Around the NBA III

[Coxy]

Larry Bird stepping down is a clear signal Paul George wants out.

Blake Griffin for Paul George type swap coming up?

I can see it.

[and1GS]

Yeesh ESPN keeps bleeding employees. They did just sign Woj to definitively win the 'FIRST!!!' timely news battle across the board, but wow a whole lot of consolidation otherwise. Including Chad Ford, Marc Stein and Henry Abbott. I thought Ford was untouchable so this is quite interesting.

[wco81]

Too early to worry about but a lot of teams, including Warriors rivals, are going to have big offseason, starting with the Clippers, who are looking at giving out $400 million in contracts to CP3 and BG.

The team has underachieved in the playoffs and CP3 is about to turn 32 so that's a lot of money for a player who may only be a top player for 2-3 more years.

Raptors are also looking at giving a big contract to Lowry, who's a little older than CP3.

I guess these deals make sense if these players keep the arena filled for the next several years but when they hit 34 or 35, those contracts are going to really weigh down those teams.

[BW32]

Anyone else mind=blown at how many posessions Toronto has where there are no passes beyond half court?

[and1GS]

Anyone else mind=blown at how many posessions Toronto has where there are no passes beyond half court?

They look putrid. Ibaka has been great, but Jonas has played like a mouse and their stars haven't done much at all.

[wco81]

They gave up so many wide open 3s, especially from the corners.

Cavs were trapping DD and KL to a point and the Raptors role players were bricking open shots, especially Patterson in the first half.

[BW32]

Always said you couldn't start David Lee if you planned on winning anything.

[and1GS]

Raptors need to bench Jonas and go small with Ibaka at the 5. They just aren't quick enough to close out right now.

[and1GS]

So they benched Jonas and he had a monster game, but they still got killed with Ibaka at the 5. It all comes down to DeMare Carroll I guess, who has just fallen off a cliff and is letting Powell start over him FFS.

Raps need to clean up at home and steal one in Cleveland, but I'd be surprised if they won a game.

[Quazza]

Coxys bet looking as solid as Hilton's pants right now

[Mylie10]

Coxys bet looking as solid as Hilton's pants right now

I know, I'm getting worried

[Mylie10]

These are killing me!

Watch on YouTube

[BW32]

Whoreden has no shame. You have to lack a basic pride to do what he does.

[Quazza]

This Lebron scares me

https://www.facebook.com/bleacherreport/videos/10155049214101006/?autoplay_reason=gatekeeper&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0

[wco81]

This Lebron scares me

https://www.facebook.com/bleacherreport/videos/10155049214101006/?autoplay_reason=gatekeeper&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0

He's shooting over 50% from 3. Team as a whole is shooting well but they're often getting good open looks.

But they're getting help from the officiating, big advantage against the Pacers and now against the Raptors, which gets lost because the Raptors are playing so poorly.

Lebron regularly pushes off and gets away with it all the time. Role players like Thompson, Smith, Korver reach all the time on defense and get away with it most of the time. This game 3, they gave Derozan some calls for 3 quarters.


Remember how much the officiating helped the Cavs last year. Not just the Green suspension but they put Curry in foul trouble repeatedly and then they foul him out on a clean steal.

Then last Christmas, Jefferson shoves KD down on the last shot attempt, no call. Few days later, NBA says there should have been a foul call.

But the Cavs are going to keep getting those calls and the reason probably is that they want to canonize LBJ as the GOAT of all time. He should pass Jordan for the all-time playoffs scoring leader in the ECF or in the Finals. So once they get the media to say he may be the GOAT, only thing left is to help him get more rings and unfortunately, the Warriors are in the way as the foil.

The hype is going to be that he beat the greatest team assembled of all time, with 2 MVPs, 4 all stars and he grinds out some win.

So the holding of Curry is going to be even worse and he'll look terrible because nobodies like Shumpert and Smith will get away with a lot. Same thing with KD, in crucial possessions he'll get nothing because of the physical play the Cavs will be allowed while on the other end, LBJ and Kyrie will be untouchable.

[Coxy]

This Lebron scares me

https://www.facebook.com/bleacherreport/videos/10155049214101006/?autoplay_reason=gatekeeper&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0

He's shooting over 50% from 3. Team as a whole is shooting well but they're often getting good open looks.

But they're getting help from the officiating, big advantage against the Pacers and now against the Raptors, which gets lost because the Raptors are playing so poorly.

Lebron regularly pushes off and gets away with it all the time. Role players like Thompson, Smith, Korver reach all the time on defense and get away with it most of the time. This game 3, they gave Derozan some calls for 3 quarters.


Remember how much the officiating helped the Cavs last year. Not just the Green suspension but they put Curry in foul trouble repeatedly and then they foul him out on a clean steal.

Then last Christmas, Jefferson shoves KD down on the last shot attempt, no call. Few days later, NBA says there should have been a foul call.

