The NBA

[MVFrostsMyPie]

6 minutes ago, Rick Kitchen said:

 

Hush, I'm ignoring that game.

I'm a masochist, I think. :-\

[lam48]

If Cavs lose this series, where do they go from here? Especially if they are swept or only win a game.

Their team isn’t good enough to beat the Warriors or probably several teams in the West for a championship. Yet, this is the team that LeBron wanted. He got Andrew Wiggins traded, and got Kevin Love to come to Cleveland. He made sure the owner overpaid both Love and Tristian Thompson. He helped facilitate David Blatt’s exit, even though the team was #1 in the East under Blatt. He made all of these moves and his team probably will lose again this year, with a healthier squad than last year’s.

I don’t know what this Cavs team can do in the offseason to make this team better.

Honestly, I think LeBron should not have jumped ship from Miami as quickly as he did. He went to four straight finals with them and was only one year removed from a championship win, when he decided to go back to Cleveland. I think he should have given Miami at least one more year to make that team better. That squad was better than this Cavs squad.

Edited June 6, 2016 by lam48

[isalicat]

No, no....the Giants have to win too...its an even year and it is destined by the baseball Gods that it shall be so! Plus if the Sharks pull it out in some sort of incredible miracle it would be necessary for the first in the year trifecta anywhere and you know that of all places the San Francisco Bay Area deserves this :)

besides all my previous dribble...that was a lovely game and go Dray - you rocked the Oracle tonight in the most splendid display evah!

[Fukui San]

So as enjoyable as it is to see LeBron getting his teeth kicked in figuratively, it's sobering that the Celtics, and probably every team from the #2 seed on down in the East, are at least a Kevin Durant-caliber player away from being competitive with the Cavs, who are in turn a Russell Westbrook caliber player away from being competitive with the Warriors.

That being said, Kevin please come to Boston. We have draft picks up the wazoo!

[MVFrostsMyPie]

44 minutes ago, isalicat said:

No, no....the Giants have to win too...its an even year and it is destined by the baseball Gods that it shall be so! Plus if the Sharks pull it out in some sort of incredible miracle it would be necessary for the first in the year trifecta anywhere and you know that of all places the San Francisco Bay Area deserves this :)

besides all my previous dribble...that was a lovely game and go Dray - you rocked the Oracle tonight in the most splendid display evah!

Ha I was thinking to myself, "oh my gosh, I can't keep track of all these games I have to watch and which day is what game! the sharks yesterday, the warriors today, the giants almost every day". Then I laughed at myself... what a good problem to have. #bayareasports

ETA: The Giants better get through June with their lead still intact!!

Edited June 6, 2016 by MattDuffysCat

[twoods]

2 hours ago, lyric said:

I really hope the next games are better, because this Finals series is BORING.

The Cavs were more entertaining last year with all those injuries- at least they were up 2-1 in the series. They will be lucky not to get swept this year.

Im resigned to the fact that nobody can beat the Warriors for the next few years as long as they are this deep. Byron Scott could have coaches this team and it would be the same outcome. They are way too good and others step it up when their leaders aren't doing so well. Stupid Thunder- you guys were the best chance and had it up until the last 10 minutes when Westbrook went in typical selfish mode. How they dismantled the Warriors for three games really showed me how good they were. The Cavs don't seem to care. 

[lam48]

6 hours ago, twoods said:

 

Im resigned to the fact that nobody can beat the Warriors for the next few years as long as they are this deep...Thunder- you guys were the best chance and had it up until the last 10 minutes when Westbrook went in typical selfish mode. How they dismantled the Warriors for three games really showed me how good they were. The Cavs don't seem to care. 

The Thunder can do it, if they become mentally tougher. They are about the only ones that are capable of beating the Warriors right now.

Warriors are a great team and are so very deep. They are the type of team that could win like 5 championships within a decade. (Maybe more frequently than that.). At the very least I could see them winning three or four within the next few years.

I don't think that the Cavs don't care, it just they aren't good enough to beat the Warriors. There are people, (many reporters)  that were under the assumption that any team with LeBron can automatically win a championship. And we're finding out that isn't the case. LeBron is one of the greatest players in the world, but he can't do it on his own. It feels like that is what he's trying to do right now. 

