welp, its all in or all out now.

 

Draymond Green Suspended For Game 5

 

http://www.cleveland19.com/story/32203098/draymond-green-suspended-from-nba-finals-game-5-for-incident-with-lebron-james

 

I'm no lip reader, but I'm positive James called him a "Bit*h."

 

I am a lip reader and he did call him a b*tch.

 

Good. Not that I like LeBron losing his cool and getting out-hustled, but good.

 

Green did look kind of shaken to have James go at him like that. Or maybe it was the sheepish realization that he'd be sitting out next game. Guy seriously has an issue with assaulting male anatomy.

 

Harden did the same thing last year except it was a kick.  LeBron is normally immune to physical play but no one is immune to that.

Green or no Green, it's up to the Cavs as to whether they have the balls to fight on or simply mail it in to start their vacations...

 

I give the Warriors all the credit in the world for being one of the more unique and formidable teams in NBA history.  However, I also saw, in a Game 4 that could have tied this series, the Cavs, in the 3rd quarter, mysteriously go away from the defense that stymied Steph and Clay and neutralized Green.  I also, in the 3rd quarter, saw Ty Lue equally mysteriously decide that Love was the answer-- Love wasn't the entire problem with our D, to be sure, but he certainly was a contributor.  Love by his own admission (see ESPN.com) was outplayed by, guess who?  ... good old Anderson Varejao.  And it was during that Andy sequence of his offensive rebounding, his out-fighting Love for loose balls and even scoring on him, that the Warriors finally gained traction and ended up going from an 8-point deficit to a 2-point lead by the end of the quarter -- and of course, we were tanked by the 4th and couldn't do anything right offensively or defensively and wee handled easily...

 

... again, it's in the Cavs' hands.

The 4th quarter offense was atrocious on Friday.  Stagnant, stagnant, stagnant.

 

I thought Love played well in that first half - hustling, playing really well on D, etc.  I assume GS will just plug Iguodola into the starting lineup on LeBron, which means Barnes is their 4.  He would give Love issues but he's on the defender Green is.

 

Shumpert has no business being on the floor.  Can't shoot and he was blowing defensive assignments.  This team is maddening - some times they understand if they're trapping, switching, etc. and then other times they are in no man's land and Thompson/Curry are WIDE open.  I don't get it.

Green or no Green, it's up to the Cavs as to whether they have the balls to fight on or simply mail it in to start their vacations...

 

Pun intended?

The 4th quarter offense was atrocious on Friday.  Stagnant, stagnant, stagnant.

 

I thought Love played well in that first half - hustling, playing really well on D, etc.  I assume GS will just plug Iguodola into the starting lineup on LeBron, which means Barnes is their 4.  He would give Love issues but he's on the defender Green is.

 

Shumpert has no business being on the floor.  Can't shoot and he was blowing defensive assignments.  This team is maddening - some times they understand if they're trapping, switching, etc. and then other times they are in no man's land and Thompson/Curry are WIDE open.  I don't get it.

 

By the 4th quarter we were terrible, I agree.  But I think we were tanked because we made our bed in the 3rd quarter as we abandoned the strategy that got us the lead.

 

Folks will howl, but if we go on to lose this series, as it appears we will, we're going to have to move Kevin Love in the off season.  We've just had too many problems integrating this max player into our game plan and we are now 2-years into his tenure here.  Yes Chris Bosh experienced similar problems with LeBron James' Miami heat, but by season 2, the Heat figured it out and Bosh became a major force as Miami won the next 2 titles, with Bosh moonlighting at center and developing a 3-point shot.  Bosh even bulked up and became a powerful rebounder as well.  He simply has more athletic upside than Love who is simply too slow afoot, and lacks the ability to go hard to the hoop when he posts up -- he misses way too many bunnies.  He also has been an unreliable outside shooter is well... The Cavs must upgrade at this position if they want to get by the Warriors or any new team who, like the Warriors, may materialize out of nowhere (either in the Eastern or Western conferences) to block Cleveland's title hopes.

deleted

Too bad I didn't find this earlier:

 

Doubt I'll watch tonight's game. Maybe I'll record the ESPN in the middle of the night if the Cavs somehow manage to play as a team rather than succumb to hero ball.

Too bad I didn't find this earlier:

 

 

That was fantastic.

This series has me totally baffled.  Another blowout

I wouldn't really call that a blowout, in the same way that I don't think Game 1 was a blowout, though the Cavs were definitely in control throughout the second half.

This is a great series. I still think the refs mainly suck. They weren't too in the way this game except for not calling things when Cavs players were draped and fouls on Cavs players if they even touched the jersey of the other team. I feel they can play tougher defense against the guards still. I'm not sure i want a blowout by the Cavs on Thursday. I just want a 15 point win.  That should make for a tough win on Sunday.

