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

[Birdie]

Spoiler:

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Feels great finally being the ones who get to use these gifs and memes

Funny thing bout this gif, Curry fouled him on the strip but it balanced out with the rapes Draymond/KD/Curry didn't get calls for on a few drives. All's fair in win and defeat.

A better gif would've been the layup that LBJ blew when no GSW defender was by him.

[Fico92]

Warriors are winning game 4s averaging a 21 point differential. I'm going to go out of my way and say that this game will probably be over tomorrow and I predict the score to be 128-113 Warriors sweep...

Agreed but I think it could be worst and a bloodbath. Seeing as CLE didn't "practice" today, and probably rightfully so to "rest" but I think they're ready to go fishin.

And seeing as Klay seems to have gotten his mojo back as his shot was lookin real silky, I think Curry/KD go in for the kill. They can taste it.

I mean, even though it won't happen, but man, imagine if Cavs pulled off coming back 0-3. I think Curry would have to go into witness protection if that happened. Luckily, ya'll don't have to worry bout that...

I expect LBJ to most likely approach Game 4 letting Ky/KLove carry the load early which most likely leads to a GSW avalanche where then LBJ says, "ok, I guess I'll turn on the switch to cut into the deficit but it's too late now"...Why empty the tank when in the end, you're gonna get waxed.

Or we go 30/50 from 3 and then get smoked in Game 5. Either or. I'd rather just take the quick death then the slow and painful one. Let's us get into our off season to deal with our issues quicker.

I don't know. If you grab one game, the Warriors seeing 3-1 as the series score might cause some PTSD symptoms

[BayArea408415]

Just posting my favorite Finals meme/clip for good mojo in Game 4. Don't give a **** if it's a double dribble. Still love it.

Read on Twitter

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I wouldn't even want to begin doing this research, but has a team ever had 3 different players score 30 in a finals series?

Yes. I had a hunch and checked the 87 Lakers. Kareem, Magic and Worthy each went for 30. It took the Lakers 6 games to get all three guys to have 30 point games.
Those Lakers also had a game where 5 guys went for 20 in a finals game with Cooper and Scott each scoring 20 in addition to Kareem, Magic and Worthy.

[xfactor]

Warriors are winning game 4s averaging a 21 point differential. I'm going to go out of my way and say that this game will probably be over tomorrow and I predict the score to be 128-113 Warriors sweep...

Agreed but I think it could be worst and a bloodbath. Seeing as CLE didn't "practice" today, and probably rightfully so to "rest" but I think they're ready to go fishin.

And seeing as Klay seems to have gotten his mojo back as his shot was lookin real silky, I think Curry/KD go in for the kill. They can taste it.

I mean, even though it won't happen, but man, imagine if Cavs pulled off coming back 0-3. I think Curry would have to go into witness protection if that happened. Luckily, ya'll don't have to worry bout that...

I expect LBJ to most likely approach Game 4 letting Ky/KLove carry the load early which most likely leads to a GSW avalanche where then LBJ says, "ok, I guess I'll turn on the switch to cut into the deficit but it's too late now"...Why empty the tank when in the end, you're gonna get waxed.

Or we go 30/50 from 3 and then get smoked in Game 5. Either or. I'd rather just take the quick death then the slow and painful one. Let's us get into our off season to deal with our issues quicker.

I don't know. If you grab one game, the Warriors seeing 3-1 as the series score might cause some PTSD symptoms

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

Durant has so much freedom on the court. Curry, Klay, Draymond are all great players...you have to pay attention to them. LeBron isnt working with that same type of flexibility. People say why couldn't KD play like this last year - well this is why.

Finally someone who gets it. If you play ball competitively you understand how easy the game comes to you when you're playing with talent.

Ironic how Lebron blew past the EC playoffs because of the talent around him (one loss), and now you're saying that Durant has it easy.

The east sucks in comarison. You've got to be blind not to see that. Not to mention the amount of injuries to each team the Cavs faced.

[Cappy_Smurf]

Too bad Durant couldn't do this last year to close out the team he's playing for now. The team that came back 3-1 against him...Hilarious

It's not he couln't, he was way more tired like Cavs stars. GSW will wear you down if you gun n run. KD been always great, it's much better team that allows him to really shine in effective way.

Lmao. He was up 3-1 on a 73 win team last year, playing alongside another MVP level player with a top notch rim defender in Ibaka.

He already had a championship level roster around him and was a beaver hair away from knocking off last year's "Best NBA team ever", and yet some people want to make excuses for him as if he was in such a terrible position.

At the end of the day, he had to join a 73 win team who already won it all without him before he could win it all.

So impressive.

[RaptorsLife]

Read on Twitter

Fantastic. Nba is growing

[Mylie10]

[Ganji]

great interview. some great questions by media.

Watch on YouTube

[Fico92]

It would work better if it was in a clinching game, not as funny as the behind the back one in 4th quarter of game 7

Still funny!

