NBA Finals 2015: Cavs vs Warriors

[Jscc]

Also, nobody actually believed his hamstring was bad enough that it forced him to sit out games anyways.

So he was just acting when he was grabbing his hamstring and limping around in warmups/shootaround?

 

[The Red Viper]

Am I crazy, or should we put either LeBron or Shump on Curry?

I'm going with LeBron. Didn't we do that earlier in the season at The Q where they blowed them out?

In fourth quarter, when the game is close, probably.

But having LeBron on Curry for the entire game would be suicidal because we can't have LeBron spending half of his energy chasing Steph around through the screens and all!

 

[CosmoKramer]

Cavs over the Warriors in 6.

Start Shumpert off on Curry and never take him off. When Curry sits Shump sits, and as soon as Curry checks back in get Shump in there as well. I want Curry demoralized after Game 1 when we double team him on every screen with Shump hounding him for 40+ minutes.

Sag off of Draymond Green whenever possible, and completely ignore him in Curry/Green pick-and-rolls. He's struggling from deep this postseason (shooting only 27.4%, down from 33.7% in the regular season.) He's a capable passer against an uneven floor, but if we don't send any help we can force him into a bunch of tough shots being guarded by TT or LeBron.

Hide Kyrie on Barnes. The only place they can take advantage of that mismatch is in the post, and I'm more than happy letting GS take the ball out of Curry or Thompson's hands to go 1-on-1 with Harrison Barnes. Barnes is also struggling with his three-pointer this postseason (29.4% from deep, compared to 40.5% in the regular season.)

The Splash Brothers are the only two players that should be closed out hard, everyone else that'll handle the ball on the perimeter should be given plenty of cushion to beat us with their jumpers. GS's role players have all seen their percentages drop from deep this postseason, to the point that Delly's 33.3% from three would be the third-highest mark for any of GS's rotation members. He's only the fifth best shooter in our rotation.

Iggy: 34.9% regular season, 32.5% playoffs
Barnes: 40.5% regular season, 29.4% playoffs
Barbosa: 38.4% regular season, 30.0% playoffs
Green: 33.7% regular season, 27.4% playoffs

Sag off all those non-threats, limit Curry and Thompson's opportunities from deep, and we have a prayer at neutering the Warriors' offense enough to win a title.

 

[MirORich]

Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine about 47 minutes ago
Update from @ESPNStatsInfo: Just five prior teams went 78-17 (or better) through 95 games in single season/postseason. All five were champs

Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLineabout 45 minutes ago
1995-96 Bulls: 84-11; 1996-97 Bulls' 80-15; 1985-86 Celtics: 79-16; 1971-72 Lakers: 79-16; 1966-67 76ers: 79-16 ... and these 78-17 Warriors

This represents a real opportunity for us to make history, but it should also provide us with some perspective. Given our injuries, our opponent, and this being our first year together as a squad, not winning the title would not be some terrible blemish on any of these players and coaches.

 

[CLEZenith]

If it makes anyone more confident, the other week mother was watching the Cavs and she read a fortune cookie fortune that said "an interesting sports opportunity is in your future" and got really excited... I believe it must be about this inevitable series.

 

[CardiacCavs]

Fuck it. We can do this. This Cavs team can beat the Warriors. I am irrationally believing now. God help my soul.

 

[ajz20]

so now media is reporting the nba is reconsidering moving the finals to June 2 when half our team needs to get healthy. You would think the NBA would want Irving as close to 100 percent as possible. Irving/James vs Klay/ Curry is way better then Irving at 50 percent.

 

[Pyro]

We play like we did tonight, and we're out in 4.

Play like we did in game 2? We win in 6.

 

[Otsego Mar]

so now media is reporting the nba is reconsidering moving the finals to June 2 when half our team needs to get healthy. You would think the NBA would want Irving as close to 100 percent as possible. Irving/James vs Klay/ Curry is way better then Irving at 50 percent.

Yea.

Fuck em.

 

[Ohio]

so now media is reporting the nba is reconsidering moving the finals to June 2 when half our team needs to get healthy. You would think the NBA would want Irving as close to 100 percent as possible. Irving/James vs Klay/ Curry is way better then Irving at 50 percent.

Yeah, if they try to pull that shit I hope LeBron speaks up. That is bullshit...

 

[AZCavs]

As of right now, there are two teams who are holding their opponents to under 30 percent from beyond the arc in the playoffs:

The Cavs and Warriors.

 

[spydy13]

The narrative has been decided by the media:

GSW = Good guys.

CLE = Bad guys.

Can't wait to punch these fuckers in the mouth.

 

[Pioneer10]

Bro, you don't have a choice. You play him man-to-man, and you're giving up 30+ points every game.



They need Steph. Without him, they really don't have a well-tuned offense. I like the idea of constantly doubling and trapping Curry. Force Klay and Green into playing isolation. Keep Mozgov on Bogut to prevent them from funneling the offense through him.