This is a great series. I still think the refs mainly suck. They weren't too in the way this game except for not calling things when Cavs players were draped and fouls on Cavs players if they even touched the jersey of the other team. I feel they can play tougher defense against the guards still. I'm not sure i want a blowout by the Cavs on Thursday. I just want a 15 point win.  That should make for a tough win on Sunday.

 

At least the refs started calling GS on the moving screen that they do on every offensive play. As soon as the refs started calling it in the second half and GS stopped, they couldn't hit a shot.

I wouldn't really call that a blowout, in the same way that I don't think Game 1 was a blowout, though the Cavs were definitely in control throughout the second half.

 

You're right, first half was very close and Warriors were in striking distance most of the 2nd half.  It's just very hard to really call who the better team is at this point - it really depends on who shows up, who is hot, who has the better game plan...

 

Listening to ESPN this morning, a lot of talk about the impact of not having Draymon Green last night.  Obviously that hurt GS.  Barely any talk about not having Bogut rest of the series or at least Thurs night game.  Watching him go down and his knee bend, I don't see him playing next game.  Anyone else think that?

This is a great series. I still think the refs mainly suck. They weren't too in the way this game except for not calling things when Cavs players were draped and fouls on Cavs players if they even touched the jersey of the other team. I feel they can play tougher defense against the guards still. I'm not sure i want a blowout by the Cavs on Thursday. I just want a 15 point win.  That should make for a tough win on Sunday.

 

At least the refs started calling GS on the moving screen that they do on every offensive play. As soon as the refs started calling it in the second half and GS stopped, they couldn't hit a shot.

 

The incident where they mistakenly called Kyrie out of bounds was one of the worst calls I've seen take place in an NBA game.  It wasn't even close.

Doubt I'll watch tonight's game. Maybe I'll record the ESPN in the middle of the night if the Cavs somehow manage to play as a team rather than succumb to hero ball.

 

I hope you changed your mind.  Hero ball resulted in one of the all-time great NBA Finals performances by two of the best one-on-one players in NBA history.

Last night was one for the ages.  LeBron (41-16-7, 3 blocks, 3 steals) had that famed look in his eye and Kyrie simply wore Steph out at the offensive end -- little wonder why Curry was clanking 3s in the 4th; his legs were gone.  Kyrie shined huge on the largest stage in his career.  At age 24, talent just oozes out of this guy...  Let's hope those crazy Chris Paul-for-Irving people were silenced forever.  Hats off to the Cavs.  Draymond Green was foolish enough to get his butt suspended and the Cavs took advantage.  Now we return to the friendly confines of the Q, which should be off the hook nuts on Thursday...

 

... on a sour note: win or lose, the Cavs are going to have to move both Love and Shumpert this summer.  Shumpert has become a drag on the team now and Love, our max player, is still having adjustment issues after 2 years.  Last night (2 points, 3 rebounds in 33 minutes), Love was playing like he was still in a concussion.  He couldn't even snare rebounds.  Once in the 4th, even Curry out rebounded Love... he's gotta go.

K Love has to go.  TWO points?? For a max player?  Kyrie and LeBron had more points last night (41) than he has ALL SERIES.

 

I have no idea what to expect Thursday.  I didn't think the offense was that great in game 5...Kyrie and LeBron hero ball just worked because they hit shots.  It was a lot of iso plays, not a ton of movement.  It worked for a game, I just don't think it can work for 3 straight.  Need some better ball movement and more guys involved on offense, but hey...if they've got the hot hand(s) again, then do it again.

Love will certainly have to go. He's not cut out for this type of environment, maybe if he was still fat.

 

As for hero ball, this was not lebron and Kyrie pounding the crap out of the ball until the shot clock is at 3 ISO ball. It was fast, opportunistic, hit any window of space hero ISO ball and that's ok. We will likely have more from role players Thursday, so they may not have to do that again, for now.  We could really use one of those JR nights to get us to game 7. Really interested to see what happens. Love is really disappointing, no frye or Mozgov. Wonder what the gameplan will be Thursday.

Cavs were at their best WITH K Love on the floor. He was +18. He didn't need to be the main cog in the offense last night.

 

Come on folks, he's not going anywhere.

^was anyone a negative last night? He does provide spacing but for max money u need more production. Channing can space the floor equally

I think the point was that Love's plus/minus was higher than anyone else's (edit - except Ky's).  Channing has been beat on the defensive end like he stole something every time Lue has inserted him into the lineup this series.  Love is far from a great defender, but he is at least in proper position.  Lue is shortening the rotation as we near the end.  The only bench players he played (prior to mop up duty) were RJeff, Delly, and Shump.

 

Griffin isn't dumb enough to trade Love while his stock will be at an all-time career low.  But WTF are we talking off-seasons trades for???  We are two wins away from a 'ship!!

