I'm not faulting Curry just saying he has different circumstances. I mean when he gets a new contract they wont even be able to keep that type of depth around him. It's a unique circumstance.
2015-2016 NBA playoff edition: Finals - Cavs vs Warriors - Cavs win 4-3
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I'm not faulting Curry just saying he has different circumstances. I mean when he gets a new contract they wont even be able to keep that type of depth around him. It's a unique circumstance.
Your star playing in their prime isn't getting wins when they play like Steph did yesterday...especially with their two best players. Wade and Lebron weren't winning an NBA finals if they combined for 20 points. not happening.
Well not so fast u gotta remember Wade bosh and Bron even if off their defense crushed opposing teams and that's how they found their offense and were apart of many comebacks
Again, they dont have a ball movement offense; thats not their identity and they not about to change now; they play iso ball which falls right into what GS wants to do; Ive said it before, its easily guardable; They dont match up well with GS no matter what they do; Cavs defense is suspect as well; GS can get and will get whatever they want...
What adjustments can they make to help their defense??
What you fail to realize is that it doesnt matter how LBJ plays; Cavs defense is whats going to do them in; there other 2 best offensive players are terrible on defense; Frye is terrible on defense; JR isnt that good on defense and dude is mentally weak; TT is a liability when hes in the game; they just dont match up well; and again GS will get whatever they want..
So basically chief, what exactly are you saying? LMAO
Fire LeBron as GM!
Not saying I completely disagree with you, but Wade and LeBron didn't have the bench that Curry and Thompson have either.
That's my point. People really underestimate this Warriors' team. You can get worked by their bench players. You're agreeing with me.
Oh.. we're not even talking about Defense.. they were far superior defensively... I'm just talking straight offensive output. The Splash Brothers scored 20 points and they still cooked the Cavs. that's crazy.
That is when you think about it and what's even more crazy is dispite them shooting like shit you already know they can get hot at the drop of a hat..
Game 1 Lebron took a 3 minute break with the Cavs down 3points
When he returned they were down 14points ...
That's what Cleveland has to fix IMMEDIATELY
When he returned they were down 14points ...
That's what Cleveland has to fix IMMEDIATELY
I read 25 pages worth of plea coppin
Gene Crisco get ready
Gene Crisco get ready
Did you notice Curry wasn't concerned (Thompson either) about the play of the bench? The players you mentioned were/are documented egomaniacs. They would have never allowed what happened last night to happen on their watch. They all have egos but it sure as hell looks like Curry's is smaller and that might be a reason their bench plays so well compared to others.
Plea after plea after plea
Lebron going to play 45mins every game. Watch. TLue has NO choice.
Bron ain't sign up for that shit
Bron ain't sign up for 48 mins a game.. He's gonna get burn out quick....
His team suppose to step up
Ive used him in several arguments and always called him the best 2 guard ever and top 5 all time. Just said Bron is a better all around player and that his stans (90% who arent even Bulls fans like you and D-Town) are sensitive about Bron surpassing him individually.
LeBron the player didn't, but LeBron the GM did. What the heck did he expect, putting together the team he put together. If you look at all of those parts, he really does not have any true two-way players on the team. So ultimately no matter what combination they put out there, he's going to have to do heavy lifting in one or both areas. That's why I believe they had so much success in Miami, because Pat Riley was about that life! I'll bet he was like,fool I've coached Magic Johnson, Kareem, coached showtime, so you're coming here as a player. You ain't running shit! LMAO
Playing those long ass minutes is what killed OKC in the last series. How long before Bronze cramps up?
Andre Iguodala is everywhere—including LeBron James's head
Any valuation of Andre Iguodala’s Game 1 defense should begin with the great lengths to which the Cavaliers went to avoid him. LeBron James was never so eager as when Iguodala was stranded on the other side of the court in transition, forced to pick up another player on the break rather than stand in his way. When Cleveland’s offense settled into the halfcourt, it ran screen after screen to first pry Iguodala off of James by triggering a switch and then tried to send the long, lithe defender as far from the action as possible.