This situation also continues to highlight the weak state of the East. Maybe some East teams can snag away a few players from the West like Blake Griffin or even someone like Dwight Howard to help make them more competitive. Kevin Durant needs to stay in Oklahoma, for the time being though. He'd have an easier path to the finals in the East, but there isn't any team in the east that is a better team for him than the Thunder.

Edited June 6, 2016 by lam48

[Magog]

I can't put a happy face on last night's performance because there is none. I actually turned the game off halfway through the 4th Quarter. Its like I was watching the New York Knicks or the Houston Rockets & their "fake hustle" instead of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Clippers lost Chris Paul & Blake Griffith in the playoffs & the Trail Blazers had no chance of beating the Warriors, but they put up more of a fight in their losses to the Warriors than the Cavaliers did last night (especially in the 2nd half). This was an epic fail on so many levels. 

I don't know if there is any pride left on this team for Game 3, but that kind of stuff is gone right now & it might not come back. Stephen Curry & Klay Thompson hasn't done much yet in the Finals & they can't find a way to get a split in the series. 

 

Quote

He got Andrew Wiggins traded, and got Kevin Love to come to Cleveland. He made sure the owner overpaid both Love and Tristian Thompson. He helped facilitate David Blatt’s exit, even though the team was #1 in the East under Blatt. He made all of these moves and his team probably will lose again this year, with a healthier squad than last year’s.

I don’t know what this Cavs team can do in the offseason to make this team better.

I don't know what they can do in the offseason, but there probably need to be some major soul-searching. Andrew Wiggins should still be on this team. I was very high on him & he would of been very useful on the Cavaliers. He would of put more of an effort last night. Kevin Love still hasn't won me over & this Finals (though he got hurt last night) is certainly not helping.

[kdm07]

Watched this game with my brother while the majority of my attention was on the Copa America match going on at the same time. Even with that little of my attention span on the NBA, the lack of fight/hustle from the Cavs on show was embarrassing. You're in the NBA finals, you have to do better than that. I sincerely hope that they don't perform that way in Game 3 at Cleveland because their fans deserve more than that from their team.

[FuriousStyles]

The league has itself to blame for what's happening with the Warriors. They are just the natural result of whats been going on the last 2 decades or so.  First in order to win a chip you needed 1 all time great player.  Then to beat that, you needed a 1, 2 punch (Shaq-Kobe for example). Then to beat that, you needed a "big 3".  The Warriors are a complete team who can beat you in so many different ways.  

Hopefully, other teams (namely the Knicks) take note and if they want to follow what the Warriors have done they wont just look at Xs and Os but more importantly how the Warriors built themselves up in the draft and picked up a few free agents that werent necessarily huge big name players at the time. The days of just grabbing the biggest name in free agency to compete for championships are over. GMs are gonna really have to do some work.

[Rick Kitchen]

Sean Rooks interviewed for a coaching position with the Knicks earlier today, and this evening collapsed and died in a restaurant.

[twoods]

So sad. He was a class act while on the Lakers, and seemed to be doing well after he retired. Praying for his family.

[Maximum Taco]

On 6/5/2016 at 11:32 PM, isalicat said:

No, no....the Giants have to win too...its an even year and it is destined by the baseball Gods that it shall be so! Plus if the Sharks pull it out in some sort of incredible miracle it would be necessary for the first in the year trifecta anywhere and you know that of all places the San Francisco Bay Area deserves this :)

besides all my previous dribble...that was a lovely game and go Dray - you rocked the Oracle tonight in the most splendid display evah!

Don't think the Sharks are pulling it out. The games seem close but the Penguins are just dominating them.

The trifecta is tough.

[isalicat]

Exactly, Maximum Taco, which is why it is so incredibly rare (perhaps never to be done). I don't really enjoy watching ice hockey unfortunately so even a half of the last Sharks game was a bit much for me. And the Giants are struggling with key injuries yet again (poor Hunter Pence!). But tonight! should be very, very interesting. Go Warriors!

[mojoween]

I don't see a WNBA topic...I find it interesting that in ten games so far this season, the Seattle Storm have six losses.

In Breanna Stewart's entire four years at UConn, she was 151-5.

[Sew Sumi]

On 6/5/2016 at 10:00 PM, twoods said:

The Cavs were more entertaining last year with all those injuries- at least they were up 2-1 in the series. They will be lucky not to get swept this year.

