OT: NBA Finals

[TasteofUConn]

Chef isn't shooting 21% again. He had a good amount of decent looks - he converts those in the next few games Cavs will be down 3-1 or lose 4-1. It also takes pressure off the rest of the Warriors when he's shooting well.

They struggled at home and gave up a shot to lose at the buzzer in game 1.
They struggled at home and gave up a shot to lose at the buzzer in game 2.
In the one game they had against LeBron during the season, they struggled and lost.

In those three games, Curry had 1 decent game, one horrible game, and one so-so game (for him). Maybe the Cavs' D is just in the guy's head. I've seen stranger things.
As I defender, I knew when I was in a guy's head - once you get there, you don't have to defend every play - the guy will start shooting quickly, or pass on a shot he normally takes, or take a shot he doesn't usually take.
Curry might be in that spot now, overthinking things.

 

[kyleslamb]

You know, they played great with James Jones out there - he hit a couple of shots, he's a tenacious defender, and the match ups just seemed better.
But Blatt doesn't seem to be a "play the hot hand" type of coach.
In the last game, Shumpert was playing great and Blatt sat him a lot late in the game.

In fairness, Jones was out there only until he picked up his third foul in the first half. In the second half, the Warriors stopped leaving him entirely so whenever the ball was reversed, he simply wasn't open. He did play a lot until the 4th quarter, and at that point the Cavs went with their best defensive lineup.

 

[johnhuskies95]

The Cavs basically played two guys off the bench and they outscored the Warriors bench, although granted the minutes were the same: 67 to 67.

@Matrim55 was right about what he was saying a few months ago, bench scoring is the biggest Warriors need. I'm curious to see what they do about that in the offseason.

 

[CTBasketball]

They struggled at home and gave up a shot to lose at the buzzer in game 1.
They struggled at home and gave up a shot to lose at the buzzer in game 2.
In the one game they had against LeBron during the season, they struggled and lost.

In those three games, Curry had 1 decent game, one horrible game, and one so-so game (for him). Maybe the Cavs' D is just in the guy's head. I've seen stranger things.
As I defender, I knew when I was in a guy's head - once you get there, you don't have to defend every play - the guy will start shooting quickly, or pass on a shot he normally takes, or take a shot he doesn't usually take.
Curry might be in that spot now, overthinking things.

How many times can LeBron go for 4o+ and a triple double? This game went perfectly for the Cavs and they won by 1 point. The writing is on the wall.

The only Trump card is LeBron. If he can go for 40-50 each night and win this series, I'll buy you sacreds before/after a future Husky hoops game.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

This one was pretty egregious. He took four steps, then lifted his pivot foot on the fadeaway.

The foul was spectacularly egregious too. Without the travel first, that would have been one of the worst no calls ever.

Still a terrible no call because he didn't call the travel. Seeing two violations and calling neither is terrible officiating.

And the final play in regulation.....they didn't see one foul on that play? Not one?

 

[superjohn]

How many times can LeBron go for 4o+ and a triple double? This game went perfectly for the Cavs and they won by 1 point. The writing is on the wall.

The only Trump card is LeBron. If he can go for 40-50 each night and win this series, I'll buy you sacreds before/after a future Husky hoops game.

If he shoots 35-40 shots every game he's obviously going to go for 40 each game. The Warriors defense has been fine, it's the offensive end that's giving them all sorts of problems.

 

[TasteofUConn]

How many times can LeBron go for 4o+ and a triple double?

Dude - he had a terrible shooting night. He can for 40 every night the way the Warriors defend him.
And you think "everything went perfectly" for the Cavs?
JR smith 3 dumb fouls?
LeBron shooting 28% from 2?
Delavadova missing his first, what? 7 shots?
If everything had gone perfectly, they would have won by 25.

 

[TasteofUConn]

Still a terrible no call because he didn't call the travel. Seeing two violations and calling neither is terrible officiating.

And the final play in regulation.....they didn't see one foul on that play? Not one?

Love the Avatar - GREAT episode. I was losing faith in the series. It was becoming a soap opera, with way to much chatting and nonsense. The skin wasn't nearly as good as the first few seasons as well. Then BOOM. Hardhome. 9.5 out of 10.

