2017 NBA FINALS, PART 5 | (1) Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers (2) | GSW 3-0

[Froob]

The best thing about this series is that it will prove that you can't just coast through the regular season.

LeBron treated the regular season like it didn't matter. Like it was nothing.

As a result, the Cavs never developed the chemistry and team defense they needed to compete with Western Conference teams.

Say what you want about the Warriors, but they take the regular season seriously.

Maybe for now on, people will start to care more about the regular season.

Easy to say in a vacuum. While I don't disagree with the "coasting" but we never had a full team all year as guys were in and out of the lineup on top of the new guys being shuffled in and out. And with RJ's decline this year compared to last, it compounded our problems.

So we win 5-10 more games, we still get waxed by Dubs' cuz "trying" harder during the regular season doesn't magically make us a better defensive team when 2 of our top players (Ky/Love) don't have that in their DNA. So you think things would be different? I don't. You're nitpicking at low hanging fruit homie.

I think if anything, maybe LeBron should have played less games lol. I'd start at 70 games max. They need him to play nearly the entire game.

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[FNQ]

LeBron, the best player in the NBA now, has thrown the white flag ---- 'I am mentally and physically drained'. No mas no mas !!

Durant has been great this series but I think there's absolutely no disputing this.. once LeBron took that huge hit early in Q1 I thought he was going to stay down. Instead he got back up and had a crazy good Q1.. He is on a tier all of his own.

[tarantism]

Credit needs to go to Steve Kerr and Mike Brown for how they coached the defense down the stretch. The Cavs were getting great looks over and over again by putting Curry in the PnR every single possession, getting him switched onto either LeBron or Kyrie. The Warriors countered by throwing multiple guys at LeBron so that he couldn't stay comfortable (I saw Dray, Iggy and Klay all guarding him on different possessions) and also preventing the switch by having the primary defender hold his ground or fight through while Curry hedged HARD on the opposite side to prevent the ball handler from forcing the switch. Credit also needs to go to Curry for exerting max effort on defense towards the end of the game. Even though he will never have the athleticism to be a great defender, he was doing everything he could on the final possessions to execute the game plan and play strong team defense.

Those adjustments, along with clutch 1-on-1 scoring by Durant, are what won this game for the Warriors. Even though the series is 3-0, I absolutely love the chess matches that are going on throughout these games. The Cavs were scoring at will by putting Steph in ISO, the Warriors adjusted and the Cavs couldn't answer. The game within the game has been everything that any NBA junkie should need to stay excited about this series.

[red96]

Sweep incoming.

[Amsterdam]

This looks like it going to change soon:

[Amsterdam]

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And why this is good for the NBA now.

But if let say Lebron goes to the West and doesn't make it to the Finals. A Toronto or even a Boston Celtics team as presently constituted will not get these same ratings against the Warriors.

[Superbasketball]

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And why this is good for the NBA now.

But if let say Lebron goes to the West and doesn't make it to the Finals. A Toronto or even a Boston Celtics team as presently constituted will not get these same ratings against the Warriors.

[DubTheVanDamage]

The best thing about this series is that it will prove that you can't just coast through the regular season.

LeBron treated the regular season like it didn't matter. Like it was nothing.

As a result, the Cavs never developed the chemistry and team defense they needed to compete with Western Conference teams.

Say what you want about the Warriors, but they take the regular season seriously.

Maybe for now on, people will start to care more about the regular season.

Easy to say in a vacuum. While I don't disagree with the "coasting" but we never had a full team all year as guys were in and out of the lineup on top of the new guys being shuffled in and out. And with RJ's decline this year compared to last, it compounded our problems.

So we win 5-10 more games, we still get waxed by Dubs' cuz "trying" harder during the regular season doesn't magically make us a better defensive team when 2 of our top players (Ky/Love) don't have that in their DNA. So you think things would be different? I don't. You're nitpicking at low hanging fruit homie.

I'd argue that this Cavs team is better than last year's. The game they played would have blown out a lot of championship teams -- lost in all of the noise is that only the Warriors exceptional 3 point shooting last night kept them in the game.

If the Cavs end up losing, LeBron goes out on his shield.

[Ben-N1ce]

At least the refs let them play last night

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[bgwc]

Should that have been a technical on Lebron when he threw the ball towards the end of the game?

[ISayshowmee]

Should that have been a technical on Lebron when he threw the ball towards the end of the game?

No.

[HiRez]

If Curry gets 11 rebounds and 13 assists in Game 4, and they win the game, he will have averaged a triple double in the Finals.

[ISayshowmee]

I smell a blowout win by the Warriors to win the title.

[TroubleS0me]

Khloe's Curse is real...

Odom, Harden, & Tristian Thompson

[Kirito]

At least the refs let them play last night

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Lebron to UFC/WWE in 2018 confirmed?

[zshawn10]

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[mischievous]

Should the Cavs even want to win game 4? I'm not saying don't compete hard, but if they do win it will just prolong their misery and demise.

[Edrees]

The best thing about this series is that it will prove that you can't just coast through the regular season.

LeBron treated the regular season like it didn't matter. Like it was nothing.

As a result, the Cavs never developed the chemistry and team defense they needed to compete with Western Conference teams.

Say what you want about the Warriors, but they take the regular season seriously.

Maybe for now on, people will start to care more about the regular season.

I wish this point was emphasized more. GS won this series because they have been disciplined on defense. It comes from a yearlong habit and chemistry of playing hard D everyday. They got what was coming to them for slacking so hard in the RS. Someone posted the stat, but no team in NBA history has won a title when ranked where the cavs are in defensive efficiency.

99 times out of 100 if a team plays like the cavs on offense they'll win a title. why is anyone even mentioning offense when it comes to why they lost?

[OptionZero]

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And why this is good for the NBA now.

But if let say Lebron goes to the West and doesn't make it to the Finals. A Toronto or even a Boston Celtics team as presently constituted will not get these same ratings against the Warriors.

Disagree. Boston in the Finals? A large east coast market? The NBA and TV stations would LOVE that

And before that, a Lebron/Clippers team (los angeles market) vs. GSW (duh)?

Pretty sure that is a license to print money

Toronto isn't counted in the ratings but i'm fairly certain that if they were in the finals, the league wouldn't be hurting for money. Of course, Toronto ain't going to the finals, so who cares

[heatwillbeback]

Should that have been a technical on Lebron when he threw the ball towards the end of the game?

It was frustration rather than to show up the ref. Still yes it should have been.

However, game was over. Calling tech would of just been overkill. So let that legitimate show of emotion just go, which the ref did.