The Official NBA Finals Thread: Game 7 - Cleveland Cavaliers are your 2016 NBA Champions

[kingfoamnyc]

at anyone thinking LeBron actually tries to play defense

 

[onetrust]

Somebody really said the Cavs defense is better than OKC? Yikes.

The majority of dudes were saying that all year.

Hell, I remember talking to someone on here earlier in the year about how OKC has the same, if not, more weapons than the Cavs but Durant doesn't get slandered and some dude said OKC doesn't have the "defenders" that Cleveland has. Acting like Shumpert is the second coming of Kawaii or something.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

at anyone thinking LeBron actually tries to play defense

ANOTHER valid point.

But he might actually do so this series. Less is asked of him on the offensive end, he can afford to expend energy on that side of the ball this time around.

The majority of dudes were saying that all year.

Hell, I remember talking to someone on here earlier in the year about how OKC has the same, if not, more weapons than the Cavs but Durant doesn't get slandered and some dude said OKC doesn't have the "defenders" that Cleveland has. Acting like Shumpert is the second coming of Kawaii or something.

I want whatever they're smoking

How the Hell can people say Cavs play better D than the Thunder, when the Thunder clearly have better personnel on the defensive end. Look at what they did to two highly disciplined offenses!

 

[rillo561]

Rooting for the warriors to beat cavs. No predictions, just git-r-done

 

[shotsrangout]

Lebron been coasting all season for the finals. Y'all gonna learn this year.

 

[pmatic]

You are correct, which is why the Cavs only real shot is simply making as many if not more 3's than the GSW. Then GSW has to go cold...

They have to continue to hit 3's w/the volume and efficiency that they've been doing throughout the playoffs which is unlikely, especially without homecourt. 

I just don't see it for the Cavs (or any team really) 

All of the best teams in the league (cavs included) as currently constructed have major flaws that ultimately stop them from having a real shot at beating GSW.

GSW in 5, maybe 6.

All very valid points.

Another thing we HAVE to consider is the glaring issue on the defensive end for Kevin Love and Channing Frye. I don't care how much of an offensive boost he gives the Cavs, if the Warriors continuously put him in screen rolls situations all game long, it's going to collapse whatever Clev tries to do.

Draymond Green is going to kill it this series. Hell, that stupid weak side post Love goes into plays right into the hands of Green. Dray is going to force that fool into the help defense or make him take those awful fade aways on the baseline. Kevin Love will probably get his from the corner 3-ball, but that's pretty much it. Unless he suddenly man's up overnight and plays out of his mind for a series without home court advantage.

I guess I'm the only person that thinks Frye is decent on defense? Not that he can stay in front of Curry (who can?)...

Under what merits? Who has he had to really guard when he's been on the court this post season?

Channing Frye was NEVER a good individual defender and NEVER will be. He doesn't have the lateral quickness or nose for the ball that's needed.

I happen to think he's just fairly average. Nothing special, but not a huge red flag like Love will be.

 

[jking0821]

Coming from a neutral i am just hoping for a good series. If Cleveland shoots well from deep they stand a good chance in my eyes. Golden state needs to be able to rebound as well. Thompson is a nightmare on the glass.

I think the X factor again is going to be AI and how he can contribute on offense and defense assuming he gets Bron Bron on the defensive end

 

[darthska]

who got banned?

Who got banned? No one.

But who has been kept from making the thread yet another one of their own personal play areas?

 
Ya boy jumpman apparently 

No ragrets.

 

[onetrust]

Lebron been coasting all season for the finals. Y'all gonna learn this year.

yeah and that might end up costing him and his team cause they haven't had a REAL challenge yet. We'll see how they respond.

I'm excited though cause this rematch is what the world been waiting for. A "healthy" Cavs team vs the Dubs.

 

[DadNboujee]

Gonna cop me a verejao jersey when it goes on sale.

His 2 plays got my hyped.

 

[mgrand15]

The majority of dudes were saying that all year.

Hell, I remember talking to someone on here earlier in the year about how OKC has the same, if not, more weapons than the Cavs but Durant doesn't get slandered and some dude said OKC doesn't have the "defenders" that Cleveland has. Acting like Shumpert is the second coming of Kawaii or something.

