2015 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Cavatt]

I just don't get how we can put Shump on him, with Kyrie out there.

He has to guard either a 6-7 Thompson coming off screens, or a 6-8 Barnes.

Maybe during the stretch of games, you could get away with putting Kyrie on an Iggy/Barnes.

When Iggy is in the game, I think Kyrie could get away with guarding him. But Klay no way, and him on Barnes isn't a good match either.

It's like one of the few teams in the league where sticking Kyrie on the sg is a pretty big mismatch. I'd probably stick him on Barnes... I dunno. Bringing Kyrie off the bench would be best. Seems insane

 

[randymoss1881]

It's like one of the few teams in the league where sticking Kyrie on the sg is a pretty big mismatch. I'd probably stick him on Barnes... I dunno. Bringing Kyrie off the bench would be best. Seems insane

Ya no way you put him on Klay you have to put him on Barnes and live with the consequences. But unless you are going small who would Lebron guard putting him on one of the splash brothers for a long period of time is not the way to go

 

[Cavatt]

Ya no way you put him on Klay you have to put him on Barnes and live with the consequences. But unless you are going small who would Lebron guard putting him on one of the splash brothers for a long period of time is not the way to go

Yeah, lebron at the 4 or... I'm gonna let Blatt figure it out.

 

[Willard513]

Ya no way you put him on Klay you have to put him on Barnes and live with the consequences. But unless you are going small who would Lebron guard putting him on one of the splash brothers for a long period of time is not the way to go

I would actually be ok with Lebron on klay and TT on draymond, just make sure he boxes out every time and let Lebron handle klay physically, shump on curry, KI on Barnes and obviously mozzy on bogut. I would also have the bigs on screens hold and hedge(keep one hand on the big and other extend on curry/klay as they come around and have shump fight through screens. TT and Moz are long enough to at least affect the shot somewhat.

I also would use Marion a ton defensively next series and just have him cutting on offense, setting screens and being a pest.

 

[godfather]

If the GS goes small a lot, that's probably going to be an advantage to the Cavs, they can tinker a lot more with defensive match ups.

Kyrie can guard Barnes in crunch time, the ball is going to be in Steph's hands, you just need to at least close out on Barnes, which he can do.

But LeBron or Shump will be guarding Steph down the stretch, but Kyrie is still going to have to guard Steph a lot throughout the game.

I don't think you put him on Barnes the entire game, because you stand the chance of allowing three guys become critical factors offensively. That's not good for us. That makes GS even tougher to beat.

No one is going to stop Steph, you just don't want him going ballistic, and dropping 40 on us.

 

[Kbiz]

So the Rockets will lose by how much tonight? 10? 20? 25?

Nothing has been more fun, other than watching the Cavs, then watching Harden and Howard get exposed on the national stage for being mentally weak.

 

[DougHeil]

I've got a feeling Houston is taking one game tonight. Will mean less rest for the warriors and force them to play another risk of injury game.

 

[godfather]

This game means a lot tonight for the Cavs. Since the NBA might be bitches, and move the finals up a earlier date. So pulling hard for Houston to get just one game at least.

Why the hell would the NBA do that? They do know Irving is hurt right? LB is banged up? Do they not want to put the best product out there available for the finals, or what?

 

[DougHeil]

This game means a lot tonight for the Cavs. Since the NBA might be bitches, and move the finals up a earlier date. So pulling hard for Houston to get just one game at least.

Why the hell would the NBA do that? They do know Irving is hurt right? LB is banged up? Do they not want to put the best product out there available for the finals, or what?

I hadn't heard this. Do you have a source or link?

 

[kidduck]

KEN BERGER
NBA Insider

NBA exploring moving Finals up to June 2, but obstacles loom
HOUSTON -- The NBA is exploring the possibility of moving up the start of the NBA Finals to June 2 if both conference finals series end in sweeps, league sources told CBSSports.com Sunday.

With the Warriors up 3-0 on the Rockets and the Cavaliers leading 2-0 heading into Game 3 against the Hawks Sunday night, the league faces the possibility of an eight-day gap between the end of the Eastern Conference Finals and the start of the NBA Finals, scheduled for June 4.

Were both series to go seven games, the West would've concluded May 31 and the East on June 1, resulting in a two-day turnaround into the Finals.

