2015 NBA Thread: I felt a great disturbance in the trolls, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. (2 Viewers)

[Abraham]

Cavs in 6

Agreed. The story absent so far is that curry has been average for three games. So you kind of have to choose one or the other:

- anomaly and he will get going 

- cavs have solved him and now they have solved the rest of the equation. 

Would not be at all surprised to see cavs win the next 3 

 

[tjnc09]

Agreed. The story absent so far is that curry has been average for three games. So you kind of have to choose one or the other:

- anomaly and he will get going 

- cavs have solved him and now they have solved the rest of the equation. 

Would not be at all surprised to see cavs win the next 3 

 Man, you smoked the good stuff tonight.

 

[FishTacoTuesday]

Agreed. The story absent so far is that curry has been average for three games. So you kind of have to choose one or the other:

- anomaly and he will get going 

- cavs have solved him and now they have solved the rest of the equation. 

Would not be at all surprised to see cavs win the next 3 

Lukewarm take?

 

[tjnc09]

Is that what you meant by a "dirty line"? That it was moving all over the place?

Never want to be on the side everyone thinks is "free" money in a game as important and public as something like tonight.

 

[tjnc09]

Kerr by series game last two years:

game 1: 7-1

game 2: 6-2

game 3: 2-6

game 4: 5-2

game 5: 6-0

game 6: 3-0

game 7: 1-0

First time he has been an underdog in game 4 away though.  Early action is on Cleveland - I hope that continues.

 

[mr fancypants]

 Man, you smoked the good stuff tonight.

Come on Abe don't bogart that joint.

 

[Bob Magaw]

GS nearly traded Klay Thompson to MIN for Kevin Love in 2014, but team advisor Jerry West fought successfully for Thompson.  

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/warriors-cavs-nba-finals-kevin-love-status-trade-klay-thompson-lebron-james-steph-curry-060816

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

The Warriors are crying about the Cavs being dirty.

 

[Abraham]

The Warriors are crying about the Cavs being dirty.

That's pretty funny. 

 

[Short Corner]

So if the Cavs come back and win this is Barnes the MVP?

 

[TobiasFunke]

The Warriors are crying about the Cavs being dirty.

On a moving screen! 

Maybe after Game 4 Draymond will complain about someone kicking him in the nuts.

 

[ShamrockPride]

I'm convinced it's the nature of the scoring.  No other sport has the volume of scoring plays that the NBA has.  Every scoring success by the home team is magnified by the home crowd as is every scoring failure by the visiting team.  And the failures by the home team and successes by the visiting team are met with relative silence.

I think the home teams in all sports can feed off their crowd and I also think the visiting teams can let the crowd get into their heads.  But it's not as noticeable in other sports because the scoring plays are fewer.  In basketball, the score can run away quickly if the crowd is having an effect.

Also in basketball, fans are closer than in any other sport. Unimpeded too, unlike hockey.

 

[Arizona Ron]

Vegas is only giving the Cavs 1 point.  Very surprised at this but Vegas isn't stupid.

Going Cavs tonight.

 

[sho nuff]

The Warriors are crying about the Cavs being dirty.

Was it the screen that Thompson got dinged up on?

It was moving and late, but its not like he stuck his knee out to get him.

Stupid to whine about that if they are.

 

[ArbyMelt]

Klay's complaint was it was dirty because you just don't set screens in the middle of the paint. But from what I can see, Mozgov was going up to set a screen, and whoever had the ball didn't wait long enough for the screen to be set. 

Klay needs to get over that, and maybe think about how many open looks he gets off of moving screens.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

The Warriors are crying about the Cavs being dirty.

My second-favorite play from last night was Curry pretending LeBron grabbed his arm and kept selling it for 20-25 feet down the court to draw a cheap foul on LeBron.  

 

[mr. furley]

I really encourage you to learn the market.  You can start sniffing out the fishy lines.  

confirmation bias and nothing more

 

[coyote5]

The best* team in NBA history has now lost 6 games in the playoffs, including blowouts by 28, 26 and 30.  The 96 Bulls lost 3 games - by 3, 21 and 11.

