Predictions, who wins Cavaliers or Spurs.

[FUDU]

Who wins and in how many games?



I gotta go with the Cavalier in 7.

They have shown me too much (and are on an emotional roll) and we will have the most dangerous and dominant player on the court.

[Mr. MacPhisto]

The Cavs can win, but I expect the Spurs to win in six.

Of course, I expected the Pistons to win in six and I must say that I actually like the matchups against San Antonio better than I liked the matchups against Detroit.

[StewieG]

My head says Spurs in 6.

My heart says Cavs in 7. There's just something about this team.

[swerb]

I really feel the Cavs are going to win this series.

This is shaping up as a year of destiny for this team and this city. Things have really broke their way.

Cavs win games 2, 3, 5, and 6 ...

[pup]

Honestly, I don't see the Cavs losing a home game, so if you tell me which roadie they will win, it would be a lot easier....

I think they win game 1 or 2 at San Anotnio and we are partying like it is 1964 on June 17.

Cavs in 5

[jb]

Look, the national types don't give us a chance.

Whatever.

Personally, I think we match up helli-good with the Spurs.

The Cavs baet 'em twice and no one gives that any credence. They buy so much into the hype the the Cavs need to be the 88 Bulls because of all the MJ hype shit.

Well.....

Larry may not be Scottie, but Z is no Corzine. Boobie is no Paxson, he's a complete player. And we have 2 Horace/Rodman types.

We have MORE than enough big men th throw at San Antone & play Duncan very hard. They don't have the frontline depth we do.

We can employ similar scemes against Mr Longoria & his understudy, although Gibson will need to foul less. I see Snow playing a pivital role role in this series. I'd get Hughes on Manu and pster the shit out of him in his face. Never let him rome.

If Bruce Bowen thinks he can take The King, then I think he needs to watch some film of Tayshaun getting positively shit on an dhaving to take it like a bitch.

& for all my frsutrtion at times with Roker, he knows everything there is to know about the Spurs first-hand; intuitively. That's a bitch.

Now the X factor.

Bron's child is scheduled to be born on the night of game 5. I can't imagine LeBron James missing a game for that. I also believe he will be highly motivated to be there.

If they don't incude before Thursday, it will be the Cavs' in a sweep. You read that right.

Shock the world.

[lovsgrady]

I say, Spurs will win the first game, but Cleveland will win it in 6, and win it at home.

[pup]

will win it in 6, and win it at home

Finals are different. They go 2-3-2, so games 3, 4 and 5 are home.

[pup]

My big question heading into the series will be if the Slurs will try to defend LBJ with Bowen, straight up.

If they do, well, it's gonna get ugly, fast.

They don't really have another guy that can even guard him, even with a ton of help. Break Bruce Bowen and it is over.

Hopefully we see a lot of LeBron making a poster of Tim Duncan from earlier in the season.

[jb]

My big question heading into the series will be if the Slurs will try to defend LBJ with Bowen, straight up.

If they do, well, it's gonna get ugly, fast.

They don't really have another guy that can even guard him, even with a ton of help. Break Bruce Bowen and it is over.

Hopefully we see a lot of LeBron making a poster of Tim Duncan from earlier in the season.

Bingo, Pup.

The matchups are there.

The Spurs aren't that athletic. They are athletic enough to distract the soft / weak WC athletic teams built for 82 . But I can't see them handling the Cavs in an up tempo game.

This series hinges on the Cavs' perimter D as much as anything else. Keep up w/ the ball movement like they diod w/ Ra weed , Mr Big Choke, and the Phamtom of the River Rouge PLant, and they take away the Spurs main advantage. Then you Snow out Mr Longoria and it is Duncan vs 2 athletice, defensive, big men who can be rotated on him. 12 fouls, plus Z and Old Guy.

[HoodooMan]

I think the outcome of this series hinges on the way two matchups play out:

1) Z on Duncan. Z’s done a pretty good job one on one against TD the last several years, but IIRC when Z got into foul trouble in the 4th quarter of our first meeting this year, Duncan manhandled everyone else we threw out there. This was exacerbated considerably by Mike Brown’s decision to not double him, despite the fact that the Spurs kept feeding him the ball over and over again as our lead dwindled away, but the fact remains that our depth didn’t do us much good then and I don’t expect that to change in this series. Our interior defense should be better in this series overall, since we won’t be asking Z to double up the opposition’s other big man (why any coach in his right mind would ask Ol’ Cement Shoes to do this a second time after witnessing the slowest rotation in the history of NBA basketball is beyond me), but Z has to stay on the floor. A game in which Z misses significant time with foul trouble is a game as good as lost in this series. If Mike Brown was smart—and he isn’t—he’d try to keep the ball out of Z’s hands on the offensive end, in order to prevent Z from picking up a cheap foul there.