[michaelm]

Too bad Durant couldn't do this last year to close out the team he's playing for now. The team that came back 3-1 against him...Hilarious

It's not he couln't, he was way more tired like Cavs stars. GSW will wear you down if you gun n run. KD been always great, it's much better team that allows him to really shine in effective way.

Lmao. He was up 3-1 on a 73 win team last year, playing alongside another MVP level player with a top notch rim defender in Ibaka.

He already had a championship level roster around him and was a beaver hair away from knocking off last year's "Best NBA team ever", and yet some people want to make excuses for him as if he was such a terrible position.

At the end of the day, he had to join a 73 win team who already won it all without him before he could win it all.
fully home grown OKC team he was beaten byn a
So impressive.

Ibaka has a kneee injury and has not been the same player since, and the time Durant actually made a finals with a fully homegrown OKC team he was first beaten by a Lebron super team, then OKC traded away a future top 5 player in the league and current best 6th man in the league for financial reasons when they could have kept him for another run at the title. It is ridiculous to expect Durant to show more commitment to winning a title with OKC than the franchise ownership and management, who hi-jacked both him and the franchise from Seattle ab initio anyway.

He gave the franchise 9 years, and earned free agency status by any criterion, and in fact was in exactly the circumstance for which the free agent rule was designed. If you think his destiny was to spend the rest of his career playing dual isoball with Westbrook at OKC and never winning a title, tough, it was his destiny rather than yours and he had different ideas concerning same. As someone posted recently, he very likely made the assessment that the circumstances in the play-offs for GSW were unusual last year, and whoever replaced Harrison Barnes was likely to contribute very much more going forward than Barnes did in last year's play-offs, and GSW and Curry and hence Durant when he made his decision are also likely to have been better informed about whether Curry was somewhat hampered last year than you are.

We also just had a graphic example that he doesn't "choke", and does make appropriate plays, in the crunch at the highest level of the game when paired with a more team oriented point guard.

[HotRocks34]

Ok, here's the On/Off advanced stats from Game 3. These are the real stats, not typos. Based on ORTG/DRTG/NRTG

Durant On ---------> +03.4
Durant Off ---------> +09.5
Durant On/Off ----> -06.1

Curry On ------------> +12.3
Curry Off -----------> -33.5
Curry On/Off -------> +45.8

LeBron On ----------> +08.0
LeBron Off ----------> -204.1 (yes, 204.1)
LeBron On/Off -----> +212.1


For the game:

Durant ----> +00
Curry ------> +11 (GSW +05)
LeBron -----> +07 (CLE -05)

I really don't care for this argument, but that stat does not take teammates on the floor into account. It's one thing to have Curry drawing the attention of defenses and playmaking accordingly. But when it's Livingston; who doesn't create offense outside of post ups, Mccaw; who doesn't create offense and/or Clark who doesn't create offense, AND Draymond being in foul trouble limiting his impact and playmaking, then KD is stuck up **** creek without a paddle with that stat. His best skill and job is finishing. The end of the 4th defined that.

It's not the perfect stat, for the reasons you mentioned. RPM is the version of plus/minus that tries to control for the most 'noise,' but it is also imperfect.

But the stat is useful, particularly when it's a consistent finding over the entire regular season, playoffs and even Finals. Of course who is on the court matters. But that is more controlled with the RPM version of the plus/minus stats.

So we can look at this stat, and versions of it, for the entire regular season, playoffs, and the combination of both.

2016-17 REGULAR SEASON

Durant On --------> +16.0
Durant Off -------> +07.7
Durant On/Off ---> +08.3
Team --------------> +12.1 [KD -03.8 relative to team baseline]
Durant BPM -------> +08.0 (one stat Durant 'wins' over Curry [or LeBron] in these comparisons)

Curry On -----------> +17.2
Curry Off ----------> +01.0
Curry On/Off ------> +16.2
Team ---------------> +12.1 [SC +04.1 relative to team baseline]
Curry BPM ---------> +07.3

LeBron On --------> +07.7
LeBron Off --------> -08.5
LeBron On/Off ----> +16.2
Team ---------------> +02.9 [LJ +13.3 relative to team baseline]
LeBron BPM --------> +08.4

****

2017 PLAYOFFS

Durant on ----------> +19.0
Durant Off ---------> +11.0
Durant On/Off -----> +08.0
Team ----------------> +16.1 [KD -08.1 relative to team baseline]
Durant BPM ---------> +08.9

Curry on ------------> +23.3
Curry Off -----------> -04.9
Curry On/Off -------> +28.2
Team ----------------> +16.1 [SC +12.2 relative to team baseline]
Curry BPM ----------> +11.9

LeBron on ----------> +14.3
LeBron Off ---------> -13.2
LeBron On/Off -----> +27.5
Team ----------------> +10.2 [LJ +17.3 relative to team baseline]
LeBron BPM ---------> +11.5