*not the best team in NBA history

 

[mr. furley]

Weird that a player like Lebron is able to be so good at basketball.  Thought we had decided that. 

we decided that he's the worst player in the NBA 

not just this year but in the last 30-40 years 

keep up

 

[mr. furley]

Agreed. The story absent so far is that curry has been average for three games.

someone else link the Stephen A Smith post game shouting about Curry being a terrible basketball player.

 

[Da Guru]

I can hear it now before next game.    Kevin Love "Feeling great..I am good to go" Cavs "Can`t be too careful with head injuries these days. Lets take another week and evaluate you after the series is over"

 

[ArbyMelt]

Play Love off the bench, put him in when either Curry or Klay are on the bench, and do not run the offense through him. Put him behind the 3 pt line opposite the ball. He can make those shots. Start RJ, and play Love ~15 minutes off the bench.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

I can hear it now before next game.    Kevin Love "Feeling great..I am good to go" Cavs "Can`t be too careful with head injuries these days. Lets take another week and evaluate you after the series is over"

"And for your last non-contact drill before clearing concussion protocol... climb to the top of Jacobs Field from the outside."

 

[MAC_32]

Play Love off the bench, put him in when either Curry or Klay are on the bench, and do not run the offense through him. Put him behind the 3 pt line opposite the ball. He can make those shots. Start RJ, and play Love ~15 minutes off the bench.

I wouldn't go that rigid.  The Cavs bench scored 0 points last night while the game was in any sort of doubt.  Start Jefferson and see if last night's hot start gets replicated.  Plan to bring Love off the bench first, whenever that is, and hopefully the rest of the team has already hit a groove then he can build from that.  If the Cavs are going to win this series more contributions need to be made from the 2nd unit, so give Love the opportunity to be that guy.  If he's not cutting it then limit his minutes.  If he's playing well though?  Keep him out there.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

You just can't help some folks Ron. 

 

[TobiasFunke]

The best* team in NBA history has now lost 6 games in the playoffs, including blowouts by 28, 26 and 30.  The 96 Bulls lost 3 games - by 3, 21 and 11.

*not the best team in NBA history

The Warriors played without Steph Curry for two of those losses.  Of the other four, three were to a team that has both Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant at their peaks and one was to a team led by LeBron James. 

The best player the Bulls faced in the 1996 playoffs was a 23 year old Shaq in the midst of what would ultimately be the worst season of his career until his age 33 season. They also needed six games to win the Finals.  Maybe before we reach any conclusions we should see if it takes the Warriors as long to overcome LeBron James as it took the Bulls to overcome Gary Payton.

 

[tjnc09]

confirmation bias and nothing more

You have yet to add one meaningful thing to this thread so I don't pay attention to what you think.

 

[tjnc09]

Play Love off the bench, put him in when either Curry or Klay are on the bench, and do not run the offense through him. Put him behind the 3 pt line opposite the ball. He can make those shots. Start RJ, and play Love ~15 minutes off the bench.

Would Lue have been smart enough to realize how bad Love is without his injury?  It will be really dumb if they somehow pull this series out because their "star" player got injured.

 

[mr. furley]

You have yet to add one meaningful thing to this thread so I don't pay attention to what you think.

gamblers are never wrong and all of them know more than the other guy. only the gambler commenting is a winner. everyone else is a loser.

keep winning, champ!

 

[coyote5]

...Of the other four, three were to a team that has both Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant at their peaks and one was to a team led by LeBron James. 

And?  They got their ### handed to them by 28, 26 and 30 by those teams.

 

[tjnc09]

gamblers are never wrong and all of them know more than the other guy. only the gambler commenting is a winner. everyone else is a loser.

keep winning, champ!

 How is it possible to have 40k+ posts and always post such worthless content?  

 

[Jayrod]

 How is it possible to have 40k+ posts and always post such worthless content?  

Because he is really funny and a made guy.  Show some respect, Tommy.

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

The best player the Bulls faced in the 1996 playoffs was a 23 year old Shaq in the midst of what would ultimately be the worst season of his career until his age 33 season. They also needed six games to win the Finals.  Maybe before we reach any conclusions we should see if it takes the Warriors as long to overcome LeBron James as it took the Bulls to overcome Gary Payton.

