SimWorld NBA: The Chronicle

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[bryan3169]

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May 4th, 2018

Shannon Sharpe on faith of the Cavaliers: "Not a soul on this planet would have begun to think that without LeBron James, that the Cavs had an ice cube chance in hell to go up in this series against the Raptors. Kevin Love has stepped up in a way that he has never stepped up in Cleveland. Mr. Love put his big boy drawers on, Skip. 12-18 6-10 from behind the arc, he has taken charge that LeBron and the brass up stairs has wanted since Kyrie packed for Boston. Toronto has been confused from jump with this new free flowing offense that Cleveland has put to the court, and Rodney Hood has stepped up to be the new Robin to Love's temporary Batman. Hood in both wins has gone over 20 points. The Cavs might have enough they can do this Skip!"

Nick Wright on the Jazz team ball play: "The Jazz realistically have stayed relevant by sticking to the basis of basketball. Team play. In a league full of superstars, this team has stuck to the basis of fundamental basketball. Team defense on the perimeter and clogging the paint has kept them in the hunt with the Rockets after these last two games. Donovan Mitchell is the only real offensive threat on that team, Ingles and Gobert's performance depends on the flow of the offense. This team in a two point loss caused 21 turnovers, the last two games this Jazz defense has made the Rockets' unreal offense look rather human.

James Harden on team effort: "We know how we operate and sometimes we get caught up in how good we feel we are, we gotta be more discipline. Gotta take care of the ball better, take better shots. 40 missed shots 21 turnovers has gotta sharpen up to move further on in the playoffs."

Skip Bayless on the Toronto: "The Raptors have gotten lazy, Kyle Lowry does his best disappearing act as he always does in the Finals against a team with LeBron on it even if he isn't on the floor. 8 shots taken? I thought he was a contributing factor. He didn't have much of a problem staking his claim against Beal and Wall in the 1st round, where has he been against Rodney Hood and George Hill? Non existent! You know how many teams like Philadelphia would have loved to been gifted a non LeBron playoff matchup? Dwayne Casey said it best his team has lost their way and they aren't too far off of costing him his job quite frankly!"

[AdamJones113]

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Adam Jones

May 4, 2018

The Case For... Minnesota Love

Where have I seen this guy before? Such is the question nagging at those watching the ongoing second-round series between the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and the first-seeded Toronto Raptors. On the surface, it is unsurprising that the Cavs, Eastern Conference champions the past three seasons, are up a game. Yet just below the surface, of course, it is incredibly surprising that the Cavs are ahead so far into the series, since King James is injured and out.

There are a number of reasons for the Raptors' deficit. But there is one key reason for the Cavaliers' lead. Its origins are Minnesota, its catalyst is Andrew Wiggins, and its name is Kevin Love.

Love, incredibly, has found his Minnesota self. The big man earned three All-Star nods there, averaging 24 points and just under 14 rebounds per game in those years (broken only by an injury-plagued eighteen game campaign). In these three games, Love has 32 points and 12 rebounds per game. In the regular season, he averaged under 18 points and a little over 9 rebounds.

There are a number of reasons for Love's renaissance. The first is the simple fact that he is the #1 option for the Cavs, now that LeBron is out. That is straightforward—Love is the Cavs' second-best player and their second-most versatile scoring option, both of which of course become #1 rankings when LeBron is out. Thus he gets the ball more—where he took 12.5 shots per game in the regular season, he's taken 18 per game this series, a number right in line with his Minnesota days, where in his three all-star season he averaged just under... 18 shots per game.

The second reason is that Love is back to playing PF full time now—the Cavs are simply smaller with LeBron out, and so they need to play centers, especially against a relatively ancient plodder in Jonas Valanciunas. Tristan Thompson has played 29 minutes each game, a drastic increase from the regular season. Love is back at power forward, and he's just simply better than Serge Ibaka. Ibaka's post defense is neutralized by Love's range, and Ibaka isn't such a rangy, stretch 4 that Love has trouble defending him on the perimeter.

