2016 NBA Playoffs Thread: Post-Joey Crawford Edition

[CameronCrazy06]

That's one thing you have over me haha

 

[Mexi]

Google much b*tch

 

[elcheato]

Can't even imagine the stuff I was saying about LeBron while he was in Miami, while I wasn't the mature dignitary bestowed upon you these days

 

[CameronCrazy06]

You probably bought a Cavs 4 Mavs t shirt didn't you

 

[elcheato]

Nah

 

[Pugz]

 

[BNC]

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.

Shumpert shot 32% from 3, JR shot 29% from 3 and Delly shot 23%, and you think LeBron should have been moving the ball more? 3 pointers are more likely to lead to fast break opportunities for the opposing team than missed layups because of the long rebounds, which means those 3 puts the Cavs at an even greater disadvantage than they already were at. And yea LeBron did have to do those things because of the loss of Kyrie as he became the only guy on the team you could trust with the ball in his hands to create a shot

 

[bosoxlover12]

They shot low percentages because all Steph, Klay, and Livvy/Barnes had to do was just stay on their stationary counterparts. It was a Lebron iso left almost every play, with 3 people on the perimeter and T.Thompson ready to crash the boards. Of course shooting percentages will be low when the offense is predictable

 

[elcheato]

Shumpert is a career 33% 3PT shooter, and Delly was never the same after he had to spend the night in the hospital after Game 3 due to exhaustion. 

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Shumpert shot 32% from 3, JR shot 29% from 3 and Delly shot 23%, and you think LeBron should have been moving the ball more? 3 pointers are more likely to lead to fast break opportunities for the opposing team than missed layups because of the long rebounds, which means those 3 puts the Cavs at an even greater disadvantage than they already were at. And yea LeBron did have to do those things because of the loss of Kyrie as he became the only guy on the team you could trust with the ball in his hands to create a shot

LeBron HAD to waste away the shot clock by facing up his man and jab stepping for 8 seconds because Kyrie was lost? The Cavs HAD to spend the majority of the shot clock waiting for LeBron to establish position in the low post so they could try an entry pass to him?

Good god the excuses are plentiful today. To act like the Cavs had to hold the ball on the wing for 8 seconds trying to get LeBron the ball into the post is laughable. It has nothing to do with Kyrie being out and everything to do with bad offense and bad coaching. The actions every team has in their base offense alone for post entries are endless much less running an action out of your base offense. Horns, screen the screener, split the post, cross screens, staggered back screens, box sets, rolling post, high low sets, the triangle...the options are endless and they all would have made Clevelands time easier.

 

[elcheato]

https://twitter.com/CavsNationNet/status/733732712322859009

 

[BNC]

LeBron HAD to waste away the shot clock by facing up his man and jab stepping for 8 seconds because Kyrie was lost? The Cavs HAD to spend the majority of the shot clock waiting for LeBron to establish position in the low post so they could try an entry pass to him?

Good god the excuses are plentiful today. To act like the Cavs had to hold the ball on the wing for 8 seconds trying to get LeBron the ball into the post is laughable. It has nothing to do with Kyrie being out and everything to do with bad offense and bad coaching. The actions every team has in their base offense alone for post entries are endless much less running an action out of your base offense. Horns, screen the screener, split the post, cross screens, staggered back screens, box sets, rolling post, high low sets, the triangle...the options are endless and they all would have made Clevelands time easier.

You do realize that fewer possessions results in greater variance right? So by increasing the amount of possessions the greater team is more likely to end up on top. It's why there's more upsets in the NFL where there are no series', just single games. And I'm sure we can agree that the Warriors were a far superior team, because of this the only chance the Cavs had at winning was by minimizing possessions therefore increasing the variance. And how do you minimize possessions? By running down the shot clock as much as possible, so yea this was their best chance at winning

 

[cavsfan817]

Pretty much this. They were the inferior team without Kyrie and Love. Had to minimize possessions and slow it to a grinding halt to give themselves a shot. Only strategy that was feasible

 

[buzzy]

What's funny is that if Shump hit the game winner in game 1 and a couple of touches going a different way in game 6, we would easily be calling it one of the best performance of any player in any series ever.

 

[BNC]

If Shump hits that Kyrie probably doesn't get hurt and who knows what happens

 

[elcheato]

Kyrie was already hobbled, very unlikely he would have kept producing in the series. 

 

[Mexi]

This game isnt even on abc
Smh

 

[Hurricane Season]

What a block by bitch smack Biyombro.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

You do realize that fewer possessions results in greater variance right? So by increasing the amount of possessions the greater team is more likely to end up on top. It's why there's more upsets in the NFL where there are no series', just single games. And I'm sure we can agree that the Warriors were a far superior team, because of this the only chance the Cavs had at winning was by minimizing possessions therefore increasing the variance. And how do you minimize possessions? By running down the shot clock as much as possible, so yea this was their best chance at winning

You really don't get the point that's being made. Was slowing down the pace and minimizing possessions the best strategy for Cleveland? Yes it was. But there are ways you do that, there are ways you minimize possessions but still get the most efficient shots you can while maximizing your possessions. Five guys standing around and being easy to defend is not how you do that. Bosox said it and he was 100% on point, the Cavs "couldn't throw the ball into the ocean" because they spent every possession stationary and literally made it where Golden State didn't have to play defense. Even if you want to minimize possessions, you still have to run your sets and move the ball. Quite literally play a chess match. But when you're only averaging 140 passes a night like Cleveland did, you aren't giving yourself a chance in hell to beat Golden State. Do you have any idea how few 140 passes per game is? To put that in perspective, a team like Golden State, who also had their possessions minimized as a result of what Cleveland was doing quite literally doubled them up by moving the ball 280 times on average per night in that series. The team that played the slowest pace of any team in this seasons playoffs, the Pistons, averaged 254 passes a night in their series against the Cavs. Through their first three series last season, Golden State was averaging 331 passes a night. I suppose that I should also say that Cleveland was averaging 269 passes a night going into that Finals series. So going back to the original point, slowing down to a crawl is fine and dandy, but to be effective you still have to run your stuff. You still have to move offensively, you still have to move the ball and force your opponent to play defense. Cleveland did not do that. That's a failure in coaching from David Blatt, that's a failure in coaching and leadership from LeBron.

 

[elcheato]

Why would someone want to stand outside the arena watching the game on a screen?