This is pretty selective. They faced Mourning, Ewing, Shaq and Penny and Kemp and Payton. That would be a very difficult row to hoe for any team that wasn't the 96 Bulls.

Also, I believe getting blown out by a team from this year's Eastern Conference is the equivalent of losing 3 games to any 96 playoff team.

 

[mr. furley]

Because he is really funny and a made guy.  Show some respect, Tommy.

tommygunz?

 

[mr. furley]

 How is it possible to have 40k+ posts and always post such worthless content?  

jimmies are rustled over here, guys!

everybody look at the gambler on a losing streak. gets all sensitive and uppity when someone talks about his bailiwick.

no worries, guy, you must have a watch to pawn or a tv that your kids really don't need that you can hock. you'll hit the big one soon enough and get back on a winning streak. then you can afford the good vodka to wash away the stress of your o/u gambit on the big Vallejo Admirals v Sonoma Stompers game.

until then keep tilting at @TobiasFunke. it's funny watching him dismantling you while you flail around aimlessly.

 

[TobiasFunke]

And?  They got their ### handed to them by 28, 26 and 30 by those teams.

Look, these kinds of comparisons are always kinda silly. And I think cherry-picking a handful of games out of the 100+ played by each team to do an overall comparison was particularly silly, so I was doing the same in response- cherry-picking the fact the Bulls may well have struggled more to put away a team with marginal talent in terms of historical greatness than the Warriors will struggle to put away LeBron ####ing James.

The real answer is that there is no answer. The teams played twenty years apart, the leagues the played in and even the sport they played are totally different. If you transported the Bulls in a time machine to 2016 and made them play the Warriors they'd lose every game by 30 to the fitter, quicker, more efficient and strategically advanced Warriors team (take your pick of explanations as to why the Triangle doesn't work any more). Just like every other elite athlete/team from 1996 would get murdered if you brought them here in your time machine. Like Jay Bilas said, if it wasn't for timing mechanisms people would argue about whether Mark Spitz was a better swimmer than Michael Phelps.

 

[Abraham]

Agreed. The 86 Celtics were amazing and would get run out of the building by the wolves. 

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

From the Game 3 postgame press conference transcript:

Q. If Kevin is able to go in Game 4, how would you expect to use him?
TYRONN LUE: Do I have to tell you?

Q. That’s up to you.
TYRONN LUE: I’m not going to tell you.

 

[thecatch]

This is pretty selective. They faced Mourning, Ewing, Shaq and Penny and Kemp and Payton. That would be a very difficult row to hoe for any team that wasn't the 96 Bulls.

Also, I believe getting blown out by a team from this year's Eastern Conference is the equivalent of losing 3 games to any 96 playoff team.

Yeah, the Sonics won 64 games and are probably one of the best teams not to have won a title. 

 

[TobiasFunke]

Yeah, the Sonics won 64 games and are probably one of the best teams not to have won a title. 

Don't you ruin my counter-cherry-picking with your pesky facts!

Also the 2015-16 Spurs would make that list too, and the Warriors took three of four from them and easily outpaced them overall in the regular season and then beat the team that took them out in the playoffs. So there's that. It's all cherry-picking, though.

 

[tjnc09]

jimmies are rustled over here, guys!

everybody look at the gambler on a losing streak. gets all sensitive and uppity when someone talks about his bailiwick.

no worries, guy, you must have a watch to pawn or a tv that your kids really don't need that you can hock. you'll hit the big one soon enough and get back on a winning streak. then you can afford the good vodka to wash away the stress of your o/u gambit on the big Vallejo Admirals v Sonoma Stompers game.

until then keep tilting at @TobiasFunke. it's funny watching him dismantling you while you flail around aimlessly.

I really hope you aren't this stupid in real life.

 

[coyote5]

Look, these kinds of comparisons are always kinda silly. And I think cherry-picking a handful of games out of the 100+ played by each team to do an overall comparison was particularly silly, so I was doing the same in response- cherry-picking the fact the Bulls may well have struggled more to put away a team with marginal talent in terms of historical greatness than the Warriors will struggle to put away LeBron ####ing James.

