***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

[cdubdiggity]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

The Cavs never come out with second half intesity...ever...we have to change that if we want to have any chance of beatin the Pistons...i know we can win four games straight against them...and it wont take monster games from Lebron but you know hes due for a couple...I dont even expect Lebron to put up Jordan numbers against this team becuz this is a different era..pistons play great d and the combination of zone defense and 5 guys watching him will make it hard to even get up 20...but this is a great learnin experience win or lose...i just dont want to have to wait another year...

[Shaver]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

If that's going to happen then people can't criticize Lebron for passing to people with the open shot when he's getting mugged going to the basket at the end of the game but doesn't get the call.

Why not? That's the price of being an NBA Superstar. It's damned if you do and damned if you don't. People are going to criticize.

If I'm a Cavs fan right now.... I'm more pissed at the Cavs for letting the refs off the hook than for the missed call itself. Calls get missed. Whistles are swallowed. that's the NBA. But, the NBA is also a league that is chock full of make up calls, make up games, and ref swung momentum.

yes, blah blah... good for the Cavs for taking the high ground.... but how do you not at least say "I thought LeBron was fouled on the drive, but we got a good look afterwards, plus a tip and didn't convert. That's the way it goes."

****... look at Sheed. Sheed MADE his basket on the Sideshow Bob flop and still made sure he mentioned it postgame.

"All that flopping, they need to make that a technical foul for next year. That's not defense in the fourth quarter and I'm glad we have veteran officials to see that."

Sheed MADE that basket. The refs made the proper no call and he still made sure he got his statement out. Calling out floppers is what causes no calls on flops.

***

One final note, while I don't think the Cavs still winning this series is out of the question... I do not believe (as it was mentioned earlier) that the Cavs can beat the Pistons 4 straight. I just don't see it.

[GenoG]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

Well they don't need to win 4 straight. They need to take care of their home court, and then this becomes a best of three series.

[Court_vision]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

-- 2 games totally 6 points difference does not tell the story. The Cavs have ZERO second half heart these last two games. Where does the intensity go? Does Mike Brown give "demotivational speaches" in the lockerroom. Don't get me wrong, the Pistons are a really good 3rd Quarter team, but where are the Cavs in the second half?

.

The Cavs problem is that they run so many "Iso LeBron, everyone else get ready for the kick out plays".

The Pistons D runs at about 90% for the first 3/4...so LBJ gets to the hoop a bit easier / the shooters get a little more space...

Then the Pistons up their D to 101% for the last 10 minutes or so.

Iso's don't work as well when the D really focusses...LBJ drives and there's 3 waiting for him. The shooters? What is a relatively easy J in the first half...suddenly it's a pressure shot in the second half...

BIG difference. It takes a lot of nerve to shoot the ball well in the last few mins of a finals game. Marshall and Hughes both missed clean looks badly. That's pressure effecting them.

The Cavs need to get easier looks somehow...no one beats the Pistons shooting J's.

The Spurs run a tonne of cutters off Duncan...they get their guys so many easy looks / mix that up with the J's. The Cavs need to post LBJ or Z and get some cutters going. SOMETHING / ANYTHING to get guys like Larry Hughes some easier points down the stretch.

[tehova]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

Should lebron lose some weight to become quicker? Its not like he posts up that often now. And the reason everyone always criticizes him for shooting so many jumpers is because he isn't quick enough to get by his man.

(this could also just be a ball handling issue) You never see Lebron fool a defender with his handles, if he gets to the basket its because he just put his head down and ran, or carried the ball.

[the_future420]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

The Cavs problem is that they run so many "Iso LeBron, everyone else get ready for the kick out plays".

The Pistons D runs at about 90% for the first 3/4...so LBJ gets to the hoop a bit easier / the shooters get a little more space...

Then the Pistons up their D to 101% for the last 10 minutes or so.

Thats the single biggest reason why the Cavs are down 0-2. Their offense is staler than week-old bread at a homeless shelter. And it wouldn't be so bad If Lebron actually went to the hole and then kicked it out, but he only "penetrates" to the elbow or free throw line and then tries to kick it out. Cleveland's shooters aren't good enough and Detroit has way too much length for this to be effective. I watched the majority of that game, and I honestly don't think I saw Cleveland set one back door screen.

