2018 NBA Finals
- Thread starter gedman211
- Start date
I’m more astounded by the fact that LeBron is 33 and has played the equivalent of 3 extra regular seasons of playoff games.And this is nuts:
If the Warriors sweep does Curry get to #1 on that list? Average 8 per game the next two games, I'd put him 3 behind after this season if they sweep, but holding the record if they go 5.
Crazy numbers when you look at the top 10... He has played almost 1/2 the games as Allen yet is inside 60 attempts less at a 41% clip. He is absolutely amazing to watch, some of the 3's he lets go look so mechanically bad at the start near his hip, but his shoulders snap into line and when the ball hits his shoulder level everything is pure. Unbelievable talent and his range is just absolutely insane, that shot just before half in game 1 was just so Curry.
Crazy numbers when you look at the top 10... He has played almost 1/2 the games as Allen yet is inside 60 attempts less at a 41% clip. He is absolutely amazing to watch, some of the 3's he lets go look so mechanically bad at the start near his hip, but his shoulders snap into line and when the ball hits his shoulder level everything is pure. Unbelievable talent and his range is just absolutely insane, that shot just before half in game 1 was just so Curry.
Last night's shot that broke Cleveland's will to live was ridiculous. You play perfect defense and then Curry hits a rainbow 3 in your face with 0.1 seconds left on the shot clock. Nothing you can do.
Yeah. It was a simple jumper for him from 38 feet form wise. Almost everyone else is heaving from 38.
Normally I avoid posting crap from Golden State of Mind here, but I thought this was a lovely bit of prose...
Watching 33-year-old LeBron James drag the Cavaliers into yet another Finals loss is like watching the world’s greatest Burger King manager angrily boss around his stoner employees, two hours before closing time. There goes Mr. LeBron in his crisply ironed uniform, nametag shiny as hell, huffing and scowling. Watch him as he directs traffic with angry points, shakes fries, flips patties, taking orders from customers with a passive-aggressive, forced smile. He does it all, folks!
Wow. That's terrible. Understandable that he was frustrated. But, they lost the game right there.
Although while I enjoy making fun of James and watching him lose as much as anyone,
he is enhancing his legacy even more this post-season even with the expected loss.
I'm not sure there's anyone who doesn't think he's the best player now. It's like Brady's postseason.
Oh, for sure. After his playoff run and performance in Finals Game 1, I realized he had quietly moved in my book from "easy to make a case for him as GOAT" to "hard to make a case against."
But I still love the image of him as world's greatest Burger King manager with his stoner employees.
- I hate to say it, but watching that video I actually feel really bad for JR Smith. I know he's generally an asshole and all, but I hate seeing people go through situations like that. I'm sure deep down he only wants to do right for his teammates. He just can't help the fact that he's a knucklehead
- Lebron looks like he wants to kill Lue for not calling a timeout.
- Then we have Korver trying to be the ultimate cheerleader the entire time.
- Playing with Lebron must be such a joy.
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It's easy to judge all of them in the moment, but I think they were actually in shock. They are human beings and that was a sporting catastrophe. Worse than a turnover, worse than a missed shot, worse than a bad call. It was an idiotic blunder that broke their will because they are sentient beings.
- I hate to say it, but watching that video I actually feel really bad for JR Smith. I know he's generally and asshole and all, but I hate seeing people go through situations like that. I'm sure deep down he only wants to do right for his teammates. He just can't help the fact that he's a knucklehead
- Lebron looks like he wants to kill Lue for not calling a timeout.
- Then we have Korver trying to be the ultimate cheerleader the entire time.
- Playing with Lebron must be such a joy.
edit - and part of the shock was the fact that JR was under the basket and ran away from it. This is probably why Lue didn't call a timeout. He must also have been flummoxed by JR's actions and he froze. They all froze. It was horrendous.
Did Lue even know they had a timeout left? I know things happened fast and it was hectic, but right when JR was dribbling out and it was apparent he didn't know what he was doing, you need to scream for that.
I won't criticize LeBron here, even though he gets applause for remembering an 8 play sequence in the 2nd quarter of a game. I would have assumed he knew what the timeout situation was.
I won't criticize LeBron here, even though he gets applause for remembering an 8 play sequence in the 2nd quarter of a game. I would have assumed he knew what the timeout situation was.
