The Lebron Thread (2014-15 Pt. 2)

IG2 · Post #41 » by **IG2** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 4:22 am

Good lord did he look tired and slow today, after looking pretty decent yesterday I thought. Good thing the jumper was working.

Post #42 » by **PaulieWal** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 4:24 am

IG2 wrote:Good lord did he look tired and slow today, after looking pretty decent yesterday I thought. Good thing the jumper was working.

Really? Greatness said he looked amazing in the first half. I only saw a bit of the second half and he looked alright, didn't look tired or slow IMO but I didn't watch the entire game.

PCProductions · Post #43 » by **PCProductions** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:05 am

He looked awesome today on both ends. I loved his early aggression at getting to the rim. That "in yo face" jumper has been red hot as well. Clutch 3 with clutch defense making this perhaps his first official dominant game since coming back to Cleveland.

fast-break · Post #44 » by **fast-break** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:09 am

IG2 wrote:Good lord did he look tired and slow today, after looking pretty decent yesterday I thought. Good thing the jumper was working.

Weird, he looked probably the most engaged he has all season.

Arman_tanzarian · Post #45 » by **Arman_tanzarian** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:18 am

He definitely got tired at the end. Maybe that's what IG2 is referring too. I see his 13 win streak level defence back. Checked lowry second half. Was amazing tonight. Too bad it was agaisnt my team

PCProductions · Post #46 » by **PCProductions** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:28 am

This game was also a relief in that the Cavs never gave up despite playing against a red hot Raptors team for most of the game. Ross was a killer for a while and Valaciunas was just murdering them under the basket. All it took was for the Cavs to get in the bonus early in the 4th like they did and it was over from that point on basically.

Ballerhogger · Post #47 » by **Ballerhogger** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:47 am

35 points . so so shooting . Great D and got his team a nice comeback win. TOR almost did everything right until the late 4th quarter and they still lost. yesh

GSP · Post #48 » by **GSP** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:14 am

Dupp · Post #49 » by **Dupp** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:57 am

Best game of the season by lebron, completely dominated and carried us on both ends. Was great to see him put a complete 4 quarter defensive effort together, he was phenomenal.

Dupp · Post #50 » by **Dupp** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:59 am

Mutnt wrote:wow Tristan Thompson's footwork to stay with Lowry Dude is a legit beast.

I've been saying it for ages but Thompson is and will be a very very good defender. Is prone to struggle against real big bodies though but overall hes a really good defensive player. He's better than Varejao which most people dont realize.

MisterHibachi · Post #51 » by **MisterHibachi** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 4:08 pm

Cleveland now 13th on defense on the season, and top 4 over the winning streak.

Ballerhogger · Post #52 » by **Ballerhogger** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:09 pm

GSP wrote:

well that hasn't changed

JLei · Post #53 » by **JLei** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:58 pm

I wonder when the "smart" media's view on Lebron's D will change back now.

They are always late and overreact/ swing too far one way because they were late to the party.

I've been listening to podcasts lately and the fact that they are calling him a bad defender now because of the few plays per game that he gives up penetration is insane. See Matt Moore on the Eye on Basketball podcast on I think Friday, Amin El Hassin from ESPN (who I think is very good) has also said things recently (though might have been prior to the win streak) and Sherwood Strauss from ESPN are others who have been guilty of this mass "smart" guy notion that Lebron sucks on D now.

It's like the media establishes an opinion and only look for those things. Case in point that one hilarious gif of James Harden against the Knicks not getting back and using that as proof against Harden when anyone who's watched the Rockets has seen him give infinitely more effort on D this year.

Lebron has been All-D 2nd team worthy this year; Duncan, Kawhi, Ariza, Gibson, Davis, Ibaka, Draymond are other candidates for forwards so you could put him on or off but he's been very good on that end.

Post #54 » by **PaulieWal** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:35 pm

JLei wrote:I wonder when the "smart" media's view on Lebron's D will change back now.

They are always late and overreact/ swing too far one way because they were late to the party.

I've been listening to podcasts lately and the fact that they are calling him a bad defender now because of the few plays per game that he gives up penetration is insane. See Matt Moore on the Eye on Basketball podcast on I think Friday, Amin El Hassin from ESPN (who I think is very good) has also said things recently (though might have been prior to the win streak) and Sherwood Strauss from ESPN are others who have been guilty of this mass "smart" guy notion that Lebron sucks on D now.

It's like the media establishes an opinion and only look for those things. Case in point that one hilarious gif of James Harden against the Knicks not getting back and using that as proof against Harden when anyone who's watched the Rockets has seen him give infinitely more effort on D this year.

Lebron has been All-D 2nd team worthy this year; Duncan, Kawhi, Ariza, Gibson, Davis, Ibaka, Draymond are other candidates for forwards so you could put him on or off but he's been very good on that end.

Even last year his defensive issues were overblown IMO. Yeah, he wasn't some amazing consistent 2 way player like he was in 12 or 13. He started the season very slowly on that end and it was shocking to see him getting blown by consistently and not playing help defense but he didn't become some liability and in the second half of the season when he was making his MVP push he was playing pretty good defense. His playoffs were also good overall from a defensive standpoint.

I do think that if Cavs continue improving on defense and become a Top 10 defense people will have no option but to acknowledge his improved defense this year (compared to last year).

colts18 · Post #55 » by **colts18** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:15 pm

GSP wrote:

The first one looks like a travel to me. 3 steps. I think he got better hops on the first one but I'm not sure if he was trying to go up nonchalantly on the 2nd one.

MisterHibachi · Post #56 » by **MisterHibachi** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:51 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/542772465718812673[/tweet]

colts18 · Post #57 » by **colts18** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 3:50 pm

The Heat now have a -4 SRS (8 SRS dropoff from last year). Their defense has fallen from 11th to 26th. Maybe that LeBron guy was that important during a coasting year. Its crazy how even with Luol Deng, they suck at defense this year.

Run DLC · Post #58 » by **Run DLC** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 3:58 pm

He better not **** hold back and play in passive mode tonight. Durant will not hold back and will be gunning to drop 40+ points against him. I know he's beaten Durant a lot more, but Durant is in a desperate situation where he's trying his best to win as many games as possible just to reach the top 8 seed in the West. I feel like LeBron has a bit too much respect for Durant even though he acknowledged that Durant isn't far behind from taking his spot, but i really hope LeBron brings it and pick Durant and the Thunder apart tonight.

Mutnt · Post #59 » by **Mutnt** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:04 pm

colts18 wrote:The Heat now have a -4 SRS (8 SRS dropoff from last year). Their defense has fallen from 11th to 26th. Maybe that LeBron guy was that important during a coasting year. Its crazy how even with Luol Deng, they suck at defense this year.

Very interesting indeed. Also worth noting that the Heat got younger this year too. Battier, Allen, Shard (who I think we can all agree couldn't play a lick of defense due to being old as dirt) were substituted by Ennis, Napier, McRoberts + Williams isn't really old too.

I think people overlook what a great conductor LeBron is. He's always shouting out information and instructions on the defensive end similar to what KG would do. Where the screens are coming from, if a players is by himself, if there needs to be a doubleteam, if there's a switch etc. LeBron is elite at that and I think he gets on his team for not playing defense more than anyone in the league.

Greatness · Post #60 » by **Greatness** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:11 pm

Lebron vs Durant, Irving vs Westbrook, Love vs Ibaka. Screw my exams.