NBA 2016-17

Cavs are on a roll. Destroyed Celtics second time in a row but now it was actually more painful for Boston. Can't see this being anything other than 4-0, and they did not even have to injure Thomas to get the job done.
 
Sarni said:
Cavs are on a roll. Destroyed Celtics second time in a row but now it was actually more painful for Boston. Can't see this being anything other than 4-0, and they did not even have to injure Thomas to get the job done.
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Held him to 2 fecking points last night.
 
I don't really know how exactly the odds convert into %, but the bookies have Cleveland at 3.25 and GSW at 1.3, so they're only giving Cleveland around 20% chance of winning the whole thing.

I think these odds are all wrong. Cavs are playing great and Lebron is on another level. I'm going to put a bigish bet on them.
 
Donut said:
I don't really know how exactly the odds convert into %, but the bookies have Cleveland at 3.25 and GSW at 1.3, so they're only giving Cleveland around 20% chance of winning the whole thing.

I think these odds are all wrong. Cavs are playing great and Lebron is on another level. I'm going to put a bigish bet on them.
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Warriors will win IMO. LeBron is absolutely great but he isn't unbeatable. On this series and the semis, he had the advantage of not even needing to play defense. Against Warriors, he will have to defend against Durant and have Green and Iguodala annoy him when he is attacking.

He will definitely need Kyrie more than ever in that series, and hope that Klay continues being shit in attack. And even then, if both Curry and KD are at their best, he won't be able to get the win.

On the other side, if he wins this title playing like he is doing (or like he did in last finals), then he will be in pair with Jordan IMO.
 
OB said:
This has been quite a boring playoffs overall so far.
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This is an understatement. They have been dreadful. I still think there is a gap between the Warriors and Cavs too, so I am not sure the finals will be all that exciting.
 
ZDwyr said:
This is an understatement. They have been dreadful. I still think there is a gap between the Warriors and Cavs too, so I am not sure the finals will be all that exciting.
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The finals will be awesome cuz I don't think Warriors are that good and LeBron is probably playing close to his best.
 
I also think finals will be very close. You would think that with additions of Durant Warriors should walk it given the fact that they only lost 4-3 a year ago, but Cavs are playing better this year in the playoffs so far than they were playing last year (they dropped two games to Toronto in ECF and a few of their games against Hawks and Pistons were also very tight, this year it has been a breeze).
 
Revan said:
Warriors will win IMO. LeBron is absolutely great but he isn't unbeatable. On this series and the semis, he had the advantage of not even needing to play defense. Against Warriors, he will have to defend against Durant and have Green and Iguodala annoy him when he is attacking.

He will definitely need Kyrie more than ever in that series, and hope that Klay continues being shit in attack. And even then, if both Curry and KD are at their best, he won't be able to get the win.

On the other side, if he wins this title playing like he is doing (or like he did in last finals), then he will be in pair with Jordan IMO.
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If Kawhi Leonard could take Spurs to a 20+ point lead at half time at Oakland then they're clearly beatable as well.
 
I was favoring GSW through the season and as a team I think their roster is more complete than Cavs tbf but with Cavs usual form in the playoffs it's really impossible to predict the winner now.

It'll be another 4-3 final I reckon.
 
Sarni said:
I also think finals will be very close. You would think that with additions of Durant Warriors should walk it given the fact that they only lost 4-3 a year ago, but Cavs are playing better this year in the playoffs so far than they were playing last year (they dropped two games to Toronto in ECF and a few of their games against Hawks and Pistons were also very tight, this year it has been a breeze).
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Games against Indiana have been very close.
Moby said:
If Kawhi Leonard could take Spurs to a 20+ point lead at half time at Oakland then they're clearly beatable as well.
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I think it was an one-off that can happen to any team. In addition, Popovich is a master tactician.

Warriors are beatable, but I don't think that there is any way that they will lose more than 2 games in the finals. In fact, I think that a 4-0 or 4-1 is very likely to happen.
 
Revan said:
Games against Indiana have been very close.

