2015 NBA Playoffs

leggo

I'm tempted to back the Cavs for tonight (I just want a second bet to parlay it with to get some value if anyone has any decent shouts).

I think Kyrie's injury rules out a legitimately competitive series, as I think the wear-and-tear of going it alone against the Dubs D will tire LeBron out by the end of the series (like last year against SA). But as a one-off, FU-game where he goes insane trying to prove a point like he did against Boston a few years ago, I think tonight is a good shout with the news of Kyrie fresh in the mind. You could also see Golden State taking their foot off the gas a little assuming it's sewn up, before copping on and getting back to business, ala the Rockets series.

I still think GSW in 6 with LeBron winning another game in Cleveland.

padraig_f

Revising my pick to a sweep on the back of Irving's injury. Think the Warriors blow them out tonight.

padraig_f

Carcharodon wrote: »

As great as the lebron debate is, I am off to the game, enjoy !!!

I detect a note of sarcasm. Going to a finals game, sweet.

Carcharodon

padraig_f wrote: »

I detect a note of sarcasm. Going to a finals game, sweet.

Mucho dinero

GoldFour4

Staying up tonight for this one, hope it's good. My gut says LBJ is gonna go big and that Dellavadova is gonna be surprisingly successful tonight against the MVP.

nerd69

dont think lebron compares to jordan but i would certainly say he's comparable to magic. magic also played in a weak conference btw and was also ok with passing on the final shot both are physical freaks that could play any position and both will pass as soon as shoot

ButtersSuki

malistheman wrote: »

Staying up tonight for this one, hope it's good. My gut says LBJ is gonna go big and that Dellavadova is gonna be surprisingly successful tonight against the MVP.

Trying hard not to fall out of the fed laughing! Thanks for that Mal!

killwill

Home court advantage to Cavs!!!
Not the most enjoyable game ever to watch but nice to see Cleveland make a series of it so far.
Lebron with big numbers again, Curry with an off night hitting 2/15 3-pointers

bmcc10

malistheman wrote: »

Staying up tonight for this one, hope it's good. My gut says LBJ is gonna go big and that Dellavadova is gonna be surprisingly successful tonight against the MVP.

You called it dellavadova was brilliant I thought

For Forks Sake

leggo wrote: »

I'm tempted to back the Cavs for tonight (I just want a second bet to parlay it with to get some value if anyone has any decent shouts).

I think Kyrie's injury rules out a legitimately competitive series, as I think the wear-and-tear of going it alone against the Dubs D will tire LeBron out by the end of the series (like last year against SA). But as a one-off, FU-game where he goes insane trying to prove a point like he did against Boston a few years ago, I think tonight is a good shout with the news of Kyrie fresh in the mind. You could also see Golden State taking their foot off the gas a little assuming it's sewn up, before copping on and getting back to business, ala the Rockets series.

I still think GSW in 6 with LeBron winning another game in Cleveland.

This guy knows. Did you place that bet?

NufcNavan

Unfortunately due to work I missed out again but I think I have the morning off to stay up for game 3!

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Trying hard not to fall out of the fed laughing! Thanks for that Mal!

Hope you didn't hurt yourself falling out of the bed. :D

Terrific by Lebron last night, unbelievable in fact one of the best playoff performances of all time.

Dellavadova was immense Curry going 0-8 against him ... Pretty much won the game for the Cavs. All about defence last night it wasn't pretty but it was effective.

Still going to be very tough for the Cavs to win it but they've given themselves a chance.

ButtersSuki

For everyone who thinks I only dish on LeJon, here's my take on the last two Curry plays last night:

1. The shot v Dellavedova - you're having a poor night offensively and the shots aren't dropping and you're one on one with a guy known for shall we say borderline aggressive play and you're a career 90%+ FT shooter? You drive to the basket and you go out of your way to make contact on your path to the basket to ensure that if you don't get a layup you get on the line. The best FT shooters make FTs even when they're shooting poorly. I was very surprised he took a step back jumper in that situation - I'd have been surprised if he took a jumper was he shooting well. Initiate contact, get fouled on purpose. Overall, poor decision making in the clutch.

2. The dribble and failure to get a shot off as time ran out. Curry's style is to push the ball way out in front of him when he's running at full speed. Normally I'd say he's the best dribbler in the league but credit to the Cavs they put sufficient pressure on him to dislodge the ball. Again I'd say you have to make contact here with an opponent if you think you're in danger of losing the ball. Just a bad few plays for him back to back.

I'm waiting for the "jump shot teams don't win in the playoffs" crew to come out with the "we told you so" remarks too btw. Still think GS are going to win it all.

leggo

For Forks Sake wrote: »

This guy knows. Did you place that bet?

:pac: Of course I didn't! To be fair, though, if I had it almost definitely wouldn't have happened.

Carcharodon

As painful as that was, privalige to watch lebron in full flow. Roll on game 5, supposed to be my money maker but can't not go now

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

ButtersSuki wrote: »

For everyone who thinks I only dish on LeJon, here's my take on the last two Curry plays last night:

1. The shot v Dellavedova - you're having a poor night offensively and the shots aren't dropping and you're one on one with a guy known for shall we say borderline aggressive play and you're a career 90%+ FT shooter? You drive to the basket and you go out of your way to make contact on your path to the basket to ensure that if you don't get a layup you get on the line. The best FT shooters make FTs even when they're shooting poorly. I was very surprised he took a step back jumper in that situation - I'd have been surprised if he took a jumper was he shooting well. Initiate contact, get fouled on purpose. Overall, poor decision making in the clutch.

