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

[DCAllAfrican]

So if the Cavs go down, where Bron taking his talents to next? He's at the plateau of his career

You suggest he leaves? If so, why? Wherever he goes, he is essentially going to have to go through the whole talent assembly process. Does he have that many years to waste?

 

[bayarea23]

I enjoyed the Lebron in last years finals... With Kyrie/Love healthy and by judging his play so far in the playoffs. Not sure Lebron puts up any where near the same numbers as last year.

Rumor is that he saving himself for the Finals. We shall see tonight.

 

[bayarea23]

I still think for Cavs to have a chance... One of Cavs role players need to step up big time and for one of the Splash brothers to have an off series.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

I wholeheartedly believe the Cavs win in 7.

 

[cashbanks]

Ready for this 1st game Cavs need to take Game 1, set the tone.

 

[yung16]

Replace LeBron with Kobe

Replace Wilt with LeBron

i can agree to this.

 

[awwsome]

I enjoyed the Lebron in last years finals... With Kyrie/Love healthy and by judging his play so far in the playoffs. Not sure Lebron puts up any where near the same numbers as last year.

Rumor is that he saving himself for the Finals. We shall see tonight.

I have no doubts he was conserving himself for now but I still don't think it matters.

There's been a ton of hyperbole and opinions already in this thread but nobody has shown me that the Cavs are better than GSW at anything on a basketball court.

 

[shotsrangout]

 

I enjoyed the Lebron in last years finals... With Kyrie/Love healthy and by judging his play so far in the playoffs. Not sure Lebron puts up any where near the same numbers as last year.

Rumor is that he saving himself for the Finals. We shall see tonight.

I have no doubts he was conserving himself for now but I still don't think it matters.

There's been a ton of hyperbole and opinions already in this thread but nobody has shown me that the Cavs are better than GSW at anything on a basketball court.

The Cavs have the better MVP

 

[junglejim]

I have no doubts he was conserving himself for now but I still don't think it matters.

There's been a ton of hyperbole and opinions already in this thread but nobody has shown me that the Cavs are better than GSW at anything on a basketball court.

I will preface this by stating that I think the Warriors are going to win in 6 or 7, but I don't think this series is going to be as cut and dry and people think.  Cleveland's +/- rebounding differential per game is second in the playoffs only to the Thunder and in the regular season they were third.  Their average field goal percentage during the year was the same as the thunder at 52.4% during the regular season, which was good enough to be tied for third.  During the postseason their average field goal percentage has jumped up to 56.4% which is good enough to be first.  They don't turn the ball over as much as the thunder do as well.

Obviously their defense is going to be the biggest problem.  There are allowing an average fg% of about 50.4% during these playoffs, which really negates that fact that they are only allowing about 92 ppg in the post season which is great.

I think if Cleveland can crash the boards hard enough and keep taking care of the ball, this is going to be a much closer series than people are giving Cleveland credit for.  From a +/- standpoint, Golden State is in the last half of the teams who made the playoffs in rebounding.  I honestly think if Cleveland can control the glass they will keep it close.

Flamesuit activated.

 

[everysingletime]

Cleveland absolutely has to control the glass to have a chance, yes.

But GS already faced the best rebounding team in the playoffs so I don't think it matters

 

[junglejim]

Cleveland absolutely has to control the glass to have a chance, yes.

But GS already faced the best rebounding team in the playoffs so I don't think it matters

Yeah and they got down 3-1 when OKC was moving the ball.  OKC probably outplayed GS for 75% of that series, it just turns out the other 25% the Thunder stopped moving the ball and committed terrible turnovers.  Some of that credit has to go the GS's defense, but as soon as **** started hitting the fan, OKC reverted back to hero ball which was ultimately their demise.

We were three terrible minutes in game 5 away from talking about how Golden State is the most overrated team of all time.  I'm not at all convinced that GS is unbeatable and is going to run away with this series.  The great equalizer last series was the three ball and the Cavs shoot the three much better than the Thunder do. 

 

[Air Pope]

Cleveland absolutely has to control the glass to have a chance, yes.

But GS already faced the best rebounding team in the playoffs so I don't think it matters

OKC provided the blueprint & then choked. So the glass does matter greatly. It took OKC to completely melt down for GS to snatch the series away from them.

 

[awwsome]

OKC provided the blueprint & then choked. So the glass does matter greatly. It took OKC to completely melt down for GS to snatch the series away from them.

Combination of OKC melting down and GS remembering who they are and dropping nukes from 30 feet without hesitation.

Otherworldly 3pt shooting can make up for almost anything is what they're proving.

 

[everysingletime]

Nah okc wasn't outplaying them. They were just out-rebounding them. Anytime gs was able to put defensive rebounds together they made runs.

The 3 point shooting was just to keep the game close, or in reach.