It didn’t always take. Golden State may be the team in the league most willing to switch, but Iguodala had no intention of surrendering his spot opposite LeBron if the circumstances didn’t explicitly demand it. When Cleveland attempted to reposition Iguodala by having James screen for Matthew Dellavedova, Golden State’s designated stopper feigned the exchange before scrambling back to pick up James. Iguodala—alongside Shaun Livingston, his pick-and-roll partner—could accomplish this cleanly because he left the unthreatening Dellavedova holding the bag.
• MORE NBA: Dellavedova hits Iguodala in groin | Warriors' Game 1 message
Iguodala never quite goes away. Even in those cases where James was able to isolate against some other Warrior, rarely was he left to his own devices. A LeBron post-up against Harrison Barnes or Klay Thompson would often find Iguodala lurking—appearing in James’s periphery just often enough to give him pause. Don’t underestimate the influence of that kind of cameo. A smart, handsy defender showing up at the right time can stall a play in progress. To regroup takes time, and taking time takes away options.
This style of defense actively discourages cutting. Should the man Iguodala is guarding move anywhere in the vicinity of James, Iguodala will linger in the vicinity. Ditto for Draymond Green, who contributed another wave of interference when Kevin Love tried to rotate around the arc to the top of the floor. Even those possessions where the Cavs clear four players to the weak side of the floor feel somehow crowded, dense with the Warriors’ attendant help. Screening Iguodala into a switch isn’t enough to remove him from the action.
Troublesome as it is to shed Iguodala on the defensive end of the floor, the Cavs found it quite easy to lose him on the other. The every movement of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson puts a defense on red alert. Sometimes that heightened state got the better of Cleveland, which collapsed overzealously in response to drives and sold out at multiple positions to prevent a jumper off a pin-down screen. Such extreme threat prioritization came at the expense of good sense. Most Warriors opponents will, on some level, sacrifice close defense on players like Iguodala for the sake of rotational help. The Cavaliers managed to do so in a few cases without any real means of recovery, having already committed what would have been the next defender in sequence to a hard collapse:
It honestly takes a lot of work to veer so far from two—note Green left free above the break—reasonably effective three-point shooters at once. Kudos to the Cavs for making it look easy, and in the process taking a bankable strategic element (making Iguodala beat you) to its counterproductive conclusion. So distorted is Golden State’s gravity that Cleveland opted to cover Curry and Thompson at the three-point line in transition while surrendering an Iguodala dunk:
Cleveland’s complete disregard for Iguodala’s offense comes at its own risk. Weaker defenders are hidden on Iguodala or switched over to him willingly. On some nights that will work well enough; Iguodala averaged just 9.5 points per 36 minutes, second-fewest of all Warriors, for a reason. Yet those matchups can prove frustrating because Iguodala never seems to do one, predictable thing. Were he the type of wing who brings all smaller defenders into the post, the Cavs could prepare accordingly. Instead, Iguodala flows through possessions as a facilitator before settling in for scores out of the flow of the offense. Teams rightly sag off of Iguodala because he doesn’t present an immediate scoring threat. Give him any angle, however, and he becomes a resourceful one—slicing into the lane, working over smaller defenders for rebounds, and lining up trebuchet jumpers with no reason to rush.
LeBron James loses the ball as he tries to fend off Andre Iguodala in Game 1 between the Warriors and Cavaliers. Golden State won the game and the series 4-2. Iguodala became the first player to win the Finals MVP award without having started every game in the series. He was tasked with guarding LeBron, who made only 38.1 percent of his shots when Iguodala was in the game.
Any valuation of Andre Iguodala’s Game 1 defense should begin with the great lengths to which the Cavaliers went to avoid him. LeBron James was never so eager as when Iguodala was stranded on the other side of the court in transition, forced to pick up another player on the break rather than stand in his way. When Cleveland’s offense settled into the halfcourt, it ran screen after screen to first pry Iguodala off of James by triggering a switch and then tried to send the long, lithe defender as far from the action as possible.
It didn’t always take. Golden State may be the team in the league most willing to switch, but Iguodala had no intention of surrendering his spot opposite LeBron if the circumstances didn’t explicitly demand it. When Cleveland attempted to reposition Iguodala by having James screen for Matthew Dellavedova, Golden State’s designated stopper feigned the exchange before scrambling back to pick up James. Iguodala—alongside Shaun Livingston, his pick-and-roll partner—could accomplish this cleanly because he left the unthreatening Dellavedova holding the bag.
