CAVS / NETS GAME 6

[Dozen]

BTW, I don't expect LeBron to be MJ; I only bring that up because he decided to wear #23. If he wants to be MJ, he needs to show the fire that MJ had.

I do, however, expect LeBron to be Larry Bird.

Interesting statistical note: According to basketball-reference.com, LeBron's first 4 seasons (in order) are most similar to: Ricky Davis (2002-03), Grant Hill (1998-99), Tracy McGrady (2004-05), and Grant Hill (1999-00).

Also, according to that site, he has led the league that last two years in a metric they call Player Wins.

I just want a damn championship.

You can't go a day without the media comparing LBJ to Jordan and it's so tiresome. I dont want Jordan. I want LBJ to have his own legacy that when it's all said and done it wont even be a thought. This may be the best shot at a title that we have though. I dont know if LBJ stays when his contract is up but I do know they have made some bad choices around him and I dont know if they can get out of this before it's too late. The role players are the key to the rest of the post-season.

[consigliere]

Final Four is set: San Antonio, Utah, Detroit and Cleveland.

Woot.

[FUDU]

OK, I totally missed the game but I know we won, and am now looking at the box score.

Am I dreaming or did Marshall actually put on a uni tonight and supposedly hit 6 3's?

[Dozen]

OK, I totally missed the game but I know we won, and am now looking at the box score.

Am I dreaming or did Marshall actually put on a uni tonight and supposedly hit 6 3's?

On his B-day to boot!

[StewieG]

You are not dreaming. Marshall was huge tonight. He's the reason we're in Detroit on Monday, and not playing game 7 on Sunday. No doubt. He was that big.

[Dozen]

BTW, I don't expect LeBron to be MJ; I only bring that up because he decided to wear #23. If he wants to be MJ, he needs to show the fire that MJ had.

I do, however, expect LeBron to be Larry Bird.

Interesting statistical note: According to basketball-reference.com, LeBron's first 4 seasons (in order) are most similar to: Ricky Davis (2002-03), Grant Hill (1998-99), Tracy McGrady (2004-05), and Grant Hill (1999-00).

Also, according to that site, he has led the league that last two years in a metric they call Player Wins.

I just want a damn championship.

I'll give some "Interesting statistical notes" LBJ became the 3rd player in playoff history that has 250pts, 75 asst, and 75 rebounds this far into the playoffs. McGrady hasnt even made into the 2nd rd in his career. Listen LBJ is still 22 yrs old. He has the most overpaid underperforming cast around him than those he's compared to. Hype is Hype, in this era of endorsements, internet ect. none of these he's compared to have ever had to deal with this. ESPN has a zillion channels................ sit back and just soak it in because we may never ever have a talent this special again in our lives..............

[leadpipe]

If the Spurs can beat the Suns, I love our chances against any of the remaining three of Detroit, Utah and San Antonio.

How in the world, after watching this series, can this be true?

[Dozen]

If the Spurs can beat the Suns, I love our chances against any of the remaining three of Detroit, Utah and San Antonio.

How in the world, after watching this series, can this be true?

Hey, going into the playoff's I would have said the same thing........however I wouldnt say this right now. The Spurs are such a well-balanced team its silly. I was caught up into the Mavericks/Suns being the elite teams but again.......DEFENSE wins CHAMPIONSHIPS

[pup]

How in the world, after watching this series, can this be true?

Two reasons:

1 - The Cavs can defend with anyone out there.
2 - The Cavs play to their level of competition.

[consigliere]

If the Spurs can beat the Suns, I love our chances against any of the remaining three of Detroit, Utah and San Antonio.

How in the world, after watching this series, can this be true?

Well, I should have explained my thought process more there.

Not saying we can or will beat the Pistons, Jazz or Spurs....I just like our chances a helluva lot more against them than I would against the Suns, Mavericks, and Warriors.

I think the banging and lockdown, low-scoring defensive struggles fit us much better....which is what it will be against any of the other Final Four teams.

[jb]

If the Spurs can beat the Suns, I love our chances against any of the remaining three of Detroit, Utah and San Antonio.

