Playoff Positioning

Pavlovic3Ball said:

You can say that about every team in the league has "bodies" to throw at LeBron. Doesn't mean they can do anything. Barnes is too skinny and weak to guard LeBron. And Iggy wasn't even good at containing him in his prime. Kyrie just needs to make Curry work on defense. He doesn't need to outplay him. Which GS player is going to take advantage of us in the post?

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What team really kills you in the post anymore? Can't think of many.
Maybe memphis.

I don't think not having a great post option means much anymore.

Spurs beat heat last year more to do with great ball movement and having great shooters more than did killing Miami downlow.

Lebron had a very good finals last year but spurs stopped Wade and Bosh. Stopping lebron isn't going to happen and teams know this. It's making sure kyrie and love don't torch you.

That will be the key

Cavsfan161 said:

What team really kills you in the post anymore? Can't think of many.
Maybe memphis.

I don't think not having a great post option means much anymore.

Spurs beat heat last year more to do with great ball movement and having great shooters more than did killing Miami downlow.

Lebron had a very good finals last year but spurs stopped Wade and Bosh. Stopping lebron isn't going to happen and teams know this. It's making sure kyrie and love don't torch you.

That will be the key

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Sry dude. I am just not buying the Warriors beating us. LeBron has lost exactly one postseason series that didn't have a monster two-way center manning the middle of the paint. And that was Tyson Chandler who is limited offensively.

Pavlovic3Ball said:

Sry dude. I am just not buying the Warriors beating us. LeBron has lost exactly one postseason series that didn't have a monster two-way center manning the middle of the paint. And that was Tyson Chandler who is limited offensively.

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And Bogut is just as important as chandler was for that team. Dallas were bought in a similar with great ball movement and good shooters.

I like our chances but I don't think we would be favourites in that series. .not that who's favourites matters anyway though

I'mWithDan said:

I'm going against the grain here. Give me the Spurs.

In that scenario, we get home court advantage and San Antonio is a mediocre 18-18 on the road this season. Plus, we owe them some payback from 2007.

The prospect of playing a road series against a team that is 34-2 at home isn't all that appealing to me, regardless of match ups.

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This, all day long.

Hoping for either the Spurs, Thunder, Rockets, or Grizzlies to come out of the West.

I want no part of Golden State if we can avoid it.

gourimoko said:

This, all day long.

Hoping for either the Spurs, Thunder, Rockets, or Grizzlies to come out of the West.

I want no part of Golden State if we can avoid it.

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I want the Spurs. We owe them a Finals ass whooping.

A Finals series against Golden State would be exciting but I want no part of that team. People forget they're still the best team in the league by record (on pace for 65+) and their record with Bogut is simply ridiculous. Their defense and offense are both ranked #1 in the league which is something that hasn't happened in over 30 years...

Not saying we couldn't beat them. I'd just much rather take my chances with the Spurs.

Golden State's a well-oiled machine for sure but San Antonio is a well-oiled playoff machine.

But I don't particularly care which team we may get.

Anyone but the Spurs

I fear Golden state. I could see them getting hot like Orlando did, and just for a couple of games be unstoppable. On the other hand, the Spurs genuinely looked like the best team I have ever seen playing the most beautiful ball I have ever seen for 5 games last year. They execute so well, it is just unbelievable. I just have to imagine that we could exploit Golden states lacknof experience a little bit. They don't like physical play, and just aren't as deep mentally as the spurs.

Cavatt said:

I fear Golden state. I could see them getting hot like Orlando did, and just for a couple of games be unstoppable. On the other hand, the Spurs genuinely looked like the best team I have ever seen playing the most beautiful ball I have ever seen for 5 games last year. They execute so well, it is just unbelievable. I just have to imagine that we could exploit Golden states lacknof experience a little bit. They don't like physical play, and just aren't as deep mentally as the spurs.

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Exactly why I don't want to see Golden State. They could very easily just be too hot to stop, win in Cleveland, and then the Cavs are looking at having to win two games in Golden State.
Give me any team in the finals that the Cavs have homecourt against and I'm happy.

*L-Train* said:

how about neither? Go Grizzlies

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Spurs he'll of a lot tougher than warriors in the finals

The confidence from some of you all is baffling. Already planning a cavs finals trip? Apparently you don't know the history of cleveland sports. Very foolish.

Heat lose. Celtics win. Nets win.

Hawks clinched the #1 seed tonight as well.

Posted elsewhere but worth mentioning here from Lloyd. FYI, he is wrong about the back-to-backs (they have one left)

26. This concluded an absolutely brutal travel stretch that included 15 of their last 20 games on the road. That streak dates back to the game at Chicago the night before the All-Star break. Add in All-Star weekend and guys like James and Irving have been on the road for about 29 of the last 45 days. “I love waking up in my own bed,” Irving said.

27. The schedule now flips considerably. The Cavs have just two road games left, they don’t have any back-to-backs and they have plenty of time to rest up for the postseason push. Sixers on Sunday.

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To put it in a different way, the Cavs went 13-6 since the All-Star Break during a stretch featuring 14 road games in 36 days. They went 9-5 on the road and 5-0 at home, with many big wins and some underwhelming losses. If they get on a roll, they have a maximum of 17 road games (and that's only if they fall behind Chicago) left over the next 85 days. So they will be spending a lot of time at home.

The next 4 games, spread over the next 12 days, offer a preview of the stretched-out playoff timeframe. If the Cavs can play to their potential in these games, most of which have practice days in between, they'll make it very easy on themselves in terms of resting players as needed at the tail end of the year.