GT: Cavaliers vs. Spurs

[Nolan]

When: 7:00 PM ET, April 22, 2012
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX



VS



Starting Lineups:

Cavaliers:
PG - Kyrie Irving
SG - Manny Harris
SF - Anthony Parker
PF - Antawn Jamison
C - Tristan Thompson

Spurs:
PG - Tony Parker
SG - Daniel Green
SF - Kawhi Leonard
PF - Tim Duncan
C - Tiago Splitter

Well i'm sorry if I offend any Cav's fans but this should be an easy one for us. We're well rested, playing at home and we're just a far better team.

Go Spurs!!

[co_laper]

I'm watching LA vs OKC right now, god damn Artest just elbowed Harden real bad. That could have a huge impact on their first round series. Artest will atleast miss the first couple of games in the first round, if not longer.

[co_laper]

Lakers beat OKC. This should pretty much set us up for first seed. They have 18 losses, We have 16. We own the tie breaker. Only 4 more games to play. We'll have to lose 3 out of 4 games to lose that first seed. We got an easy schedule ahead. Now it's gonna be about who we face in the first round. Utah has the easiest schedule and looking like the favorite to win that 8th seed.

[Ballings7]

Yeah, Ron's gonna get a decent suspension, maybe the entire playoffs... while it won't effect LAL a lot... it definitely hurts their depth and edge team-wise... he's steadily played more consistent on offense since the 2nd half and lost weight, where he was a valuable asset to them like before. Like him or not, Artest gives them an added x-factor that Barnes just doesn't have (though still solid and more agile).

Harden, hopefully not out too long... I'm in no way condeming harm, but it'll be what it'll be if we face OKC and he's unavailable. Just unfortunate he was that close to him, if he was a bit further away he would of had more time to react.

[Ballings7]

Great drive by JAX

[Nolan]

I'm watching LA vs OKC right now, god damn Artest just elbowed Harden real bad. That could have a huge impact on their first round series. Artest will atleast miss the first couple of games in the first round, if not longer.

I think its going to be a lot longer than the first couple rounds. Given his history and much damage that could of done he'll be gone for at least 20 games.

[SinJackal]

Spurs just narrowly missed setting a record tonight for most consequtive 20+ blowout wins. Too bad we couldn't win by just a litlte more! We'll have to settle for just tying the record instead.

Lakers beat OKC. This should pretty much set us up for first seed. They have 18 losses, We have 16. We own the tie breaker. Only 4 more games to play. We'll have to lose 3 out of 4 games to lose that first seed. We got an easy schedule ahead. Now it's gonna be about who we face in the first round. Utah has the easiest schedule and looking like the favorite to win that 8th seed.

If Phoenix can manage to defeat Utah on Tuesday, we can just tank to them on Wednesday and let them into the playoffs. I guarantee you Pop will put on his best trollface if the Suns beat the Jazz and tie them in the standings. Since Suns own the tiebreaker, you can be damn sure everyone's going to "rest" that game if they beat Utah.

I'm watching LA vs OKC right now, god damn Artest just elbowed Harden real bad. That could have a huge impact on their first round series. Artest will atleast miss the first couple of games in the first round, if not longer.

I think its going to be a lot longer than the first couple rounds. Given his history and much damage that could of done he'll be gone for at least 20 games.

Hope not. That'll pretty much just be the league fixing their series to help OKC. Even Bynum only got a 5 game suspension for a worse hit on JJ Barrea. Artest at most should miss the last 2 games of the season and the first 3 of the first round. I've never seen a 20 game suspension for an elbow shot. Even a 10 game would be overkill considering that it's the playoffs.

Then again, if he gets less than 5 games, you could say he didn't get punished enough and that it's Lakers favortism all over again. But at this point, I think it's obvious the league likes OKC more than LA at this point.

[co_laper]

My gut feeling says Artest is suspended for the rest of the season. And damn, I'm glad we got through the Lakers without that happening to our guys. I mean, this was the game AFTER they played againts us. I don't know how crazy I would get if that happened to our big 3.

[LyMinh]

The Spurs can wrap up number 1 with a win tonight against Portland. Thats good, it means we can rest all of our starters the last 2 games of the season.

The result of LAL/OKC really benefited the Spurs. It means we almost certainly get HCA plus games to spare, and makes it more likely OKC and LAL will be 2/3 and play each other 2nd round, as long as the Lakers win the division over the Clips.

