The Lebron Thread (2015-16 Pt. 3)

[rich316]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/espn/status/732757037839450112[/tweet]

In seemingly unrelated news, Brian Windhorst was seen taking a bag of game balls into a stall in the Cavs locker room.

Despite lack of jurisdiction, sources say Roger Goodell will be launching an investigation.

[kayess]

Oh no that was a wording issue- I meant "main guy who proves me wrong in the postseason". Obviously LeBron is the most important player on offense and regardless of the assist count he's dominated this game with his passing IMO.

There's just this certain gear they reach seemingly every game- Cleveland gets in these defensive stretches where their activity is off the charts and Irving is pushing the ball and getting guys off balance. I mean he's actually disorienting to play against- you just made a mistake that cost your team the ball on one end and here Irving is spinning around you and hitting a shot in your face. Opponent mistakes have a way of compounding and Irving just feeds off that and digs their grave for them. It's a really beautiful thing. Kyrie feeds off the defensive energy and then the crowd gets into it and then it's a 20-4 run and the game is over.

As I'm typing this - WHAT A PASS!

Great observation though - he has a very frantic style of play that just snowballs into easy buckets. The main thing with him has always been, against a disciplined team that won't turn the ball over, and gets back on D, and forces a slower pace, will he just suddenly start chucking? I don't think we'll see that this round, but yeah.

Yep. The main thing is Cleveland will get through the East without having seen a team that has intelligence/discipline/smarts enough to control mistakes and play good D AND the scoring talent to keep up- Atlanta and Toronto both have 1 but not the other. Against one of the West juggernauts is where we might see Irving's approach start to falter.

That said, I really just like to appreciate great ball while it's happening- so I'm on the Irving bandwagon for now

Totally agree man - I get on the Irving bandwagon every time he makes a good play, get off it when he makes a bad one, then on again...

Didn't mean to spoil the party by any means, carry on

[kayess]

I actually think this is one of the best versions of Lebron we've ever seen. Not quite peak, but very close to it.

For a guy that's tough to criticize, Lebron's biggest weakness has always been his ball dominance and lack of off ball play. He still rests more than someone like Curry, but he's playing off the ball quite a bit, setting screens, and moving more than he ever has in the past. It's a big part of the reason why this offense has exploded, imo.

His vertical leap has fallen off a cliff, his shot kinda disappeared, and I don't think he's capable of carrying a sub-par team to contender status the way he once was, but at least part of me doubts that younger Lebron would be this successful with this offense.

That, and I'm really high on his defense this year. I think his defense is basically right there with his peak Miami/Cleveland years.

He'd been doing a lot of this in 2014 already, so it's not like we didn't know he couldn't do this.

When it looked bad for everyone, he got the blame, and while I don't think he deserved all of it, the stuff that's come out - Blatt being unable to hold him accountable the biggest one - definitely lent itself to that, aside from him just not trusting Kyrie to make the correct decisions on O.

Now that it's all coming together, it's pretty fun to watch.

[datstockton]

He got damn high on that breakaway dunk. Sure, he's lost some on his vertical, but he can still get pretty high. I think he's a little more hesitant than he used to be about trying to dunk on people because 1) some lost weight and 2) age. As players mature they care a lot less about things like posters.

[SideshowBob]

2016 Cleveland Cavaliers Playoffs (9 G)

+14.64 SRS, +18.4 Offense, +1.6 Defense (91.2 DRTG tonight)

[JulesWinnfield]

They've had boatloads of issues between injury and coaching turnoil in the Lebron pt. 2 era. All have delayed the arrival time of the well oiled machine we see in front of us, but the potential has always been there for a crazy ceiling like this. We were starting to see it last year before the Love injury when they reeled off an absurd stretch of like 38-3 when the big 3 were all in the lineup (sample from after lebrons 2 week rest break on through the Celtic series in round 1 last year), but we know how that turned out. They enter this year without Kyrie, and then with a rusty Kyrie, make the coaching change etc.. They're now hitting their stride and it's happening at the perfect time. They're playing better than at any point last season as well with the addition of Frye and just added experience together... Just stay healthy...

[Run DLC]

He's only a few points away from surpassing Shaq in playoffs points and he'll likely surpasses Kobe in probably the first or second game of next season's first round playoffs. If he wins it all this year, I'd not hesitate to say he's the second greatest player ever. He's that dominant. Although his finals record will always be something his critics will point out to downplay his impact as a great player, but in terms of pure overall impact, there were only two or three other players who were equally as impactful or better than LeBron.