Yeah, I have no idea why anyone thought Houston was a threat. They just got exposed, as did James Harden.



I agree.

Watched some GS playoff games and re-watched our last our last game against them.

Some things actually make me more confident playing them and others less so.
-they really thrive off Steph but also with all the shooters and unselfish play they will kill you off transition, loose balls and offensive rebounds. They can get frustrated in a half court game. If you let them up the pace and get your defense scrambling man do they murder you quick as they are always looking for an open 3 and they are willing to swing the ball around to find the open guy.

With regards to the Cavs:
-Pretty tailor made to what we are doing now. Kill the pace, high offensive efficiency, and own the glass
-Lebron has to keep the TO's low
-Mozgov really helped against GS. He was the equal of Bogut and his ability to make a jumpshot really hurt GS's ability to defend the pain. This will be even more important since we lose Love's spacing ability​

-JR Smith played a lot on Curry and appeared to be assigned as the lead shadow when Irving was lost in cross match. Shouldn't be surprising consider his playoffs but he did a very good job on Curry. Made sure to make sure Curry didn't get those easy for him catch and shoot when the defense is scrambling. Basically none of the wide open stuff Houston left him.

-We've been talking about a lot about Shump on Curry but I wouldn't be surprised if he's assigned to hound Thompson and neutralize him with JR on Curry​

-Irving is interesting. Curry with him on was able to create fairly easily in half court sets but at least Kyrie made him work on the other end. This is where a healthy Kyrie would be really helpful - Irving may give up to Curry but if he's a 100% he's capable of getting it back but also just making the guy work. Like I said GS can get frustrated.

-Finally the biggest trump card of all Lebron. He really may be able to erase any advantage he has against GSW but and this is a big but he's got to find his jumpshot. On the rewatch he easily posted up any of the GS defenders including Green but once he started hitting from outside the same thing that happened with Atl and Chi happened in that last GS game, just sucks the life out of you even if you have a player the caliber of Curry on your team.

 

[Kizzle]

Good post by @Pioneer10 and @gourimoko. Me and my friends had a huge convo about this a short time ago. I said to wall off Curry and just allow Klay and Green and Barners to do whatever they can 1 on 1. My friends aren't in depth guys so the answers they gave were answers like "Green is a beast, he can hit the 3 too!" Or "Didn't you see Klay drop 52!!?".

The Warriors are so good but NO team has 5 players who are EQUALLY important. Idc what shit the media feeds you about team ball and passing. EVERY team has a guy they NEED. Atlanta has Kyle Korver and Golden States guy is Curry. Meaning if you can somehow contain Curry that team will have HUGE problems. Yes they are a great passing team but don't act like Curry isn't HUGE for them. And people who don't think they'd lose much without Curry are just blinded by the Golden State allure. We wall off Curry and you one turn Curry into a pass first guy and I GUARUNTEE he won't want that in a close game. Then you also make his teammates win without him. ALOT about Golden States confidence is the fact that they trust and love Curry so much. He's their heart and soul and the reason they play so hard for so long

 

[Pioneer10]

Good post by @Pioneer10 and @gourimoko. Me and my friends had a huge convo about this a short time ago. I said to wall off Curry and just allow Klay and Green and Barners to do whatever they can 1 on 1. My friends aren't in depth guys so the answers they gave were answers like "Green is a beast, he can hit the 3 too!" Or "Didn't you see Klay drop 52!!?".

The Warriors are so good but NO team has 5 players who are EQUALLY important. Idc what shit the media feeds you about team ball and passing. EVERY team has a guy they NEED. Atlanta has Kyle Korver and Golden States guy is Curry. Meaning if you can somehow contain Curry that team will have HUGE problems. Yes they are a great passing team but don't act like Curry isn't HUGE for them. And people who don't think they'd lose much without Curry are just blinded by the Golden State allure. We walk off Curry and yeah we open up his teammates but we prevent so much more imo. Curry dropping 40 is crazy. At that point your better off doubling him every play and letting someone else shoot.

This is why I think we may leave Shumpert on Thompson. Cavs will likely want to shade the defense towards to Curry but I don't think they will do straight double teams as GS is too unselfish. What you don't want is to lose Curry similar to how you don't want to lose Korver off back screens and the like. Houston was awful at this, their PG would get picked and instead of constantly looking back to get to Curry would get lost in the middle. So what I expect the Cavs is to tailor the defense so somebody will always be there at 3 point line against Curry: sort of a delayed double until his primary defender can get back to them.

This will mean open jumper possibly to guys like Green and Barnes which the Cavs did allow in their last game. They will live and die with that. Know what you can't let happen is some other guy to get 40 on you and I just don't see Green/Barnes/Igou/Lee able to do this. So while I think the Cavs shade the help defense to Curry, they may assign a guy like Shumpert to pull the Korver routine and stick like a glove on Thompson. This type of defense will be very similar to won that we ran against Atlanta with the obvious difference of no going under the screens and making Curry beat you at the rim.