• MORE NBA: Dellavedova hits Iguodala in groin | Warriors' Game 1 message
Iguodala never quite goes away. Even in those cases where James was able to isolate against some other Warrior, rarely was he left to his own devices. A LeBron post-up against Harrison Barnes or Klay Thompson would often find Iguodala lurking—appearing in James’s periphery just often enough to give him pause. Don’t underestimate the influence of that kind of cameo. A smart, handsy defender showing up at the right time can stall a play in progress. To regroup takes time, and taking time takes away options.
This style of defense actively discourages cutting. Should the man Iguodala is guarding move anywhere in the vicinity of James, Iguodala will linger in the vicinity. Ditto for Draymond Green, who contributed another wave of interference when Kevin Love tried to rotate around the arc to the top of the floor. Even those possessions where the Cavs clear four players to the weak side of the floor feel somehow crowded, dense with the Warriors’ attendant help. Screening Iguodala into a switch isn’t enough to remove him from the action.
Troublesome as it is to shed Iguodala on the defensive end of the floor, the Cavs found it quite easy to lose him on the other. The every movement of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson puts a defense on red alert. Sometimes that heightened state got the better of Cleveland, which collapsed overzealously in response to drives and sold out at multiple positions to prevent a jumper off a pin-down screen. Such extreme threat prioritization came at the expense of good sense. Most Warriors opponents will, on some level, sacrifice close defense on players like Iguodala for the sake of rotational help. The Cavaliers managed to do so in a few cases without any real means of recovery, having already committed what would have been the next defender in sequence to a hard collapse:
It honestly takes a lot of work to veer so far from two—note Green left free above the break—reasonably effective three-point shooters at once. Kudos to the Cavs for making it look easy, and in the process taking a bankable strategic element (making Iguodala beat you) to its counterproductive conclusion. So distorted is Golden State’s gravity that Cleveland opted to cover Curry and Thompson at the three-point line in transition while surrendering an Iguodala dunk:
Cleveland’s complete disregard for Iguodala’s offense comes at its own risk. Weaker defenders are hidden on Iguodala or switched over to him willingly. On some nights that will work well enough; Iguodala averaged just 9.5 points per 36 minutes, second-fewest of all Warriors, for a reason. Yet those matchups can prove frustrating because Iguodala never seems to do one, predictable thing. Were he the type of wing who brings all smaller defenders into the post, the Cavs could prepare accordingly. Instead, Iguodala flows through possessions as a facilitator before settling in for scores out of the flow of the offense. Teams rightly sag off of Iguodala because he doesn’t present an immediate scoring threat. Give him any angle, however, and he becomes a resourceful one—slicing into the lane, working over smaller defenders for rebounds, and lining up trebuchet jumpers with no reason to rush.
LeBron James loses the ball as he tries to fend off Andre Iguodala in Game 1 between the Warriors and Cavaliers. Golden State won the game and the series 4-2. Iguodala became the first player to win the Finals MVP award without having started every game in the series. He was tasked with guarding LeBron, who made only 38.1 percent of his shots when Iguodala was in the game.
As much as people want to shit on Kyrie, Love and the rest of the Cavs, LeBron is not at fault either. His numbers look gaudy, no doubt, but a lot of those stats are deceptive... He shot 7-12 against the rest of the team, but only 2-9 against Iguodala (who really seems to have his number defensively) and Green... also, he seemed to shrink up when GS made their run with the bench on the court, did he do anything in the 4th quarter? He's a great player with an amazing stat line, but if you dig deeper into those stats, that shit is deceptive.
Forget the stats, Cavaliers need a better LeBron James vs. the Warriors
There were ominous signs for Cleveland, even as LeBron nearly had a triple-double
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/f...s-need-a-better-lebron-james-vs-the-warriors/
video: http://cbsprt.co/287CvYJ
There was no splash in Oakland on Thursday night.
Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, whose shooting had carried the Golden State Warriors past the Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference finals, were nowhere to be found in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The pair combined to shoot 8-of-27 from the field for just 20 points.
And yet the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers 104-89.
How is this possible? How could the Splash Brothers stay dry, LeBron James have so much more help than last year, and the Cavaliers still get run out of Oracle?
