ECF: P1 | (2) Boston Celtics vs (4) Cleveland Cavaliers | BOS 2-0

[Triple M]

So Celtics fans will you acknowledge that LeBron trumps all if the Cavs win? I mean you all acknowledge that Boston has the better overall roster. So you should win the series, right?

i don;t think i've seen many say the Celtics should win the series but i would definitely like to see it. I wouldn't say the C's have the better roster because of that LeBron fella but if you put any other top 5-10 player on the Cavs then i think the C's would win that series. e.g. Antetokounpo, Embiid, AD, Harden, etc maybe not KD though

[bb22]

Brown is not better than Smith, Rozier is not better than Hill, Morris is not better than Green or Nance.
I also think Tatum is over rated in this series.
Korver is a better shooter than anyone on their roster etc.
Baynes is not better than Thompson defensively.
Regardless of how you see it, the reality is the Cavs are much better than you are giving them credit and they have Lebron
which you don't have anyone close too.

Ok I’ll bite.

Terry Rozier ‘18 playoffs:
- 19.5 per
- Per36.. Higher points, assists, rebounds, steals, less turnovers on higher usage, better outside scoring & floor spacing.

George Hill ‘18 playoffs:
- 13.3 per
- 9ppg on .286 from 3

Genuinely curious.. do any of you other Cavs fans take this guy seriously.

?

Seems like every game-thread you come in thinking you hit the bottom of the barrel in the last one. The other comparisons: not worth the time. Do better.

imo the celtics are by far the better team and it's not even close. I really don't know how the raptors were able to finish 1st, unless they were going full tilt every single regular season game, but I didn't really watch them much. The cavs felt reeeeal comfortable against them. You could even make an argument that at times Kevin Love was the 2nd most athletic player on the court - he was blocking derozan at the rim, breaking ibakas ankles, shedding siakam with quick spin moves - so this is no exaggeration at all. That won't be the case against BOS

Very true. It all comes down to matchups and the bodies that the opposing team can throw at Lebron and Love. In addition, a big part is the opposing team making Lebron and Love work on D. Lebron and Love had it easy on D against the Raps, and could have their way on offense.
Against the Cs, Lebron has to work on D against Brown. Love will probably be targeted by Brad's offense, too. On the other end, Lebron can get just about anything (as usual), but Love might be the biggest issue for the Cs on D. I just don't know who you put on him. Baynes is out of the question. Horford is decent, but you don't want him out guarding the 3 point line.

Very interested to see what Ty and Brad come up with.

[yoyoboy]

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[Triple M]

If he IS that good of a coach, then you should have no doubts or concerns whatsoever despite him not winning anything. I am more inclined to think he is one of the best scheme planners in the game, [b]but not as much of a great in game coach. [/b]Over time I may be proven wrong on this but until he proves capable of carrying an injury laden roster past veteran loaded powerhouses like Lebron and company we will have to wait until next year to see how much having Kyrie and Hayward in the fold covers his deficiencies.

I would actually appreciate on if you can expand on these points because it isn't the first time i've heard these criticisms so i'm wondering if i'm missing anything specific. Most fans, media takes were actually praising Stevens for his in game adjustments and the go further he has already established a track record of changing up line ups and match ups mid series.

[lambchop]

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Imo the issue is jsut judging which CLE was "the real" CLE. Was it the one that barely suvived the pacers or the one that made quick work of the 1st seed? Love looked like an all-star against the raps, blocking, dunking , crossing over people, basically performing moves he wouldn't even be able to do against non nba players. Was that "the real" K-love or was it the one that couldnt hold the ball against IND?

[whitehops]

After watching him against Embiid I'm comfy with him vs Thompson who's 6'8.

Thompson has way better short-area quickness and a way better motor than embiid. Baynes struggled with boxing him out because Thompson is slippery and beat him to the spot.

[Sactowndog]

I could be out to lunch but I think the Celtics present match up problems for the Cavs.

The Celtics have wing length to neutralize the picks set by Hill and Koerver. For example, assume you have Brown,Tatum or even Smart on Koerver and Morris guarding Lebron. You can switch that pick without being too disadvantaged.