How in the world, after watching this series, can this be true?

I'm 100% witchu Pipe.

I should be excited.

I'm not. I'm irritated and pissed at this bunch.

I wondered aloud during qaurter 3 if it was possible to fire a coach DURING a game. How after the last game that group couldn't attack a simple 2 - 3 collapsing zone you see in CYO ball is God's own private mystery. Are they coached at all, and if so, do they listen one iota?

I don't think the Detroit series goes 6 games.

They should almost just say "no thanks" to moving on.

Bron's post game interview was nauseating. The reason he carries an albatross isn't just solely becaue MJ was MJ. It is becasue of last night in microcasm.

Did you SEE quarters one and 4? With effort and will, he's unstoppable. He could be as good as MJ because MJ played that way for 48 until he was in he is early 30's and if you were playing with him and didn't he put a foot in your ass.

Did you see quarters 2 and 3? And make no mistake, it was lazy and stupid basketball on his part that sent him to the bench, not bad calls of his team mates. How does that Claude Rains shit happen in an elimination game 2 games in a row?

That's why he doesn't get his full propers.

If I have to explain it you you, I would be wasting my damn time.

Oh, and Marshall's huge 3s didn't send us to Detroit. Kidd's bricks at the line did. Thank God a future HOFer decided to do a Shaq - Wilt - Ben Wallace imitation last night or this franchise would have suffered its most devistating loss since The Shot. You had the feeling that if the Nets could break out and take the lead the Cavs would fold up.

The Nets are a terrible team. Vince Carter is a bullshit player now. The Cavs aren't a great D team.

I am disgusted, not excited.

OK, I've got my Kevlar and asbesthos on. Blast away & rail on what a bad fan I am.

[jb]

If the Spurs can beat the Suns, I love our chances against any of the remaining three of Detroit, Utah and San Antonio.

How in the world, after watching this series, can this be true?

I'm 100% witchu Pipe.

I should be excited.

I'm not. I'm irritated and pissed at this bunch.

I wondered aloud during qaurter 3 if it was possible to fire a coach DURING a game. How after the last game that group couldn't attack a simple 2 - 3 collapsing zone you see in CYO ball is God's own private mystery. Are they coached at all, and if so, do they listen one iota?

I don't think the Detroit series goes 6 games.

They should almost just say "no thanks" to moving on.

Bron's post game interview was nauseating. The reason he carries an albatross isn't just solely becaue MJ was MJ. It is becasue of last night in microcasm.

Did you SEE quarters one and 4? With effort and will, he's unstoppable. He could be as good as MJ because MJ played that way for 48 until he was in he is early 30's and if you were playing with him and didn't he put a foot in your ass.

Did you see quarters 2 and 3? And make no mistake, it was lazy and stupid basketball on his part that sent him to the bench, not bad calls or his team mates. How does that Claude Rains shit happen in an elimination game 2 games in a row?

That's why he doesn't get his full propers.

If I have to explain it you you, I would be wasting my damn time.

Oh, and Marshall's huge 3s didn't send us to Detroit. Kidd's bricks at the line did. Thank God a future HOFer decided to do a Shaq - Wilt - Ben Wallace imitation last night or this franchise would have suffered its most devistating loss since The Shot. You had the feeling that if the Nets could break out and take the lead the Cavs would fold up.

The Nets are a terrible team. Vince Carter is a bullshit player now. The Cavs aren't a great D team.

I am disgusted, not excited.

OK, I've got my Kevlar and asbesthos on. Blast away & rail on what a bad fan I am.

[pup]

Boy, any chance we are the only team in the Final 4 with a negative feel about them?

Do y'all watch NBa basketball? Teams always make runs, for whatever reason. The bottom line is this team responded to that run and blew the doors right back open.

Are the Cavs annoying the shit out of me with their lackluster play? Of course. But fucking mother of all that is backwards in the world, this is Cleveland. We have a team that is one series away from playing for a championship. Step back and enjoy what is happening.