 

[Gurleyman]

Still a terrible no call because he didn't call the travel. Seeing two violations and calling neither is terrible officiating. And the final play in regulation.....they didn't see one foul on that play? Not one?

I agree on both points. The no call in regulation at the start of LBJ's drive gave Iguodala a huge advantage (for a defender who was beaten) and I think that's a case where swallowing the whistle is not "letting the players decide the game" - it's doing the opposite by denying the advantage to the player who earned it. And I thought he hit LBJ on the shot enough from behind to warrant a call there too.

The play in OT was a whole lot of bad officiating, that happened to work out to a wash. The travel was beyond a simple NBA travel - he saw the double team coming and aborted his move, in doing so he shuffled his feet several times without a dribble. Then he traveled again on the fadeaway (which was more subtle - that one alone would be no big deal, but coupled with the shuffle it gets his step count up to around 6). And then the hack was as clear as hacks can possibly get. Not a great moment (or day) for the stripes, but the correct team won so fortunately for them they will be forgotten.

 

[TasteofUConn]

If they started calling proper travel in the NBA, there'd be 30 turnovers per team, minimum.

 

[lange10]

Chef isn't shooting 21% again. He had a good amount of decent looks - he converts those in the next few games Cavs will be down 3-1 or lose 4-1. It also takes pressure off the rest of the Warriors when he's shooting well.

Klay went for 34, kind of evens things out. Cavs as a team shot 32%. They outrebounded GS by 10. If they continue to win the battle of the boards and Lebron keeps this up, this series doesn't end in 5. Also, don't be so quick to say it was automatically an off night for Curry, Dellavedova played NBA first team like defense tonight on the MVP - deserves a ton of credit.

 

[Scoe]

If Cleveland wins another game, they should give LeBron the Series MVP and they should give him Curry's MVP.
The guy is an alien. Fishy is right. He's playing with a very good, but limited Thompson and THREE scrubs now. It's incredible that he willed them to the win tonight. Best I've ever seen.

Cant take away Curry's MVP its a regular season award, GS won 67 games, Lebron has 4 of them anyways he didn't win the MVP because he wasn't interested in it, not knocking Curry, Lebron is just that good, I told people all year Lebron is holding back his game for the playoffs knowing he needs to play 40 plus minutes a night for his team to win it all on both ends of the court, of course its even more magnified without Love and Kyrie.

 

[TasteofUConn]

Cant take away Curry's MVP its a regular season award . . .

Dude, really?

 

[TasteofUConn]

GSWs only had the lead for 26 minutes in the first two games.
Game 3 is going to be fascinating.

 

[boog204]

If Cleveland wins this, is it Lebron's crowning achievement as a bball player? And, does it Trump any of Jordan's championships? I know LBJ's shooting percentage will be pretty low but I'd argue yes as Cleveland is pretty bad right now and Lebron will have to put up 35-10-10 every game for them to win. The thing that's scary is, that he will.

 

[lange10]

If Cleveland wins this, is it Lebron's crowning achievement as a bball player? And, does it Trump any of Jordan's championships? I know LBJ's shooting percentage will be pretty low but I'd argue yes as Cleveland is pretty bad right now and Lebron will have to put up 35-10-10 every game for them to win. The thing that's scary is, that he will.

I've thought about this as well. First off, if Lebron wins this I don't expect to hear a peep out of the Lebron haters for quite some time, because honestly what could you even say to knock him anymore? Secondly, if he were to pull this off (I still fully expect the Warriors to win the series), I think it would be one of the greatest finals performances of all time. Certainly would be LBJ's legacy series. In my opinion it tops any championship MJ won, but that's open for debate.

 

[Gurleyman]

If they started calling proper travel in the NBA, there'd be 30 turnovers per team, minimum.

this is not a question of "proper travel" or rules nuances. This is a guy traveling all over the place - shuffling his feet on the stop and then changing his pivot foot when he had nowhere to go and getting an unfair advantage. It's just traveling. Period.

