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[LegendofDragoonLives]

The revisionist haters are at least consistent on their hate and dismissal of the Cavs. When the playoffs started you were shouting about "how the Cavs were going to lose to the pistons (look at the season record!!), the Heat/Hawks (Same argument), and even the Drake's for the same reason. None of those checks had any funds but you didn't wanted to accept the facts. You continue banging that same drum, fucking that same chicken with the Dubs. Being wholly dismissive of the Cavs (Talking about the ones calling the series in 5 or less games), and you'll be wrong again.


Cavs will win the 1st game and proceed to conquer the finals in 6 games. The King gets the 🏀👑 & 💍. Cleveland gets rewarded at last ⌛ for believing.


The reasons for that, the Warriors defense isn't as good as it has been in the past. Curry has health issues and that team is running on fumes. Draymond will get suspended for his reckless actions for 1 game and the Cavs will capitalize on that.

FMVP: LeBron James.

Why would Draymond get suspended? He won't be frustrated this time around since his competition is awful on defense. Unless Lebron is on him instead of Love.

The only way Cavs win this series for me is if this injury from Curry doesn't allow him to hit top form. Otherwise, he's going to light the Cavs up. Klay was awful last final as well, so I wouldn't expect that to repeat this time around, he's been a different player this PS. Warriors have been waiting to play Cavs an entire year. SAS was talking to Klay apparently after the OKC tie saying that Cavs wanted to play them, and he interrupted him saying no we want them.

I love the bad blood between these teams, no soft be respectful crap to one another. OKC and GSW now have a straight up rivalry, and Cavs GSW is another one.



My armchair coaching guess is that we are in for a legendary series from Steph Curry in this tie. One of the most dominant finals performances of all time. There's people who said they didn't deserve the title due to injuries, some people say Lebron is still the best in the world, and him getting 0/11 FMVP votes. He's got the biggest chip on his shoulder who seems to take these things personally.

Spoiler

Now watch him average 15/4/4 since I made that prediction ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[PadWarrior]

Let's get it Bron!!! Your magic can't save you this time Klay!!!

Lol wow

 

[SlackAdjuster]

If this plays out the way I hope it will (Cavs winning), a quote from one of my favorite movies as a teen will remind me of this entire season regarding the whole 73 wins and all that.

"There's two bulls standing on top of a mountain. The younger one says to the older one: "Hey pop, let's say we run down there and fuck one of them cows". The older one says: "No son. Lets walk down and fuck 'em all".

The 73 wins was a great feat and I won't take anything away from them. But the ultimate goal to any sports season is that ring. Without it, anything else is really a failure. The Cavs coasted through the regular season. People foolishly panicked. Questioned this or that. All along, it was designed that way. LBJ knows the grind and how important it is to be rested and healthy heading into the real (playoff) season. We're here now. Time to fuck 'em all.

 

[Diprosalic]

The 73 wins was a great feat and I won't take anything away from them. But the ultimate goal to any sports season is that ring. Without it, anything else is really a failure. The Cavs coasted through the regular season. People foolishly panicked. Questioned this or that. All along, it was designed that way. LBJ knows the grind and how important it is to be rested and healthy heading into the real (playoff) season. We're here now. Time to fuck 'em all.

is that why they held tons of players meeting and fired their coach midway through the season?

 

[bionic77]

is that why they held tons of players meeting and fired their coach midway through the season?

All part of the plan.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

is that why they held tons of players meeting and fired their coach midway through the season?

Well the other part of the plan does work as well. He plays in an awful conference where his team can coast since there's no real title contenders until the final.

 

[phanphare]

is that why they held tons of players meeting and fired their coach midway through the season?

firing your coach is just a symptom of winning

 

[offtopic]

If this plays out the way I hope it will (Cavs winning), a quote from one of my favorite movies as a teen will remind me of this entire season regarding the whole 73 wins and all that.

"There's two bulls standing on top of a mountain. The younger one says to the older one: "Hey pop, let's say we run down there and fuck one of them cows". The older one says: "No son. Lets walk down and fuck 'em all".