In addition, Boston can throw Morris and Ojele at Lebron and let Tatum guard Koerver who isn’t likely to take him off the dribble. Brown can guard Smith and again presents a length problem.

Even Tristan has an answer in Baynes that Boston didn’t have last year.

Boston needs Kyrie and Gordon to compete with the teams in the west but I think their deep wing length could give Cleveland fits.

[SmartWentCrazy]

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Im confused by this tweet— the Celtics have played over 30 games without Kyrie.

[L3GEND4RY]

Brown is not better than Smith, Rozier is not better than Hill, Morris is not better than Green or Nance.
I also think Tatum is over rated in this series.
Korver is a better shooter than anyone on their roster etc.
Baynes is not better than Thompson defensively.
Regardless of how you see it, the reality is the Cavs are much better than you are giving them credit and they have Lebron
which you don't have anyone close too.

Ok I’ll bite.

Terry Rozier ‘18 playoffs:
- 19.5 per
- Per36.. Higher points, assists, rebounds, steals, less turnovers on higher usage, better outside scoring & floor spacing.

George Hill ‘18 playoffs:
- 13.3 per
- 9ppg on .286 from 3

Genuinely curious.. do any of you other Cavs fans take this guy seriously.

?

Seems like every game-thread you come in thinking you hit the bottom of the barrel in the last one. The other comparisons: not worth the time. Do better.


*edit.. just for kicks.

Brown is playing less minutes than Smith in the PS yet he has a better PER, more points on better shooting percentages - especially from 3. He’s actually better in almost every single statistic that matters.

usage mean anything to you? get a better past time, those recent numbers don't mean much as far as player effectiveness in this match up. The Cavs players are more reliable and have played at a higher level for a longer time than anyone you have.
But that's cool keep thinking you got this Isaiah

“More reliable”? Based off of what measured stat? Again, the numbers don’t support your argument at all.

CLE fans - come get your mans. He started drinking early.

[Triple M]

How do people feel in the Cavs ability to guard Tatum/Brown/Rozier???

Especially considering that the Cavs might not have rim protection. The Bucks made it hard on the C's when they inserted Thon Maker, vs. Philly the Celts were able to pull Embiid out of the paint or attack his lateral quickness. I was surprise how effective the C's were to attack the Rim even with Embiid near the paint.

Tatum and Rozier are showing out these playoffs and i'll be interested in seeing what they do vs. the Cavs. Brown hasn't been getting as much talk as Tatum/Rozier but he lead in scoring prior to the hamstring issue but i'm really confident in this kids abilities more so than most people. Seems to me he is becoming a knock down 3 point shooter and if the rest aids his hamstring issue we probably see a more explosive Brown getting to the rack. Rozier/Tatum were also getting to the rim pretty easily it seemed vs. Philly

I bring up the 3 because i feel the Celtics might have more options to guard than either Tor/Indy and i don't think their is a player that Cle will lock on like they did with DeRozen/Olidipo and pay all their attention too, maybe Horford because he might be a bit of a catalyst to the other Celtics players.

[Triple M]

Stillwater is the early candidate of the Superdario ITT

[yoyoboy]

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Imo the issue is jsut judging which CLE was "the real" CLE. Was it the one that barely suvived the pacers or the one that made quick work of the 1st seed? Love looked like an all-star against the raps, blocking, dunking , crossing over people, basically performing moves he wouldn't even be able to do against non nba players. Was that "the real" K-love or was it the one that couldnt hold the ball against IND?

Hill was also out most of the Pacers series forcing us to play Calderon, Love has been getting healthier (not to excuse him for his awful play against Indy though), and the role players couldn't buy a three to save their lives. I'm pretty sure the team actually shot better on contested threes against Toronto than they did on open threes against Indiana.

Also I think people underestimate how much experience and reps together matter. This team has had no time playing together due to the midseason trades and following injuries and continual adjustments to find the best lineups. Not to mention they don't practice during the regular season. And similarly to previous years it looks like they'll get better as the playoffs progress.



Boston is definitely a more resilient team than Toronto though so this isn't going to be an easy matchup.

[yoyoboy]

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Im confused by this tweet— the Celtics have played over 30 games without Kyrie.

