Game Thread 2017 NBA Championship - Cavs vs Warriors

The details differ a bit--no two situations will be identical. The concept is the same though--forming a superteam both for success and because you think you can play a certain way. Watching tonight's game, it's pretty obvious that Durant's happier playing alongside Curry even apart from the winning. Curry and Durant play together and they both get theirs organically. Westbrook was going to get his and share the ball only as a matter of form.

 

Well. On the bright side, we will have more time to talk about about the draft. Well, it isn't exactly Kingspeed level of positivity, but at least I am trying,

 

The Warriors super team was already there and set up to win championships. It wasn't formed, he joined an exsisting one. The other squads would fall apart if LeBron wasn't there. The Warriors would not. Huge difference

Kevin Durant is not an integral piece for the Warriors to be a NBA Championship level squad. Lebron is absolutely necessary.

 

• Swept by the Spurs
• Lost to the Mavs
• Beat the Thunder
• Beat the Spurs (lucky bounce out to Ray Allen)
• Lost in 5 to the Spurs
• Lost to the Warriors (Cavs decimated by injuries)
• Beat the Warriors after Bogut was hurt and Green was suspended for Game 5
• On the verge of being swept by the Warriors

Record in the Finals is well under .500 and if not for some freak bounces, injuries and suspensions, LeBron could quite easily be 1-7 in the Finals.

Admittedly, he gave a heroic effort in 2015 when Love and Irving were out and he is putting up big numbers this series. However, the Cavs went 0-8 down the stretch of a very tight ball game while the Warriors went on an 11-0 run. Where was he?

He's still no where near Jordan for me in terms of being the Greatest.

 

The Bulls were the favorites in every Finals they appeared in. Of the four (about to be five, most likely) series James' teams have lost, he was the underdog in all of them except for the series against the Mavericks (which is a black mark against him).

I don't think you can really compare Finals records without accounting for that. I mean, the series when he was swept by the Spurs--who did he even have on his team? The rest of the starting lineup was Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic, Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. That's like if Jordan dragged the Dave Corzine edition of the Bulls to the Finals to get smashed by the Showtime Lakers.

People talk about the teams James has engineered for himself, which is fair--but they don't talk about the quality of opponents he's faced. The Spurs of 2013-2014 and the Warriors of 2015-2017 is a pretty insane run of excellence to go up against. I wouldn't put any of Jordan's Finals opponents on par with those Spurs and Warriors teams (pointing out, ahead of time, that the Lakers team that the Bulls defeated was in full decline--not remotely the class of the Showtime version of the '80s).

 

Look at his numbers in march and April when he finally got 20+ mpg and played with a real center.

March: 22.8mpg, 6 ppg, 7 rpg, 54% shooting
April (without nurkic btw): 30mpg, 8.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 57% shooting

No reason why Vonleh couldn't make a significant jump next season.

 

Very good points. In March, that equates to 9.5 ppg/36 and 11.1 rpg/36.
In April that comes out to 10.4 ppg/36 and 10.9 rpg/36......both of those without having a single play run for him and likely the highest percentage shooter on the team over that period. That is quite a bit of production given that he had the same amount of offense run for him as they did for Festus Ezeli.....none.

Add to that he is probably the Blazers best defensive big when switched out onto the perimeter which because of how the Blazers play defense, is almost every single time. That is invaluable.

And he is just barely old enough to have a beer.

 

I'm sorry but if someone thinks what KD did is the same as what Lebron did, that person in dumb.

 

Lebron is averaging a 30 pt triple double on incredible efficiency and is very clearly the best player on the floor every night. Look at +/- yesterday for example.

Give him the defensive coverage that KD is getting out there with guys running away from him to guard Steph/Klay and Bron would be averaging 40+. Can't believe people still denigrate him.

Put any top 30 player in KD's position, and GS would still be up 15-0, or at worst 14-1 in the playoffs.

 

I'd go a step further and say take KD and replace him with no one (Iggy would start) and they'd still win the title.

 

On the Nuggets board back in April, they were saying Vonleh will become a DPOY candidate.

 

Why be sorry for speaking the truth?

People are also still mad at Lebron for doing it while forgetting he made 20 Mil and gave 5 of that to the Boys & Girls Club.

 

Has anything interesting happened yet?(green font) Feeling like Rip Van Winkle here.

HOT TAKE; If Lebron and the Cavs get embarrassed in game 4, I mean Blazers/Warriors game 4 embarrassed, Lebron will leave and sign with another team this season. (Celtics or Spurs)

 

New Orleans!

 

Only if Chris Paul is there too.

 

Listen to the voice inside your head. It's telling you to tune in, in about 15 minutes to watch the Stanley Cup playoff game. Give it a shot.

Even if you don't know hockey, the competitiveness is amazing.

I can explain any question you have......about Hockey

 

The Nuggets? That's surprising.

I doubt he leaves CLE regardless of what happens, but I'll play along. He'll take his talents RIGHT BACK to South Beach, FL.