The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

[23]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

A good game from Curry woudn't hurt too. He's looked uninspired, disengaged and ordinary and most of all injured.

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

Thompson, James, and Jefferson create a better defensive starting unit against GSW. Love is a liability against this specific team. A lack of athleticism shows when Love is forced to act as a rover defensively. Jefferson does a superior job in the role against this bunch.

Love is a liability now? The whole Cavs team was a liability when they weren't closing out on shooters the 1st 2 games.

They played with more defensive effort and energy in Game 2.

The rotations weren't any different. The close outs were.

Bogut was Mutumbo in the 1st 2 games and then Swiss cheese in the 3rd. Same story.

Boy I hope Lue is smarter than this.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

Love likely for Game 4

The Cleveland Cavaliers are expecting good news on the injury front as they look to tie up the NBA Finals at 2-2 on Friday night. While he cannot be medically cleared until Friday, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal team sources believe that Kevin Love will return to the lineup.

While Love's return is positive news, it does appear that his role on the team may be adjusted to begin Game 4. While no decision has been made at this point by Tyronn Lue, it is believed that he will come off the bench against the Golden State Warriors. The Cavaliers made adjustments to their offensive and defensive sets in Game 3 that could have been done with Love as well, but the change in the lineup did create matchup advantages that the Cavs must continue to exploit as much as possible.

The impact LeBron James had covering Draymond Green, while keeping Tristan Thompson defending the opposing center and in position to both rebound and provide some defense around the basket was significant. While playing Love with Kyrie Irving, LeBron and Thompson has been incredibly successful against every other team, having James play power forward changed things significantly on both ends of the floor.

Getting out to a good start in Game 4 is crucial. The Warriors are a team that is capable of going on huge runs at any moment, but making sure they don't get into a rhythm early on is a big deal and if the Cavs can build a lead to play with as they did in Game 3, it would significantly benefit them.

[cima]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

Love is a liability now? The whole Cavs team was a liability when they weren't closing out on shooters the 1st 2 games.

They played with more defensive effort and energy in Game 2.

The rotations weren't any different. The close outs were.

Bogut was Mutumbo in the 1st 2 games and then Swiss cheese in the 3rd. Same story.

Boy I hope Lue is smarter than this.

They are better off with the lineup that ran out there last night, until GS proves that they can counter it. What they were doing before with Love was not working.

Not sure what the fuss is about. Sometimes in the Finals you just gotta make adjustments. Do you think it was a bad idea when Kerr benched Bogut last year? Or when Pops put Splitter on the bench in 2014? Or Spo favoring Battier over Bosh in Game 7 in the 2013 Finals?

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

They are better off with the lineup that ran out there last night, until GS proves that they can counter it. What they were doing before with Love was not working.

Not sure what the fuss is about. Sometimes in the Finals you just gotta make adjustments. Do you think it was a bad idea when Kerr benched Bogut last year? Or when Pops put Splitter on the bench in 2014? Or Spo favoring Battier over Bosh in Game 7 in the 2013 Finals?

Counter what exactly, Richard Jefferson?

You have got to be kidding me.

This is the same nonsense that turned Dellavedova into a cult hero last year.

[23]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

Counter what exactly, Richard Jefferson?

You have got to be kidding me.

This is the same nonsense that turned Dellavedova into a cult hero last year.

If I were the warriors, I wouldn't take advice about what I should be doing from someone who's been wishing and praying I didn't make it to the finals.

[cima]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

Counter what exactly, Richard Jefferson?

You have got to be kidding me.

This is the same nonsense that turned Dellavedova into a cult hero last year.

I don't think you understand the domino effect.

[PabloLFC]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

It's not so much Jefferson, it's bron being somewhere he can defend both the paint and the perimeter a lot more easily. Love is and always has been a defensive liability which is unhelpful against a historically good offensive team. Everybody says that getting into a shootout with GS is a bad idea, and that's what Love on the floor means. He's all offense, no D. With Kyrie on the floor you suffer a lot defensively, with both of them you suffer twice as much.

