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NBA Playoffs |OT| AKA Derrick Rose's family time

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He knew he was 2-11 and 0-4 from 3, so he was passing to Waiters who knocked it down.

It doesn't matter, you don't pass up looks that clean to get bad ones. You need to trust the work you put in the gym and shoot that shit. It was a horrendous play which is why KD was so fucking pissed with him.

I think what really hurts, or should hurt the Thunder is that stretch with Livingston, Verajao, and Barbosa. They had Durant out there against them and it ended up being a little run for the other side.

I think that was part of it but they mostly just looked flustered all the 3rd. Like they weren't all on the same page.
 
Having Delly and Thompson and Mozgov playing major minutes forced them to play a style that worked against the Warriors. It was slower, less possessions, grinding out. Not sure why that's so hard to believe. Thinking Love and Kyrie are automatic upgrades because they can score a lot or make a lot of money or have big names seems naive.


Everything you're saying is coming of as naive but go ahead keep talking. I'll go about my business until the finals.
 

Kickz

Member
Completely in awe of some of those clutch shots Steph made, he is most definitely the best player in the NBA. I just can't imagine a scenario where LeBron takes this squad down...


Don't forget that Lebron has no jumper anymore.

I see the Cleveland series being easier than this one for GSW. I predict them in 6.

Absolutely, the only thing Cleveland has is fresher legs because of the trash Eastern conference.
 

Fjordson

Member
Ok guy. I'm sure the Cavs plan of Kyrie and JR Smith outshooting Curry and Klay will work wonders for them.
Don't forget Frye and Love guarding on the perimeter off of pick & rolls. Whew.

I have no prediction really though. Warriors in 7 I guess. Lebron is just too scary for me to assume anything.
 
Everything you're saying is coming of as naive but go ahead keep talking. I'll go about my business until the finals.

You really think Cleveland is going to win a shoot out with GS? Cleveland is a much worse defensive team than OKC and a game with a higher pace and more possessions does not favor them against GS. The fact they won 2 games last year was a miracle. Love and Kyrie are scoring upgrades but they are defensive liabilities and are way more likely to get torched on defense. And I don't personally believe they add the fire power necessary to make up for it against GS.
 
You really think Cleveland is going to win a shoot out with GS? Cleveland is a much worse defensive team than OKC and a game with a higher pace and more possessions does not favor them against GS. The fact they won 2 games last year was a miracle. Love and Kyrie are scoring upgrades but they are defensive liabilities and are way more likely to get torched on defense. And I don't personally believe they add the fire power necessary to make up for it against GS.

It's like some people just look at names of all star calibur players and think they are automatic upgrades. As great as Westbrook and Durant are, it was two unheralded guys, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson, that really nearly swung this series and put OKC in the FInals and let OKC play a nearly perfect gameplan. Cleveland doesn't have those guys or that gameplan.
 
Everything you're saying is coming of as naive but go ahead keep talking. I'll go about my business until the finals.

He's not wrong you know. Slowing down the game is what kept Cleveland competitive, but LeBron has help offensively this time. We will see if the defense can keep up.
 

neptunes

Member
They're going to dare Bron to make jumpshots (preferably outside the perimeter)

Lebron is going to drive and kick. His greatest strength has always been his passing. I feel like Cleveland's success is going to depend on role players stepping up and nailing shots. I.e J.R, Shump, and TT.
 

Marz

Member
Well they don't really have any other plan as long as Kyrie and Love are in the lineup. It's not like they are going to stop Golden State.

Yes I'm sure that a team that made it all the way to the NBA Finals has no gameplan.

That makes complete sense wow you should be an analyst for TNT breh.
 

TTG

Member
Can we talk about the Warriors going back to a more conventional defense(on Roberson) for games 6 and 7? Draymond was out there in a modern day equivalent of a double team standing directly behind the on ball defender and that did not work for them. He's not Whiteside or Ibaka to erase shots at the rim. It felt like a more conventional game plan for the last two games, still a lot of help, but not as a matter of routine.

EDIT: and of course Iggy must be one of like five guys that can do what he did on Durant and Westbrook.
 
Well they don't really have any other plan as long as Kyrie and Love are in the lineup. It's not like they are going to stop Golden State.

They don't need to stop them. Just make them inefficient enough. I do think they should avoid switching on those pick & roll involving Klay & Steph. Double until main defender recovery and rotate. The reason for that is that the switch is all the space they need to shoot. On defense I think the dubs are worst than last year so the Cavs offense should create problems for them.