[JulesWinnfield]

I've seen enough basketball to know that things can change very fast, and that you should never make sweeping statements about the future.... With that said though, it's very tough barring injury to envision an end in sight to Lebrons eastern dominance. This team is locked and loaded and set up substantially better than anyone else to dominate the conference for the next handful of years even when baking a gradual Lebron decline into the cake. I could really see him playing in 10 or 11 finals in a row. It wouldn't stun me. The next finals played without Lebron is going to be so weird to experience.

[yoyoboy]

Man, I'm really starting to think LeBron's decline might not be as rapid as I anticipated. He looks damn good...

Of course his athleticism has regressed significantly (only in the 95th percentile or so in the league these days ), but he's just so smart, skilled, and disciplined.

[JordansBulls]

I really thought Demarre Carroll was going to be able to hold down Lebron better this year after what happened last year. Boy was I wrong

[kayess]

I really thought Demarre Carroll was going to be able to hold down Lebron better this year after what happened last year. Boy was I wrong

You, JordansBulls, wrong about LeBron?

Well boys it's time to pack it up, this surely signals the coming of the apocalypse!

[JordansBulls]

I really thought Demarre Carroll was going to be able to hold down Lebron better this year after what happened last year. Boy was I wrong

You, JordansBulls, wrong about LeBron?

Well boys it's time to pack it up, this surely signals the coming of the apocalypse!

It will be out next week actually. Next Friday

[kayess]

I really thought Demarre Carroll was going to be able to hold down Lebron better this year after what happened last year. Boy was I wrong

You, JordansBulls, wrong about LeBron?

Well boys it's time to pack it up, this surely signals the coming of the apocalypse!

It will be out next week actually. Next Friday

well played, well played

[Arman_tanzarian]

Man, I'm really starting to think LeBron's decline might not be as rapid as I anticipated. He looks damn good...

Of course his athleticism has regressed significantly (only in the 95th percentile or so in the league these days ), but he's just so smart, skilled, and disciplined.

It was so sad seeing DD trying to get him to bite on a fake 3 times in one possesions. My God is the man disciplined on defence. His mind seems to be as sharp as it's ever been.

[GSP]

The Channing Frye trade really turned this team into a juggernaut. Im aware of how great they played with Big Three healthy last season but im just glad Mozgov isnt playing minutes anymore. Plus Delly has seriously improved this season. Im not saying Frye is anywhere near as versatile or good as Rasheed Wallace but this teams transformation into the Goat offense has really reminded me of how that Pistons team had Goat like DRTG following the trade and were compiling all sorts of alltime great defensive records (consecutive holding teams under 70, lowest Fg% etc etc along with this Cavs insane shooting percentages, 3pt records etc). Its incredible to watch.

It is kind of eerie the way the Tyrron Lue and 82 Riley dynamic Espn keeps putting on has its similarities. Especially with assistants coming up and Magic/Lebron two team first players getting reputations for causing dysfunction and being "coach killers" when their Iq for the game was seeing the end result.

[_Game7_]

I can't believe Lebron only has 4 assists.

Dude probably averages the most hockey assist in the league.

[JulesWinnfield]

Let's hope this doesn't quickly regress to the mean, but as of this moment Kyrie Irving is the most efficient 3 point shooter in nba playoff history among those with a minimum of 100 attempts. And Kevin Love isn't far behind but is just shy of qualifying. Between last year and this year Kyrie is 56 for 115 (.487). Last years playoffs he shot .450 (13 games, 60 attempts). This season he is at .527 (9 games, 55 attempts).

Here is the list (career attempts in parenthesis)

1. Kyrie Irving .487 (115)
2. Raja Bell .466 (174)
3. Mike Dunleavy .454 (108)
4. BJ Armstrong .451 (113)
5. Kenny Smith .448 (261)
6. Danny Green .440 (364)

NOTE: Kevin Love currently shooting .443 career but falls shy in attempts (88).

The rest at the link below...
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pgl_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id=&match=combined&year_min=&year_max=&age_min=0&age_max=99&team_id=&opp_id=&is_playoffs=Y&round_id=&game_num_type=&game_num_min=&game_num_max=&game_month=&game_day=&game_location=&game_result=&is_starter=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&c1stat=fg3a&c1comp=gt&c1val=100&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=fg3_pct

[PCProductions]

Obligatory Kevin Love is still undefeated in the playoffs.

[RSCD3_]

Kyrie Irving has been a monster in the playoffs

24.7 PPG on 61.2 TS%, 5.5 APG per only 1.7 turnovers. 27.6 AST% w/ 7.6 TOV%

+11.6 On, +5.0 On/Off, 128 ORTG He's been great offensively in these playoffs

[Nbafanatic]

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2016/story/_/id/15590320/nba-playoffs-2016-another-lebron-james-minicamp-paying-cleveland-cavaliers