NBA Finals thread

i would lol if gs wins and klay nor curry gets the finals mvp. looks like green will take it at this rate.
 
The story with Lebron is always the same, he has a crappy team around him, even if those guys were all-stars before he got there. Lebron is great in the regular season when he can over power teams without talent and size. Once he gets into the finals (face it no real challenge in play-offs in easter conference) he can't keep up. Lebron can't be the dominant force on a great team. When he won in Miami finally, it was because of the strong presence of people like Wade who had already won without him.

He's a great individual player, but doesn't make for a great team. He doesn't affect the game on offense when he's not dominating the ball, he just stands around. Curry is running his ass off to affect the defense and get everyone better shots. Look back at Jordan, Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, Magic, etc. Even though some of them definitely would dominate the ball sometimes, they would still run the offense and keep things moving when they didn't have the ball. It's all of those other little things that allow the rest of the team to show up.
 
ya well see, so far he basically hand picked this team from getting rid of wiggins for love and pushed for the thompson signing. it was a cake walk for them to get to the finals. his team is healthy hes playing well so theres no more excuses for that guy man. partnering up with franchise players to win while hes one of the most if not the most gifted athlete of all times. Any titles won or wins with the allstars he picked to play with are all tainted in my book. no respect no care.

I can respect GS since they are a home made team.
 
Well, that was a much better showing for Cleveland.  The win was basically built off of a much tighter defensive effort, being faster on the switches and not allowing GS to cut to the basket for easy layups.  I'm still skeptical whether Cleveland has the offensive ability to win.  The only difference with their offense last night was that they actually made their shots.  In terms of the offensive schemes, there was still a lot of iso ball.  The only dynamism was on the penetration/kick out plays and pick and rolls. 

I don't think it's an accident that they had their best game with Kevin Love sitting out.  Wondering if LeBron is gonna pay a secret visit to the doctors to tell them to keep Love in drydock for another game.

I expect Steve Kerr to do what he does, though, in game 4, and make some adjustments, maybe start Iguodala.  And you know Curry and Thompson are going to break out at some point.
 
imo the the major dif between these 2 teams is bench play. i cant trust cavs bench play on the road at this point. They need a huge game from their stars to keep them afloat. with gs if you lock down klay and curry their role players step up.
 
It's largely because of how they play. They rarely get into 1 on 1 isolation offense and are continuously moving, both them and the ball. When they get out of that and start launching 3's out of the offensive flow is when they get in trouble (though with Steph and Klay they can get away with it still sometimes). This offensive style allows everyone to get in the flow and makes it much easier for the open guy to make a play when he gets the chance.

Cleveland, and a lot of teams, play way too much isolation where the star dominates the ball and everyone else stands around. Even when Lebron is "getting his teamates into the game" he's usually just standing around and watching them instead. Then when the pressure is on, the "star" players only trust themselves so they start dominating the ball even more.
 
Impressive win by Cleveland last night.  LeBron had the outside shot going and Kyrie was, well, over 70% FPG.  I'm really surprised that they've gotten two wins out of their iso ball play -- I'm sure it helped on both the offensive and defensive sides that Green was out.  Maybe Cleveland can scratch out another win at home, but I still don't see how they win the series with Game 7 at GS.  GS at their best will beat Cleveland at their best, so Cleveland just has to hope to foul things up enough on the defensive side to throw GS off, and pray LeBron and Kyrie can sustain this pace for another 96 minutes.
 
That was a great game last night.  Cleveland's offense finally looked in sync, with LeBron creating opportunities for others off the dribble and drive.  You see how crucial Bogut is for his interior defense and rebounding.  Tristan Thompson owned the paint last night.  I got a little worried at the end of the 3rd quarter, when they slowed things down and started playing lazy as if they had already won the game, with LeBron just holding the ball for 20 seconds then taking a stupid shot.  To be fair, it's easy as an armchair coach to tell a player to pick up the pace  who has basically played the entire game without any rest -- he looked a little tired at that point.  But they got their energy back in the 4th and held off the run by Golden State.