 

We could really use one of those JR nights to get us to game 7. Really interested to see what happens. Love is really disappointing, no frye or Mozgov. Wonder what the gameplan will be Thursday.

 

I didn't say it because I didn't want to jinx it, but since you did.... yeah, I'm looking for one of those JR "hot'N'ready" nights in Game 6.  It's what immediately came to mind when the game ended last night.  Something like 27 pts on seven 3's.  JR wasn't great last night but he did fall into Bogut's knee.  Game 7 is when Love explodes for 40 and hits the game winning shot to shut up all the haters. 

^was anyone a negative last night? He does provide spacing but for max money u need more production. Channing can space the floor equally

 

5/7 bench players were negative. Only Kyrie was better than Love at +20.

 

Agree with Hts (I type that maybe once every two years) let's be in a damn good mood for a change.

I still don't like our chances in Game 6, simply because while hero ball worked for us this game with Green out, hero ball is also what sunk us at home in Game 4 when those shots simply weren't falling.  We had a few true blow-bys in this Game 5, but GS defended many of them well.  LeBron and Kyrie were simply playing at an extraterrestrial level in hitting contested shots.  Reversion to the mean would sink us; we don't even need a genuinely bad game.

 

The one bright spot is that LeBron's medium and long range game seems to be back, or at least enough to make a threat again.  GS had been playing him surprisingly dishonestly (in the sense of cheating off him and giving him cushion, knowing he was going to try to get close to the rim), usually having 2 men waiting for him near the rim, and he would often plow right into the teeth of the defense and lose control.  He looked surprisingly mortal doing that against Green and Iguodala.  If he's got enough of his range back to pull defenders away from the basket, that's a serious change from some of the earlier games in this series.

With Bogut likely out for Thursday, i like the Cavs chances at home. He helps in setting the defensive tone early as the last line of defense. I imagine that he is Green's comfort blanket knowing that a charging LBJ is going to hit that wall under the basket.  That should put more pressure on Green to be the stopper in a very loud arena. 

^^i don't think hero ball was the gameplan going into last night. But when it started working, they wisely stuck with it. I doubt they will go into Game 6 with the mindset that Ky and LeBron will combine for 82 again.

I can't see Bogut playing Thurs night.  That sprain looked pretty bad and he had to be helped to the locker room.  I'd like to see Cavs go right at Varejao (he sucks IMO) and get some fouls on him.  Could be a big night for Tristan Thompson and maybe get Mozgov back into the lineup.  Perhaps K Love will show up and we can get a lot of offensive rebounds also for multiple possessions

I suspect the Warriors are going to go with the "death lineup" to start the game on Thursday, with Iggy at the 3, Barnes at the 4, and Draymond at the 5.  Iggy will guard LBJ and Draymond will roam around the hoop.  TT should have plenty of opportunities for offensive boards and quick put backs if LBJ and Kyrie take it at them.

Lue has already said he's starting Love on Thursday.  Big mistake in my opinion.  With Green back, we are much more effective against the Warriors with RJ at the 3, guarding Barnes, and LeBron at the 4, guarding Green.  I seriously hope if Love starts getting chewed up again, Lue has a quick hook as opposed to letting us fall behind by double-digits, which could be fatal.

The good news, if Bogut is indeed out, is that we'll be seeing a lot more Andy.  And let's face it, although Andy is still a pest and out-dueled Love for the few minutes he was inserted in Game 4, Andy was a liability last night and a soft target for LeBron and Kyrie.  Ezeli is more problematic, but I like our chances better at home with Bogut out.

Which game has he started this series in which we have fell behind by double digits?  That said, if GSW starts Green at the 4, I can't argue that the defensive matchup to start the game is better with RJ on the floor.  But I doubt they go that route.  I suspect Green will start at the 5.

 

I get that expectations play a factor, but if you look at the stats from Game 3, when Love came off the bench and RJ started, there isn't much of a difference.  RJ played 25 minutes and had 3 pts on 50% shooting, 6 rebs, 0 assts, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 2 TO's, and 6 PF's.  Love played 25 minutes and had 11 pts on 50% shooting, 5 rebs, 0 assts, 1 block, 0 steals, 0 TO's, and 1 PF. 

 

Everybody seems to be panickig about this, but I'm not so worried about who starts, especially since slow starts have not been an issue for us this series.  I agree with Lue's decision, although I might've held back on disclosing that information (do we know yet who the Warriors will start?).  If anything, Love might come out hot and you can ride him like we did in Game 5 against Toronto.  R Jeff is not likely to drop 30 on anyone at this point in his career.  If Love doesn't have it and is a liability on the court, we can always sub him out and ride whoever has the hot hand.  Lue has proven over the course of his brief head coaching stint that he sticks with his game plan.  He has a very steady hand.

