brooklynmike
Refugee
The real question is does this now get Earnest Byner off the hook?
NBA 2016 Playoffs & Beyond
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Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
MrPryck2U
ONE love, blood, life
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Bulls players will be popping champagne tonight. They probably already were, but now there's a reason for it.
More records... first team to lose as many postseason games as they did regular season games
MrPryck2U
ONE love, blood, life
Well, win or lose, the Warriors still have more regular season wins than the Bulls. I don't see Jordan and Co. busting out anything but laughing.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
coolian2
Blue Crack Supplier
That
Was
Amazing
Was
Amazing
Phantom Dreamer
Acrobat
GirlsAloudFan
Blue Crack Addict
I've given LeBron a lot of shit over the years but ultimately I'm pretty damn happy for him and for Cleveland. It's a special moment.
The Seattle Bulls were awesome
Indeed
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
The world got a treat with that game last night. Wow!
Congrats Cleveland and wow Lebron. Clearly the best player on the court.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Congrats Cleveland and wow Lebron. Clearly the best player on the court.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
In regards to Cleveland and Lebron, I look at it a lot like the Packers and Brett Favre. Packers fans had absolute reason to be pissed at Favre but like any fight or misunderstanding, time heals. Cleveland fans have every reason to be completely forgiving considering he just gave the city its first championship in 52 years.
I mean yea he's still a douche but that doesn't mean it wasn't a nice moment.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
How does Boston feel about Roger Clemens?
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
You'd be surprised. A lot of love for him here. Wade Boggs notsomuch.
Clemens has always been active with the Jimmy Fund, even while wearing pinstripes, he's pretty well received here. Plus most blame the Red Sox/Dan Duquette for his departure, not Clemens himself.
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iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
I was never pissed at him for leaving. I certainly wasn't thrilled about it, but the amount of outrage generally leveled at him has never been justified IMO. And in a certain sense, without him having left, this title would never have happened. The draft the year after he left resulted in Kyrie and Thompson - the two other cornerstones of the team throughout the playoffs. So I for one am more than happy to have waited those extra few years rather than watching the team stall in the second or third round year after year had LeBron never left.
And speaking of Kyrie, I am especially happy for him. A guy that has always been in the shadow of some other PG, be it Rose, Curry, or even Kyle Lowry for god's sake, now hits the biggest shot of the entire year, and never loses his cool or humility. He's a class act all around and an A-level talent. He outplayed Curry in this series wire to wire.
And I should give credit to Draymond Green as well, who turned up big when the rest of GS went to sleep. Good of him as well to give some heartfelt congrats to LeBron after the game.
brooklynmike
Refugee
I hope Kyrie gets more props after all this. To me at least, he was the series most consistent high performer. And he hit THE clutch shot. And he neutralized GS's biggest weapon on the defensive end.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
Really good story for Richard Jefferson too. Always seemed like a stand up guy. Played in Milwaukee for a year when he started to become a journeyman. I didn't even realize this but in his retirement announcement, he had detailed how many close calls he's had in both college and the pros and never was able to win a championship. Now he gets to go out on top.
LeBron was LeBron and is clearly the MVP of the series... but Kyrie turning it on from Game 5 on clearly was the difference maker in the series. He picked the right time to get hot from the outside.
A nod to the layer of pipe JR Smith as well for knocking down those threes at the start of the third quarter when it appeared as if Cleveland might be on the verge of being blown out.
Amazing how quickly the luster can fall off if the Warriors, both as a team and individually; specifically Curry and Kerr.
Curry just couldn't get it going. I dunno if he's hurt or Cleveland just figured it out, or both... but he was clearly flustered and let it get to him. Same thing happened last year, but he finally caught fire and that was that. The fire never came this year, and it's clear that the book on him come playoff time is to a) knock him around physically, and b) put him in every single pick and roll situation imaginable.
Kerr needed to make an adjustment offensively and failed to do so. The Warriors would score almost every time out or a timeout, with some absolutely beautiful set plays... but that was it. They had no other options when the jump shooters weren't getting open. And his insistence on playing the Ezili / Verejao combination for 20 minutes...of which they produced a combined -19, no points, no blocks and one rebound... will have him second guessing all summer long. Should have seen more Barbosa and Livingston in a small ball lineup.
I can't believe the draft is already on Thursday. This is gonna be a crazy offseason.
A nod to the layer of pipe JR Smith as well for knocking down those threes at the start of the third quarter when it appeared as if Cleveland might be on the verge of being blown out.
