Cleveland Cavs (2016 NBA Champions)

[kujirakira]

Watching it now... as a collective, this team doesnt look like theyd choke somebody over checkers.
I kept thinking in reg season that bad losses to SAS and GS would serve as a wake-up and hoped their great playoff form reflected it but not sure now.
The bogus officiating doesnt help but nba has long given extreme advantage calls to home teams.

Take lead with 330 in 3rd and lose by 15... that comeback showed some grit that could've carried forward followed by meltdown
Got one more to turn it around before it becomes nigh impossible.

 

[WolverineMike]

They need to win Game 2 to have a chance, IMO. They can't go back to Cleveland down 0-2 and rely on winning in GS late in the series. Their psyche will be shot as well if they go down 2 games.


I swear you can literally see them go into panic mode. In every game they won in the playoffs so far it was about inside/out and ball movement. The 3 games they lost was ISO after ISO after ISO and 3pt shots.

 

[tsteele316]

#OnlyHere can Curry and Thompson struggle....yet still get routed and get ate up by bums like Shaun Livingston.

livingston, barbosa, and barnes were 13-15 on contested shots. those guys don't shoot 13-15 in open gym, let alone the nba finals. that won't be duplicated.

 

[Jake]

Tyronn Lue has a lot to prove the rest of this series. Despite all of the griping about David Blatt...Regular season record in 2015-16: Blatt 30-11, Lue 27-14.

Blatt got the team to the Finals last year despite losing Love in the first round. They won 2 games versus the Warriors despite losing Irving in Game 1. Overall, the Cavs were 14-6 in the playoffs last year. If they lose to GS in six games this year, they'll be 14-6 again but with a better roster. I wasn't overly impressed with Blatt but what has Lue done to be any better? Nothing, yet.

This is a big series for him and LeBron. Game 2 just got bigger.

 

[NorthCoastKid]

but what has Lue done to be any better? Nothing, yet.

He's managed to make a far greater connection with the players, something Blatt was unable to do in his year-and-a-half as coach.

 

[NFBuck]

livingston, barbosa, and barnes were 13-15 on contested shots. those guys don't shoot 13-15 in open gym, let alone the nba finals. that won't be duplicated.

Probably won't. But Curry and Thompson likely won't go 8-27 again either.

 

[LitlBuck]

He's managed to make a far greater connection with the players, something Blatt was unable to do in his year-and-a-half as coach.

The game is about winning and you do not have to have (or should not have to have) a "connection" with the players. Maybe that is a problem.

 

[WolverineMike]

This is the pro's. It's grown men coaching grown men for the most part. This shouldn't be like college ball where you have to be "hip and cool" to pop culture to get your players to perform.

 

[Jake]

 

[Bucklion]

GS won a title in the 70s...wonder how many "fans" can name a single player on that team.

 

[tsteele316]

Probably won't. But Curry and Thompson likely won't go 8-27 again either.

Probably not. But Cleveland will certainly force the ball out of their hands and let the other scrubs shoot. But 8-27 from those two is far closer to the mean than 13-15 from the job squad.

 

[Jake]

GS won a title in the 70s...wonder how many "fans" can name a single player on that team.

I remember that series. The Bullets were favored and the Warriors (Rick Barry, Clifford Lee, Phil Smith, et al) swept them. I doubt a single #Warriors fan on Twitter was even alive then.

 

[Jake]

Obligatory.

 

[exhawg]

Cavs need to have this reaction every time Green kicks them

Kind of like AI's fake reaction to Delly's slap. All fucking pussies.

 

[OHSportsFan]

They have to somehow find a way to make this one of those games where they just take it from the beginning. They've done it before this playoffs. 10 first half threes, locked-in D. Somehow, someway.