad habits aside from the first quarter.

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LeBrons FG% was better in MIA than CLE because Spolstra knew where to get him the ball and what shots were low % for him. Took LBJ a bit to come around but did eventually. Read an article about that somewhere. They attributed that to Riley's influence. There is no one close to that in CLE