*****

2017 FINALS

Durant on ----------> +14.4
Durant Off ---------> +09.3
Durant On/Off -----> +05.1
Team ----------------> +13.3 [KD -08.2 relative to team baseline]

Curry on ------------> +19.6
Curry Off -----------> -09.3
Curry On/Off -------> +28.9
Team ----------------> +13.3 [SC +15.6 relative to team baseline]

LeBron on ----------> -08.6
LeBron Off ---------> -45.4
LeBron On/Off -----> +36.8
Team ----------------> -13.3 [LJ +50.1 relative to team baseline]

****

2016-17 REGULAR SEASON + PLAYOFFS COMBINED

Durant RPM ----------> +5.78

Curry RPM ------------> +7.57

LeBron RPM ----------> +8.16



Conclusions

- None of these stats suggest that Durant has overtaken LeBron
- The report of Curry wanting to step back for Durant in the regular season seems accurate
------------> Read article here: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/245813/Stephen-Curry-Catered-To-Whole-Theme-Of-Pleasing-This-Season
- Curry clearly seems to be the most important Warriors player
- Curry is the only Warriors player, in the playoffs and Finals, who has a negative "Off" rating. Meaning the team loses when he is not on the court


If this information were only true over a certain period of time, or like one stat, then I would doubt what the stats seem to be saying as regards LeBron, Curry and Durant.

Because almost all the information seems to say the same thing, I doubt the conclusions less. Even though none of these stats, by themselves, is perfect.

[phanman]

Anybody know why Bron is never the screener in the PnR with Kyrie?

[cdubbz]

Too bad Durant couldn't do this last year to close out the team he's playing for now. The team that came back 3-1 against him...Hilarious

It's not he couln't, he was way more tired like Cavs stars. GSW will wear you down if you gun n run. KD been always great, it's much better team that allows him to really shine in effective way.

Lmao. He was up 3-1 on a 73 win team last year, playing alongside another MVP level player with a top notch rim defender in Ibaka.

He already had a championship level roster around him and was a beaver hair away from knocking off last year's "Best NBA team ever", and yet some people want to make excuses for him as if he was such a terrible position.

At the end of the day, he had to join a 73 win team who already won it all without him before he could win it all.

So impressive.

It was so also very impressive when lebron left the cavs and teamed up with MVP caliber player in Wade and all-star in bosh

[a8bil]

It's not he couln't, he was way more tired like Cavs stars. GSW will wear you down if you gun n run. KD been always great, it's much better team that allows him to really shine in effective way.

Lmao. He was up 3-1 on a 73 win team last year, playing alongside another MVP level player with a top notch rim defender in Ibaka.

He already had a championship level roster around him and was a beaver hair away from knocking off last year's "Best NBA team ever", and yet some people want to make excuses for him as if he was such a terrible position.

At the end of the day, he had to join a 73 win team who already won it all without him before he could win it all.

So impressive.

It was so also very impressive when lebron left the cavs and teamed up with MVP caliber player in Wade and all-star in bosh

That's not a fair comparison...Miami wasn't very good before LeBron and Bosh joined Wade.

[dr3am]

Please sweep these dudes Warriors. I can't stand LeBron or the Cavs in general & a sweep will officially stop the LBJ - MJ comparisons for good.

[Amsterdam]

I wouldn't even want to begin doing this research, but has a team ever had 3 different players score 30 in a finals series?

Yes. I had a hunch and checked the 87 Lakers. Kareem, Magic and Worthy each went for 30. I took them 6 games to do that.
Those Lakers also had a game where 5 guys went for 20 in a finals game with Cooper and Scott each scoring 20 in addition to Kareem, Magic and Worthy.

In my gut there's a feeling that that Lakers team would have beat this Warriors team in 7.
5 x 20 > = 3 x 30

[chyau.00]

Lmao. He was up 3-1 on a 73 win team last year, playing alongside another MVP level player with a top notch rim defender in Ibaka.

He already had a championship level roster around him and was a beaver hair away from knocking off last year's "Best NBA team ever", and yet some people want to make excuses for him as if he was such a terrible position.

At the end of the day, he had to join a 73 win team who already won it all without him before he could win it all.

So impressive.

It was so also very impressive when lebron left the cavs and teamed up with MVP caliber player in Wade and all-star in bosh

That's not a fair comparison...Miami wasn't very good before LeBron and Bosh joined Wade.

More like lebron had a great team (1st in the league) and couldnt win it all, so he had to not only join a team that had recently won it all before (wades team) but also bring along another franchise 20-10 player with him.

[Heezzi]

He ain't no Harrison Barnes.

Still piling on Harrison Barnes? Well, he coulda taken that $64 million offer from the Warrios just for you .

Harrison Barnes doesn't exist anymore. Only Max Barnes remains.