Lue is getting quite a bit of praise on his defensive plan against GSW's guards, especially Curry.  Steph has largely been a non-factor in the Finals, save Game 4.  JR's been catching a lot of heat, but he's given us a lot at the defensive end even when his 3s aren't burning the nets.

 

One stat I hope works for us: almost every game in this series we've had 3-days rest, we've won.  The exception is Game 1 where, really, we came out looking shell-shocked but, even then, still caught and led the Warriors late in the 3rd, until we fell apart after the Delly-Iggy altercation, officials' 15-minute brain lock... I think the extra day's rest benefits LeBron who, not only is older with an absurd amount of miles on him, but who always carries the lion's share of the load in finals series... these last 3 games, assuming there's one Sunday night, are all 3-days rest games...

 

... Hey, might as well grasp at straws...

Anyone want to get together to watch Game 6? Might head down to Flats East Bank this evening with a friend.

Wake me when it's all over....

 

I boycotted/fell asleep through the last game. Since they won, I must repeat it again tonight. And hopefully Sunday, too.

Who We Are

 

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/richard-jefferson-cleveland-cavaliers-nba-finals-who-we-are/

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6

 

... GAME 7 B!+©#€$!!

This is way too stressful. I turned the tv on/off about 20 times... Can't wait for Game 7.

I thought I was the only one. I have to watch on and off of mute, looking and not looking, then walking away but checking my phone anyway. These games turn me into a MESS!!!! haha

 

I have to say seeing Curry foul out then throw a temper tantrum and showing us who really is the baby might be almost as good as a championship for me ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was a nice game. I liked watching the warriors fall apart at the end. It should be a brutal game 7.  Hopefully Love can improve his output for that game.

  I wonder what excuses the warriors fans will have for this loss especially since they are the superior team from the vastly superior conference and should have won the whole thing in 4 anyways /s.

For me, it comes down to this: I like my chances in a single game for the championship with the best player in the world on my team. If LeBron James is really that guy, then we're in good shape. If it's Steph Curry, well then the title goes back to Oakland.

 

It's time for LBJ to assert his place in history.

Wake me when it's all over....

 

I boycotted/fell asleep through the last game. Since they won, I must repeat it again tonight. And hopefully Sunday, too.

 

PLEASE KJP.  Do not turn on the game Sunday!!!!!!

what a night. good lord i cant take this, but that was a hell of a lot of fun.

 

here is something to de-stress with until game 7.

 

jr's hilarious daughter. she knows her daddy well lol!

 

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2016/06/jr_smiths_daughter_is_proud_he.html

 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/ayesha-curry-nba-tweet-game-6-absolutely-rigged-for-money

She's a nutjob, upset because Curry got ejected after 6 fouls. It didn't matter much; we had practically won by that point.

I think you all know how apathetic I am about sports but even I was glued to the set last night. I let my kid stay up super late so he could watch some of what I figured would be some sort of historic game, and man, that was GRIPPING basketball. I couldn't turn it off.

 

I joked to a friend of mine that maybe me actually watching a game is what makes them win (I also watched when they won in Oakland recently) and that's why our Cleveland teams never win, because I never watch. She demanded that I watch the game Sunday night. LOL.

I think you all know how apathetic I am about sports but even I was glued to the set last night. I let my kid stay up super late so he could watch some of what I figured would be some sort of historic game, and man, that was GRIPPING basketball. I couldn't turn it off.

 

I joked to a friend of mine that maybe me actually watching a game is what makes them win (I also watched when they won in Oakland recently) and that's why our Cleveland teams never win, because I never watch. She demanded that I watch the game Sunday night. LOL.

 

I seem to have the opposite effect so you will be watching and I am not allowed to unless and until the game is well in hand.

One of the best nights for a CLE fan in recent memory. Most of the game was a damn highlight reel! I'm glad my gf made me watch every second of it, though I think I now have ulcers.

 

When GS cut the lead to 7 or 8 I was sweating and nauseous.

I think you all know how apathetic I am about sports but even I was glued to the set last night. I let my kid stay up super late so he could watch some of what I figured would be some sort of historic game, and man, that was GRIPPING basketball. I couldn't turn it off.

 

I joked to a friend of mine that maybe me actually watching a game is what makes them win (I also watched when they won in Oakland recently) and that's why our Cleveland teams never win, because I never watch. She demanded that I watch the game Sunday night. LOL.

 

I seem to have the opposite effect so you will be watching and I am not allowed to unless and until the game is well in hand.

 

I know this sounds terrible but I really had zero plans to watch the game on Sunday. I mean, I enjoyed that one last night but it isn't something I want to do all the time. I wish them luck and of course hope they win but I can't promise I'll tune in.