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who do we want to play next?

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who do we want to play next? 

Post#1 » by slanno_23 » Sat May 3, 2008 2:08 am

since we are through now who do you think our best chance to get to the ecf is against???

and who you want in the ecf and finals???
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Post#2 » by eyejayem » Sat May 3, 2008 2:25 am

Boston. And I'm serious.
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Post#3 » by slanno_23 » Sat May 3, 2008 2:35 am

yea thats what i rekon...

they have no one that can stop lebron!!!
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Post#4 » by Benedict_Boozer » Sat May 3, 2008 3:16 am

Give me the Hawks. They will be satisfied with advancing past Boston and the Cavs will not lose that series with homecourt advantage.

In the ECF I'd rather face Detroit. I think we could beat ORL, but Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis own us.

So give me ATL/DET, and anyone other than LA in the Finals. I don't like that matchup with Gasol on the Lakers now
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Post#5 » by kiwibrindle » Sat May 3, 2008 3:24 am

Funny how in the Boston Atlanta series no one has won a game on the road.
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Post#6 » by Rise Against » Sat May 3, 2008 8:52 pm

Well, Atlanta would be the easier option for the semis. However, I think that Boston will be wrapping it up in game 7 because of homecourt advantage.

For the conference finals, Orlando or Detroit doesn't necessarily matter to me. I think we can match up with them well even though that wasn't a speculation during the regular season.

Finals, wouldn't it be better to go against the Lakers? Looking back at last year, Parker will probably murder us again. A LeBron and Kobe match up will increase the ratings and would definitely be more interesting to watch.
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Post#7 » by chrice » Sat May 3, 2008 10:34 pm

I don't even like the Hawks right now. They're killing Boston with their athleticism. The big lineup with Bibby, JJ, Childress, Smith, and Horford is working really well. The only thing that's not working for them is that they really only have a legitimate 8 player rotation.

Would be interesting to see Lebron torch the Celtics by himself though.
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Post#8 » by calibanPK » Sat May 3, 2008 10:52 pm

Bring on the Celts!
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Post#9 » by Uncooked » Sun May 4, 2008 12:36 am

That series is a fluke. I would much much much rather play Atlanta than Boston.
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Post#10 » by heathmalc » Sun May 4, 2008 2:34 am

Of all the fans in the NBA, "we" above all others should know that the regular season records don't matter.

Most Cavs fans would probably prefer to play Atlanta because they see them as the weaker team. But the reality of it is that when you play the same team 7 games, you become more familiar with them, and you learn to fix mistakes as you go. This is "one" of the reasons that Atlanta has been able to make that series competitive.

Another aspect of the playoffs is "leadership."

Most people would assume that Boston has the edge in that department....but if you take a closer look at these teams, you begin to wonder. Here's why: Boston has 3 players that are called the "Big three" and the role of "leader" is generally believed to be held by Kevin Garnett. But KG said earlier in the season, and in these playoffs that the Celtics are Pierce's team. So, in reality, they have 3 leaders, and none of them have ever embraced or truly "led" a team. Allen is the closest thing they have to a "true" leader, but he probably has the smallest voice in the Celtic locker-room. But that is just a guess. Now look at Atlanta: Mike Bibby was the "man" in Sacramento for a long time, and he is generally accepted as one of the better point-guards in the NBA over the last decade. Joe Johnson has been the defacto-leader in Atlanta for the last 3 years, and has grown more confident with each passing year. In-addition, Al Horford was the main leader and team captain of the 2-time national champions, and although he is only a rookie, he has taken-on a role of leadership. So the edge in "leadership" is a push between Boston and Atlanta.

Boston has more veterans, but none of those veterans have ever "led" any team to any championship, or even the finals. Atlanta has all that youth, and a couple very good vets that have played on teams that were every bit as good as any team that KG,Ray,etc played on.

Boston WILL win this series. If they don't, it will be due to a total melt-down, bad coaching and/or an Atlanta team that plays out of their mind.

Boston has more talent, but only because of the experience. Boston's main edge will be their home-court.

That being said, I'd prefer to face Atlanta because we'd have home-court advantage for another series. But that is the ONLY reason that I prefer Atlanta!

I honestly think that if Wally,Daniel and Delonte keep playing like they have during this post-season, that it wont matter who we face, or where.

In the ECF, I prefer to play Detroit. They ARE better than Orlando, and I don't want to hear everyone talk about how easy the Cavaliers' path to the finals was, again. I want the Cavs to beat Boston, then beat Detroit. Then there will be nothing anyone can say about how we got to the finals.

In the finals, I want Los Angelas. There are many reasons that I want this match-up, but I'll just state a couple:

* A Kobe vs LeBron match-up is a DREAM NBA-FINALS match-up.

* LeBron will be EXTREMELY motivated to beat the Lakers! He will be able to lay to rest any doubt that ANYONE has about who the best player is. And now that Kobe has won the MVP award, it would be sweet revenge for LeBron to shove his Finals MVP in the faces of all those idiots who voted for Kobe over LeBron as league MVP!

* I think the Lakers are the best team in the west...and I want us to beat the two teams with the leagues top two records to goto the finals, then for us to beat the West's top team to win the championship.

If we do that... who could possibly question LeBron EVER again?????
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Post#11 » by INKtastic » Sun May 4, 2008 3:05 am

I want the lakers in the finals too, but in round 2 I'd prefer to have home court. Plus I think this boston team would have a hard time recovering from a first round exit - the ring chasers they signed cheap for 1 year may leave for other teams.

