2014-2015 NBA season thread

[kmart]

Originally Posted by darklord700

I think you are crazy my friend. Bogut is a shadow of his former self and Mazgof can guard him. I actually think the Cavs match up pretty well with GS's small ball and fast break attack. GS should still be favoured but if the Cavs can slow down GS's quick offense and force them into half court sets, it could be a tight series to watch.

Offensively Bogut doesn't really bring much scoring, but his impact is felt when he's facilitating for the splash brothers. Defensively is where his real impact will be felt, because I feel that it will be him that will be given the assignment of boxing out TT and protecting the rim.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Cavs in 6. I think Cleveland can defend well enough, and Golden State has no one to stop LeBron. I would think LeBron will be on Curry or Thompson virtually the whole series.

[Acey]

This 2nd quarter alone is more exciting than all of Chicago/TB last night.

[t0rrent98]

Wow... Cavs sucked arse in OT.. just two points in OT and by LBJ with under 12 secs left... on the bright side, i found my Old Cavs hat... :P

[Acey]

Yeah if you're a Cavs I wouldn't be throwing out any :P after watching Kyrie go down like that. This series is over if JR Smith doesn't get it going.

[kmart]

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 45m45 minutes ago
Kyrie Irving emerges on crutches from locker room, source tells Yahoo "no answers tonight" on knee.

Tough loss for the Cavs. However, it was a great game to watch. I know I said the Warriors in 5, but for this series sake I hope that Kyrie stays healthy.

After reading about the match ups and watching the game 1 thought I would point out a few things.

- What a nightmare for the Cavs. They could have gone up 1-0 on the Warriors, instead Lebron misses a game winning shot and Kyrie gets injured in OT. This might have been their best chance to steal a game with Lebron scoring 44 points and the Warriors starting off with a ton of nerves.

- Look for Igoudala to enter the game early, next game and guard Lebron. Lebron will have a big game 2, but the amount of iso ball they play is worrisome, especially with a injured Kyrie. Lebron took 38 shots today, which I thought showed at the end of the game when the Cavs went completely cold.

- I thought the Warriors did a good job on Tristan Thompson. He did get 6 offensive rebounds, but when the Warriors went small he failed to dominate the boards. Overall the Warriors won the rebounding battle 48-45, the Cavs got more offensive rebounds 13-11, which isn't much of a difference.

- Not only does Lebron have to make up for his injured team, but he has to make up for the lack of depth of his team. The Warriors outscored the Cavs bench 34-9 and the 9 points that the Cavs scored were from JR Smith. The Warriors used 5 bench players all of which scored, the Cavs used 3 players and only JR scored.

- Overall LeBron needs 4 games possibly playing even better than this one to win another championship.

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by kmart

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 45m45 minutes ago
Kyrie Irving emerges on crutches from locker room, source tells Yahoo "no answers tonight" on knee.

Tough loss for the Cavs. However, it was a great game to watch. I know I said the Warriors in 5, but for this series sake I hope that Kyrie stays healthy.

After reading about the match ups and watching the game 1 thought I would point out a few things.

- What a nightmare for the Cavs. They could have gone up 1-0 on the Warriors, instead Lebron misses a game winning shot and Kyrie gets injured in OT. This might have been their best chance to steal a game with Lebron scoring 44 points and the Warriors starting off with a ton of nerves.

- Look for Igoudala to enter the game early, next game and guard Lebron. Lebron will have a big game 2, but the amount of iso ball they play is worrisome, especially with a injured Kyrie. Lebron took 38 shots today, which I thought showed at the end of the game when the Cavs went completely cold.

- I thought the Warriors did a good job on Tristan Thompson. He did get 6 offensive rebounds, but when the Warriors went small he failed to dominate the boards. Overall the Warriors won the rebounding battle 48-45, the Cavs got more offensive rebounds 13-11, which isn't much of a difference.

- Not only does Lebron have to make up for his injured team, but he has to make up for the lack of depth of his team. The Warriors outscored the Cavs bench 34-9 and the 9 points that the Cavs scored were from JR Smith. The Warriors used 5 bench players all of which scored, the Cavs used 3 players and only JR scored.

- Overall LeBron needs 4 games possibly playing even better than this one to win another championship.

Good post.

The Cavaliers minus Kyrie at this point gives Lebron one of the ugliest supporting casts in finals history. I can't think of worst supporting cast since 2007 Cleveland and the 2001 76ers. Not a good situation for them at all.

Bill Simmons has historically written and spoken about "irrational confidence guy". With Love out and Kyrie banged up, the Cavaliers have rode guys like JR, Shump, and Dellavedova who have all performed at levels I believe are beyond their means. Tonight, we saw JR fall back down to earth with a typically JR shooting performance, Shump missed the game winning shot by a hair, and Dellavedova barely played and was -13 in his 9 minutes. Had Shump hit that game winner, the irrational confidence in that locker room would have risen to even greater levels, that's a very, very dangerous thing in sport, potentially series altering. Luckily for G-State, Shump misses, OT happens and suddenly the cracks in the Cleveland armour are showing.

If the Cavaliers are going to have any shot at coming back, these three need to regain their hot streaks in a hurry. It's only one game, but Golden State is going to shoot the Cavs out of the series in a flash if these three don't get it going in game 2.

[darklord700]

Irving leaving on crutches, the series is over, nothing to see here.

[kmart]

Kyrie done for the series, yikes!

[darklord700]

If only Shumpert would have sunk his last shot before regulation.

Would LBJ opt out of Cleveland now seeing Kyrie might turn into Derick Ross 2.0 and that Love's game doesn't complement his?

[Senator Clay Davis]

It wouldn't be a Cleveland sports team without utterly devastating things happening close to a title. I think the Warriors should be forced to face the Spurs as a replacement team since this figures to be the worst Finals ever now.

[SuperMatt18]

Should be over...but if Lebron could carry them would likely be one of the greatest Finals performances ever.

[darklord700]

Cleveland fans are cursed even worse than the Red Sox fans. I feel dumb getting behind the Cavs now just becasue I like LBJ's game.

[kmart]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Should be over...but if Lebron could carry them would likely be one of the greatest Finals performances ever.

He would probably have to average a triple double with 50 points. Keep in mind the Cavs couldn't win with Lebron's 44 and Kyrie's 20+ points the other day.

Other than JR, who is extremely streaky, there is no player on the Cavs that can score well enough to be a concern to the Warriors defence.

[SuperMatt18]

Could have easily been two fouls on that final play.

Called a smaller reach in on Smith when Curry was in his own backcourt.

[SuperMatt18]

Cavs getting no calls

Crazy that a guy who is the best player in the game gets no calls

[puffnstuff]

LBJ should either play or ref, cant keep trying to do both.
I like him as a player but tonight hes doing a lot of complaining.
Has the reffing been great? Nope. It is complately onesided? Nope. Would I want to be an NBA ref? Nope.

[SuperMatt18]

Dellevedova guarding Curry reminds me of Iverson and Tyronne Lue.

[Acey]

^ He was huge... the difference maker. I want Cleveland to win this series because if they do it will be on LeBron's back, and you have to seriously reevaluate his position among the greatest ever at that point.

[D to the iddy]

Any NBA player gets hacked/held like LeBron James in a finals game is going to make those complaints, because he had a valid points. There were 3 possessions that he was fouled which weren't called.

Delladova was huge. Changed the game outside of the stats. It's a best of 5 now. If LeBron wills the Cavs to this title then he moves inside the Top 5 ever in my opinion.