I sympathize with the poor officiating on GS.  Some of the reach in fouls he was called for were completely bogus.  But it was a pleasure to see the MVP lose his cool and bean a fan with his mouthguard like a petulant teenager.

I have to hand it to Cleveland.  I really didn't think they would be able to push it to Game 7, especially when they had to play the elimination game 5 at GS.  But they've managed to muck things up and take GS off their game.  And when Curry or Thompson go on a mini streak, they haven't come unravelled and started turning the ball over, and have always had an answer on offense.

This has been a weird series.  A few games were neck and neck into the early 4th quarter, but otherwise the victories for each team have been lopsided.  I like Cleveland's chances in Game 7, despite the venue, but I'm not going to bet on it.  If GS plays to their potential, and starts making the shots they've missed these last two games, there's no team on earth that can stop them.  I just hope that the Cleveland players other than LeBron and Kyrie will be ready when the ball comes to them, because he's most effective when he has an assist option to kick out to or hit rolling to the basket.  LeBron can be a lot like Kobe sometimes, and become his own worst enemy when he starts trying to do everything himself.  When it works, like last night, it's brilliant.  But when it doesn't,  it can completely sink the team.
 
It's been a great series. I've grown disenchanted with big time spectator sports in the 21st century, but the NBA is a 50 yr habit I can't shake off, especially the playoffs. GS is full of itself, but they have  brought the best out in their opponents and made for the most  entertaining postseason in recent memory. I wish the series would not have gone 7 though, as I now have a conflict with a book club meeting. Dang.
 
Predictions for tonight?

My heart says Cleveland, but my head says Golden State.

I'll go with the heart though and say Cleveland +5
 
Rooting for Cleveland; it's a tossup- tough to win three in a row against a great team.
 
I've gotta say, though, after watching his media appearances throughout the playoffs, including the final one he did yesterday, Steve Kerr has to be the most personally likeable coach in the NBA.  I lived in Chicago in the mid 90s, and had respect for him as a player, but I didn't realize what a smart and astute guy he was.  He has this way of responding to the bullsh*t questions reporters tend to ask at press conferences ("How much pressure do you feel in this situation?"  "What would it be like to win/lose Game 7"  "What does Curry mean for your team?") that neither puts them down and belittles both the reporter and question, like, say Greg Popovich does (in a very entertaining way, though), or feeding them some vacuous mumbo-jumbo that all the coaches and players are trained to do nowadays.  He's able to be honest and genuine, calling attention to the absurdity that sports reporting often is, while simultaneously accepting whole heartedly as a small price to be paid for fame and fortune offered by the League:
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playoffs/finals/2016/06/18/20160618-media-avail-steve-kerr.nba/ 
 
im actually excited for this one! gs plays alot better when their back is against the wall. I think cavs iso ball will be their down fall. if barnes wants a max he better make up for it this game...they been sagging and daring him to shoot for the last 3 games and its better than hack a thompson.
 
What an incredible game.  Maybe not the best Game 7 in terms of level of play, but probably the most thrilling one I can remember since the Bulls final Championship win over the Jazz.

Every time GS sank a three, I thought it was going to get away from Cleveland, but they just hung around and kept on punching back.  And how fitting that a series of lopsided wins ended with a game that was so tight the whole way through?  And the drama of the last 30 seconds, where each team made crucial mistakes, then Cleveland's final possession, where James, who never gets hurt, goes down hard -- from the looks of it I thought he might've fractured his hand -- and then having to shoot those free throws to make it a two possession game; misses the first with that bum hand, but then ices the second.

Despite the triple double LeBron didn't even have that great of a game offensively (I think he was under 40% FGP), but this was ultimately a slug fest where the last man standing was going to win.  Just think of what his assist numbers would be if his teammates had actually made the shots they were supposed to?

I'm really happy for the city of Cleveland.

And Cleveland +4, so I was only 1 point off.
 
im still salty lol, but i have to give bron his due. that block he had on iggy changed the game. curry was outplayed by irvin all series. bron was truely the league mvp.
 
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