The 73 wins was a great feat and I won't take anything away from them. But the ultimate goal to any sports season is that ring. Without it, anything else is really a failure. The Cavs coasted through the regular season. People foolishly panicked. Questioned this or that. All along, it was designed that way. LBJ knows the grind and how important it is to be rested and healthy heading into the real (playoff) season. We're here now. Time to fuck 'em all.

It's easy and fun to pretend this was all part of some design but the reality is that if the Cavs were in the West they'd have already washed out. What LBJ knows is that he is basically playing against 2nd division teams in the East. Now, he can only hope the Warriors are exhausted.

 

[PhantomZone]

If this plays out the way I hope it will (Cavs winning), a quote from one of my favorite movies as a teen will remind me of this entire season regarding the whole 73 wins and all that.

"There's two bulls standing on top of a mountain. The younger one says to the older one: "Hey pop, let's say we run down there and fuck one of them cows". The older one says: "No son. Lets walk down and fuck 'em all".

The 73 wins was a great feat and I won't take anything away from them. But the ultimate goal to any sports season is that ring. Without it, anything else is really a failure. The Cavs coasted through the regular season. People foolishly panicked. Questioned this or that. All along, it was designed that way. LBJ knows the grind and how important it is to be rested and healthy heading into the real (playoff) season. We're here now. Time to fuck 'em all.

GSW will win 4-0 or 4-1!

Cleveland will wilt under pressure.

 

[bionic77]

Well the other part of the plan does work as well. He plays in an awful conference where his team can coast since there's no real title contenders until the final.

Even Kobe thought of bolting to the East before they got Pau and he decided to stay with the Lakers because the path to the finals is so much easier than it is out west.

Even though he has a losing record in the finals the thought behind it was smart, he is always going to have a chance to get to the Finals almost every year in the East. And once you get there anything can happen. Though usually he just loses to a team from Texas.

 

[Misterhbk]

All part of the plan.

Is Lebron now getting the Pop treatment?! Oh lawd how far have we come.

 

[Trey]

Warriors
Cavs
Warriors
Cavs
Warriors
Warriors

Curry Finals MVP. Cleveland losers one more.

 

[Radec]

So basically

VS.

Yep.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

Curry is Goku. Lebron is Vegeta if he was a passive aggressive high school chick. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[SlackAdjuster]

is that why they held tons of players meeting and fired their coach midway through the season?

He was never supposed to be the coach of a "Big 3" type of team in the first place. He was hired before LBJ even came back. Solid coach but just wasn't a good fit for this team. The Cavs were winning 60-ish games with either Blatt, you, me or a cartoon character coaching this team. Lue was just a better fit for chemistry and that's why the switch was made.

If you look at the W/L column pre and post Blatt, there isn't a much of a bottom line difference. Play style changed a little bit. Cavs cruised through the regular season. That's the only point I'm making here. This team was definitely capable of winning 65+, it wasn't important to them. They didn't have to. Anyone who followed them closely and doesn't fall for the media driven drama knows this.

 

[SlackAdjuster]

Well the other part of the plan does work as well. He plays in an awful conference where his team can coast since there's no real title contenders until the final.

That doesn't mean they aren't as good as any team in the west. W/L records in the regular season don't mean much.

 

[Stat Flow]

That doesn't mean they aren't as good as any team in the west. W/L records in the regular season don't mean much.

No, the cavs are worse than the top 3 teams in the west (although I think they would probably beat OKC because playoff Lebron and okc's mental lapses). And cavs probably a bit better than the clippers fully healthy.

But then there's a sharp, sharp drop off from the cavs. 2-7 in the East are straight up garbage compared to the top 1-4 of the west. Especially when it comes to playoff mojo. Full of regular season teams. There are only two players on the entirety of the east with playoff grit, and that's d wade and Lebron.

 

[PBY]

If this plays out the way I hope it will (Cavs winning), a quote from one of my favorite movies as a teen will remind me of this entire season regarding the whole 73 wins and all that.