I think it was an one-off that can happen to any team. In addition, Popovich is a master tactician.

Warriors are beatable, but I don't think that there is any way that they will lose more than 2 games in the finals. In fact, I think that a 4-0 or 4-1 is very likely to happen.
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Bizarre thing to say a day after Cavs delivered the best performance of this post season and one of the best of recent times. LeBron is playing the best basketball of his career, he was already an absolutely unstoppable force but in this point guard incarnation he is now running PnRs, passing like a peak Magic Johnson, like this, and most importantly, the man has added the weapon that used to be his weakness - he's shooting from the arc in mid 40s! It was 44% last I checked in addition to the FG% in mid 50s. He's also still getting those insane half court and three fourth court chasedown blocks. He had a +/- of +41 in the first half of last game, the highest he's ever had in his career. And he's someone who when plays well, the entire team plays well. Love and Irving have come to the fore alongside him, getting excellent games themselves. For all the talk of stopping Curry or Durant, try stopping this man! Forget Draymond Green, you can bring back Scottie Pippen or Dennis Rodman and they won't have an answer to him right now. His individual impact alone is incredible but he's now making everyone in his team play to that level, which is reminiscent of none other than Michael Jordan.
 
Moby said:
Bizarre thing to say a day after Cavs delivered the best performance of this post season and one of the best of recent times. LeBron is playing the best basketball of his career, he was already an absolutely unstoppable force but in this point guard incarnation he is now running PnRs, passing like a peak Magic Johnson, like this, and most importantly, the man has added the weapon that used to be his weakness - he's shooting from the arc in mid 40s! It was 44% last I checked in addition to the FG% in mid 50s. He's also still getting those insane half court and three fourth court chasedown blocks. He had a +/- of +41 in the first half of last game, the highest he's ever had in his career. And he's someone who when plays well, the entire team plays well. Love and Irving have come to the fore alongside him, getting excellent games themselves. For all the talk of stopping Curry or Durant, try stopping this man! Forget Draymond Green, you can bring back Scottie Pippen or Dennis Rodman and they won't have an answer to him right now. His individual impact alone is incredible but he's now making everyone in his team play to that level, which is reminiscent of none other than Michael Jordan.
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It won't happen. But, he will be a bit less effective on attack, if he has to chase Durant in defense. Against Pacers, he wasn't as good as against Boston or Toronto, because he had to deal with Paul George.

Warriors won't stop James. But if they can make him just a bit less efficiently, then they will dominate the finals. We will see soon.
 
Revan said:
It won't happen. But, he will be a bit less effective on attack, if he has to chase Durant in defense. Against Pacers, he wasn't as good as against Boston or Toronto, because he had to deal with Paul George.

Warriors won't stop James. But if they can make him just a bit less efficiently, then they will dominate the finals. We will see soon.
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No one is going to stop James, that's a pointless thought. The more important thing as Chuck pointed out was you have to stop Love and Kyrie getting 30s along with LeBron who will get a 30 anyway (by the way he has equalled Michael Jordan's record of 8 straight 30 point playoff games, will likely beat that in Game 3), which is LeBron's biggest job now and what he's concentrating in. He is going to invite double teams and if Draymond and Durant try to stop him it will Love open for a corner three or Kyrie with the license to run at Curry and if you have watched Cavs so far, LeBron picks them out every single time. Not to mention he is drilling 3 pointers himself. Not being able to guard him has been a thing since 10 years now but he hasn't always been someone who can constantly get others into the game with this consistency and perfectly timed passing. He's a 6 9 point guard, with his size and agility he can pick those passes easily and as long as Kyrie and Love don't have trouble in making open shots, it will work. Him running every play with those qualities that an elite point guard would love to him along with getting to the rim himself is an absolute nightmare to deal with.
 
