Cavs look better than GSW

[oh the horror]

For all that talk about how far and wide the margin is between these two teams and the Warriors being "historically" great and blah blah blah BS


The two games I've watched here so far Cleveland looks like they're in control of these games and for the most part it seems like the Warriors keep playing catch up. Mind you these first two have been in Golden State.


Am I the only one seeing Cleveland being a lot better than people are giving them credit for?

[RRR3]

They're surprising for sure. Especially since LeBron has seen better days.

[Mrofir]

For all that talk about how far and wide the margin is between these two teams and the Warriors being "historically" great and blah blah blah BS


The two games I've watched here so far Cleveland looks like they're in control of these games and for the most part it seems like the Warriors keep playing catch up. Mind you these first two have been in Golden State.


Am I the only one seeing Cleveland being a lot better than people are giving them credit for?


nah dude lebron is legit playing at a ridiculous level right now. GSW still hasn't found their rhythm though.


-- Not a lebron stan

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

Warriors are overrated historically but theyll still win. Houston looked better than GS the first 2 games too

[navy]

The difference is when Lebron is on he's on. But then the second he waivers the Warriors are clearly the better team. He's been terrible and tired in the 2nd half and the Cavs have no other options.


So far he has done just enough to give the team a chance in both games.

If the Cavs want to win the series he will need to win at least a game or 2 single handily. Not these half jobs he's put in so far.

[Straight_Ballin]

Lebron plays good for 3 quarters and then he chokes when the game is on the line. This results in the other players stepping up.

Delly AT HOME with his confidence level as high as it is?

JR due to hit 8-12 3's in the next 2 games at home?

It's anyone's game. At least we have an interesting series.

[Dubs510]

warriors could easily be down 0-2 right now :facepalm

[DaSeba5]

Like I said before, they seem like a boom or bust team. When the 3 point shot is not falling, they seem lost and they start chucking on offense. That's why they could win the next 3 games by blow outs, lose the next 3 games by blowouts, or win a grind out series in 6 or 7. This series is so unpredictable because you don't know what GS team will show up. On paper GS should dominate this series with Cleveland relying so heavily on 1 player, but Cavs have definitely looked like the better team.

Plus LeBron has been lights out besides in crunch time.

[Straight_Ballin]

warriors could easily be down 0-2 right now :facepalm

And they could just as easily be up 2-0 right now.

[oh the horror]

nah dude lebron is legit playing at a ridiculous level right now. GSW still hasn't found their rhythm though.


-- Not a lebron stan




Are they out of rhythm because of themselves or because Cleveland is giving them a hard time? That's what I'm saying dude. Cleveland is giving it to them.

[ALBballer]

I wouldn't say looked better but GSW are being exposed a bit. They're offense relies too heavily on 3's and when they're not falling it's not a pretty sight.

[DaSeba5]

Are they out of rhythm because of themselves or because Cleveland is giving them a hard time? That's what I'm saying dude. Cleveland is giving it to them.

Well they missed a lot of open looks too. I guess the answer is both. Once they start chucking, they lose all confidence in their 3 pointers and keep shooting them anyways.

Cleveland's defense has been lights out, but GS' offense is being exposed as predictable.

[PWB15]

The way GS looked in Games 4 and 5 vs Houston should have told you they would not run all over cleveland in the finals

[J Shuttlesworth]

They are playing to Cleveland's tempo

I think there was a point with like 2 minutes left in the 3rd and neither team had 60 points

Think about that... GSW under 60 near the end of the 3rd

It was an overtime game under 100 pts on both sides. That pace favors cleveland for sure

Warriors tried to really push it in the first 2 quarters, but it didn't really work out

[Mrofir]

Are they out of rhythm because of themselves or because Cleveland is giving them a hard time? That's what I'm saying dude. Cleveland is giving it to them.


Well I think there's two ways this could play out -- it could be like the Memphis series where GSW makes some adjustments, finds their rhythm and obliterates the Cavs...