 

[FeedTheDove]

Dude - he had a terrible shooting night. He can for 40 every night the way the Warriors defend him.
And you think "everything went perfectly" for the Cavs?
JR smith 3 dumb fouls?
LeBron shooting 28% from 2?
Delavadova missing his first, what? 7 shots?
If everything had gone perfectly, they would have won by 25.

Shumpert was also an absolute disgrace offensively

 

[Kitaman]

If Cleveland wins this, is it Lebron's crowning achievement as a bball player? And, does it Trump any of Jordan's championships? I know LBJ's shooting percentage will be pretty low but I'd argue yes as Cleveland is pretty bad right now and Lebron will have to put up 35-10-10 every game for them to win. The thing that's scary is, that he will.

Its a big 'if' but if he does he will have done it without a Pippen (HOF, top 50), sharpshooting Kerr, and Rodman (rebounding phenomenon) and a HOF coach: linky.

Also for him to accomplish it playing against the greatest basketball players in the world (i.e. NBA) would be historic. So the answer to me is yes it trumps MJ and Magic (who had the strongest supporting cast) and of course Kobe (Shaq and others).

What we are witnessing is a player making others better, demanding their excellence, leading by example and never giving up and those are the intangibles. Oh and doing this with a depleted roster and 1st year coach. Its all him right now. I may seem like I'm slobbering over him but its basically watching a man that does not need a miracle to win series games, he is doing it on talent alone.

We are fortunate to witness this in our lifetime, even if they lose the series. At the very least this is what 100% effort looks like from the greatest player currently playing in NBA. Very impressive even to his haters/doubters.

 

[mauconnfan]

Having watched some both teams are mediocre for finals teams but it is actually fun to watch because they are playing so hard.

this is not a question of "proper travel" or rules nuances. This is a guy traveling all over the place - shuffling his feet on the stop and then changing his pivot foot when he had nowhere to go and getting an unfair advantage. It's just traveling. Period.

Wow that's just awful. Again sometimes its treated like WWF. But admittedly because neither team is great and one is hit hard with injuries they seem to playing at a really high energy level and it's not bad to watch.

 

[CTBasketball]

this is not a question of "proper travel" or rules nuances. This is a guy traveling all over the place - shuffling his feet on the stop and then changing his pivot foot when he had nowhere to go and getting an unfair advantage. It's just traveling. Period.

Not to mention he hop stepped, which means you can't take another step. He took 3 after that including changing his pivot foot. The dude is unreal. Shabazz shows us a proper hop step here:

 

[Gurleyman]

Not to mention he hop stepped, which means you can't take another step. He took 3 after that including changing his pivot foot. The dude is unreal. Shabazz shows us a proper hop step here: YouTube Video

I don't want to come off as anti-LeBron. He was fouled clearly at the end of regulation on the hold at the start of the dribble. He had beaten Iguodala cleanly and Iguodala gained an unfair advantage by holding him to the point that I think you have to call it. So the game really should have been over in regulation more than likely (GSW would have had three or four seconds to try to score at other end, but not convinced they had a winning play in them with Curry shut down).

I'm sort of rooting for GSW because I pulled for Curry at Davidson (so close to beating Kansas, too), but on a scale of 1-10 passion wise, I'm about a 1. More just watching as an observer.

 

[boog204]

Its a big 'if' but if he does he will have done it without a Pippen (HOF, top 50), sharpshooting Kerr, and Rodman (rebounding phenomenon) and a HOF coach: linky.

Also for him to accomplish it playing against the greatest basketball players in the world (i.e. NBA) would be historic. So the answer to me is yes it trumps MJ and Magic (who had the strongest supporting cast) and of course Kobe (Shaq and others).

What we are witnessing is a player making others better, demanding their excellence, leading by example and never giving up and those are the intangibles. Oh and doing this with a depleted roster and 1st year coach. Its all him right now. I may seem like I'm slobbering over him but its basically watching a man that does not need a miracle to win series games, he is doing it on talent alone.

We are fortunate to witness this in our lifetime, even if they lose the series. At the very least this is what 100% effort looks like from the greatest player currently playing in NBA. Very impressive even to his haters/doubters.