Well, the Warriors' role players stepped up in the wake of the Cavaliers' defensive decisions. J.R. Smith was uncharacteristically tentative, taking just three shots in 36 minutes. The Warriors' defense wrapped itself around whatever changes the Cavaliers attempted to design.
But beyond all that was this uncomfortable truth: Hidden behind his good box score, LeBron James had a bad game for the Cavaliers.
I'm not just looking at the loss and spitting hot takes after James' 23-point, 12-rebound, nine-assist performance. The box score looks great. But you have to look beneath it, and you have to consider the bar that James has to reach. After his super-human exploits last year in the Finals, it was assumed that James would not have to give what he did last year in putting up 30-to-40-point triple-doubles with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love healthy. James had the rebounds, and the assists make it seem like he was there, as well.
But James' four turnovers contributed to the 25 points the Cavaliers surrendered off turnovers. He went 0-for-4 after his four offensive rebounds, stymied and limited by Draymond Green. And, bizarrely, James elected not to run various shooters off the 3-point line.
Some of this was designed. James purposefully left Green open on several attempts. The Cavaliers made a concerted effort to focus on Thompson and Curry. It worked, in so far as the Splash Brothers' output was concerned. But some of these, James just elected not to close out.
There were other intangible concerns, a tentativeness mixed with mindless aggression, worrisome body language, and a betrayal of the "spirit" that the Cavs have played with in tearing through the Eastern Conference. James, and the Cavs, were tight.
James shot 9-of-21 from the field, and shot just 6-of-14 in the restricted area. James missed bunny after bunny inside, and was stripped, harassed and bothered by Andre Iguodala and Green all night. Irving played a bad game, for sure . But he and Love combined for 43 points. Even with the problems for the Cavaliers' bench, an opportunity was there.
James still hasn't figured out how to attack the smaller Curry without picking up offensive fouls, still hasn't found a strategy vs. Iguodala, still hasn't managed to avoid those face-up jumpers from the mid-post that doomed the Cavs' offensive efficiency last year.
Had the Cavaliers won this game, it would have been a story about how the Cavs' bench picked up and stepped up, about Love's coming out party in the Finals, about how James makes everyone better even when his shot's off. But this game was the rare occasion in which a loss was worse than just the 0-1 mark in the Finals.
Game 1 showed that the Warriors can win games when Curry and Thompson don't go nova, and that the Cavaliers cannot without a superhero version of James. What's more, the Warriors are likely to a) get better shooting performances from Curry and Thompson going forward, no matter what the Cavs do; and b) find ways to adjust to what the Cavaliers were doing to bother them. This was a shot for the Cavs, an opportunity to steal Game 1 and rattle the Warriors again. Instead, they were left behind as Shaun Livingston finished with three fewer points than James.
Maybe James could have played his absolute best, thrown 10 assists instead of nine, made a few more jumpers, and the Warriors would have still rolled on the back of their bench dominance. But James didn't overcome the Warriors' interior defense, so they didn't have to commit more resources inside, which meant the perimeter shots weren't available, and the Cavaliers wound up shooting 38 percent for the game.
The Cavs have more weaponry, but everything still goes through James.
It's not so much about saying "the Cavs lost, so it was LeBron's fault." That wasn't the case in a lot of games in last year's Finals. It's that the Cavaliers got an off game from both of the Warriors' elite shooters, and they needed the very best of James to have a chance. That they were so far off with his having 23-9-12, even with help from Love and Irving says that the bar has not changed for James. He has to be as good as he was last year, maybe even better, and even then, it may not be enough.
It's just one game, there's a lot of series left. But Game 1 of the Finals showed a lot of ominous signs for the Cavaliers, and showed that the box score won't be enough. The Cavs are going to need the best LeBron James they can get to have a chance vs. the Warriors.
LeBron James was not his best in Game 1.
There were ominous signs for Cleveland, even as LeBron nearly had a triple-double
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/f...s-need-a-better-lebron-james-vs-the-warriors/
video: http://cbsprt.co/287CvYJ
There was no splash in Oakland on Thursday night.
Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, whose shooting had carried the Golden State Warriors past the Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference finals, were nowhere to be found in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The pair combined to shoot 8-of-27 from the field for just 20 points.
And yet the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers 104-89.
How is this possible? How could the Splash Brothers stay dry, LeBron James have so much more help than last year, and the Cavaliers still get run out of Oracle?