The real answer is that there is no answer. The teams played twenty years apart, the leagues the played in and even the sport they played are totally different. If you transported the Bulls in a time machine to 2016 and made them play the Warriors they'd lose every game by 30 to the fitter, quicker, more efficient and strategically advanced Warriors team (take your pick of explanations as to why the Triangle doesn't work any more). Just like every other elite athlete/team from 1996 would get murdered if you brought them here in your time machine. Like Jay Bilas said, if it wasn't for timing mechanisms people would argue about whether Mark Spitz was a better swimmer than Michael Phelps.

I'm not cherry picking my core point, which is that GS has walked out onto the court and gotten their asses STRAIGHT HANDED to them three times in these playoffs.  I think that says something.  As you say, the answer is unknowable, but I couldn't disagree more with your stance that the Warriors would sweep the Bulls winning by 30+.  That's laughable.  I mean they weren't smoking cigarettes and eating cheeseburgers at halftime back in '96.

 

[thecatch]

Don't you ruin my counter-cherry-picking with your pesky facts!

Also the 2015-16 Spurs would make that list too, and the Warriors took three of four from them and easily outpaced them overall in the regular season and then beat the team that took them out in the playoffs. So there's that. It's all cherry-picking, though.

All true. Doesn't it just *feel* like the Warriors' playoff run has been rougher than you'd expect from the greatest team of all time though?  I mean, you really don't expect a team with their resume to be down 3-1 at any point in the playoffs. I felt more in awe of the 2001 Lakers than this squad, for example. But all that said, assuming they take care of business and win this series, I definitely won't argue with anyone who calls them the best ever. 

 

[Notorious T.R.E.]

GSW by double digits

 

[TobiasFunke]

All true. Doesn't it just *feel* like the Warriors' playoff run has been rougher than you'd expect from the greatest team of all time though?  I mean, you really don't expect a team with their resume to be down 3-1 at any point in the playoffs. I felt more in awe of the 2001 Lakers than this squad, for example. But all that said, assuming they take care of business and win this series, I definitely won't argue with anyone who calls them the best ever. 

I suppose. I think Steph was still struggling with his injury in the first few games of that OKC series though, which is really the only time they truly struggled. That OKC series was just weird- throw that one out and I think their run will ultimately end up looking like any other dominant run when it's all said and done. Obviously you can't just throw those things out in these comparisons, though, so I guess I should have known better then to dip my toe into the sort of cross-era comparison discussions I usually avoid like the plague.

 

[Notorious T.R.E.]

Lukewarm take?

Magma

 

[CGRdrJoe]

All true. Doesn't it just *feel* like the Warriors' playoff run has been rougher than you'd expect from the greatest team of all time though?  I mean, you really don't expect a team with their resume to be down 3-1 at any point in the playoffs. I felt more in awe of the 2001 Lakers than this squad, for example. But all that said, assuming they take care of business and win this series, I definitely won't argue with anyone who calls them the best ever so far. 

FYP

 

[coyote5]

Yeah, that week and a half the Bulls spent without Jordan was something else, wasn't it

My apologies, I missed Curry sitting out the games against OKC and Cleveland.  

Oh Wait.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Yeah, that week and a half the Bulls spent without Jordan was something else, wasn't it

The west is so weak that Curry was able to take a week and a half off in the middle of the playoffs  

 

[TobiasFunke]

I'm not cherry picking my core point, which is that GS has walked out onto the court and gotten their asses STRAIGHT HANDED to them three times in these playoffs.  I think that says something.  As you say, the answer is unknowable, but I couldn't disagree more with your stance that the Warriors would sweep the Bulls winning by 30+.  That's laughable.  I mean they weren't smoking cigarettes and eating cheeseburgers at halftime back in '96.

The cherry-picking was three games in the context of 100+.

We'll have to agree to disagree about the rest. My one last point on that is that there's a reason almost every team in the NBA made more three-pointers this season than the Chicago Bulls did in 1996, and it's not because they were too worn out from smoking cigs to spot up off screens on the perimeter. I think Vlade was on the Lakers that season.