But with the Warriors and Cavs surprisingly dominating their respective series -- the Warriors can close out the Rockets Monday night, while the Cavs won the first two games of their series in Atlanta -- the league is exploring a contingency plan. It's complicated and unlikely, sources say, based on television commitments, hotel capacities, international media travel and other considerations. One person familiar with the discussions described them as being in the "very early exploration" stage.

One obvious potential issue would be arena conflicts, but there are no scheduled events at either Oracle Arena or Quicken Loans Arena that would make changing the start date of the Finals problematic from a building perspective. But network TV scheduling, hotel inventory in both cities and international travel loom large as obstacles to changing the scheduled start date.

Beyond the obvious problem of dousing the viewing public's enthusiasm for the Finals, an eight-day break would present a challenge to the players, who would need to stay sharp and in game shape during the layoff. For the injury-stricken Cavs, it would provide point guard Kyrie Irving (knee tendinitis) with two fewer days of treatment and recovery.

 

[Man Called X]

I hadn't heard this. Do you have a source or link?

All I've seen was random people on Twitter. No one with any credentials to speak on the matter.

And just like that, proven wrong.

 

[kidduck]

It's just too complex to suddenly change the Finals schedule. With all the effort the NBA has made to sell
the game outside the USA, no way they take the chance on screwing over all the out of country media coverage in any way.

Similar problems on the domestic level. Cavs game Sunday was the highest rated television program of the day, network or cable. Then you screw over the foundation of all the NBA $$$, the fans of the teams involved, who spend big dollars for tickets and suddenly can't attend due to changing game dates.

Lebron moves the media needle big time. Curry and the Warriors are being called one of the top teams ever(no way, IMO).

Basketball fans aren't going to forget about watching/listening/reading about the Finals because of
a handful of extra off days. Even the casual fan will
pay attention once the series starts.

Bottom line is that there looms a multi-million dollar
loss for the NBA in multiple aspects should any movement occur in the Finals schedule. A sudden
change would also make the NBA appear to be in a
panic mode, not something Silver wants to start with
the NBA riding an all time high of popularity.

So here's the Finals schedule (not 'revised') as tweeted
by Finnan:

NBA Finals schedule

NBA FINALS
*If necessary — All times Eastern
Game 1 — Thursday, June 4, 9 p.m., ABC
Game 2 — Sunday, June 7, 8 p.m., ABC
Game 3 — Tuesday, June 9, 9 p.m., ABC
Game 4 — Thursday, June 11, 9 p.m., ABC
*Game 5 — Sunday, June 14, 8 p.m., ABC
*Game 6 — Tuesday, June 16, 9 p.m., ABC
*Game 7 — Friday, June 19, 9 p.m., ABC

 

[Ohio]

Really hoping Houston can push this series along...but I feel I should be using my hope elsewhere.

 

[David.]

focus on plus minus. where in the heck is this coming from. its essentially saying focus on doing everything better than your opponent. which is typically the goal anyways.
+/- what?

is this a twitter thing?
im strategically plus minused to death

no its a fact.

we have not been running our most efficient lineups. we have focused on scoring.

 

[Tornicade]

no its a fact.

we have not been running our most efficient lineups. we have focused on scoring.

saying we need to focus on +/- is a fact? get your +/- together boys.

pretty vague description similar to intangibles but that's a thing.

There are alot of lineups that are situational and if they are tailored to a specific situation they will have be to the plus if utilized correctly.

Those same lineups can quickly turn to negative if used in the wrong situations or bad matchups.

its a very vague general term and it really doesnt say what you think it does as differential is used to measure point scores versus points allowed, rebounding, turnovers passing etc
a positiverebounding lineup might be more reflective of a negative shooting percentage and not a big factor to the +/-

Cavs Best lineup point differential was James,Mozgov, Jr, Kyrie and Love. outside of a few lineups that were used for 1 game less than 4 minutes of play.

Its really doesnt offer much in strategy and what to do it is a measurement of performance not a predictor.

you have 8 lineups used more than 5 games in the playoffs. Only one of those are in the negative and 5 of them include Irving.

If your gonna get into advanced stats and use them for analytics you should have a better understanding of it and what it means.

Blatt did have some lineups used sparingly in the regualar season that he has had success with in the playoffs either by force or choice but those lineups still rquire judgement of how much and when to use them or they get exposed and lose effectiveness.

state some facts David because I have no idea what you mean when you say the team needs to focus on +/minus . Use it context.

maybe the term is being applied is cool on reddit now but it doesnt make much sense and I often present discussion using +/- as a tool.


Its the playoffs David dont be lazy