I agree completely... I am far from a Lebron lover. I think he is an amazing basketball player but I still gravitate towards MJ in any "GOAT" argument. But Jordan did have a solid to outstanding surrounding cast. In addition to Pippen (who is one of the most underrated players in history), Jordan always had other borderline all star talent to work with and specialists who filled their role perfectly. Lebron (without Kyree and Love) has a bunch of castoffs, potential (Thompson), and a first-year coach who at times has looked clueless. It really is amazing what he's doing.

 

[Gurleyman]

If Cleveland wins this, is it Lebron's crowning achievement as a bball player? And, does it Trump any of Jordan's championships? I know LBJ's shooting percentage will be pretty low but I'd argue yes as Cleveland is pretty bad right now and Lebron will have to put up 35-10-10 every game for them to win. The thing that's scary is, that he will.

I think a title here erases all the little blemishes on LBJ's resume (Dallas series, Game 6 finish, Kawhi Leonard) that his detractors bring up and basically puts him on a course to stand toe to toe with Jordan on the GOAT debate (figuring one or two more titles, perhaps). Jordan's final title was with a broken down Pippen and an aging Rodman and the basket, steal, basket finish was pretty epic. But Kukoc was in his prime and healthy and you'd have to say he alone is better than Tristan Thompson. And even an injured Pippen demands attention.

The one advantage that LBJ has in this series is facing a team who has never been there before. If he can do all the little things he's doing to keep the games close, between his greatness and GSW's unfamiliarity with this sort of pressure, it's doable. If I'm GSW, I want double digit leads in the third quarter every time - give them some leeway to overcome a LeBron barrage (and their own yips). I don't want one-possession games after the last media timeout.

 

[TasteofUConn]

this is not a question of "proper travel" or rules nuances.

The gentleman doth protest too much.

Look man, I get your point. Your point is that he traveled, and it was more than just a little travel. Agreed.
But I disagree that the NBA does not let that type of thing go a lot. They do. All the time. In every game. I've seen guys take FOUR steps from the 3 arc and dunk without dribbling. Foot shuffling? My goodness, it's like those dudes who use to shuffle in sand to make noise on TV (why the hell was that ever worth watching?) Extra hop step? Check. Change pivot foot? Check. It's let go all the time.
Karate chop to elbow/bicep that CLEARLY prevents the shot from going up? Virtually ALWAYS called.

So the point isn't that the travel could have been called. Of course it could have.
It's that the "the travel negates the arm hack" is very poor logic - because travels - even egregious ones, are let go all the time, while arm hack are almost never let go.
This is just more LeBron hating, trying to rationalize why the blown call on the arm hack wasn't a game-changing blown call.

 

[TasteofUConn]

It's going to be interesting to see how Curry does in game 3. If he does not do well, then that will be 4 games in a row against the Cavs, with LeBron, in which he has not done well. That there will be what we'd call a "pattern." Either that or we're going to have to consider hanging the label "choker" on him.
Heard some guy on the radio this morning claiming that his fall in Houston game 4 may be to blame. What?

 

[Scoe]

Dude, really?

REALLY, Curry deserved to win the MVP it doesn't mean he's a better player. Can you just enjoy watching

 

[James]

lots of hot damn near sizzling takes on curry and gsw this morning I see. curry doesn't deserve mvp because they dropped game 2?

 

[tzznandrew]

lots of hot damn near sizzling takes on curry and gsw this morning I see. curry doesn't deserve mvp because they dropped game 2?

The Spurs lost game 2 last year also, and while they beat the Heat by 15 in Game 1, that was because of LeBron's cramps: Heat went into the 4th quarter up 78-74.

 

[TasteofUConn]

REALLY, Curry deserved to win the MVP it doesn't mean he's a better player. Can you just enjoy watching

No, I meant I can't believe you thought I was serious and then clarified that the MVP regular season award couldn't be switched to LeBron because Curry already had it.
I agree that it made sense for the MVP to go to Curry - good for the league, stats back it up. But is was like when Karl Malone got it over Jordan - the numbers don't tell the story.