2016-2017 NBA Thread

[PhaelixWW]

GSW is about to go 16-0. First time ever, right?

The move to a best-of-seven first round was only back in 2003, so this is only the 15th year it's even been a possibility.

[Adp]

What a shame. Cleveland really had a chance this game to grab a win and collect some momentum to protect home court. Now it looks like the broom is coming out. Who knows, maybe the refs will try to gift Cleveland the next game for the ratings cash cow but this series is over. There's just too much firepower for the Warriors. They are averaging 121 ppg over 3 games. You would think defense is dead but no, it's just all the damn 3s. Cleveland got sucked into the 3pt game tonight as well. 44 possessions they took a 3 pointer and converted just 12. 44 possessions.

I want post play back =(

[Blueobelisk]

Who knows, maybe the refs will try to gift Cleveland the next game for the ratings cash cow but this series is over.

No way game 4 gets anywhere near as high ratings. Most people will just assume the series is over.

I thought the calls tonight were like 55% Cleveland favored, but the refs called so many things that it became inconsistent refereeing. So who knows who was even really favored.

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I wanted to go to sleep like right after the game but my mind is wired and depressed. I'm not gonna sleep for at least like 2.5 hours now...

[Allerius]

Of the 70 years of NBA Finals, 12 times has a team been up 3-0. So like one in six NBA Finals could be described like that.

These cavs went 12-1 and would beat a bunch of other champs. Teams that get swept are usually like the 2007 cavs, lucky to make it that far. It's totally different this year.

And it was heroball.

There were two possessions where Lebron just ran an iso that resulted in a tough shot that he missed, while the rest of the team stood around and watched. There's still this mentality in some places that the end of the game is where you give it to your best player and move out of the way, and it's just wrong. Kobe did it for years with the Lakers and despite his hilarious inefficiency in those situations he actually got a reputation as clutch.

It's not that dumb, heroball limits turnovers and ensures you at least get a shot off. End of game everyone is locked in defensively and super focused making role players less effective as they will be less open from cuts and screens than they usually would during the rest of the game when slips of mind happen on defense more regularly. Passing the ball around is a lot harder too with people trying way more to cut off passing lanes. Maybe not the best but a decent strategy.

i think that speaks more to the difference between the lebrons and rest of the eastern conference than between the warriors.

These Cavs are a good team, probably above the average for championship winners. The fact they are getting beat this badly is ridiculous.

[Racthoh]

i think that speaks more to the difference between the lebrons and rest of the eastern conference than between the warriors.

[Adp]

No way game 4 gets anywhere near as high ratings. Most people will just assume the series is over.

Maybe not as high but it's still Lebron/Curry/Kyrie et all. It's practically an all star game.

[Blueobelisk]

Btw guys, I don't want to undersell what Kyrie did. What he did was unreproducible and one of the big keys for Cleveland even being close. He scored 38, but he did it in a way that didn't require assisting or team basketball. He basically played Iso ball or had the ball in his hands and made his own plays. That alleviates so much pressure from Lebron since everyone else on Cleveland is a p_ssy and just passes to Lebron, so most of the time Lebron has to play Point Forward and not only make his own plays, but also look for other people. Which is hard to do in 45 minutes. (And the 3 minutes he's off the floor his team sucks.)

Lebron actually had a quiet 39. I'm surprised it's that high. I mean I guess I know he had 23 with 7 left in the first half, but...his excellence went unnoticed.

[Allerius]

Btw guys, I don't want to undersell what Kyrie did. What he did was unreproducible and one of the big keys for Cleveland even being close. He scored 38, but he did it in a way that didn't require assisting or team basketball. He basically played Iso ball or had the ball in his hands and made his own plays. That alleviates so much pressure from Lebron since everyone else on Cleveland is a p_ssy and just passes to Lebron, so most of the time Lebron has to play Point Forward and not only make his own plays, but also look for other people. Which is hard to do in 45 minutes. (And the 3 minutes he's off the floor his team sucks.)

Lebron actually had a quiet 39. I'm surprised it's that high. I mean I guess I know he had 23 with 7 left in the first half, but...his excellence went unnoticed.

Cavs are playing well and if it was a different team like the 09 Lakers they would smoke them. Fact is they are up against 2 MVPs, 1 Finals MVP, and 2 all-stars with each of those being different guys. Who the hell would beat this ridiculous team?

[Stommped]

If they do get swept Lebron is going to be a pretty unhappy camper, and there's really nothing they can do to add enough firepower to compete next year. If the Warrior guys all start taking less money to stay together, then it's definitely possible Lebron will leave Cleveland again after next season to form a new super team somewhere to try and beat em.

[-aiko-]

Are there enough players in the East to build a super team around? Where does Lebron go?

If the Warriors keep the majority of their core and star bench players I dunno who can possibly beat them.

[Rennadrel]

Are there enough players in the East to build a super team around? Where does Lebron go?

If the Warriors keep the majority of their core and star bench players I dunno who can possibly beat them.

Boston or Toronto are the only two teams capable of even contending for the division, they would have a shot with him. But none of them are three point shooting teams.

[Deleted]

If they do get swept Lebron is going to be a pretty unhappy camper, and there's really nothing they can do to add enough firepower to compete next year. If the Warrior guys all start taking less money to stay together, then it's definitely possible Lebron will leave Cleveland again after next season to form a new super team somewhere to try and beat em.