Moby said:
No one is going to stop James, that's a pointless thought. The more important thing as Chuck pointed out was you have to stop Love and Kyrie getting 30s along with LeBron who will get a 30 anyway (by the way he has equalled Michael Jordan's record of 8 straight 30 point playoff games, will likely beat that in Game 3), which is LeBron's biggest job now and what he's concentrating in. He is going to invite double teams and if Draymond and Durant try to stop him it will Love open for a corner three or Kyrie with the license to run at Curry and if you have watched Cavs so far, LeBron picks them out every single time. Not to mention he is drilling 3 pointers himself. Not being able to guard him has been a thing since 10 years now but he hasn't always been someone who can constantly get others into the game with this consistency and perfectly timed passing. He's a 6 9 point guard, with his size and agility he can pick those passes easily and as long as Kyrie and Love don't have trouble in making open shots, it will work. Him running every play with those qualities that an elite point guard would love to him along with getting to the rim himself is an absolute nightmare to deal with.
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LeBron will get 30+, no doubt there. I think that Durant will achieve that too, regardless of what LeBron does in defense. LeBron of course, will make his teammates better, while Durant will be extremely effective on scoring but not influencing the match as much.

I think that Kyrie might easily reach 30, but so will Curry. Love won't go near that IMO. While, I think that there is a significant difference on quality between LeBron and Durant, I think that Curry, Klay and Green more than make for that difference, cause they are better than Kyrie and Love.
 
Revan said:
LeBron will get 30+, no doubt there. I think that Durant will achieve that too, regardless of what LeBron does in defense. LeBron of course, will make his teammates better, while Durant will be extremely effective on scoring but not influencing the match as much.

I think that Kyrie might easily reach 30, but so will Curry. Love won't go near that IMO. While, I think that there is a significant difference on quality between LeBron and Durant, I think that Curry, Klay and Green more than make for that difference, cause they are better than Kyrie and Love.
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Yeah I'm not saying Cavs are going to win either, but it will be a massively close series and nowhere near as easy as you suggest it to be, based on what we have seen so far from both the teams. Both have great offenses, one team has the second best player of all time playing the best he ever has and his game has become more complete than it was before and he's absolutely in there to get the back to back.
 
Also I doubt they will have LeBron guarding Durant 1v1 the whole time - they need to concentrate on Curry and not allow him to get the Warriors into their offensive rhythm. That always drives them more towards going into ISO mode with Durant - who can get his 30 on his own - but the entire team will suffer more.
 
I love the fact that the Cav have been referred too as "he isn't unbeatable" up above. LeGod. Le1ManTeam.

The want for Peak Jordan vs Peak LeBron led teams is gonna end up being similar to the dream for Ali-Tyson.
 
Fair to say LeBron has cemented his status as 2nd best ever?

Liked what JVG was saying yesterday. LeBron is chasing the legends of the past, not the greats of the present.
 
mav_9me said:
Fair to say LeBron has cemented his status as 2nd best ever?

Liked what JVG was saying yesterday. LeBron is chasing the legends of the past, not the greats of the present.
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It is hard to say because it is difficult to put centers in the same category as the other players. Russell, Wilt and Kareem were great players, but really, I would say that the top 3 positions should be for non-centers.

He's probably (likely) ahead of Magic. If he wins this, for me he will be on par with Jordan.
 
Revan said:
It is hard to say because it is difficult to put centers in the same category as the other players. Russell, Wilt and Kareem were great players, but really, I would say that the top 3 positions should be for non-centers.

He's probably (likely) ahead of Magic. If he wins this, for me he will be on par with Jordan.
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I agree.
 
Revan said:
It is hard to say because it is difficult to put centers in the same category as the other players. Russell, Wilt and Kareem were great players, but really, I would say that the top 3 positions should be for non-centers.

He's probably (likely) ahead of Magic. If he wins this, for me he will be on par with Jordan.
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Agree. I'm rooting for golden state but you gotta admit LeBron is a freak. To live up to the expectations he has had on his shoulders since 15. Amazing.
 
Golden State will win, as great as LeBron it's just too difficult beat a team that can go off like they can do.

A five minute warrior stretch kills 3 quarters of hard fought basketball.
 
