The Cavs are the best team in the east

[rlsmooth775]

The hawks won't be this good in the playoffs, and the bulls have been exposed big time. Derrick rose is no better than people like dion waiters at this point.

[Kingwillball]

Cavs if healthy will be team to beat in the East.

[navy]

Hawks won 18 in a row.

The Cavs are second.

[AnaheimLakers24]

Title or colossal failure.

[AnaheimLakers24]

Title or colossal failure.

[KembaWalker]

no excuses

[AintNoSunshine]

Hawks arent proven in the playoffs, I still trust my superstar when playoffs comes around.

[Rose'sACL]

Hawks

[StephHamann]

Man Cavs fans are

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/salty-concept-dark-blue-background-34918585.jpg

[SpaceJammeR]

milsap or horford gonna get injured watchhhh

[BigTicket]

I'm a Cavs fan, and I don't even believe that.

The Cavs are the 2nd best team in the east currently, but the Hawks are still clearly better.

[hawksdogsbraves]

Hawks arent proven in the playoffs, I still trust my superstar when playoffs comes around.

Did you happen to catch any of the Finals last year?

[24-Inch_Chrome]

Did you happen to catch any of the Finals last year?

The Finals where LeBron put up 28.2/7.8/4 on .571/.519/.793? The Heat may have lost but he's still a proven playoff performer.

[hawksdogsbraves]

The Finals where LeBron put up 28.2/7.8/4 on .571/.519/.793? The Heat may have lost but he's still a proven playoff performer.

Of course he is, he's one of the greatest players of all time. I'm just saying that with great coaching and team play it's very possible to beat him. He ain't Jordan.

[atljonesbro]

Hawks > Cavs until proven otherwise.

[hawkfan]

Man Cavs fans are

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/salty-concept-dark-blue-background-34918585.jpg

:cheers:

[24-Inch_Chrome]

Of course he is, he's one of the greatest players of all time. I'm just saying that with great coaching and team play it's very possible to beat him.

Ah, fair point. I just see so much shit getting tossed at the guy on these forums that I felt a need to speak up.

[Real14]

hawks wont be make east finals for sure.

[WallIn]

Blatt or Spolestra, it's irrelevant. As long as Lebron carries the team Andrew Bynum could be the coach and the Cavs would still make the playoffs.

[Fork]

I will be surprised if Hawks make ECF

[CavaliersFTW]

I doubt the Cavs will even make the Finals this year. Depending on who we face in the playoffs maybe not even ECF. There are still holes to fill on this team, and weaknesses to exploit from the eyes of the opposition.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Agreed. Just not yet record wise.

[Meticode]

Before the Cavs 9 game winning streak they were ranked 29th defensively. Since their winning streak started on January 15th they were 5th during that stretch. Since the 19th they are 1st during that stretch. Crazy turn around.

[RedBlackAttack]

This team is still just scratching the surface. I didn't think this was going to be a championship team in their first year together. I still stand by that, although that brilliant Mozgov, Shumpert, Smith for Waiters trade got us a lot closer.

If they can continue playing defense at this level and consistently incorporate Kevin Love into the offense, I might really start believing. Until then, this is a contender in the East but not the favorite... and I'd favor several teams out West over them.

[Meticode]

When Iman came in they kept talking about him taking over starting SG. With the way J.R. is playing right now, and the Cavs are, I don't think you remove J.R. from the starting spot unless it obviously isn't working.

[lilteapot]

Cavs look really, really good right now. Before the season we thought they'd be a team that thrived on transition opportunities and would score like crazy and that only happened a few times before the trades. Now they play at a much faster pace and boy it is fun to watch. They still struggle big time in a half court setting IMO

[RedBlackAttack]

Cavs look really, really good right now. Before the season we thought they'd be a team that thrived on transition opportunities and would score like crazy and that only happened a few times before the trades. Now they play at a much faster pace and boy it is fun to watch. They still struggle big time in a half court setting IMO
I wouldn't say they struggle "big time."

James and Irving seem to have found a nice balance in sharing the playmaking/scoring duties. Kyrie is shooting a ridiculous 55% from three over the course of this streak, and the vast majority of those have come in half court situations.

The difference is that, instead of having to take every jumper off the dribble as in previous years, he's actually able to spot-up for the majority of his perimeter jumpers now. Last year, he was assisted on just 45.5% of his threes. This year that number is up to 57% and climbing.

It seems to me that the ball movement has improved quite a bit since the beginning of the year. They are at their most lethal in transition as are most really talented teams, but there isn't really a dropoff in eFG% from 11-15 seconds through the shot clock (48.3%) to 16-20 seconds (47.5%).

http://www.82games.com/1415/1415CLE3.HTM

That's the sign of a team that can either play fast or slow it down pretty effectively. If you click around on 82games.com, you'll see that their efficiency is pretty good regardless of how quick they go.

Memphis, who most people think of as a half court team, shoots a significantly lower percentage from 11-20 seconds on the shot clock.

[AintNoSunshine]

Did you happen to catch any of the Finals last year?
:wtf: Are you really comparing your pathetic Hawks team who hasnt seen the second round for decades to THE best ran and most successful organization in the NBA? Yeah you are having an exciting regular season run so far, congrats but whens the last time the Hawks won a Playoffs series? Dont get ahead of yourself and enjoy it while it last.