2016 NBA Playoffs Thread: Post-Joey Crawford Edition

[CameronCrazy06]

That Finals series for LeBron was rather "meh." He did some good things but he did some pretty unforgettable things too. So little ball movement, so little movement offensively, so much watching LeBron.

"Mobile +1"

 

[elcheato]

If I was LeBron, I would have stopped forcing the action and let Iman Shumprt do his thing. 

 

[jonathanlambert33]

If I was LeBron, I would have stopped forcing the action and let Iman Shumprt do his thing. 

Nobody is saying LeBron should have deferred to Iman or Delly and gone stand in the corner while they tried to will the Cavs to victory. But you can't expect us to believe that a LeBron fadeaway with 5 seconds on the shot clock after he spent the previous 13 seconds trying to establish position was the Cavs best offensive option. Same rules apply for him facing up his defender and jab stepping for 8 seconds before he finally does something, already severely limiting his options. To a even bigger degree, you can't expect us to believe that LeBron barreling into the paint and trying to finish over three Warriors or a LeBron off-footed righty (or even lefty) layup on the left side of the rim trying to finish over or through Draymond, or Iggy, or Barnes, or Bogut is the Cavs best, most effective, or most efficient shot at any point in time.

 

[Pugz]

"Mobile +1"

:+1:

 

[BNC]

for real.

Oh. Lol this is just stupid then

 

[BNC]

That Finals series for LeBron was rather "meh." He did some good things but he did some pretty unforgettable things too. So little ball movement, so little movement offensively, so much watching LeBron.

He should have passed the ball to Dellevadova and Shumpert? Or JR who couldn't put the ball in the ocean from a foot away? Did you see the offense in the few minutes he sat? What he did gave them the best chance to win given their roster situation

 

[CameronCrazy06]

I'm sorry you can't see past points rebounds and assists

 

[cavsfan817]

LeBron playing hero ball without Kyrie and Love in the finals was the only way they had a chance, since the other players were struggling so mightily. You guys are so blinded by anything that isn't Curry lmao.

 

[Pugz]

duh, curry is the best to ever grace an nba floor.

 

[cavsfan817]

Surprised he doesn't already have a statue outside of Oracle 

 

[Pugz]

im surprises he doesnt have a statue at the white house.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

LeBron playing hero ball without Kyrie and Love in the finals was the only way they had a chance, since the other players were struggling so mightily. You guys are so blinded by anything that isn't Curry lmao.

I'm not blinded at all, I just refuse to fall for ESPN's narratives that Lebron is gods gift to the game of basketball. Guarantee if he had that same performance in a Miami Heat uniform you wouldn't be so forgiving

 

[cavsfan817]

I'm not blinded at all, I just refuse to fall for ESPN's narratives that Lebron is gods gift to the game of basketball. Guarantee if he had that same performance in a Miami Heat uniform you wouldn't be so forgiving

 
People always bring that up and it's kind of insulting. Yes, I am a Cleveland fan. Do I put on the blinders with everything that has something related to the Cavs? Not so much. LeBron was at his peak in Miami and that's not really something that is disputable from the aspect of his own individual game. He didn't have to put on a performance like that where he did anything and everything in the Finals because both of his other two "big three" members were healthy in the playoffs. Both times that he has been to the Finals with the Cavs, he's had to go against the other team (both were two great defensive teams) that would swarm him and just play off of him because there was nobody else left to play (both due to injuries and guys that were hot -- JR Smith, Boobie Gibson, etc. cooling off and forgetting how to play basketball). So yeah, I believe that given the circumstances, it was an all-time performance from him. He willed his team to two wins in a series that frankly shouldn't have even been close after Kyrie went down at the end of game 1. If it would have happened in Miami, it would have been the same situation there. I may not have liked it as much, but it is still hard to completely dismiss something like that. 
 
The same goes for Curry. I can recognize that he is the best OFFENSIVE player in the game. I can recognize and respect (hate more often than not) that every time he shoots the ball, I expect it to go in. When he gets hot he's unconscious from just about anywhere on the floor. Just because they don't wear the uniform of the team that I root for doesn't mean that they aren't great, and it's not really fair to generalize a group of people because there are some idiots out there that voice some whack opinions of guys.