Plus MWP is likely done for the year.

[SinJackal]

Speaking of Ron Artest and "the elbow", here's a gif of it:



I didn't notice at first, but Harden clearly tries to push Artest to ruin his celebration of his dunk, then ges bo'd in the neck. Harden's always talking crap and pushing, so it's not surprising Artest just threw and elbow at him. Shouldn't have tried to push Artest.

[co_laper]

It gives me the chills just watching that again.

I remember when both Artest and Marion was a FA and we clearly needed a SF (The summer when we traded for Jefferson). I wanted Artest here really bad. His defense, post up (Tim was starting to drift toward the perimeter), and him coming off an incredible season in Houston, man I really want him. We talk about Sjax giving us an edge, imagine what edge Artest has. That's like Sjax x10000.

I don't know if Artest will do that kind of **** here too. The Lakers as a team is starting to lose control over themselves. I mean I really feel like Mike Brown can't control these guys. From Bynum's childish acts, Kobe's selfish scoring ways, Gasol complaining about touches, and I kept reading some stuff as if the players aren't really in tune with the coach.

I really wonder if Artest could control himself more if he were in an environment like ours. I mean, I believe your environment has some effects to your behavior. Maybe not change Ron completely, but I'd say it could really affect his behaviors/attitude when he's around guys with strong characters everyday.

[Black_Jack21]

I think having metta around is more about containment than control.
Just point him in the right direction and minimize collateral damage

Put him in the right environment and you'll get the most out of him.
Phil Jackson managed too because he's the zen master after all and I think he suited sac-town and Houston well because he was a veteran who was given a lot of responsibility, he liked being the big fish.

Now he is not the big fish, nor does he have a great coach like jackson pulling the reigns. I remember reports of brown really favoring lebron in an attempt to keep him in Cleveland, at the expense of other players and all reports thus far out of staples is that brown isn't exactly a great people person in terms of player management.

I think here pop is one of those coaches that doesn't take crap, treats everyone equally and emphasizes defense so would have utilized him well.

On a side note I think the real issue of him playing here would have been manu.
Can't really remember many kind words coming out of artests mouth about manu during that sac-town series in 06

[Ballings7]

Ron's still got 2-3 solid years left in him... I've wanted him here for awhile... but I don't think timing will be right.

He wasn't in the best shape for a lot of the 1st half of the year, but the 2nd half he's rounded into form.

He's always gonna be a bit whacky, but has matured from his bad days when younger.

[SinJackal]

It gives me the chills just watching that again.

I remember when both Artest and Marion was a FA and we clearly needed a SF (The summer when we traded for Jefferson). I wanted Artest here really bad. His defense, post up (Tim was starting to drift toward the perimeter), and him coming off an incredible season in Houston, man I really want him. We talk about Sjax giving us an edge, imagine what edge Artest has. That's like Sjax x10000.

I don't know if Artest will do that kind of **** here too. The Lakers as a team is starting to lose control over themselves. I mean I really feel like Mike Brown can't control these guys. From Bynum's childish acts, Kobe's selfish scoring ways, Gasol complaining about touches, and I kept reading some stuff as if the players aren't really in tune with the coach.

I really wonder if Artest could control himself more if he were in an environment like ours. I mean, I believe your environment has some effects to your behavior. Maybe not change Ron completely, but I'd say it could really affect his behaviors/attitude when he's around guys with strong characters everyday.

I remember wanting Artest back then too. I'm not sure if he would've turned around that garbage 2010 season, and it wouldn't have mattered last year either with Ginobili's broken elbow, but I'd happily replace Jackson with him right now,(though obviously that isn't a possibility). If we had him all along, he'd probably have fully fit in by now and I'd really be talking tons of crap about our chances this year instead of the moderate amount of trash talk I'm doing now. He really is Jackson only better. Still chucks a few too many shots and can't hit an open three a good enough amount of the time, but at least his defense would be excellent instead of just above average. Not to mention Artest is actually a good post scorer instead of just having that as part of his arsenal but isn't really a strong go-to skillset like is the case with Jackson.

Anyway, Jackson did well today against the Suns, so maybe he's turning around his otherwise very lackluster stint with us this year. If he also does well against the Warriors, I'm going to start getting really excited. If he can turn it on, man look the fuck out for the Spurs in the playoffs.