HC NBA Ballers

[MexicanDragon]

I didn't watch or hear anything about this before now, but congrat, T$! I don't follow basketball at all, but it seems losing it that way after such an amazing season would have been a (relative) travesty.

**BRENT**

[Aura]

This isn't frickin' hockey. Up 3-1... you HAVE to be able to close that out. One of the chokiest-chokes that ever choked. I guess the KD and Westbrook pairing isn't meant to hoist a title.

[TMoney]

What a series. Kudos to OKC. They were a phenomenal opponent, and I have nothing but respect for them and the way they played. Both teams really left everything they had out there. In the end, it took heroic efforts from both splash-brothers to keep the Warriors alive. To have both Steph and Klay on the same team is insane. Klay's performance in the pivotal game 6 in OKC will go down as one of the most clutch in the history of the NBA playoffs.

I had some friends who primarily watch college ball really get in to this series. While March Madness is all about huge momentum swings and signature moments, the NBA playoffs are a grind-out war. This series was the NBA playoffs at their best, in particular the epic battle that was game 6. I wouldn't have hung my head had we lost.

[purk]

I think we have to credit Kerr for his excellent coaching in the last three games.  The first 4 were a tight contest between Steph & WB.  There were several mismatches opportunities which was pivotal to Steph making several 3s.  I believe Stephs made at least 4 or 5 threes with Adams guarding him last night.  I thought KD was a good long-range shooter, but he is down right average compared to the Splash Brothers.

[TMoney]

Well, after game 1 Cleveland is going to have to defend a whole lot better as a team if they are going to have any chance in this series. Their effort was less than desirable, to say the least. I think K.Love and Kyrie might need to ride the bench if they don't perform better. Both were embarrassing.

Game 2 feels like a must win for them if they are going to take the series. If they go down 0-2 I do not see them beating this Warriors team 4 times in 5 games.

[robm321]

I think OKC was a better team than Cleveland. Their defense was on another level.

The Warriors did good at staying physical with Lebron. The bench basically beat Cleveland, so imagine if the splash brothers start hitting... 

Edited June 3, 2016 by robm321

[Guss2]

Well, they out performed  Curry and Thompson by a mile and did you see Cleveland's bench numbers, that's embarrassing! The problem is that GS is tooooo deep for Cleveland, they've got an answer to Cleveland's superstars even when their own don't show up. If Curry and Thompson get going this series is over, period.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Guss2

[mypasswordis]

OKC did so well against GSW as the bigger, lengthier, more athletic team and exploited that really well by crashing the boards hard and being physical. Right now the Warriors are able to play their own game which is largely predicated on ball movement, switches off screens and exploiting the resulting mismatch, as well as capitalizing on turnovers with fast breaks. Cavs also love iso ball, which clearly doesn't work well as OKC reverted back to it in the clutch and look where that got them. I also think Tyronn could do a better job with player rotation... his bench is also fairly deep (Cavs have the largest payroll in NBA history), but he's not utilizing his rotations well. Agreed, Kyrie and Kevin Love have atrocious PnR defense so putting them both on the floor at the same time is a huge liability defensively.

[TMoney]

I figured the Cavs would struggle to defend GSW (and they have) but I didn't think the Warriors would be able to completely shut down the Cavs offense.

Last year the Cavs destroyed when LeBron was defended by anyone other than Iggy. This year Klay, HB, and heck, even Curry have been doing a much better job on him. LeBron's jumper is totally broken right now so all he can do is barrel in to the paint and try and make a play at the rim. The Warriors have consistently shown they are ready to meet them there.

This series already feels like its over, but lets see if they can munster something up for game 3.

--

I will be appalled if either Kyrie or Kevin Love make the US Olympic team this summer. Both have been exposed in the finals.

[TMoney]

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/cavs-replace-all-in-slogan-with-quote-from-jean-paul-sartre

HAHAHA!

Oh man, I am in tears.

[robm321]

LOL

[mypasswordis]

Can't wait to see what happens tonight. It's do or die for the Cavs, and Kevin Love is out so they'll have to either go big (Mozgov?) or small. JR also needs to show up at some point or Lue's gotta replace him with someone else. Shump's new hairdo would probably play better defense than some of the Cavs have been doing on the court.

 

Edit: just remembered this gem from last year

 

 

Edited June 8, 2016 by mypasswordis

[TMoney]

Cavs had to have that game to stay alive and they got it. Lets see how the Warriors respond in game 4.

Hopefully they catch whomever has been spiking the MVP's gatorade. He hasn't looked like himself yet this series.

[TMoney]

Draymond suspended for game 5.

What a farce. LeBron stepped over him and he reacted.

AFAIK this means Draymond can't even be in the building for the trophy presentation if we clinch.

This is insane. Suspend him for the first game of next season if you have to... Or suspend his Majesty as well.

Abasolute joke.

[Guss2]

I completely agree Tmoney. How do you kick someone square in the nuts in the previous series and not get suspended, but get a suspension for this. It's just a make-up for the earlier fouls, plain and simple. Lebron has become such a whiney bitch these days, it's really easy for me to root against him. I think GS will show up big tonight and take it at home, because Cleveland has just been demoralized by these guys.