"There's two bulls standing on top of a mountain. The younger one says to the older one: "Hey pop, let's say we run down there and fuck one of them cows". The older one says: "No son. Lets walk down and fuck 'em all".

The 73 wins was a great feat and I won't take anything away from them. But the ultimate goal to any sports season is that ring. Without it, anything else is really a failure. The Cavs coasted through the regular season. People foolishly panicked. Questioned this or that. All along, it was designed that way. LBJ knows the grind and how important it is to be rested and healthy heading into the real (playoff) season. We're here now. Time to fuck 'em all.

Man, this is fundamentally useless analysis.

 

[SlackAdjuster]

No, the cavs are worse than the top 3 teams in the west

Based on what though? Just your opinion? There's no way to fairly state that unless you have a 7 game series. And now, we do.

Please don't simply say W/L records in the regular season or an extremely small sample size of a single game home and away series.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

That doesn't mean they aren't as good as any team in the west. W/L records in the regular season don't mean much.

I didn't say they are not as good. I'm saying your point about rest is pointless since he plays in a garbage conference.

 

[Stat Flow]

Based on what though? Just your opinion? There's no way to fairly state that unless you have a 7 game series. And now, we do.

Please don't simply say W/L records in the regular season or an extremely small sample size of a single game home and away series.

Well, yeah, it's my opinion. Based on what I've seen throughout the regular season and playoffs. I've watched most of the games from the top 5 teams this season.

No, nothing to do with w/l.

 

[SlackAdjuster]

Man, this is fundamentally useless analysis.

Your rebuttal is deep. Please give me a few hours to process the information and respond.

 

[PBY]

Your rebuttal is deep. Please give me a few hours to process the information and respond.

I mean, you posted a random anecdote, and said that Lebron knows how to grind. He played way more minutes this year than last year, so not sure the "knows how to rest" applies here.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I mean, you posted a random anecdote, and said that Lebron knows how to grind. He played way more minutes this year than last year, so not sure the "knows how to rest" applies here.

Please respond with a movie quote or GTFO.

 

[SlackAdjuster]

I didn't say they are not as good. I'm saying your point about rest is pointless since he plays in a garbage conference.

I get that. The east is weaker. I'm not going to argue that. I do think it's slightly exaggerated, especially this year. But I don't really care about the rest of teams in the east right now and how strong or weak they are. Or the top teams in the West. They aren't playing vs. GS right now. Only thing that matters from the east right now is the Cavs and they are definitely not weak.

 

[SlackAdjuster]

I mean, you posted a random anecdote, and said that Lebron knows how to grind. He played way more minutes this year than last year, so not sure the "knows how to rest" applies here.

Except I didn't say that. I said he knows how important is to be healthy and rested heading into the playoffs which is why the Cavs didn't go balls out trying to win 70 games. Why would they? They didn't have to.

Playing more minutes this year does not equal playing balls out for 82 games.

 

[Diprosalic]

yeah cavs could've won 90 games easily if they tried, they just don't care.
don't care at all.
didn't care when they got embarrassed by GS at home this season.
they care so little, they won't even show up in the finals.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Except I didn't say that. I said he knows how important is to be healthy and rested heading into the playoffs which is why the Cavs didn't go balls out trying to win 70 games. Why would they? They didn't have to.

Playing more minutes this year does not equal playing balls out for 82 games.

Lmao. They didn't because they couldn't. Bron kept himself busy getting the coach fired and worrying about sending messages to his team and teammates via passive-aggressive high school girl-esque social media posts. But sure, keep on believing the Cavs purposely coasted and any turmoil they had was a media fabrication.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

I get that. The east is weaker. I'm not going to argue that. I do think it's slightly exaggerated, especially this year. But I don't really care about the rest of teams in the east right now and how strong or weak they are. Or the top teams in the West. They aren't playing vs. GS right now. Only thing that matters from the east right now is the Cavs and they are definitely not weak.