Have the played a couple of the worst teams in the East playoffs? I guess, though I don't know why Detroit gets this aura that they blasted the Bird Celtics up to this point. They handled the Magic, much like we handled th Wizards. They handled the Bulls (who got blown out by the Nets in their biggest game of the season) in much the same way we disposed of the Nets.

Are the Pistons better? Well over the course of 82 games, they were three better. In the head to head, they were two better. Will it be a hard series to win without homecourt? Of course. Is it totally unfeasable for them to win it? Shit no.

Quit staring at the forest and enjoy some of the trees.

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Final Four is set: San Antonio, Utah, Detroit and Cleveland.

Woot.

The EC went as predicted, but I'm sure some in the NBA aren't too happy about the WC. They probably loved the idea of Dallas and Phoenix in the WC Finals.

As for Marshall, I'm gald he had such a good game on his birthday. Coincidentally, he and I share the same birthday so he managed to deliver a nice birthday present to me as well.

[HoodooMan]

OK, I've got my Kevlar and asbesthos on. Blast away & rail on what a bad fan I am.

How about a RACK instead?

The only way anyone can reconcile these two statements:

1) I love the game of basketball

2) I am a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers

...is by saying, "I'm a fucking homer. Give me a break."

I can't even tell you how down I've been on the NBA this year, and as difficult as it's been in the past to accept low-energy half-assed basketball throughout the course of an 82-game regular season, you've always known that once the playoffs came around that everyone would start giving a fuck and actually try. Our opening round sweep of the Wizards was nothing more than games 83-87 of the regular season. Ugly, and worse yet, booooring basketball. 2nd round? I don't know. The fourth quarters of games 2 & 6 were pretty good, but otherwise we're talking games 88-94.

I'm ready for the NBA's regular season to end now. Seriously. The only legitimate playoff basketball I've seen this year has been in the PHX/SAN series, so thanks go out to them for reminding me what basketball looks like.

And to those who want to shoot down LBJ/MJ comparisons because they somehow limit LBJ's vast potential by framing his career within the confines of MJ's...L-M-F-A-O. RIP Ralph Wiley, but LBJ is anything but Old School. Dude's the fucking poster-boy for All The Talent in the World NBA Freak who just...doesn't...care. At least not enough to be compared to any of the game's all-time greats, that's for sure. Dude's not MJ, he's not Magic, he's not Bird. He's not even Charles Barkley. We might be generous comparing him to the likes of Clyde Drexler.

And when I hear him saying Mike Brown doesn't care about what they do on offense as long as they play defense (which they don't do anyways), I'm reminded of the last team that had that mantra: the early '00s O'Brien-coached(?) Celtics with Paul Pierce & Toine Walker. AKA--ONE OF THE GREATEST FUCKING INSULTS TO THE GAME OF BASKETBALL THAT'S EVER FUCKING EXISTED. And when I hear that along with some sideline reporter telling me Mike Brown was ready to pull Sasha from the game for jawing with Vince Carter (heaven forbid he consider that same course of action when his collection of B-Ball-IQ retards jacks up corked-up shot after corked-up shot), I want to see Charles Barkley throw his dumbass through a fucking window.

I've never been a homer when it's come to basketball. I was cheering for the opposition the last time the Cavs were in the Conference Finals, because I loved MJ & the Bulls and didn't like the Cavaliers' creampuff soft BB, but good God what I wouldn't do to have even THAT Cavs team to cheer for right now. It was soft, especially for the time, but it was still good, high-energy, smart, quality basketball. And that's in short supply in 2007.

But I can't bring myself to root for the Pistons either, because ever since Larry Brown left town, they've been pulling the same passive BS we have (see our near miss last year, them losing to the Heat the series after, and them letting the Bulls back into their CSF series this past week).

So go Spurs, and fuck the Cavs until a real NBA coach comes into town and whips these guys into shape.

[consigliere]

Wow, JB and Bow coming hard.

Rack it. I don't agree with everything, but most of what they said.