Criticism of those 5 seconds goes
JR >>>>> Lue >> Hill > Lebron
JR should have put it back up / do anything but what he did
Lue should have called the TO once it was clear his team was in disarray
Hill should have just made the shot
Lebron should have called a TO
JR >>>>> Lue >> Hill > Lebron
JR should have put it back up / do anything but what he did
Lue should have called the TO once it was clear his team was in disarray
Hill should have just made the shot
Lebron should have called a TO
Lue also take some blame for not making sure everyone understood the game situation. I know this has been debated already. In my mind, yes, JR Smith is a professional and should have known, but if if we take this attitude to the extreme, then coaches aren't needed. It's their job to make sure that players know what they're supposed to do if X, Y, or Z happens.
But I agree that JR is >>>>>
Yes, but what's interesting is that the new bench video also makes it clear Lebron wasn't even sure if they had any timeouts left. That could have been a prickly situation.
Just imagine...Hill missed foul shot, JR screw up, followed by Lebron causing a Curry/Thompson technical shot to win the game.
At the very beginning of the video? This isn't the first time we're seeing that part. From what I've seen, consensus since that night has been "I thought we were ahead."
He did ask Lue that--I *think* he was asking because it wasn't given. He was asking if he was correct, that they did in fact have one. When Lue confirmed, then he went all Bad Body Language.
His body language was unfortunate. But I can't remember a finals team carried more by one guy.
It's the first time we saw a camera directly at JR's face, I think. I'm not a pro lip reader but it sure looked like he said "time out".
He has an army of assistants. He knew. And if he didn't then their organizational skills are even worse than I've argued.
I can somewhat give Lue a pass on this. It is really difficult to chnage your thinking that quickly and run on to the floor and get the timeout. We saw the same thing happen last series when Green did the same half ass attempt at a TO as Lebron did, and kerr did nothing to get a TO as Thompson was stuck in the corner.
Some good lines in today's Zach Lowe piece...
The Cleveland Cavaliers have few habits, unless you count lazing through the regular season and fatuous melodrama.
Are we switching? Wait, I thought we were trapping? Oh god, they scored already.
The Cavs have always been at least one two-way player short for this matchup. (So is almost everyone. The combination of two-way guys and star power on a fully actualized Boston team makes it perhaps the most interesting Warriors opponent going forward.)
Building a complete roster is hard for any capped-out team. Building a culture that values the fundamentals of defense, and the drudgery of sharpening habits on that end over multiple regular seasons, shouldn't be.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have few habits, unless you count lazing through the regular season and fatuous melodrama.
Are we switching? Wait, I thought we were trapping? Oh god, they scored already.
The Cavs have always been at least one two-way player short for this matchup. (So is almost everyone. The combination of two-way guys and star power on a fully actualized Boston team makes it perhaps the most interesting Warriors opponent going forward.)
Building a complete roster is hard for any capped-out team. Building a culture that values the fundamentals of defense, and the drudgery of sharpening habits on that end over multiple regular seasons, shouldn't be.
Ratings continue to be decent and continue being down from last year.
I predict more Cavs losses and more audience declines.
Lue has to shake things up for Game 3. Benching Smith is obvious, give Korver 20-25 minutes or even start him, see if Rodney Hood can give you anything with meaningful minutes.
Hood is their worst defender. He cannot even guard average ball handlers and with the way the Cavs switch 1-4 and 1-5, you can't just stick him on one guy like a Livingston and say, can you at least stay in front of him? So, given how poorly the Cavs have defended the Warriors and how bad Hood is defensively, I'd say no to that idea.
They need to generate offense besides Lebron. More minutes for Korver, start shooting 45-50% from 3 like the Toronto series, and see if Hood reverts back to his Utah form. Slowing down this GS offense is out the window. Cleveland doesn’t have the personnel to do what Houston did. They need to start scoring in the 100’s every night for the rest of this series to have a chance.
I don't see Golden State just thrashing them in Cleveland for both games; I think Cleveland can possibly steal one of the two games. The talent disparity is huge, but GS has let a lot of lesser teams hang around all season and I can see them bottling one on the road.
Yeah, they’re .500 on the road this post-season, and that’s mostly with a healthy Iguodala.
Korver at 16, 17 minutes in the first two games. Clarkson got 17 in game 1. I'd certainly give Korver a bit more run and see if Hood has anything, even if only for a few minutes.
Well, Korver would've played more but Lue was still waiting for Semi to check in.
I agree with some of this but GSW were 97th percentile in Otrg and 98th in EFG. If those don't change and/or get worse, Cleveland wins zero games. Hood's addition makes that more likely IMO (especially his lack of force on screening actions which will just continue to allow GSW to slip). That said, home court should help with some of slowing down GSW.
That piece was full of gems. My personal favorite:
All these challenges coalesced on the first possession of Game 2, when McGee slipped a pick for Curry, and jaunted untouched to the rim. J.R. Smith, committing treason so far, was late digesting the slip, and too far behind McGee to do much of anything