OKC's defense was WILDLY inconsistent all year. These last 3 weeks don't change that.

 

[tekthemaestro]

varejao wins a ring no matter what. he was on the cavs earlier this season so he gets one if they win. if the dubs win he still gets it. boy is legend

 

[ill steelo]

The Warriors run a million screens on and off the ball literally every single possession to incite confusion & chaos. OKC's guards & wings did an AMAZING job of staying in Steph/Klay's jersey & fighting around those screens & not allowing GSW to force one of the Thunder's big to switch onto to Klay & Steph. They were very disciplined 99% of the time.

But that 1% . Steph's 3rd quarter eruption in G2 happened largely because Kerr kept running all kinds of screen action for him: curls,pindowns, pnr. Russ//KD weren't fighting over the screens & just handed Steph off to Ibaka/Adams and they couldn't keep up. Steph's now has tons of space & hit every single three in that stretch to blow it open.

When you just switch everything against this team that's what happens.

Then in G7, Steph & Klay went 8-8 for 23 points on Adams, 6/6 from 3. Surgical. 14 of the Warriors 17 threes came on Ibaka, Adams, & Kanter. On all of those 14 you'll see Russ/Roberson/KD either getting caught up on a screen, forcing the switch or just lazily passing Klay/Steph to the big.



Kyrie & JR are gonna get a lot of mins and I just don't think they're gonna consistently do the dirty work & bump grab shove & fight over these screens. I certainly trust them less than Roberson & Westbrook.

CLE's best lineup is probably gonna be Kyrie/Delly/Shump/Bron/TT, but you can't run that for the whole 48. Frye, JR, Love are gonna get mins too & I don't trust them defensively. Moz gave them great mins last year but he looks like a shell of himself.

You also saw Enes Kanter get his mins substantially reduced in this series because he couldn't keep up with what GSW was doing in the halfcourt. He was awful in any situation involving a screen & Donovan couldn't trust him.

I think Kevin Love will suffer the same fate. Lue has already shown that he isn't afraid to bench him for an entire 4th quarter & I think he'll restrict Love's mins even further in this series.

But then Frye isn't any better so what you'll have is Bron/TT getting 40+ mins & exhausted as the series goes on.

All that to say Warriors in 5.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Coming from a neutral i am just hoping for a good series. If Cleveland shoots well from deep they stand a good chance in my eyes. Golden state needs to be able to rebound as well. Thompson is a nightmare on the glass.

I think the X factor again is going to be AI and how he can contribute on offense and defense assuming he gets Bron Bron on the defensive end

Rebounding has been a MAJOR issue for the Warriors. As well as turnovers. You cannot be sloppy with the ball going up against a LeBron James team. It's too easy to score on transition for them.

IDK what GS does to address the rebounding issue, but they're going to need to come up with an answer, because Thompson feasted last year because of it. Second chance points is what literally almost took GS out of the playoffs.

 

[niceshoes247]

HE THE REAL MVP

 

[Mr.Guy]

OKC really choked like my clippers. SMH

 

[Hank Scorpio]

The Warriors run a million screens on and off the ball literally every single possession to incite confusion & chaos. OKC's guards & wings did an AMAZING job of staying in Steph/Klay's jersey & fighting around those screens & not allowing GSW to force one of the Thunder's big to switch onto to Klay & Steph. They were very disciplined 99% of the time.

But that 1% . Steph's 3rd quarter eruption in G2 happened largely because Kerr kept running all kinds of screen action for him: curls,pindowns, pnr. Russ//KD weren't fighting over the screens & just handed Steph off to Ibaka/Adams and they couldn't keep up. Steph's now has tons of space & hit every single three in that stretch to blow it open.


Kyrie & JR are gonna get a lot of mins and I just don't think they're gonna consistently do the dirty work & bump grab shove & fight over these screens. I certainly trust them less than Roberson & Westbrook.

CLE's best lineup is probably gonna be Kyrie/Delly/Shump/Bron/TT, but you can't run that for the whole 48. Frye, JR, Love are gonna get mins too & I don't trust them defensively. Moz gave them great mins last year but he looks like a shell of himself.