Or they could fail to find a rhythm and we could be looking at a long series with a bunch of ugly but exciting games and Lebron will decide who wins.

I'm actually hoping for the 2nd scenario as an NBA fan -- coaching battle will go a long way to determine which scenario. I still think on paper GSW does indeed have a huge talent advantage, but I agree with your OP that Cavs have been in control of the majority of games 1 and 2.


I'm definitely gonna be watching

[DaSeba5]

They are playing to Cleveland's tempo

I think there was a point with like 2 minutes left in the 3rd and neither team had 60 points

Think about that... GSW under 60 near the end of the 3rd

It was an overtime game under 100 pts on both sides. That pace favors cleveland for sure

Warriors tried to really push it in the first 2 quarters, but it didn't really work out

Agreed.

[RedBlackAttack]

I don't want to get too optimistic because this series could still end relatively quickly with the way we have been decimated by injuries, but one thing I have been maintaining all playoffs long is that Golden State is simply not the historically great team they've been billed by many. I just don't see it when I watch them play. The Spurs were the team I feared most in the West. That hasn't changed.

I also predicted that the Cavs would out-fight the Warriors and, while they might win, they'd have to earn it. I was very disappointed by their opponents in the West in terms of the level of physicality. Too many times GS was allowed to prance up and down the court with little to no resistance, even against supposed hard-nosed teams like Memphis.

The Bulls-Cavs played one of the most physical series I have seen in a long time and the Warriors just hadn't seen that level of toughness. I think it has been a bit of a shock to them.

Great win tonight, but we have to take care of business at home or it is a moot point. The good news is that role players almost always play better at home. And since we are down to LeBron and role players, that's good news for us.

[DonDadda59]

Which is sad because they are far less talented. GSW is just playing the softest brand of basketball I've ever seen in a finals. It's kind of infuriating because they have so many good athletes yet all they do is chuck terrible 3s. It's gotten to the point that they willingly pass up wide open layups/dunks to kick it out to someone covered so they can chuck a terrible shot.

Cavs are doing a great job of playing up on them defensively, especially in transition. Really exposed how one dimensional their offense is.

Blatt is really outcoaching Kerr badly out there. Had Mosgov looking like David Robinson against the Warriors small front court. :lol

[oh the horror]

I don't want to get too optimistic because this series could still end relatively quickly with the way we have been decimated by injuries, but one thing I have been maintaining all playoffs long is that Golden State is simply not the historically great team they've been billed by many. I just don't see it when I watch them play. The Spurs were the team I feared most in the West. That hasn't changed.

I also predicted that the Cavs would out-fight the Warriors and, while they might win, they'd have to earn it. I was very disappointed by their opponents in the West in terms of the level of physicality. Too many times GS was allowed to prance up and down the court with little to no resistance, even against supposed hard-nosed teams like Memphis.

The Bulls-Cavs played one of the most physical series I have seen in a long time and the Warriors just hadn't seen that level of toughness. I think it has been a bit of a shock to them.

Great win tonight, but we have to take care of business at home or it is a moot point. The good news is that role players almost always play better at home. And since we are down to LeBron and role players, that's good news for us.




Imo Spurs given this same Cavs team would have had the ability to sweep them more than this Warriors team. Spurs have the right kind of players/bigs and game plan to get it done with ease given clevelands injuries.


I mean for christs sake....golden state shot 35 threes tonight.

[plowking]

Weren't people saying how good this GSW team was prior to this, and how West basketball was on another level? Also how the so called good defense and low scores was a mask, and that it was actually sloppy and terrible basketball?

Well, now these games look exactly like those East games in the playoffs.

The people who tried to make Chicago look like a joke squad really don't know much about ball. They gave Cleveland a hell of a lot of problems, and were a shot away from going up 3-1 and probably winning the series after that. People acted as if the Cavs breezed through them.