Well, the Warriors' role players stepped up in the wake of the Cavaliers' defensive decisions. J.R. Smith was uncharacteristically tentative, taking just three shots in 36 minutes. The Warriors' defense wrapped itself around whatever changes the Cavaliers attempted to design.
But beyond all that was this uncomfortable truth: Hidden behind his good box score, LeBron James had a bad game for the Cavaliers.
I'm not just looking at the loss and spitting hot takes after James' 23-point, 12-rebound, nine-assist performance. The box score looks great. But you have to look beneath it, and you have to consider the bar that James has to reach. After his super-human exploits last year in the Finals, it was assumed that James would not have to give what he did last year in putting up 30-to-40-point triple-doubles with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love healthy. James had the rebounds, and the assists make it seem like he was there, as well.
But James' four turnovers contributed to the 25 points the Cavaliers surrendered off turnovers. He went 0-for-4 after his four offensive rebounds, stymied and limited by Draymond Green. And, bizarrely, James elected not to run various shooters off the 3-point line.
Some of this was designed. James purposefully left Green open on several attempts. The Cavaliers made a concerted effort to focus on Thompson and Curry. It worked, in so far as the Splash Brothers' output was concerned. But some of these, James just elected not to close out.
There were other intangible concerns, a tentativeness mixed with mindless aggression, worrisome body language, and a betrayal of the "spirit" that the Cavs have played with in tearing through the Eastern Conference. James, and the Cavs, were tight.
James shot 9-of-21 from the field, and shot just 6-of-14 in the restricted area. James missed bunny after bunny inside, and was stripped, harassed and bothered by Andre Iguodala and Green all night. Irving played a bad game, for sure . But he and Love combined for 43 points. Even with the problems for the Cavaliers' bench, an opportunity was there.
James still hasn't figured out how to attack the smaller Curry without picking up offensive fouls, still hasn't found a strategy vs. Iguodala, still hasn't managed to avoid those face-up jumpers from the mid-post that doomed the Cavs' offensive efficiency last year.
Had the Cavaliers won this game, it would have been a story about how the Cavs' bench picked up and stepped up, about Love's coming out party in the Finals, about how James makes everyone better even when his shot's off. But this game was the rare occasion in which a loss was worse than just the 0-1 mark in the Finals.
Game 1 showed that the Warriors can win games when Curry and Thompson don't go nova, and that the Cavaliers cannot without a superhero version of James. What's more, the Warriors are likely to a) get better shooting performances from Curry and Thompson going forward, no matter what the Cavs do; and b) find ways to adjust to what the Cavaliers were doing to bother them. This was a shot for the Cavs, an opportunity to steal Game 1 and rattle the Warriors again. Instead, they were left behind as Shaun Livingston finished with three fewer points than James.
Maybe James could have played his absolute best, thrown 10 assists instead of nine, made a few more jumpers, and the Warriors would have still rolled on the back of their bench dominance. But James didn't overcome the Warriors' interior defense, so they didn't have to commit more resources inside, which meant the perimeter shots weren't available, and the Cavaliers wound up shooting 38 percent for the game.
The Cavs have more weaponry, but everything still goes through James.
It's not so much about saying "the Cavs lost, so it was LeBron's fault." That wasn't the case in a lot of games in last year's Finals. It's that the Cavaliers got an off game from both of the Warriors' elite shooters, and they needed the very best of James to have a chance. That they were so far off with his having 23-9-12, even with help from Love and Irving says that the bar has not changed for James. He has to be as good as he was last year, maybe even better, and even then, it may not be enough.
It's just one game, there's a lot of series left. But Game 1 of the Finals showed a lot of ominous signs for the Cavaliers, and showed that the box score won't be enough. The Cavs are going to need the best LeBron James they can get to have a chance vs. the Warriors.
LeBron James was not his best in Game 1.
Klay and curry really didn't need to force themselves to score because Cleveland was never a threat the whole gm. Even when cavs grabbed the lead. It never felt like they were a threat to win the game. If they needed curry and klay better believe they would have gotta their shots. Warriors was cruising the whole gm.
Lue at the end was hilarious! Lil Joker looks JUST like a younger version of Pops!
Great point ...coaching/leadership is instrumental
Scary and surprising stat - Cavs missed 28 shots from point blank range.
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