Im resigned to the fact that nobody can beat the Warriors for the next few years as long as they are this deep. Byron Scott could have coaches this team and it would be the same outcome. They are way too good and others step it up when their leaders aren't doing so well. Stupid Thunder- you guys were the best chance and had it up until the last 10 minutes when Westbrook went in typical selfish mode. How they dismantled the Warriors for three games really showed me how good they were. The Cavs don't seem to care. 

Nope. The Dubs will lose tonight. They have lost Game 3 in every series thus far, and the Cavs are obviously smarting from Sunday. And being 9-2 Cavs at the moment, I think my prediction will hold up, and this series will go to 5 games. 

[twoods]

You seem to be right judging by the score so far. Glad the Cavs won't get swept and played well in front of their fans. 

[Jx223]

Cavs gave a much better effort tonight to win game 3. They played really good on both sides of the ball. I am glad that they won't get swept. Kyrie jump started things for them by starting off hot and LeBron had a nice solid game. I thought that Tristian Thompson was very effective tonight too. When LeBron was struggling earlier on, he kept things alive by getting offensive rebounds and scoring some points off of those.

Richard Jefferson also provided a nice spark for the team tonight and JR actually showed up tonight.. Good overall team performance tonight. Steph struggled early on but started to warm up some at the end. I wouldn't be surprised if he finally gets hot again in one of these upcoming games left. I also wonder how Klay's injury will affect his performance in upcoming games.   I also wonder what will happen if Kevin Love is cleared to return for game 4. 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Jx223

[Carey]

Looks like we have a series. Though that's what was said about San Jose in the NHL and that team could be dusting off the golf gear by this time tomorrow.  I have no idea what'll happen in Game 4. If Steph returns to form, as mentioned, it could be a close game.  Curry right now has no shot at his first Finals MVP, but I think he'll earn it by default if, say, he makes a winning shot at the buzzer on the road, followed by "vintage" Steph in Game 5.  That alone would have the voters forgive him for doing very little in these first three games (foul trouble doesn't help)

[mojoween]

Shut up, media.

You can't say that part of the reason the Cavs lost the Series last year is because Love was hurt and part of the reason the Cavs won Game 3 this year is because Love was hurt.

[Magog]

I think I'm really going to vomit. Stephen Curry & Klay Thompson finally showed up and burned us. I was very confident tonight, but I had a bad feeling that they may actually show up tonight after being MIA in the first 3 games & unfortunately, they did. The Cavaliers also can't seem to buy a basket in the 4th Quarter & the Warriors bench did their job as usual. Even that Anderson Varajeo helped out. Its going to take more than an Pepto Bismol to get rid of this stomachache.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Magog

[Jx223]

The cavs let a good oppoturnity to tie up this series slip away from them tonight.I had thought that they could have won tonight's game. They started out being competitive and playing well in tonight's game but things went downhill for them towards the end of the game. I feel like a big part of this loss is on LeBron. He wasn't aggressive enough tonight and seemed too passive. He should have been looking to score more IMHO. He seemed a bit lackluckster at times tonight.  

Kyrie hustled and tried to fight and Tristian grabbed a nice amount of boards in the first half, but that wasn't enough.  They needed LeBron to step up more and he didn't. Other players also didn't do so well, including Iman Shumpert who hasn't been playing well this entire series. Iman played pretty poorly tonight. 

I also lol'ed a little bit at LeBron jawing with Draymond and Steph towards the the end of the game. 

Edited June 11, 2016 by Jx223

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Waaaarrriors!

Was that Usher who totally got ignored by Lebron as he was running into the locker room with his tail between his legs?

[isalicat]

Waaaaaaaaaarrrioooors!

Wow - LeBron got owned tonight. Kudos to the other Thompson and Kyrie for excellent effort but when Klay and Steph come out to play and Draymond remembers to just walk away from those volatile moments, its Warrrrrrrriors!

series MVP: Draymond and then Draymond as runner up.

[FuriousStyles]

I think whoever has a big night on Monday for the Warriors will win MVP.  Draymond had a big game in game 2. Steph had a big one last night. It'll be interesting if both are quiet and then Klay goes off in Game 5. Cause really who the hell do you give the MVP to then? 

Im glad we got at least one decent game out of this series. Such a shame that it seems the chip was really won in the West Conference Finals.  The East is terrible.  

[Ohwell]

Question for the Cavs fans (and I am not being snarky here because I'm a lowly Wizards fan):  If the Cavs lose, do the fans still want LeBron to stay, or will they care at all if he leaves?  