[guzziguy]

I suspect that a warning came from the previous occurrence, something like "We aren't going to suspend you this time, but don't let it happen again".  Certain, Draymond's recent proclivity for making contact with opponent's groin areas, accidentally or not,  played a part in this decision.

[Wmcmanus]

2 hours ago, guzziguy said:

I suspect that a warning came from the previous occurrence, something like "We aren't going to suspend you this time, but don't let it happen again".  Certain, Draymond's recent proclivity for making contact with opponent's groin areas, accidentally or not,  played a part in this decision.

You're 100% right. It's a clear cut rule. You're allowed to accumulate 3, but not 4 flagrant 1 fouls, throughout all rounds of the playoffs, or it's an automatic 1 game suspension. Dreymond, of course, knew this, as did the announcers who have been referring to it during every game of the series.

"The NBA determined Green’s “retalitory swipe to the groin” of LeBron James constituted a flagrant 1 foul of which Green has collected four. Four flagrants gets you an automatic one-game hiatus."

 

[purk]

I would do more to hurt James if he does that to me.  You can't just disrespect another person like that.  He couldn't have gone left or right but instead chose to do that.  I hope Golden State wins big tonight.  

[velvetx]

25 minutes ago, purk said:

I would do more to hurt James if he does that to me.  You can't just disrespect another person like that.  He couldn't have gone left or right but instead chose to do that.  I hope Golden State wins big tonight.  

Would you really hurt your team by making a stupid mistake like that?  Regardless Green knew he was in foul trouble.  Not defending James here but Green was the one with the most to lose here.

Edited June 13, 2016 by velvetx

[purk]

35 minutes ago, velvetx said:

Would you really hurt your team by making a stupid mistake like that?  Regardless Green knew he was in foul trouble.  Not defending James here but Green was the one with the most to lose here.

No I understand that, but what he did was just uncalled for.  I'm waiting for the "Chosen One" to loose another NBA Final though.

[Wmcmanus]

The only part of the equation I'm troubled with is the cumulative nature of the rule, over the entire span of the playoff season. It just doesn't seem "right" to me that one team (at any round in the playoffs, but particularly in the finals) can come into the series with a pre-existing edge over the other team.

I'm not sure exactly when Green picked up his other 3 flagrant 1 fouls during the 2016 playoff season, but they weren't all against the Warriors. I think at least one must have been against OKC, right? Maybe more than one?  

So what I'm getting at is that if one team, the Warriors in this case, has been through a particularly rough series (physically, emotionally, etc) and several of their players have picked up flagrant 1 fouls along the way, then that team enters the next round of the playoffs against another team that had zero to do with those flagrant 1 fouls. Yet, certain guys are marked men from the beginning of that series and thus need to play much more cautiously.  Based on what? Based on what they did wrong in games against other teams, not the team they're now competing against. Just doesn't sit well with me.

Penalize a guy within the series in which he causes the infractions. Maybe suspend him for a game after committing 2 or 3 flagrant 1 fouls, rather than 4, but impose that suspension in that series, not the next series. Otherwise, the advantage accrues in favor of a team against which no harm, or very little harm, was done (in this case, the Cavs are catching an unwarranted break because of the "bad boy" label that Green carried into the series). 

Edited June 13, 2016 by Wmcmanus

[purk]

Very true Wayne.  And at one point James basically threw Curry to the ground.  He didn't even get a call for that.  LBJ is getting a preferential treatment from the refs.

[mypasswordis]

He got a flagrant 2 for kicking Steven Adams in the nuts. and a flagrant 1 for body slamming Beasley. The NBE obviously wants the series to continue rather than a 4-1 gentleman's sweep, so it makes sense from that perspective.

[n3rdling]

I don't think this is solely preferential treatment for the Cavs, rather the NBA trying to make more money.  It was BS when Green didn't get suspended for that obvious nut kick when just 24h prior the NBA suspended a noname player on the Cavs (Dahntay Jones) for doing much less (grazing nuts with his hand).  Of course, the NBA couldn't risk their cash cow Warriors to lose that quickly to OKC, so they didn't suspend Green since they were losing the series.  Now that this looks to be over in 5 the NBA gives Green a cheap flagrant so the Cavs can hopefully prolong this series too.  Really disappointing, I thought this kinda stuff was gonna go away when Stern retired.

[TMoney]

I can't say I buy in to the conspiracy theories. The NBA has made big time efforts to clean itself up. There is nothing even remotely similar to the shenanigans the New England Patriots pull in the NFL.

As angry as I am, Draymond was on thin ice and he knew it. What LeBron did was incredibly insulting, but Draymond really need to not react. I didn't think Draymond's reaction warranted a flagrant (seemed more like a technical), but he forced the league to make a decision and they made one.

All that being said, nothing would give me greater pleasure than humiliating the Cavs tonight.

If they lose this one I'd say there is a good chance two out of three of Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and Tyrann Lue are not back next year.

Edited June 13, 2016 by TMoney