You also saw Enes Kanter get his mins substantially in this series because he couldn't keep up with what GSW was doing in the halfcourt. He was awful in any situation involving a screen & Donovan couldn't trust him.

I think Kevin Love will suffer the same fate. Lue has already shown that he isn't afraid to bench him for an entire 4th quarter & I think he'll restrict Love's mins even further in this series.

But then Frye isn't any better so what you'll have is Bron/TT getting 40+ mins & exhausted as the series goes on.

All that to say Warriors in 5.

Fantastic post

Agree on all points. I also do not see guys like JR, Kyrie, Jefferson being able to stay in front of that backcourt and get around the screens and pindowns.

LeBron is going to have to stick Curry this series. Thompson isn't an awful defender in the pick and roll situation either. He's also got some ability to stay out on the perimeter, but if he's on Curry or Klay they need to put him on an island and open the paint for penetration.

 

[trynafeelmink]

also what is the rotation for the cavs Bench?? Delly, Shump, RJ & Frye..... That means a lot of Livingston post ups on delly, along with Iggy being guarder by shump. GS trio of Speights/Ezeli/Varajao >>>> Cavs have coming off the bench.

the only physical big the cavs play is Thompson... when he's in i'm Using Festus/ speights to have a big body out there... and when you have Speights TT can't just collapse in the paint because he can knock down that midrange shot.

 

[rillo561]

varejao wins a ring no matter what. he was on the cavs earlier this season so he gets one if they win.

Didn't know this is how it works

 

[clouds]

history will repeat itself and this time there will be no excuses for bron and the b-squad

healthy team + rest wouldnt surprise me if a cavalier fakes an injury for bron down the stretch

 

[DadNboujee]

Need to find a highlight of that varejao series. Dude cookin

 

[mgrand15]

Lebron definitely can't check Curry this series. Maybe they use him defensively like the Thunder did Durant. They need to keep in mind that KD definitely fatigued from all the work he had to put in defensively.

 

[comptonprince]

Lebron definitely can't check Curry this series. Maybe they use him defensively like the Thunder did Durant. They need to keep in mind that KD definitely fatigued from all the work he had to put in defensively.

He sure did 

 

[darthska]

I have no idea what to think.

A big hitting 3s was definitely something that had GSW flustered, at least a little. It seemed like whenever Ibaka and Adams were both on the floor, GSW was the most frustrated on offence... then they kept switching to get Curry onto Adams, which was no bueno for Adams. But Ibaka taking on some of the big man responsibility underneath then stretching out to hit 3s... I can see GSW being equally flustered with Love.

But that's if Love is healthy.

And of course Lebron is a beast of a basketball player.

If I were to pick the Cavs it definitely wouldn't be in 4 or 5; no one is sweeping, and the loser is not going to win just 1 game.

So there's that.

Then on GSW's side, they already beat the Cavs last year, but that was without Love and Kyrie, so that literally has nothing to do with this year.

Klay is ON ONE right now. No question, he is GSW's biggest problem for opponents. And Dray is playing better now that he's in technical foul danger of missing a game. He's still jawwing at the refs (which is UNBELIEVABLE how much they let him get away with, but whatever), but he's focusing more on basketball and less on screaming and jumping around.

But just like the Cavs, if I were to pick the Warriors, it wouldn't be in 4 or 5; nobody's sweeping, and the loser is not going to just win 1 game.

So there's that.

I think I'm exactly with @dmxfury; Cavs in 6 or Dubs in 7. If the Cavs are up 3-2 going into Gm. 6, I can see them realizing that Gm. 7 in the Bay absolutely CANNOT happen, and winning it right there in The Land. And then if they don't, GSW will win it on their court in Gm. 7.

And if Cleveland is down 3-2 going into Gm. 6, they'll tie it up in Cleveland only to lose in 7 in the Bay.

 

[everysingletime]

Oh yea, I completely forgot that Love wasn't playing 4th quarters. This is against the Raptors too.

Welps. It's curtains for Love. Midas well be injured.

Ska you were citing Ibaka and Adams flustering GS but the thing is they can stay on the floor because they can guard the perimeter.

I think TT is the only one with that kind of lateral mobility to be able to stay on the floor against gs like that.