2) LBJ going against Bowen. LBJ’s stat lines the last three years against SA:

In a 97-116 loss, LBJ went 10-19 for 23pts, 6reb, 10ast
In a 92-94 loss, LBJ went 6-22 for 20pts, 8reb, 7ast
In a 70-92 loss, LBJ went 7-16 for 20pts, 6reb, 4ast
In a 101-87 win, LBJ went 19-33 for 44pts, 3reb, 5ast
In a 88-81 win, LBJ went 14-26 for 35pts, 10reb, 4ast
In a 82-78 win, LBJ went 7-17 for 19pts, 5reb, 5ast

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that in two of our three wins LBJ had to be great to beat these guys. Bowen isn’t the softy that Tayshaun can be, and this won’t be easy. We’re going to need Game 3, 4, and 5 Lebron; not Game 1, 2, and 6 Lebron.

Of course, if Daniel Gibson is going to shoot like he did last night, none of this really matters. Maybe he’ll have some extra motivation going home to Texas (he’s from Houston, but Austin’s only a hop, skip, and jump away) and he can help us steal Game 1 or 2.

So my prediction is that we’ll win the games in which LBJ plays really well and Z stays out of foul trouble, that we’ll lose the games in which LBJ doesn’t play particularly well and Z gets into foul trouble, and that for anything in between we’d better be at home or Daniel Gibson had better be lights out if we’re going to take these guys.

[pod2dawg]

Spurs in 6.

[Dozen]

Cavs in 6 (at the most)

[schlobbin31]

My head says the Spurs in 6 but I want to say the Cavs in 6. I am curious to see how the Spurs try to defend LBJ. I think our best chance is if they put Bowen on him one on one and LeBron can help get Duncan in foul trouble. Without him they have ZERO inside presence.

The thing that troubles me the most that no one has talked about yet is Popovich vs Mike Brown. Everyone noticed how Brown seemed to do a better job against the Pistons but Popovich is no Flip Saunders.

Also, I would like our chances more if we had a 100% Larry to help maintain Ginobli.

Again, my heart says Cavs in 6 because of the way we played against the Pistons but I am worried that Popovich will expose our warts this series. I am going to say Spurs in 6 and we see what we need to be a championship caliber team for next season.

[hermanfontenot]

2007: San Antonio 4, Cleveland 2

2008: Cleveland 4, San Antonio 1

[consigliere]

I just don't believe Lucy is ready to let that football sail yet. We all thought her Reign Of Terror on C-Sports was about to end in 2005, and then the Indians season came crashing down in what seemed like an instant....and I remember believing we were going to finish it off in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the World Series.

Until we win the whole thing, I'll always be extremely skeptical we are going to finally do it. This year of no exception.

So, I'm going with the Spurs in 7. Cavs down 3-2 and go on the road for Game 6 and win it....hold a lead late in Game 7 only to let it slip again.

(That wall of protection aside, as a FAN I am predicting the Cavs win in 5)

[Hoover]

Cavs in 6. Spurs have no answer for LeBron. Cavs beat them twice in the regular season, and they were 19-11 vs. the Western conference.

As the Warriors showed when they beat Dallas, the regular season DOES mean something.

Spurs will put up a hell of a fight, but the Cavs are gonna bring home Cleveland's first championship in 44 years.

[Hi Oktane]

Cavs in 6. Spurs have no answer for LeBron. Cavs beat them twice in the regular season, and they were 19-11 vs. the Western conference.

As the Warriors showed when they beat Dallas, the regular season DOES mean something.

Spurs will put up a hell of a fight, but the Cavs are gonna bring home Cleveland's first championship in 44 years.

Good point on the Warriors success over the Mavs in th eregular season. Nelly put his firsthand knowledge of the Mavs go to work for the Warriors. I'm hopeful Mike Brown can do the same. Go Cavs!