This year is a bigger case than other years. Just awful quality though. Yeah it doesn't matter to you but it would have been nice if Cavs were actually tested by a legitimate team before reaching the final.

But you're right. The final is here. Lets get it, see who is the champion.

 

[PBY]

Except I didn't say that. I said he knows how important is to be healthy and rested heading into the playoffs which is why the Cavs didn't go balls out trying to win 70 games. Why would they? They didn't have to.

Playing more minutes this year does not equal playing balls out for 82 games.

I mean... you are arguing that even though the hard data indicates Lebron played more minutes this year, your counterpoint is that those minutes were not "balls out" so he really was actually resting, and the fact that they didn't win 70 games is evidence of rest.

Its a theory.

 

[Diprosalic]

Lmao. They didn't because they couldn't. Bron kept himself busy getting the coach fired and worrying about sending messages to his team and teammates via passive-aggressive high school girl-esque social media posts. But sure, keep on believing the Cavs purposely coasted and any turmoil they had was a media fabrication.

all part of the plan. not exactly sure what all those things accomplished tho.

 

[phanphare]

winning is so ordinary. it's expected.

it takes a real champion to lose.

 

[Ripenen]

Except I didn't say that. I said he knows how important is to be healthy and rested heading into the playoffs which is why the Cavs didn't go balls out trying to win 70 games. Why would they? They didn't have to.

Playing more minutes this year does not equal playing balls out for 82 games.

Balls out? Curry did play fewer minutes per game this season than LeBron.

 

[bchamba]

Man, this is fundamentally useless analysis.

Better or worse than people who "have a feeling"?

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Your rebuttal is deep. Please give me a few hours to process the information and respond.

Lebron averaged more MPG this season than Curry, Klay, or Draymond Green. His team finished one game ahead of the Raptors. As a team they went 30-12 in the first half of the season, then panicked after they got curb-stomped by the Warriors and Bulls and realized they weren't that good.

This is "coasting?"

 

[Diprosalic]

Balls out? Curry did play fewer minutes per game this season than LeBron.

played 150 minutes less in the playoffs too.

 

[Ripenen]

Perhaps he meant to say Balls Deep because of how deep the GSW bench is. Cavs played more Blue Balls, saving their climax for the finals. OKC just got kicked in the balls.

 

[Siegcram]

Perhaps he meant to say Balls Deep because of how deep the GSW bench is. Cavs played more Blue Balls, saving their climax for the finals. OKC just got kicked in the balls.

Draymond Green approves this post.

 

[Gully State]

I think the East is weaker than the West but I don't think that means the Cavs aren't a top 3 overall team. At the end of the day, Cavs look formidable against the Warriors (which is honestly probably all that matters). Also, what's with this narrative of Warriors getting weaker or looking like they're exhausted? I don't see that at all. If anything, the last 3 games have given the Warriors a second wind. Those last 3 games against OKC, I watched a confident and focused team...one that hasn't been playing that way for many months now.

 

[DJwest]

Yawn. All this banter and trash talking by "fans" of both sides. I just want to see some amazing competitive basket ball. I hope this turns out to be a 7 game series.

 

[PBY]

I think the East is weaker than the West but I don't think that means the Cavs aren't a top 3 overall team. At the end of the day, Cavs look formidable against the Warriors (which is honestly probably all that matters). Also, what's with this narrative of Warriors getting weaker or looking like they're exhausted? I don't see that at all. If anything, the last 3 games have given the Warriors a second wind. Those last 3 games against OKC, I watched a confident and focused team...one that hasn't been playing that way for many months now.

I think the Cavs are/were the 4th best team in the league. They were 4th in net rating, and adjusted net rating.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

I think the East is weaker than the West but I don't think that means the Cavs aren't a top 3 overall team. At the end of the day, Cavs look formidable against the Warriors (which is honestly probably all that matters). Also, what's with this narrative of Warriors getting weaker or looking like they're exhausted? I don't see that at all. If anything, the last 3 games have given the Warriors a second wind. Those last 3 games against OKC, I watched a confident and focused team...one that hasn't been playing that way for many months now.