Can't say I have enjoyed the playoffs much, because these were glorified regular season games the first two rounds. It ain't the Cavs fault that is who they played, but still, that's what those games were. Everyone knew the contenders in the East were Detroit, Cleveland, Miami, Toronto and Chicago....and everyone else was pretty much garbage. We have yet to play any of those teams....until now. This has hardly has been "a great ride" or anything to write home about. More like a "free ride." Beat the Pistons, and I'm witchu.

Our 6 week or so run of playing lottery teams and padding our record and psyches is over. Now we will play against true contendas.

I'm going to enjoy every bit of this Pistons playoff series and "see the trees" because we've finally reached the forest. The last two rounds were nothing more than a trip through West-Ohio (flat, nothing to see, boring).

[leadpipe]

Pup, we're on the same page quite a bit, however, in this case I'm just looking at this thing realistically. The fact is that much of what is said in the last few posts is true. The fact they come off as negative isn't really a reflection on the writers as it is The Cavs. Yes, the Cavs are in the conference finals. Somehow the winner of that last series gets to advance, but they didn't do it by playing good NBA basketball, so that kind of tempers my excitement.

Now they play a good team. If Drew Gooden can't guard the pick and roll from Jason Collins to Mikey Moore, how's he going to handle it with Webber? What do you expect from Donyell Marshall and Eric Snow this series? Mr. Big Shot and Larry Hughes. The Cavs aren't beating a good team with poor point guard play. The big players on Detroit shoot free throws. The Cavs players do not. In a big possession the Cavs will be handing the ball off to Lebron, already double teamed thirty feet from the hoop. The Pistons will be running double screens for Hamilton, high posting plays with Webber as the passer. Two man games with a point guard who can entry pass.....

It sucks that it's like this, but this is what I see.

[pup]

Here is my thing:

Call me a homer all you want, but when a Cleveland professional sports team gets this far, jump the fuck on board. Take a peak. What is this #3 for the Cavs, the Tribe has been in 2, the Browns 3? In the last 30 years? This is something to enjoy.

Everyone knew the contenders in the East were Detroit, Cleveland, Miami, Toronto and Chicago....and everyone else was pretty much garbage.

So the team that beat Chicago in Chicago's biggest game of the year on the last day of the regular season, and eliminated one of your "good" teams in the first round gets no credit? The Nets are better than they played against us. You can say it is because they choked, I can say the Cavalier defense played well, picking the poison of Mikki Moore and Nachbar over the big 3.

The media sold everyone on how much better Chicago was than Cleveland, but someone convince me of that right now. The same Bulls that outplayed Detroit for 3.75 games in this series. The 4th quarter meltdown in game 3 cost Chicago this series.

We have watched the Cavs play this way all season. It is infuriating, but they play hard when the setting is right. They play like entitiled Silver Spoon toting kids. I hate it. I also see them playing much better against Detroit than they have all season. This is what they have been sold on. They can do whatever they want, and they should still end up in this spot. As annoying as it was for 92 games, they are exactly where they are supposed to be.

I expect all of the Cavs to play "up" in this series. i believe LeBron will take control of games early. I believe the lift that Gibson gave them in the NJ series carries over. Remember how good he was playing before being injured? Well he is back and will get legitimate minutes. I expect Eric Snow to get his 15 minutes and use them to put a body on Chauncey.
I expect Andy to annoy the living shit out of Wallace and flop his way to a Ragweed suspension! I expect the immovable C-Webb to struggle with the athleticism of Gooden/Andy.

The Cavs are the better rebounding team. They are the better athletes, quicker stronger and younger.

And if this was the Cavs 5th straight appearance in the EC Finals and Detroits first, but everything else was the same, the predictions would be Cavs in 6 instead of Pistons.

[GreatGoo]

Cavs will get smoked the 1st game. Double digit loss.

Book it. SORRY!

[He Gone]

As much as this sounds like a homer comment, and like im out of my mind, I think the cavs will take game 1...

My prediction:

Game 1: Cavs W
Game 2: Pistons W
Game 3: Pistons W
Game 4: Cavs W
Game 5: Cavs W
Game 6: Pistons W
Game 7: Cavs W

I saw some stat the other day that showed how in the playoffs, teams actually really usually play well on the road.