[J Shuttlesworth]

I don't want to get too optimistic because this series could still end relatively quickly with the way we have been decimated by injuries, but one thing I have been maintaining all playoffs long is that Golden State is simply not the historically great team they've been billed by many. I just don't see it when I watch them play. The Spurs were the team I feared most in the West. That hasn't changed.

I also predicted that the Cavs would out-fight the Warriors and, while they might win, they'd have to earn it. I was very disappointed by their opponents in the West in terms of the level of physicality. Too many times GS was allowed to prance up and down the court with little to no resistance, even against supposed hard-nosed teams like Memphis.

The Bulls-Cavs played one of the most physical series I have seen in a long time and the Warriors just hadn't seen that level of toughness. I think it has been a bit of a shock to them.

Great win tonight, but we have to take care of business at home or it is a moot point. The good news is that role players almost always play better at home. And since we are down to LeBron and role players, that's good news for us.
Thing that worries me the most is that the Cavs just played 2 overtime games.

LeBron played 50 minutes tonight.
Again, LeBron played 50 minutes tonight.
In case you didn't hear me, LeBron played 50 minutes tonight.

There is only 1 day rest between games this time. ****ing JR Smith and his dumb fouls basically forced overtime when the game should have been over :facepalm

Fatigue is easily the biggest concern right now... and then game three will be Thursday. No more 2 day rest until before game 4. Warriors have an edge with their depth, and if the Cavs are tired, they will be in trouble.

What really kept the Cavs in the game was offensive rebounding, and low turnovers. 55 rebounds for Cleveland, 45 for GSW, 13 turnovers for CLE, 18 for GSW

Look at the shooting percentages:
http://i.imgur.com/8RimBmR.png
I'm hoping this can increase across the board. TT was pretty awful offensively outside of some of those hustle rebounds. Mozgov was playing pretty well. If they can get someone to catch fire in game 3, Cavs can take another W :bowdown:

[Megabox!]

The fact that GSW didn't break 100pts even in OT tells you a lot about how good the Cavs have gotten on defense. That Bulls series really helped the Cavs in terms of grinding out tough wins

[sfballa13]

Not only do the Cavs look better they dominated both Games 1 and 2 and were a few calls (Mozgov travel specifically) from winning Game 1 and being up 2-0

The refs completely bailed out Golden State and made it interesting at the end otherwise this was a Cavs win through and through

With the refs on their side through two games, Lebron shooting poorly, Kyrie not 50% in game 1 and injured and out in game 2, no Love, and the Cavs are tied 1-1. Unbelievable when you think about it.

Curry airballs the final shot to win the game

MVP! MVP! MVP!

[Leftimage]

For all that talk about how far and wide the margin is between these two teams and the Warriors being "historically" great and blah blah blah BS


The two games I've watched here so far Cleveland looks like they're in control of these games and for the most part it seems like the Warriors keep playing catch up. Mind you these first two have been in Golden State.


Am I the only one seeing Cleveland being a lot better than people are giving them credit for?

I'm not overly surprised. I called Cavs in 6 before Kyrie injury and after seeing Delly tonight I'm sticking with my prediction.

I think the whole 'West is way better than East' theory is off. The east 'style' is tougher and different, not all West contenders adjust well to it.

This is why imo the East vs West playoff format is nice as it is. It creates some unexpected results in the finals at times. East teams are way more physical. The Heat were almost always the more physical team in their recent finals runs, despite being known more as flashy & fast by east standards (compared to Bulls, Indiana, former Boston).

The west may have more contenders but this whole idea that the Cavs would lose to a lower-seed west team had always been a joke to me. A lot of folks out there including analysts seemed to have bought into it big time though.

[Timmy D for MVP]

I wouldn't say they look better than the Warriors but they certainly look more ready to play. It looked like maybe GSW knocked out the cobwebs at the end of game 1 but the Cavs took it to them in Game 2.

Add that to the fact that the best player is on the Cavs and results like this aren't too surprising. I still like the Warriors to take this.