 

[BNC]

Nobody is saying LeBron should have deferred to Iman or Delly and gone stand in the corner while they tried to will the Cavs to victory. But you can't expect us to believe that a LeBron fadeaway with 5 seconds on the shot clock after he spent the previous 13 seconds trying to establish position was the Cavs best offensive option. Same rules apply for him facing up his defender and jab stepping for 8 seconds before he finally does something, already severely limiting his options. To a even bigger degree, you can't expect us to believe that LeBron barreling into the paint and trying to finish over three Warriors or a LeBron off-footed righty (or even lefty) layup on the left side of the rim trying to finish over or through Draymond, or Iggy, or Barnes, or Bogut is the Cavs best, most effective, or most efficient shot at any point in time.

You do realize that the Cavs entire game plan was to slow it down and minimize the amount of possessions, right? LeBron holding onto to the ball allowed the to accomplish that, plus who do you trust more with the ball in his hands, LeBron or the entire rest of that Cavs roster?

 

[elcheato]

The Cavs starting lineup was Delly/Shumpert/LeBron/Thompson/Mozgov. No floor spacing, no offensive firepower, no playmaking (none of those other guys can dribble the ball for more than two seconds without looking foolish other than LeBron, not a joke), but somewhat decent defensively. The Cavs only good shooter (JR Smith) was struggling all series as well. As BNC said, the only chance the Cavs had was to slow the pace down to a screeching halt. The Cavs had big leads late in each of the first three games, and as soon as the Warriors were able to ramp up the pace in the fourth quarter, they staged a comeback each time. The Cavs could not afford to get into an up and down game with them, and LeBron doing what he did prevented it. It looked ugly and his FG% suffered big time, but he controlled the early games, and the Warriors ended up making an adjustment with Iggy in the starting lineup, and the took off because the Cavs really had no chance to counter that. 

 

[BNC]

I'm sorry you can't see past points rebounds and assists

And I'm sorry you can't understand basic strategy

 

[jonathanlambert33]

He should have passed the ball to Dellevadova and Shumpert? Or JR who couldn't put the ball in the ocean from a foot away? Did you see the offense in the few minutes he sat? What he did gave them the best chance to win given their roster situation

I'm not going to waste my time rebutting you because the end result is still the same. If the best LeBron could do was fadeaway off one foot with 5 seconds off the shot clock then he failed, if the best he could do was taking a difficult layup off the wrong foot over one of those smothering Golden State defenders then he failed fundamentally, if the best he could do was barreling into the lane and taking a difficult shot over three outstretched arms (1 LeBron and 3 Warriors means someone is open), then he failed.

Losing Kyrie and Love didn't cause LeBron to do the aforementioned things. Those aren't things that Golden State caused. He didn't spend 13 seconds of the shotclock calling for the ball while trying to establish post position because of either of those things, he didn't forget his fundamentals because of either of those things. Cleveland wasn't completely stagnant offensively because of either of those things, and it's on LeBron for letting that happen. There are ways things could have been easier, to think otherwise is lunacy. Now would they have won? Probably not, but there are ways it could have been easier.

And to act like Cleveland didn't have guys who could have knocked down open looks is incredibly shortsided. Instead of taking a shot over three defenders he could have kicked it out to a guy like Iman Shumpert who shot 42% on open 3's in that series, amongst others. Look at the reasons why a guy like JR couldn't throw the ball into the ocean instead of just using that as a legitimate excuse.

 

[elcheato]

I'm not blinded at all, I just refuse to fall for ESPN's narratives that Lebron is gods gift to the game of basketball. Guarantee if he had that same performance in a Miami Heat uniform you wouldn't be so forgiving

 

Another example of why LeBron is a bitch

Kobe > LeBron

 

Blake now hurt too. It's all aligning for LeBron, fuck

 
Ya seem a tad blinded. 

 

[CameronCrazy06]

I don't know what any of those examples were meant to point out haha

 

[elcheato]

suppose to point out that I know how the search feature works