[AimingforYoko]

2 hours ago, Ohwell said:

If the Cavs lose, do the fans still want LeBron to stay, or will they care at all if he leaves?  

Considering that they would be a lottery team without him, I'd think they'd prefer he stay. Love might end up trade bait, though.

[twoods]

14 hours ago, isalicat said:

 

series MVP: Draymond and then Draymond as runner up.

It's a sad day when the possible MVP is a guy who continually hits players in the groin. When is the league going to decide that enough is enough? The rest of the team are pretty classy and respectful- don't know why he continues to act like a fool.

Edited June 11, 2016 by twoods

[Ohwell]

2 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Considering that they would be a lottery team without him, I'd think they'd prefer he stay. Love might end up trade bait, though.

Ok, thanks.  I stopped listening to the ESPN bigmouths.  I just wondered what the fans thought.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

6 hours ago, twoods said:

It's a sad day when the possible MVP is a guy who continually hits players in the groin. When is the league going to decide that enough is enough? The rest of the team are pretty classy and respectful- don't know why he continues to act like a fool.

I don't know, maybe Lebron could also not continue stepping over Draymond and putting his crotch in his face. Not everyone wants your balls, Lebron. 

Edited June 12, 2016 by MattDuffysCat

[twoods]

54 minutes ago, MattDuffysCat said:

I don't know, maybe Lebron could also not continue stepping over Draymond and putting his crotch in his face. Not everyone wants your balls, Lebron. 

Haha touché. Also true. It's crazy seeing grown men act like a bunch of preschoolers. 

[Dejana]

Draymond Green suspended for Game 5

[lam48]

52 minutes ago, Dejana said:

Draymond Green suspended for Game 5

I can understand people thinking that Draymond has deserved to be suspended for his various actions this season especially in these playoffs. He has kicked several people, including in the groin area. I think that a lot of this has to do with him excessively flopping/trying to sell a call. I think that this might be more of the case than him being a very dirty player.

But I actually don't think that Draymond should have been suspended for this game. Just let him and the rest of the guys play. I don't think that him mouthing off with LeBron, doing some trash talking is really a big deal. It looked like he may have went near LeBron's groin area, BUT LeBron did step over him. In a situation like this, I just think that the official should let things go and let the teams finish up this series.

This move by the league to suspend Draymond right now, IMO makes it look like they are catering to LeBron/trying to extend this series.  

Edited June 12, 2016 by lam48

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Even sweeter will the Warriors' victory be. Eat my shorts, Lebron & all your followers.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Even sweeter will the Warriors' victory be. Eat my shorts, Lebron & all your followers.

[isalicat]

I am so calling this Draymond suspension complete shenanigans on the part of the NBA to get this series to go seven games (or even better clearly from the NBA's point of view to somehow engineer a Cavs championship). Appalling in the extreme for a basketball fan. Hopefully the Roaracle will let LeWhine know what the fans think every second he touches the ball and the other Warriors will step up and play as the brilliant team we know they can be and *crush* the Cavs tomorrow night. Fuming!

[Maximum Taco]

I fully agree with this suspension. He should've been suspended when he kicked Adams in the groin. He got that one for free, and now he has to pay up. Them's the rules.

What's I think is excessively harsh is that under NBA rules Draymond can't even be in the building when they play, unless he wants to give up a game check ($140,000 to him)

So he either pays 140 grand for a ticket to Game 5, or he potentially misses his own team winning the championship, and not celebrating with them. Or in the worst case scenario he pays 140 grand to watch his team lose.

[lam48]

2 hours ago, isalicat said:

I am so calling this Draymond suspension complete shenanigans on the part of the NBA to get this series to go seven games (or even better clearly from the NBA's point of view to somehow engineer a Cavs championship). Appalling in the extreme for a basketball fan. Hopefully the Roaracle will let LeWhine know what the fans think every second he touches the ball and the other Warriors will step up and play as the brilliant team we know they can be and *crush* the Cavs tomorrow night. Fuming!

LeBron knew what we was doing when he was basically hinting that he wanted the league to do something about Draymond. As if Draymond's comments were the worst thing ever said on a basketball court. His comments probably weren't even the worst comments said to LeBron by someone in the game. 

Draymond did put himself at risk when he kept flopping/kicking at/kicking people. But I believe that in this particular situation the league should have let by gones be by gones and just let everyone finish out the series. 