I can't believe people are so adamant that Love needs to be out there. 15 points a game or whatever he averages isn't worth the 20-25 he gives up. Iggy came into the fray last year because Barnes couldn't guard LeBron and GS won. By no means is this me saying Love is a bad player but you cannot have multiple defensively poor players on the floor, and Kyrie produces more.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

I remember when we saying exactly what the problem Kyrie and Love being healthy and in the lineup would do to the Cavs against GS and it was labeled being a ***** or anti-LeBron/Cavs or just being negative. Now it's the battle cry for why the Cavs will have their most success. Maybe it's time we start admitting we have no clue what we're talking about in most cases.


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[PabloLFC]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

I think the idea behind that though would be that they'd both produce big numbers offensively. There was probably a lot of near sightedness thinking "add Kyrie's 20ppg, Love's 15ppg and LeBron's 40ppg" like he was averaging last Finals. It was never gonna be that way and this Big 3 just doesn't work together that well. The Miami big 3 was better defensively than Cleveland's is. It's all based around offense and when none of them are hitting their shots then it crumbles like we saw in the first two games.

The key to all of it, and I've said this throughout the playoffs, is having LeBron at the 4. He's bigger and stronger than Green, he can guard multiple positions and is more effective offensively. Use him how he was used in Miami.

[Vni]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

And when Jefferson stink it up in game 4 and Love has a good game off the bench, people will want Love back in the starting line up. Everyone just stepped their game up and played with desperation instead of just going through the motions. It seems so result oriented to act like the absence of Love was the difference when it was all about effort and intensity it's even worse since he actually had decent games while Kyrie and Smith were nowhere to be found.

Even Kyrie proved he can play good defense when he's locked in.

But if they feel they play better with Love on the bench then he's gone this summer.

[ojandpizza]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

That was also referring to last season.

And it was more a "had they been healthy this series might have been different"... Not a "GS only won because Kyrie/Love were out".. Unless it was cima posting lol.




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[cima]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

And when Jefferson stink it up in game 4 and Love has a good game off the bench, people will want Love back in the starting line up. Everyone just stepped their game up and played with desperation instead of just going through the motions. It seems so result oriented to act like the absence of Love was the difference when it was all about effort and intensity. Even Kyrie proved he can play good defense when he's locked in.

But if they feel they play better with Love on the bench then he's gone this summer.

My eyes hurt from rolling my eyes so hard at some of you. Jefferson on the floor provides a domino effect. No one is saying RJ is an offensive or defensive superstar. He changes the dynamic of everything else though. He's becoming Cleveland's Battier.

The defense becomes better because the switches are easier to make as RJ is more athletic than Love and can stay with anyone on the floor far better than Love can. It allows LeBron to guard Draymond, which really hurts the effectiveness of GS's offense (he da real MVP). It disables GS being able to move the ball around, find Love, and attack him. And most importantly, it creates ball movement in Cleveland's offense because as we've heard about 1000x, "Kevin Love plays much better when he's involved early". Well with him not in the starting lineup, they don't have to worry about getting him involved, and then in the process they eliminate his "catch the ball, look around, and hold the ball for 4 seconds before making a move". I'm not advocating for Love to be benched completely, but he absolutely needs to be moved to the bench with limited minutes. The numbers don't lie, that lineup killed it last night. So if it works, why on earth would you go away from it IN THE FINALS WHEN YOU'RE DOWN 2-1?

/rant

[The 24th Letter]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

I think people have provided some pretty good reasons from an actual basketball standpoint as to why the move could provide some advantages....

Not sure why the conversation has to devolve into narratives...

[Vni]

Re: The Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden St. Warriors Part 2

I can see how it helps them defensively, but I find it a little ironic that they'd bench a healthy (if he's cleared to play) Love when people where claiming his injury last year aswell as Kyrie's were part of the reason the Cavs didn't make it.