It's only factoring in games with the core group so I'm assuming the games omitted were ones that Horford, Brown, and Tatum missed, as well.

[SmartWentCrazy]

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Im confused by this tweet— the Celtics have played over 30 games without Kyrie.

It's only factoring in games with the core group so I'm assuming the games omitted were ones that Horford, Brown, and Tatum missed, as well.

That feels highly selective. Why shouldnt game 1 vs Philly count as an indicator of who Boston is because Brown sat out?

[yoyoboy]

Im confused by this tweet— the Celtics have played over 30 games without Kyrie.

It's only factoring in games with the core group so I'm assuming the games omitted were ones that Horford, Brown, and Tatum missed, as well.

That feels highly selective. Why shouldnt game 1 vs Philly count as an indicator of who Boston is because Brown sat out?

Because then it would be a biased assessment. The purpose of the comparison is to compare the two teams at "full strength" - which obviously doesn't mean with Kyrie and Hayward, but the teams going into the Conference Finals. If you decide to include one game that the Celtics happened to play well in without Brown, then should you also include a game such as the one against the Pelicans on March 18th where he was also the only guy from that core missing and the Celtics lost by 19? A 20 game sample size is enough to get at least a relative idea of how good a team is. And while Boston's performance against Game 1 without Brown does reflect the team's ability, it's only one game and over a larger sample size that would gradually "correct" itself as the Celtics are clearly a better team with Brown.

[Patches Perry]

Poll is at 51% (Cleveland) to 49% (Boston) as of 268 votes. I tend to lean towards Boston myself, as I think team performance trumps individual performance, but if Love, Korver, JR and co show up then it gets interesting.

Hoping for a long series, sure to be annoying on this forum for the next week and a half. LeBron will go from GOAT to poor mans Scottie Pippen day to day depending on outcomes. It's going to be an absolute **** show. A real circus.

[gflem]

Gonna be a much more competitive series than it was last year.

KYrie telling them everything

In wonder how that goes, maybe something like "alright guys, be woke, rule the flat earth, Lebron aint sh#t, Oh, and man my knee really hurts". Wont make a bit of difference cause Kyrie is full of it. And by it I mean himself.

[KHRICH]

Jesus didn't know Horford was 1-16 against lbj

[Stillwater]

Ok I’ll bite.

Terry Rozier ‘18 playoffs:
- 19.5 per
- Per36.. Higher points, assists, rebounds, steals, less turnovers on higher usage, better outside scoring & floor spacing.

George Hill ‘18 playoffs:
- 13.3 per
- 9ppg on .286 from 3

Genuinely curious.. do any of you other Cavs fans take this guy seriously.

?

Seems like every game-thread you come in thinking you hit the bottom of the barrel in the last one. The other comparisons: not worth the time. Do better.


*edit.. just for kicks.

Brown is playing less minutes than Smith in the PS yet he has a better PER, more points on better shooting percentages - especially from 3. He’s actually better in almost every single statistic that matters.

usage mean anything to you? get a better past time, those recent numbers don't mean much as far as player effectiveness in this match up. The Cavs players are more reliable and have played at a higher level for a longer time than anyone you have.
But that's cool keep thinking you got this Isaiah

“More reliable”? Based off of what measured stat? Again, the numbers don’t support your argument at all.

CLE fans - come get your mans. He started drinking early.

less minutes and a better per oohh shocking. Hill was hurt , etc.
Dude your logic is flawed. Even if your personnel is as good in this series as they have been on paper they are not good enough to stop the King. I don't drink fool

[ajones9219]

Gonna be a much more competitive series than it was last year.

KYrie telling them everything

In wonder how that goes, maybe something like "alright guys, be woke, rule the flat earth, Lebron aint sh#t, Oh, and man my knee really hurts". Wont make a bit of difference cause Kyrie is full of it. And by it I mean himself.

This is an odd take. Kyrie has completely taken rozier under his wing, not to mention gave him shoes. All the players talk about how he is constantly supporting them and he's been at nearly every game on the bench cheering out of his mind for his teammates. This whole Kyrie cares only about himself thing doesn't match up with the facts