But the Cavs are going to keep getting those calls and the reason probably is that they want to canonize LBJ as the GOAT of all time. He should pass Jordan for the all-time playoffs scoring leader in the ECF or in the Finals. So once they get the media to say he may be the GOAT, only thing left is to help him get more rings and unfortunately, the Warriors are in the way as the foil.

The hype is going to be that he beat the greatest team assembled of all time, with 2 MVPs, 4 all stars and he grinds out some win.

So the holding of Curry is going to be even worse and he'll look terrible because nobodies like Shumpert and Smith will get away with a lot. Same thing with KD, in crucial possessions he'll get nothing because of the physical play the Cavs will be allowed while on the other end, LBJ and Kyrie will be untouchable.

I fear you may be right.

[wco81]

Even if the officiating was neutral (though I'm pretty sure Curry and Klay will be manhandled if they try to move off the ball), Cavs will be difficult to defend

Lebron will play all game if necessary. In particular, he plays with their second unit while Kyrie and Love sit on the bench, usually at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters. So he has shooters like Korver, Frye and with Williams also hitting shots. Korver comes off the pin downs and releases quick. Last night he hit 2 or 3 3-pointers in a few minutes to blow the game open early in the fourth quarter.

This is the group that helped them come back against the Pacers in game 3 when Indy had a huge lead. The thing is, you have to exploit Korver and Frye on the other end but Pacers weren't able to do it nor the Raptors. Warriors are going to be running Klay, Draymond, Ian Clark, David West and one other guy. That group doesn't have the offensive potential to match Lebron, Frye, Williams and a couple of others. Especially, they should be exploiting Korver or Frye but offense is inconsistent.

So while Steph and maybe KD rest to keep their minutes under 40 minutes, Lebron will be playing over 40 minutes and trying to bust it open vs. the Warriors second unit.

This is all before the bull officiating. Cavs were getting all the calls last night but after every call against them or even after some Raptors baskets, Cavs players were talking to the refs about how they were wronged on that play.

[Outside]

The biggest issue regarding the Cavs in the playoffs so far is horrendous defense by the Pacers and especially Raptors. I haven't watched their entire games, but every time I turn them on, I can't believe how poor the defense is. It's like they can't deal with a team that has five offensive threats on the floor at the same time. The Cavs feast on mismatches in isolation, and the defense switches way too easily to give the Cavs exactly what they want.

It's really hard to wall off LeBron on his drives and recover to the perimeter shooters, but the Warriors are good enough defensively to do that. They also can go to their small lineup and switch everything, and they're adept at not getting Curry stuck on LeBron, especially since they've had years to practice dealing with that.

The Raptors and Pacers also aren't good enough offensively to make the Cavs pay at the other end for their poor defenders. It also doesn't help that the Cavs are in the Raptors heads. Or that Lowry is hurt, even though he's not a good playoff performer.

The Cavs sometimes do play good team ball, working inside out and swinging the ball to find the open man, but when it counts, they're an isolation team. That's what LeBron and Kyrie do. They believe that they can win through the force of their individual play -- LeBron as the "best player on the planet" and Kyrie with his dribbling and shooting skills. They are indeed very good. But great team basketball should defeat great individual basketball every time. The Spurs in the 2014 finals used beautiful team play to make LeBron's individual excellence irrelevant. The Warriors in 2015 figured out how to use team play to beat the LeBron juggernaut. They almost did it again last year, but LeBron and Kyrie were tremendous the last three games, and with the injuries and relatively poor play, the Warriors weren't good enough to overcome it.

But excellent team play should always overcome individual play, no matter how great. The 2014 finals were a turning point for me. I grew up ages ago watching great team basketball personified by the Russell Celtics and Wooden UCLA teams, then later by the 80's Lakers and Celtics. Great individuals were no match for those teams, like someone trying to hold back a rising tide. But the NBA devolved into isolation play and hero ball, and while there were some good teams along the way, the game became about celebrating and encouraging individual greatness. The Bulls and the Lakers with the triangle were great teams, but they also had the greatest players. The Pistons defeated the mighty Lakers, but that seemed more about the failure and dysfunction of the Lakers. It wasn't until the 2014 finals that I saw great team play by lesser players truly overcome great individual play.

There are no guarantees, but assuming they meet in the finals, as long as the Warriors play well, they should beat the Cavs even if LeBron and Kyrie are great. At his core, LeBron believes that the path to a title is through his individual greatness, and he believes he is so transcendently great that he can beat anyone. During game 5 of the 2014 finals, LeBron was sitting on the bench with a thousand-mile stare realizing that he's met a team that he was no match for. I hope to see that look again in June.

[Quazza]

Maybe it's just me (and I know my earlier post would suggest otherwise) but think we need to focus more on the Spurs than the Cavs right now

Still a veeerryyyy solid team, even without Parker

[wco81]

Isaiah Thomas complained a lot about being grabbed and held, through pin downs, and other types of plays.

Said he was knocked down 5 times without getting calls.

Unfortunately, the playoffs works against perimeter players who depend on their movement and quickness as opposed to strength.

We'll see if complaining works for IT. The Warriors chose to keep quiet about it and didn't really help them last year.