But the truly amazing this is that Love has managed to recover his Minnesota form at all. Consider the fact that history is 100% against him. Chris Bosh, on James' Miami Heat teams, was a similarly ball-dominant first option (on the Raptors) who was forced to change play styles to accommodate two ball-dominant scorers. Bosh became a three-point shooter and rebounder. But when James left, Bosh was unable to revert to his star form. In Cleveland, too, Love struggled with James simply off the floor—even when he shared time with Kyrie Irving.

But Love has managed to do it. He's 16-29—over 50%—from beyond the arc in the three games thus far. His Herculean game three effort—37 points, 18 rebounds—propelled the Cavaliers to a win on its own. Kevin Love from the Timberwolves has returned, and—while Cleveland isn't out of the woods yet, by any means—he might just be saving the Cavs' season.

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May 5th, 2018

Stephen A. Smith on OKC's ceiling: "Max i'ma say this one time and one time only. The Thunder are the DARK HORSE to win an NBA championship this year!The San Antonio Spurs took down he defending champs albeit DISABLED... but still the defending champs and NOW... look at what the Thunder are doing to them! The East is lookin weaka then eva! And if the Toronto Raptors are the best that the East have to offer?... Are you kidding me?! Look at what's happening ova there in that series. I know i'm leaving out Houston but it's no forgone conclusion that they get outta their series and FURTHERFORE... OKC FINALLY seems to finding their stride and have the firepower to take down a D'Antoni-led team."

David Aldridge on Kawhi Leonard's future in San Antonio:"I'm not confirming anything here but my sources are telling me that the Celtics had been in contact with the Spurs all season in regard to Kawhi Leonard. I am even being told that packages cenetered around Jason Tatum and picks were offered to San Antonio back at the deadline. Kawhi, Pop & the Spurs have declined comment and have sad that they are focused on their series against OKC.

Joel Embiid on 4th quarter explosion in Game 4: "I mean we came out and did what we've been doing all season. Guys don't think that we are true contender and that's cool. We just come out and do what we do. We move the ball. We defend & everybody on this team plays hard. We just go out and play our game that Coach Brown tells us to play and we come back with wins."

Baron Davis on what to expect from the Warriors now: "What is there to say? they got swept. They played bad and there was locker room issues throughout the end of the year. And I don't wanna hear all that noise about them battling injuries cause they had more than enough firepower to get it done at least in the 1st round. They stunk up the joint and Draymond let his team down. Unless he can put his team before his emotions I see him as the odd man out next season."

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May 7th, 2018

Tony Parker on Kawhi Leonard rumors: "It definitely is a little bit of a distraction. We are professionals and we know that we have a job to do but all of the information that's floating around and how you guys are all over the place stirring the pot is definitely distracting."

Jalen Rose on all of the Spurs controversy: "I've said it before and I'll say it again... the San Antonio Spurs have had the best culture in the NBA over the past 20 years. With that being said; we have a new breed a player now in the NBA & that new breed of player is seeing how this whole Kawhi Leonard situation has played out. I highly doubt we see Kawhi re-sign with the Spurs this offseason & the Spurs best bet is to keep winning in this year's playoffs to keep him in a San Antonio jersey."

Michael Wilbon on Carmelo Anthony's playoff performance: "Carmelo Anthony's $26 million contract has been a lost expense of epic proportions for the Oklahoma City Thunder. If OKC loses this series Tony, I don't put the blame on Billy Donovan or Russell Westbrook. I put it squarely on Carmelo Anthony. 6 points last night! 8 in Game 1?! only getting 15+ in three of theses games for $26 million. I don't wanna hear that [Westbrook makes him a spot-up shooter mess either]. Melo fashions himself a superstar. It's time he plays like one."