This will definitely happen. It was his own fault tho with those contracts given to TT and Shumpert, but hey...

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Are there enough players in the East to build a super team around? Where does Lebron go?

If the Warriors keep the majority of their core and star bench players I dunno who can possibly beat them.

There are, if not he will bring from the west. I don't see him going to the west tho

[ramayana1423]

Would not surprise me if Dan Gilbert blows the Cavs up after this season. I believe Bill Simmons said it recently "Eventually rich guys get sick of writing checks" and the Cavs have had far and away the highest salary in the NBA the last two season and are paying a huge luxury tax, which will only get bigger next year if they change nothing. Gilbert already brought a championship to Cleveland, I can't imagine his desire to do anything and everything for another is really that high.

As for the game itself, the final 4 minute was a total trainwreck for the Cavs. LeBron completely disappeared, which has consistently been the knock on him when it comes to big games. How someone as unbelievable as him doesn't even take a shot, let alone score, in the last 4 minutes of a game like that just blows my mind.

Another takeaway, it's absolutely stunning how bad the Cavs are outside of LeBron, Kyrie and Love. Love has had a bad shooting series, but he's absolutely busting his ass on the boards and playing pretty solid defense for him. Tristan Thompson has been a complete embarrassment, he has a grand total of 11 rebounds in the series (Steph had 13 last night alone) and has scored 0 points in 2 of the 3 games. Saying he has been a non-factor in this series is doing a disservice to non-factors. JR finally showed up in the second half for the first time all series, but he's been terrible otherwise. Then there is Deron Williams, Richard Jefferson, Iman Shumpert and Kyle Korver, who have collectively been maybe the worst 6-9 bench guys I think I've ever seen in the NBA finals.

Overall this Cavs teams fatal flaw is that outside of the big 3 they are very bad. It didn't matter in the East because there was no one with the offensive firepower to match those 3, but it has absolutely crushed them in the finals.

[Racthoh]

If they do get swept Lebron is going to be a pretty unhappy camper, and there's really nothing they can do to add enough firepower to compete next year. If the Warrior guys all start taking less money to stay together, then it's definitely possible Lebron will leave Cleveland again after next season to form a new super team somewhere to try and beat em.

i really didn't want to see lebron get swept but you're pulling out the inner hater in me. it would be cool to see him join the clippers or something.

[ramayana1423]

Oh, and as for people who say super teams are bad for the NBA. The NBA has had dominant teams at any given time basically forever. For 9 years from 1980 to 1988 the Celtics or Lakers won the title 8 of those 9 years. In the 90s the Bulls were head and shoulders above everyone for most of the decade. Early 2000s, no one had a shot at beating the Kobe/Shaq Lakers. There was about an 8 year stretch after that with no dominant teams and the NBA ratings suffered. The average television ratings the last 3 years are as high as they've been since 2004, so saying that super teams are bad for the NBA is actually just completely false.

[ItachiZaku]

CLE is no longer able to win in 5. ItachiZaku is the only loser who believed in Cleveland. Or rather, didn't believe in the GSW super team.

This is the nightmare scenario though. The "everyone has a solid game, someone different has a great game".

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Btw guys, I don't want to undersell what Kyrie did. What he did was unreproducible and one of the big keys for Cleveland even being close. He scored 38, but he did it in a way that didn't require assisting or team basketball. He basically played Iso ball or had the ball in his hands and made his own plays. That alleviates so much pressure from Lebron since everyone else on Cleveland is a p_ssy and just passes to Lebron, so most of the time Lebron has to play Point Forward and not only make his own plays, but also look for other people. Which is hard to do in 45 minutes. (And the 3 minutes he's off the floor his team sucks.)

Lebron actually had a quiet 39. I'm surprised it's that high. I mean I guess I know he had 23 with 7 left in the first half, but...his excellence went unnoticed.

The big Bomani point last night was that LeBron was +7, and the Cavs lost by 7. He's off the court for 3 minutes... how the fuck does THAT happen?

[Blueobelisk]

Oh god I slept at 2 and am up at 8. Life sucks.

Was last night real? Tell me we're going to get to see a game 7.

[xskarma]

Oh god I slept at 2 and am up at 8. Life sucks.

Was last night real? Tell me we're going to get to see a game 7.

We're going to get to see a game 7.

Just not this year.

Or in a series by this GSW core.

Definitely going to be some other team playing a 7 game series though, in like, 11 months.

[Raunchy]

I live in cleveland so i knew from first two games it was a sweep, no way in hell can the cavs beat this unfair superteam its literally lebron and sometimes kyrie vs 5 all stars everyone else on the cavs is straight garbage in the finals

[ItachiZaku]

KD will never win another ring. He'll go back home to DC or somewhere he wants to be, won't care so much about winning. He's very much a quite/comfort guy.

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I live in cleveland so i knew from first two games it was a sweep, no way in hell can the cavs beat this unfair superteam its literally lebron and sometimes kyrie vs 5 all stars everyone else on the cavs is straight garbage in the finals

I didn't know Pachullia was an all star. I mean McGee. I mean Livingston. I mean I guess Iggy was a decade ago. But yeah... GS when 2+ Klay day and Dick kicker are on... no one can top it.

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Dame and CJ proved that you need more than 2 elite scorers going nuts to beat the Warriors. So Bron and Kyrie no better than my Blazers.