Amazing how quickly the luster can fall off if the Warriors, both as a team and individually; specifically Curry and Kerr.
Curry just couldn't get it going. I dunno if he's hurt or Cleveland just figured it out, or both... but he was clearly flustered and let it get to him. Same thing happened last year, but he finally caught fire and that was that. The fire never came this year, and it's clear that the book on him come playoff time is to a) knock him around physically, and b) put him in every single pick and roll situation imaginable.
Kerr needed to make an adjustment offensively and failed to do so. The Warriors would score almost every time out or a timeout, with some absolutely beautiful set plays... but that was it. They had no other options when the jump shooters weren't getting open. And his insistence on playing the Ezili / Verejao combination for 20 minutes...of which they produced a combined -19, no points, no blocks and one rebound... will have him second guessing all summer long. Should have seen more Barbosa and Livingston in a small ball lineup.
I can't believe the draft is already on Thursday. This is gonna be a crazy offseason.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
Re: Curry, I thought it was bullshit at the time, but maybe there is something to the argument that GS should have taken it easy toward the end of the regular season rather than gunning for the record. Both Curry and Klay looked completely fatigued in the last few games; look at how many threes they left short, and also the mental errors, especially on Curry's part. Cleveland should also be thanking Westbrook for making Curry work as hard as he did in the west finals.
But I think what this series really exposed about Curry, like you say, is that making him work on the defensive end is the key to containing him on the offensive end. Think he needs to hit the weight room a bit so he can absorb more of the physical play he will be seeing.
Re: Varejao, there was a stretch where GS went to him four times in a row, and I was thinking hey, if you want to run your offense through Anderson Varejao, be my guest. Cleveland didn't even go to him that often when we were 20-62 or whatever.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
I don't remember hearing that Curry was ever back to 100%, or even close. I don't follow this as closely as most of you, but I was under the impression that it was understood he was playing with the injury for the remainder of the playoffs. So it mystifies me that people are accusing him of being a choke artist.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
Yeah, I don't know if we'll ever know what percentage he was at. Had a bad series for sure, but he's still young. I don't know that this series really defines his legacy and as usual, people are overreacting. If anything this series was a Lebron legacy defining moment.
When you're 73-9 with a 3-1 series lead and 2 of the remaining 3 games are in your home court, you're going to take some heat, and you deserve to take some heat; especially when the three games you won weren't exactly close.
I don't necessarily see it as a choke but more of LeBron and Kyrie imposing their will on games 5 and 6. Game 7 was a different story. It was there for the taking, and they let it slip from their grip.
The Warriors were so good because they dictated the pace of the game and made other teams play at a pace that only they could sustain.
How they allowed long stretches of time to go by without going small is beyond me. Kerr out thought himself. That was less defending champion and NBA record holder Steve Kerr and more I thought Shaq and Amare could play together Steve Kerr.
I don't necessarily see it as a choke but more of LeBron and Kyrie imposing their will on games 5 and 6. Game 7 was a different story. It was there for the taking, and they let it slip from their grip.
The Warriors were so good because they dictated the pace of the game and made other teams play at a pace that only they could sustain.
How they allowed long stretches of time to go by without going small is beyond me. Kerr out thought himself. That was less defending champion and NBA record holder Steve Kerr and more I thought Shaq and Amare could play together Steve Kerr.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
Very true about Game 7. Even when the Cavs momentarily went up by 5 (or was it 7?), I really felt like the Warriors were mostly in control. Heck, they were even up by 4 with a little over 5 minutes to go. At that point, I really thought the Cavs looked winded and thought for sure that the Warrior were about to start draining 3's.
Re watching the Warriors final real possession... this is a spot where Curry really did shit the bed. He gets Love switched on go him, and he has him beat... twice even... but he's so intent in taking the three that he pulls back. He could have had a 2-1 with him and Draymond vs Tristin Thompson but instead he just keeps trying to shake Love for the three. To Love's credit he totally sells out on the three point attempt and doesn't buy any of the fakes.
At the very least after Curry had to give the ball up the first time Kerr should have taken a timeout and drawn up a play. I guess they both just thought that Love would fall or foul eventually.
At the very least after Curry had to give the ball up the first time Kerr should have taken a timeout and drawn up a play. I guess they both just thought that Love would fall or foul eventually.
LuckyNumber7
Blue Crack Addict
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