What he did last summer put him well ahead of the chasing gap on Jordan.....and the gap that was always there after Jordan isn't such a gap now.

Before the return to the Cavs, I would of never had LeBron near Jordan, just at the top of the pack, but those 4 years in Miami brought a mentality that which I've only seen Jordan previously have, a do all never say die winning mentality. It's a shame he felt he had to make a dream team to get that mentality, which is still the big slight on him, but now he's got it, it's great watching him go out there.

He's more or less been the finals MVP for 5 years in a row. Their refusal to give it to a "loser" is the only reason he isn't. And it's almost certain he'll be the best player again.

I don't really consider the league so deep either, theres no way he and that Warriors team get to the finals 24-0 in the Jordan era. It's a very soft era.
 
Terrible performance from Cavs tbf. Their players looked really indifferent and uninterested in the game and series at all costing them an additional unneeded 5th game. More than one time they tried to take hard shots from hard positions or angles and kept missing easy points without a need really. They looked certain of winning and that costed them the game, while Celtics were playing to their full heart.

I predict Cavs to easily win the next 2 games but there was no need of this to start with.

At least I'm happy there's no sweep.
 
This Cavs team is a really good team, but it is not a great one. Their abilities are vastly overestimated. In truth it is all about LeBron. He had an off night tonight and the Cavs lost. Russell Westbrook gets all sorts of kudos for taking OKC to the playoffs. Without LeBron, the Cavs are out in the first or second round, with him firing on all cylinders they have a shot at the title. That is an MVP!
 
charlton66 said:
This Cavs team is a really good team, but it is not a great one. Their abilities are vastly overestimated. In truth it is all about LeBron. He had an off night tonight and the Cavs lost. Russell Westbrook gets all sorts of kudos for taking OKC to the playoffs. Without LeBron, the Cavs are out in the first or second round, with him firing on all cylinders they have a shot at the title. That is an MVP!
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Yep. If Warriors fail to beat the Cavs it will be a huge, huge choke.
 
ZDwyr said:
Yep. If Warriors fail to beat the Cavs it will be a huge, huge choke.
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All things being equal the Dubs should win, but if they don't its more likely to be because LeBron has been LeBron than anything else.
 
Although I agree they are heavily dependent on LeBron ( this is nothing new ), It's just an off night for the team, most probably for them being indifferent after the last game more than them being not great. This game reminded me a lot of their performance in regular season, also It's hard for LeBron to repeat his performance tonight again.

Final will be a different thing.
 
charlton66 said:
This Cavs team is a really good team, but it is not a great one. Their abilities are vastly overestimated. In truth it is all about LeBron. He had an off night tonight and the Cavs lost. Russell Westbrook gets all sorts of kudos for taking OKC to the playoffs. Without LeBron, the Cavs are out in the first or second round, with him firing on all cylinders they have a shot at the title. That is an MVP!
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First or second round? They are a lottery team without him.

That is why I find it cringeworthy when the likes of Irving or Smith try to trash talk or be arrogant on the court. You lot are fecking nothing, not even 80% or 70%, but literally nothing without LeBron, just be glad he's there to carry your asses and do your job, don't act like billy big bollocks unless you are capable of standing up yourself for once.
 
Moby said:
First or second round? They are a lottery team without him.

That is why I find it cringeworthy when the likes of Irving or Smith try to trash talk or be arrogant on the court. You lot are fecking nothing, not even 80% or 70%, but literally nothing without LeBron, just be glad he's there to carry your asses and do your job, don't act like billy big bollocks unless you are capable of standing up yourself for once.
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Their record without LeBron is ridiculous. I think it's now 4-22 when he doesn't play but Irving and Love both do.
 
Sarni said:
Their record without LeBron is ridiculous. I think it's now 4-22 when he doesn't play but Irving and Love both do.
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He took the warriors to 6 without them even playing a few years ago too.
 
Holy shit. Boston defeated Cavaliers in Cleveland. And Thomas wasn't even playing (although that turned out well).

It will be 4-1 though, I think that James won't be this bad the next two matches,
 
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