 

[junglejim]

I am not trying to make an excuse for either team, but I honestly think the refs are going to play a huge part in this series.  What they choose to let go and call off the ball is going to make a big difference in the games.  When OKC was allowed to grab and hold Curry off the ball you can tell he struggled (rightfully so, there were a lot of off the ball fouls that weren't called).  If the refs let the Cavs get away with grabbing and holding around those curl screens and double screens I don't see Klay and Steph having the 40 point games they had against the Cavs.

And **** you guys for making me defend the Cavs.

 

[ny mavurs]

Cleveland absolutely has to control the glass to have a chance, yes.

But GS already faced the best rebounding team in the playoffs so I don't think it matters

Kevin Love and Tristan SHOULD be dominating the boards EVERY game

 

[junglejim]

Kevin Love and Tristan SHOULD be dominating the boards EVERY game

Keep in mind that Lebron has a huge rebound advantage over Barnes as well.

 

[T0INE]

Goodness DeepSea been going in the last few pages. 

Don't you have a His & Hers podcast to do?

 

[everysingletime]

Cleveland absolutely has to control the glass to have a chance, yes.

But GS already faced the best rebounding team in the playoffs so I don't think it matters

Kevin Love and Tristan SHOULD be dominating the boards EVERY game

Honestly, I don't see Kevin Love staying on the floor. Who is he going to guard?

 

[toodope91]

 
But GSW is also a better team this go around. So the, "Now since Kyrie and Love are there, CLE should win" narrative is also not true. Cleveland should NOT win vs. GSW. Again, this is a historically great team we are discussing. 

You can kick rocks with that. Warriors were THIS close to being eliminated last round, they are clearly far from invincible. Stop lining up excuses for your daddy Bron Bron. 

His supporting cast is alive and well and more than capable of making something happen this finals against GSW

 

[junglejim]

Honestly, I don't see Kevin Love staying on the floor. Who is he going to guard?

I think this will be interesting as well.  It really depends on what lineup the Warriors roll out to start.  If the start with the usual Bogut at center I think he guards him and they stick TT on Green.   I don't think Bogut is that good of a rebounder or post player that he is going to give Love a lot of problems.

 

[flyerthandelta]

What y'all doing for the Game tonight? House Parties...Take out...Bars .....

 

[T0INE]

I don't think Ska is saying we cant roast bron at all in here, just that, that cannot be all that we do as eventually it is at the detriment of the purpose of this thread. Of course we can roast him, or curry if he deserves as long as eventually we get back to basketball. For anybody that wants to roast bron 24/7, there an ap...thread for that.

Sometimes we get into these epic roast sessions, and trust I've had hella dope posts erased too lmaooo, but when we get into a good groove, especially is Lebrautwurst is struggle bussin it, they can go on for hours or days to a point where we talk about nothing else in between. I'm paraphrasing, but i feel like he's just saying, you can talk your talk, but use judgement. Don't OD, collectively, all of us.

Someone gets it, and he's one of the main Lebby slanderers. 

 

[Hank Scorpio]

imo warriors have to win the first two. if cavs steal one on the road warriors in trouble.

What makes you think Clev would steal one on the road and also sweep at home (besides the fact that GS lost one one at home)? Why can't the Warriors take one on the road?

Warriors in 6. The scoring for both teams this series should be through the roof.

If I'm Cleveland, I wouldn't want to be scoring toe to toe with GS. You need to keep the game under 100 points to beat em. Most of their losses came when they scored less than 100.

I wholeheartedly believe the Cavs win in 7.

Any particular reason why you think Cleveland will win this series?

Much of their recent success was due to their fast play and shooting the 3 ball at a high percentage. The last thing you want to do is induce this type of game against GS.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, If Cleveland tries to run and gun with GS they will lose the series in 5. If they slow the game down and force turnovers they have a chance to win in 7.

I think Cleveland tries a couple of options and ends up losing the series in 6.

OKC provided the blueprint & then choked. So the glass does matter greatly. It took OKC to completely melt down for GS to snatch the series away from them.

Controlling the glass played a major role in the success of the OKC/GS series, but the main driving catalyst behind the Thunder's 3-1 lead was forcing turnovers due to length and speed from OKC and getting a TON of easy off transition.

Don't see how Clev emulates this.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I think this will be interesting as well.  It really depends on what lineup the Warriors roll out to start.  If the start with the usual Bogut at center I think he guards him and they stick TT on Green.   I don't think Bogut is that good of a rebounder or post player that he is going to give Love a lot of problems.

The same way Love will get picked on agaisnt Clev is probably what the Cavs will do to Bogut or Speights.

Usually teams run by LeBron James tends to bring out the defending center and causes a mismatch that way. LeBron will have to come out ultra aggressive this series.