2. The dribble and failure to get a shot off as time ran out. Curry's style is to push the ball way out in front of him when he's running at full speed. Normally I'd say he's the best dribbler in the league but credit to the Cavs they put sufficient pressure on him to dislodge the ball. Again I'd say you have to make contact here with an opponent if you think you're in danger of losing the ball. Just a bad few plays for him back to back.

I'm waiting for the "jump shot teams don't win in the playoffs" crew to come out with the "we told you so" remarks too btw. Still think GS are going to win it all.

As a neutral it is about as good a finals as I could have asked for the two best teams with the two best players in the league in them just a pity that the Cavs are short handed.

Overall tough to see GS not being better in games 3 & 4 if they take game 3 this effort by Lebron may all be in vain but last night was a hell of a performance.

I predicted Cavs in 6 with Kyrie in the team I don't really know if that is realistic with him gone but who knows Lebron may just carry the Cavs to it it's all set up for game 3 to be a hum-dinger now either way!

Carcharodon

Mod: deleted

GoldFour4

Carcharodon wrote: »

This is an NBA finals thread, if you guys want to continue the pointless lebron v jordan or whatever, just start another thread

If you have a problem with a thread then send me or D2D a pm, less of the backseat moderation please.

D2D

Delighted with the effort we showed last night! LeBron with yet another trip-dub and Delly stepped up big time defensively and completely locked down on Steph. Bring on Game 3 in Cleveland!!

Soby

Need to get Andre on LBJ as much as possible. Only guy over these 2 games so far who has had any real success at "stopping" him

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

Soby wrote: »

Need to get Andre on LBJ as much as possible. Only guy over these 2 games so far who has had any real success at "stopping" him

agree on that but hard to define it as success as you intimated. If GS can open the games up with a faster pace they could have some joy but the way Cleveland played getting back up the court lightning quick on defence and bringing it forward slowly it's going to be a battle all the way.

Paully D

78% of the time the team who wins game 1 in the Finals goes on to lift the trophy.

Terrific effort from Cleveland last night but it's going to be a bridge too far for them missing Irving and Love. Curry's shot is unlikely to be as bad as that again and despite Dellavedova keeping him to 0/8, I agree with Charles Barkley when he said that Curry is going to kill him over the course of the series.

D2D

Game 3 is now huge for us. Taking a 2-1 series lead, especially with our depleted squad would be amazing. I agree that Curry won't have as bad a shooting night as he did last night, no way Delly is holding him to 0/8 again. LeBron needs to continue his amazing form but JR and Shump really need to showup on the offensive end, JR especially. We've got to take advantage after taking 1 on the road, The Q needs to be rocking tomorrow night.

padraig_f

Random thoughts on game 2...

- Bad game for the most part, then it got ridic exciting in the last 3 minutes when the Warriors came from 11 down. Overtime was pretty exciting too.

- Something I realised watching the game....the West in general, and the Warriors in particular were over-rated this season. I was willing to give them a pass on game 1. I said after that I didn't think they'd play any worse, but they played a good bit worse in game 2, it was really poor stuff for a finals, I thought.

- I think Zach Lowe was talking about the Warriors' regular-season point-differential, and the implication was they were one of the best teams ever because their point-differential was historically high, but we're seeing in the playoffs that's not the case. I didn't see them that much in the regular season, so I was relying on analysts a bit, and I think from what I've seen now, they've been over-rating them.

- The Spurs destroyed a Miami team that was better than this Cavs team last year. We've probably been spoiled with the last 2 finals, which were an unbelievable standard, but it's a notable step down this year.

- The Warriors seem to have no interior offense...Draymond Green 2-7, Bogut 0-1, everything's perimeter. The Spurs could post up Duncan, get shots from the bigs as the roll man going to the basket, go into the post and kick back out. The Warriors' shot creation was very poor...too many shots off the dribble. Cleveland were getting credit for defense, but I thought it was more poor offense than anything else.

- Saw a stat that Lebron missed 18 of his last 21 shots, and this was from the team that won the game.

- I still think the Warriors are going to win, but it's been disappointing stuff so far.

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I'm waiting for the "jump shot teams don't win in the playoffs" crew to come out with the "we told you so" remarks too btw. Still think GS are going to win it all.

This was probably true at one time. But I think the modern NBA with dominance of the 3-pointer, you CAN win by just being a jump-shooting team. This dismays me a bit, that you can be one-dimensional, and still be successful. The 3-pointer is too dominant these days...Phil Jackson and Popovich have said it. Post-up skills are becoming extinct, and teams are being coached not to take 2s that aren't dunks/layups. Makes the game a bit more one-dimensional and less interesting to me. Not an easy problem to fix....to extend the 3-point line, which is the natural fix, you need to widen the court, which I can't see them doing too easily.

Paully D

https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/608328078788595713

Interesting ahead of tonight.

GoldFour4

I'm working on the final essays of my masters at the moment so am in the fortunate position of being able to stay up for these games, hopefully another cracker tonight.

My prediction for tonight is JR Smith going off for 25+ in redemption for his boneheaded fouls in game 2.

buyer95

I'm expecting to see David Lee get minutes either tonight or in game 4, the Warriors need scoring and he provides that, even with his woeful defense. As to the point about the Dubs being overrated, I would actually take a different view. I watched a lot (40+games low water) of them and they really were destroying teams on s nightly basis. The first 2 games of the NBA Finals are 2 of the worst 4 or 5 games they have played all season. I would put that down to lack of experience and finals jitters. The last game was the worst game I have seen the dubs play. I'm banking on them improving

NufcNavan

Curry is dropping 50 tonight. Calling it.

PizzamanIRL

I'm more entertained watching Curry cutting and dodging Delly and missing the main plays in the game! He really is like an annoying Jack Russel

Carcharodon

Warriors have been painfuly bad, they are stuck in between playing big and small thus you are no where !!!