I do think game one will set the tone. I think Cavs take game 1 and win the series in 6 games.
 
Yes I'm sure that a team that made it all the way to the NBA Finals has no gameplan.

That makes complete sense wow you should be an analyst for TNT breh.

Who says they don't have a gameplan? They are a good team, they just don't matchup with or have the personnel to machup with Golden State. People reading into how Golden State played against OKC as if they will play that way against anyone else is the real Skip Bayless-tier take.
 
Can we talk about the Warriors going back to a more conventional defense(on Roberson) for games 6 and 7? Draymond was out there in a modern day equivalent of a double team standing directly behind the on ball defender and that did not work for them. He's not Whiteside or Ibaka to erase shots at the rim. It felt like a more conventional game plan for the last two games, still a lot of help, but not as a matter of routine.

Yeah that defense was no joke. OKC seemed almost too afraid to really drive into the paint and kept chucking 3-point attempts.
 

Fjordson

Member
Can we talk about the Warriors going back to a more conventional defense(on Roberson) for games 6 and 7? Draymond was out there in a modern day equivalent of a double team standing directly behind the on ball defender and that did not work for them. He's not Whiteside or Ibaka to erase shots at the rim. It felt like a more conventional game plan for the last two games, still a lot of help, but not as a matter of routine.
Yes, that was great by Kerr. Even other than open 3's, Roberson was cutting untouched for layups or offensive rebounds in the two OKC blowouts. Just wasn't working.

Like you said, they still played occasional zone doubling off of Roberson, but they saved it for certain possessions, which maybe caught Roberson and OKC off guard. Was much better than doing it every time down the floor.
 

J2 Cool

Member
You would have to imagine the Cavs have the rebounding edge. Thats gotta count for something, and they can shoot the three ball pretty well. And lebron can drive and dish on this team at will.

But when they lose, they will lose ugly. Gsw will more resemble the high scoring Warriors of the regular season
 

kaiju

Member
@LILBTHEBASEDGOD
And they said the curse was not real " The BasedGod" has never lied to me and like he told us.. The Warriors are going to the finals - Lil B

giphy.gif
 
It's like some people just look at names of all star calibur players and think they are automatic upgrades. As great as Westbrook and Durant are, it was two unheralded guys, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson, that really nearly swung this series and put OKC in the FInals and let OKC play a nearly perfect gameplan. Cleveland doesn't have those guys or that gameplan.

Roberson defensively this series was beast. I think the problem for OKC was role players being scared of the moment on offense. When the time came to put in the easy buckets they couldn't get it done. I don't think you can play a better defensive game on GS than what OKC did. Some breakdowns but Klay and Steph were just hitting some disgusting shots these last 2 games.

It's normally not the stars that run away and win you games in WCF and Finals. The role players have to come up big in the moments before the end of the game.

And Love and Kyrie are gifted offensive players (well Kyrie is anyway) but they got torched on defense last series and gave up tons of wide open looks. Yall can say what you want about the Raps but Lowry and Derozan were shooting over 50% most of the series. Most of their buckets came easy. Cavs played defense well for one game and that was game 5. I don't see how people expect them to keep up with GS high power offense.
 

random25

Member
Who says they don't have a gameplan? They are a good team, they just don't matchup with or have the personnel to machup with Golden State. People reading into how Golden State played against OKC as if they will play that way against anyone else is the real Skip Bayless-tier take.

I don't see where the no matchup thing comes from. While Cleveland has no defensive bigs like OKC has, they have a lot more offensive options than just Durant and Westbrook. Plus they have rebounders in Love and TT to get the boards, which has really been the trouble of Golden State as of late. And LeBron can slide to guard Klay if necessary. This isn't a walk in the park for GSW like you think it will be.
 
I don't see where the no matchup thing comes from. While Cleveland has no defensive bigs like OKC has, they have a lot more offensive options than just Durant and Westbrook. Plus they have rebounders in Love and TT to get the boards, which has really been the trouble of Golden State as of late. And LeBron can slide to guard Klay if necessary. This isn't a walk in the park for GSW like you think it will be.

The defensive bigs are what made that machup for OKC though. Their ability to control the paint with Adams and Durant. Cleveland's bigs are terrible on defense. The fact that they have a few more scorers won't matter.
 
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