It's like LeBron/NBA is using this incident  to try and buy the Cavs an extra game. Regardless, Cavs are going to lose this series. 

Edited June 12, 2016 by lam48

[AimingforYoko]

I'm afraid this will spell doom for the Cavaliers. There was a chance (albeit, very small) that the W's could've thought this was in the bag. Now they'll be pissed off.

[xaxat]

I don't see shenanigans because I think the upgrade of Draymond's nutshot to a flagrant one foul was the correct call. Once that happened, the rules dictated he be suspended because he had committed three flagrant fouls during the playoffs.

[Maximum Taco]

22 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

I'm afraid this will spell doom for the Cavaliers. There was a chance (albeit, very small) that the W's could've thought this was in the bag. Now they'll be pissed off.

I actually think this will be good for the Cavs.

The Warriors play their best when they are calm. When they get pissed off they get undisciplined, and Curry's been racking up the fouls in these Finals.

[twoods]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

I don't see shenanigans because I think the upgrade of Draymond's nutshot to a flagrant one foul was the correct call. Once that happened, the rules dictated he be suspended because he had committed three flagrant fouls during the playoffs.

Exactly. Maybe he shouldn't have kicked a guy in the crotch TWICE in one series. If he didn't have the other two flagrants he wouldn't have been suspended. He put himself in this position and serves him right when he misses his team celebrating their championship when he's not in the building. He needs to grow the fuck up. 

Edited June 13, 2016 by twoods

[MVFrostsMyPie]

"So LeBron, can you show us where Draymond hit you?"

[Magog]

Quote

If the Cavs lose, do the fans still want LeBron to stay, or will they care at all if he leaves?  

Considering that they would be a lottery team without him, I'd think they'd prefer he stay. Love might end up trade bait, though.

He might as well stay. If he leaves again, they might as well just imploded that arena (Quicken Loans Arena) & fold the team. The Cavaliers will be like the Knicks without Le Bron James. 

 

As for Game 5, I don't even know if the Cavs are even going to win this game tonight. My stomach was turning after game 4 & I know that Stephen Curry & Klay Thompson are laughing at us & wanting to finish us off. And I'm certain that ESPN want the Warriors to win tonight. ESPN has been on their bandwagon all season long (Constant puff pieces about Stephen Curry all the time. Watching those is stomach bleeding inducing.) & they love to see Cleveland suffer through another sports agony. 

Edited June 13, 2016 by Magog

[Jx223]

Great game tonight by Kyrie and LeBron to extend this series to a game 6. I am glad that we are getting at least one more game in this series They showed up tonight and got things done for the Cavs. I was very impressed with Kyrie in particular. He really hustled and played with heart.  Things will get even more interesting with Draymond returning for next game. I hope that Bogut injury isn’t too serious, but I think that it may be.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Jx223

[Carey]

Bogut likely being done might not matter since GSW is getting a rested Draymond back.  Barring a Lance Stephenson to LeBron James rehash that might piss off Green, it's more a matter of when and not if.  But that's why they play the game.  No matter what, hats off to Cleveland for not burning out and making this a series.  I'll have to make up for sleep (in advance) on Tuesday & Wednesday since Thursday is going to be a great night!

[Maximum Taco]

WOW. 41 points each for the King and Kyrie. And the Dubs were no slouches either, Klay was a 3 away from joining them in 40 pointland.

I'm glad this went atleast 6, and we had a game like this. Hopefully Game 6 is even closer.

Just unbelievable.

[twoods]

42 three point attempts? The Warriors really do live or die by that shot. Hats off to Kyrie and Lebron for literally putting their team on their backs. Hope they keep it up in game 6 and don't fade away. I'd rather have the Warriors win in front of their fans game 7 than the poor Cleveland fans suffer yet again.

[isalicat]

Great game (previously) by LeBron and the NBA to keep Draymond out of action and extend the series to a game 6. I don't have a clue as to what is wrong with Steph other than exhaustion and nagging unhealed injuries. But this game was a woeful defensive effort on the part of the Dubs and I trust the impending smell of champagne in the visitor locker room in Cleveland will be sufficient motivation to win there but if not....oh my God, back to our home turf for Game 7!

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I think bay area teams are just destined never to actually clinch the win on home turf. I think only the A's have done that, and that was back in the 70s.