The offense needs a complete revamping or this series is gonna be over quick.

[HMcCoy]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

There's a lot of points to be made here, but 99% of the Cavs fans are going to tune them out... but here goes...

-- 2 games totally 6 points difference does not tell the story. The Cavs have ZERO second half heart these last two games. Where does the intensity go? Does Mike Brown give "demotivational speaches" in the lockerroom. Don't get me wrong, the Pistons are a really good 3rd Quarter team, but where are the Cavs in the second half?

-- Whether the last play was a foul or not, two things need to be considered: #1 - If you rewatch the game and count the no calls and bad calls, I would say they safely balance out. #2 - The refs swallowed their whistles most of the night. The Cavs needed to expect that. They needed to be on their toes. If you're going to be pissed at someone, be pissed at Larry Hughes for missing a wide-open 7 footer.

-- And the most important fact... an ugly win is 1,000,000,000x better than a pretty loss. It doesn't matter how the W's are formed... only that they are.

NOW.... time to bitchslap the Indians too.

I must be that 1% because I've said all of this verbaitim...although I wouldn't call either of those wins bitchslaps, but hey, you guys won right? Talk your sh*t and enjoy those victories because when we blow you out of our building, I certainly will talk mine.

Its gonna be a looong series.

[X*Cell]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

The offense needs a complete revamping or this series is gonna be over quick.

The latter is what's going to happen when Mike Brown is your head coach. He just doesn't have anything up his sleeves like his peers do.

[HMcCoy]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

The latter is what's going to happen when Mike Brown is your head coach. He just doesn't have anything up his sleeves like his peers do.

Winning cures all ills. Had Donyell and/or Larry made open shots, Mike Browns offense would not be under discussion. Not saying he's a great coach, he's young and still wet behind the ears...but I give the guy props for making a horrendous defensive team into one of the leagues best in just 2 seasons, and you can't blame Brown when A. he didn't design this offense, and B. his players can't shoot. Z missed 4 point blank looks, and Larry....ugh.

My knock on Brown is that he's terrible with making adjustments at the half, and his rotations don't always make a ton of sense...but if your guys don't knock down their shots, offensive schemes are irrelevant. Sub 40% shooting would make any coach in the league look bad.

If we were coming home up 2-0, the experts would be wondering why Brown didn't get more COY love. Hindsight is always crystal clear...

[WTF]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

I must be that 1% because I've said all of this verbaitim...although I wouldn't call either of those wins bitchslaps, but hey, you guys won right? Talk your sh*t and enjoy those victories because when we blow you out of our building, I certainly will talk mine.

Its gonna be a looong series.

[X*Cell]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

Winning cures all ills. Had Donyell and/or Larry made open shots, Mike Browns offense would not be under discussion. Not saying he's a great coach, he's young and still wet behind the ears...but I give the guy props for making a horrendous defensive team into one of the leagues best in just 2 seasons, and you can't blame Brown when A. he didn't design this offense, and B. his players can't shoot. Z missed 4 point blank looks, and Larry....ugh.

My knock on Brown is that he's terrible with making adjustments at the half, and his rotations don't always make a ton of sense...but if your guys don't knock down their shots, offensive schemes are irrelevant. Sub 40% shooting would make any coach in the league look bad.

If we were coming home up 2-0, the experts would be wondering why Brown didn't get more COY love. Hindsight is always crystal clear...

I still think Hughes and LBJ's struggles have been the product of great Detroit defense.

They've had 2 poor shooting games in a row combining for 23 pts off of 9/28 shooting IN BOTH GAMES!!! (really eery considering the identical 79-76 scores as well).

The Cavs as a whole are averaging 30.5 ppg in the 2nd half. Oyyyyyy. There has to be something about their offense they can mix-up. This team has never been this poor offensively, just from the sole fact that a team that DOES perform this badly doesn't even make the playoffs, yet alone the conference finals (east or not).

[TheMatrix31]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

C'mon Utah, at least make them WORK for it.

[23]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

Utah needs to go ASAP

[cdubdiggity]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

everything about the spurs is boring...even their jerseys

[Psyblast]

Re: ***Official 2007 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread***

everything about the spurs is boring...even their jerseys

They've got some shiny rings though...