Cavs are top 1-4. Whether it's #1, 2, 3 or .. that will be revealed in the next two weeks.

 

[SlackAdjuster]

Lol, if you guys watched the Cavs all season, you'd clearly see there is a huge difference in the way they have played in these playoffs than they did in the regular season. The intensity. I see a definitive difference. When I watch GS, I see the same GS team as I did all year. That's not a knock on GS. They are definitely a great team. I just think in some of your minds, you guys think these Finals are GS vs January Cavs and that's silly as hell.

Again, minutes played is a different animal than going all out chasing a record every night. When you watched LBJ in the Finals last year, you saw the intense LeBron. Dude busted his ass and carried a heavily injured team to the point where a number of people (not me) were arguing that he should have gotten FMVP. In a loss! When you watched LBJ in the regular season this year, you saw a much more laid back LeBron. Yes, they absolutely coasted.

I'm just saying, for the folks that are underestimating the Cavs based on regular season W/L, a single game matchup where they had a bad game here or there or "the East" are in for a surprise.

 

[CDV13]

Except I didn't say that. I said he knows how important is to be healthy and rested heading into the playoffs which is why the Cavs didn't go balls out trying to win 70 games. Why would they? They didn't have to.

Playing more minutes this year does not equal playing balls out for 82 games.

Hey man.....just don't try to defend the team. For some reason the Cavs are hated everywhere. Lol. I don't get it either. We can just enjoy the victories as they come and avoid this thread and r/nba for the time being.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Lol, if you guys watched the Cavs all season, you'd clearly see there is a huge difference in the way they have played in these playoffs than they did in the regular season. The intensity. I see a definitive difference. When I watch GS, I see the same GS team as I did all year. That's not a knock on GS. They are definitely a great team. I just think in some of your minds, you guys think these Finals are GS vs January Cavs and that's silly as hell.

Again, minutes played is a different animal than going all out chasing a record every night. When you watched LBJ in the Finals last year, you saw the intense LeBron. Dude busted his ass and carried a heavily injured team to the point where a number of people (not me) were arguing that he should have gotten FMVP. In a loss! When you watched LBJ in the regular season this year, you saw a much more laid back LeBron. Yes, they absolutely coasted.

I'm just saying, for the folks that are underestimating the Cavs based on regular season W/L, a single game matchup where they had a bad game here or there or "the East" are in for a surprise.

"Feels" are the new market inefficiently. John Hollinger eat your heart out. Actual data and analytics mean nothing when you can tell how "intense" a guy is just by looking.

 

[phanphare]

Again, minutes played is a different animal than going all out chasing a record every night.

true, one is a measure of how many minutes an individual player played and one is a full team accomplishment

 

[PBY]

I'm just saying, for the folks that are underestimating the Cavs based on regular season W/L, a single game matchup where they had a bad game here or there or "the East" are in for a surprise.

I mean, maybe. But I was looking at their net rating.

I think the counterpoint would be that the Cav's net rating is crazy right now, but I'm willing to bet against a small sample against bad teams, as compared to the Warriors which played much better teams and were missing Curry for a stretch.

But its not an unreasonable position to take.

 

[Dougieflesh]

I think the Cavs are maybe the 2nd or 3rd best team in the league. It's a wash between them and the Spurs for me. They're definitely better than OKC though. For some reason OKC can't compete against Lebron led teams.

 

[SlackAdjuster]

You can look at net ratings and any other stats you want to. They are cool to look at and compare things. But you run into things like Cle and Toronto being almost identical in netrating and then you watch them actually play and the Cavs basically obliterated them aside from 1 road game. Yes, they lost 2 but had a good chance at the end of game 4 but came up short.

Or last year when the Hawks had an almost 1.00 higher rating than the Cavs. And then got swept when shit got real.

 

[bionic77]

I think the Cavs have a real shot but should be considered the underdogs.

But man Cavs fans are really getting irrational.

It's going to get ugly in here after game 1 no matter who wins...