ALso, I'd be plenty happy to have people complain year after year how "easy" the cavs path to the finals was because they can't say that unless we're actually in the finals.

I'm sure they're already saying beating washington was easy despite the fact that about 4 out of 5 realgmers picked Washington to win the series, just like the majority picked the Nets last year, only to later call that an easy path.
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Post#12 » by mneezy1 » Sun May 4, 2008 8:27 pm

heathmalc wrote:Of all the fans in the NBA, "we" above all others should know that the regular season records don't matter.

Most Cavs fans would probably prefer to play Atlanta because they see them as the weaker team. But the reality of it is that when you play the same team 7 games, you become more familiar with them, and you learn to fix mistakes as you go. This is "one" of the reasons that Atlanta has been able to make that series competitive.

Another aspect of the playoffs is "leadership."

Most people would assume that Boston has the edge in that department....but if you take a closer look at these teams, you begin to wonder. Here's why: Boston has 3 players that are called the "Big three" and the role of "leader" is generally believed to be held by Kevin Garnett. But KG said earlier in the season, and in these playoffs that the Celtics are Pierce's team. So, in reality, they have 3 leaders, and none of them have ever embraced or truly "led" a team. Allen is the closest thing they have to a "true" leader, but he probably has the smallest voice in the Celtic locker-room. But that is just a guess. Now look at Atlanta: Mike Bibby was the "man" in Sacramento for a long time, and he is generally accepted as one of the better point-guards in the NBA over the last decade. Joe Johnson has been the defacto-leader in Atlanta for the last 3 years, and has grown more confident with each passing year. In-addition, Al Horford was the main leader and team captain of the 2-time national champions, and although he is only a rookie, he has taken-on a role of leadership. So the edge in "leadership" is a push between Boston and Atlanta.

Boston has more veterans, but none of those veterans have ever "led" any team to any championship, or even the finals. Atlanta has all that youth, and a couple very good vets that have played on teams that were every bit as good as any team that KG,Ray,etc played on.

Boston WILL win this series. If they don't, it will be due to a total melt-down, bad coaching and/or an Atlanta team that plays out of their mind.

Boston has more talent, but only because of the experience. Boston's main edge will be their home-court.

That being said, I'd prefer to face Atlanta because we'd have home-court advantage for another series. But that is the ONLY reason that I prefer Atlanta!

I honestly think that if Wally,Daniel and Delonte keep playing like they have during this post-season, that it wont matter who we face, or where.

In the ECF, I prefer to play Detroit. They ARE better than Orlando, and I don't want to hear everyone talk about how easy the Cavaliers' path to the finals was, again. I want the Cavs to beat Boston, then beat Detroit. Then there will be nothing anyone can say about how we got to the finals.

In the finals, I want Los Angelas. There are many reasons that I want this match-up, but I'll just state a couple:

* A Kobe vs LeBron match-up is a DREAM NBA-FINALS match-up.

* LeBron will be EXTREMELY motivated to beat the Lakers! He will be able to lay to rest any doubt that ANYONE has about who the best player is. And now that Kobe has won the MVP award, it would be sweet revenge for LeBron to shove his Finals MVP in the faces of all those idiots who voted for Kobe over LeBron as league MVP!

* I think the Lakers are the best team in the west...and I want us to beat the two teams with the leagues top two records to goto the finals, then for us to beat the West's top team to win the championship.

If we do that... who could possibly question LeBron EVER again?????


Amen brother. I honestly think that we can beat Boston in a 7-game series. Detroit is an exact depiction of their coach, a man who has never led a team to the NBA Finals despite having immense talent (Timberwolves in early to mid 00's, Detroit now).

Give me LA in the Finals. Even with Gasol, I think we match up well against them, and LeBron has pwned Kobe the last five times they met.
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Post#13 » by Benedict_Boozer » Sun May 4, 2008 10:30 pm

Well thats a TOUGH road

Beating BOS/DET/LA without homecourt...If Lebron/Cavs pulled that off it would be incredible.
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Post#14 » by heathmalc » Mon May 5, 2008 3:17 am

Yes, it will be tough. But if we can do it, can you imagine the confidence we will have going into next season???

As it stands, we have to at-least beat Boston, and probably Dtroit to get to the finals. And from the looks of things, it will be NOH or the Lakers in the West.

I think Cleveland plays Detroit in a rubber-match for the Eastern Conference championship, then the Cavs go on to face the Lakers in the finals.

I have been hypothesizing this for about 3 months now, and it's looking more and more likely as each day goes by.

I said it when the Cavs initially made this trade: When the Cavaliers finally "Click", they will be next to unbeatable. They have a line-up for every occasion. If you want a defensive line-up:

C: Anderson
PF: Wallace
SF: LeBron
G: Sasha
PG: Gibson/West or Devin fit the bill. Devin is best on defense, West is best at running team, Gibson is best offensively.

If you want BIG:

C: Zydrunas 7'3
PF: Varejao 6'11
SF: LeBron 6'9
G: Sasha 6'7
PG: Devin 6'6

If you want small and fast:

C: Joe Smith 6'10
PF: LeBron James 6'9
SF: Sasha Pavlovic 6'7
SG: Daniel Gibson 6'3
PG: Delonte West 6'2

We can literally play any style when we are clicking.

I'm gonna start another thread that has more to do with this, and hopefully the thread will go strong through June!
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