Blake Griffin twitter comments on Rockets/Jazz series: "My man Spida is a much better player than @cp3 and he's showing it in this series #TakeNote"

Zach Lowe: "Sources are telling me that Kevin Love wants to sign a long term extension in Cleveland and that the brass is very much so on board as they expect Lebron to move on from the team."

Charley Rosen on Cleveland's chances tonight: "I expect the Cavs to come out fired up but Jonas Valanciunas has been extremely effective when utilized in this series and coach Casey has assured me that Jonas will get [plenty] of touches. Defensively Casey has said taht he won't do anything differently defensively on Kevin Love as he doesn't want to stretch his defense out too much. We could see Siakam get many more minutes over Ibaka for defensive purposes but no difference in philosophy."

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[ayyitskev]

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May 7th, 2018

By: Adrian Wojnarowski

Cleveland Cavaliers Have Toronto On Ropes

In perhaps the most shocking story of this postseason thus far, a LeBron-less Cavaliers have the number-one seeded Toronto Raptors down 3-1. It really hasn't even been close, with Game 4 being a complete domination in favor of Cleveland, 135-106. Kevin Love has stepped up becoming the star the Cavs needed in this series, dropping 33 points. Kyle Korver and JR Smith combined for 44 points in Game 4 as well. Toronto's only way of coming back from a 3-1 deficit is to have whole team contribute. Serge Ibaka cannot have only six points on 14 shots. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan cannot combine for 10 turnovers. Key bench players OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Delon Wright and Jakob Poetl cannot combine for 13 points. Head coach Dwane Casey has been a steady presence for Toronto the past couple of years, however when the games count, he is not the coach Toronto needs at the helm. Bottom line, every game is now a must-win for Toronto, and Cleveland is one game away from the finishing blow. Cleveland has found their groove without their superstar, and it's scary.

[ayyitskev]

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May 7th, 2018

By: Adam Schefter

Greg Popovich: "I Won't Be Around To Rebuild."

San Antonio Spurs legend head coach Greg Popovich recently told one of my sources that he doesn't have any plans to rebuild with the Spurs. With San Antonio potentially calling it a season after finding themselves now down 3-2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, many question the future of the Spurs' players. Another Spurs great, Manu Ginobili may finally call it a career, although he showed in Game 5's victory that he may still have another year left while dropping 20 points; including a beautiful second quarter euro-step that James Harden would be envious of. Tony Parker and Pau Gasol are on the downswing of their careers as well, and LaMarcus Aldridge is only getting older. Of course, the biggest question mark of them all is what to do about Kawhi Leonard. While he's still playing like a superstar in these playoffs, off the court has been anything but super. During the last game's press conference, Popovich pushed away the mic and left the presser when asked about Leonard. While the Spurs can get a king's ransom for Leonard, it seems Popovich doesn't want to be around if that means a rebuild.

[ayyitskev]

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May 7th, 2018

By: Kevs

Carmelo Anthony To Come Off Bench In Game 6

Former superstar Carmelo Anthony has been terrible in this postseason for Oklahoma City. In the last two games alone, Carmelo scored a combined whopping 17 points on 6-24 shooting. During overtime in the loss to San Antonio in Game 5, Melo bricked a contested three pointer, then passed the ball out of bounds after miscommunication with Russell Westbrook on the next possession. Head coach Billy Donovan told reporters he feels Anthony would be better suited coming off the bench in favor of Corey Brewer, who scored 10 last game. Carmelo Anthony has told us, "I'm a starter, but I've also been playing like crap. Damn, I don't see how benching me would fix anything."

Russell Westbrook was fuming after the last game, and he reportedly had an shouting match in the locker room, which he reportedly said, "You're not Kobe! We should be in the next round right now. I don't care, I don't wanna hear your sh*t, you're not Kobe!" Westbrook and the team have denied the allegation, but it's intriguing to see how Game 6 plays out, with both the Thunder and Spurs invested in so much drama.