DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs/Playoffs Part Trois

If you're an underdog, you've gotta withstand the early onslaught. Defensively, I'd let Lowry have success. Stick Lebron on Derozan and let DD shot chuck like crazy. I say DD because Lowry likes to draw fouls. Who else will score for Toronto? They need Jonas back.

Lowry is nowhere near good enough to go toe to toe with Lebron. Make Lowry carry their entire offense and try to defend Kyrie at the same time.

I do hope the Cavs try to mix up their offense and not rely on making 22 threes a game... but you are right, if they are making them, they are very hard to beat.

Yeah, that's my one big beef with the team. If they can hit the threes, they're unstoppable. But if they can't, they keep trying to force the issue, rather than do other things that work better.

Yep, just get away from it for a while, go inside, drive to the basket, get fouled, force the issue.. then after a handful of possessions, if you drive and kick, take another 3 in rhythm.. forcing it when they aren't going in doesn't work.

So its all Toronto.... I figured you to be a Canadians fan for some reason... still my favorite hockey team.

My only fear of toronto is their guards, particularly Lowry, given how bad our defense has been on opposing guards this playoff run, and these two being the strongest yet concern me. They are going to have to contain them for sure, and Carroll does probably one of the best jobs other than Leonard at guarding LBJ, this is one those series where your role players need to shine. I still don't think it goes more than 5 and if we come out as hot as we've been then i don't think a sweep is out of the question. We are really rested and they've just been hammered for two straight months

Derozan has been awful.

WCF is a nice warm up before the NBA Finals.

OKC cant buy a bucket.

They are having some of the most mind boggling TOs I have ever seen.

It's amazing they only down by 6

Westbrook and Durant have been really bad.

I really hate curry

Soooo

Who still thinks we're talented enough to beat these guys?

Me too.

We can beat them. OKC is just playing awful.

His 3 point shots are freakin' amazing. He makes it look so easy. I guess it is for him.

You absolutely can NOT let Curry kill you in rebounding. Golden State has mastered what Miami did with Lebron. The guy closest to the rim always makes sure he at least touches the ball. He either taps it out, boxes out for a teammate or gets the rebound himself.

When I watch Golden State, I see guys not afraid to get hurt. Which means they're gonna sell their bodies out for trying to at least touch the ball.

I feel like this is how you beat GS. Limit turnovers and win the rebounding battle. They're gonna make great plays, but limit them.

Also, you need to be a phenomenal passing team. Golden State is extremely active and aggressive. Elite passing against them is like running screens vs the blitz.

I totally hope we do, but I would not bet on it (sighs).

OKC is too dumb to beat Golden State.

Watching Durant


Now I know why Westbrook shot chucks.

Durant is choking in this 4th quarter. They need every shot to give breathing room and he missed his last 7

I was just gonna post ^that^. He can't hit nothin'.

Finally hits with 30 secs left

This is a great ending. I think a lot of people might have went to bed at halftime?

Huge travel by Westbrook with a no call

If OKC wins this series, the Cleveland curse might end.

Yep.

The crowd is freakin' stunned.

Pages 1-3 on this thread. Sleeping on OKC.

Wow! Final score: 108, 102. Win by the Thunder! Great job!

(((Time for bed.)))

This win is shocking. I thought for sure gs was going to dominate them until the end.

Me too. I almost stopped watching at the half. I'm glad I stuck with it, should be a good series.

Based on what I saw tonight. I feel like a healthy Miami Heat team would be the biggest mismatch for a team like Golden State. 2 athletic bigs that play both sides of the ball would kill GS front court. I agree with Barkley. Don't build a team to compete with other teams. Find your own strength and build on it.

Like when we built a team to beat Boston and then lost to Orlando?

I would also not be at all surprised if GS won this series 4-1.

Just finish our series with Toronto FAST. Then lock Lebron in a padded room at Fort Knox.

Story of the game for me was Iggy being invisible. Also, OKCs bigs dominating Golden States bigs. Draymond had a really quiet 23 points. I'm shocked he had that many.

Let's pray Barkley is right. He predicted the Cavs would win it all. He was the only guy who picked the Thunder to beat the Spurs. He also picked the thunder over the Warriors.

I don't necessarily agree about the Green part. I thought he played a really smart, well rounded game. Free safety on D. Really smart O, constantly taking OKC's bigs to the hole. Granted, he never had a big signature play, no dagger 3 or anything like that.

I think a lot of credit has to go to Donovan. He never wavered in his approach. He never panicked. In turn, his team never panicked.

It also helps to have Westbrook. I criticized him earlier in the thread for being dumb. Sometimes that works in your favor. He's like a dog that just keeps coming and coming and coming. He's relentless. And he's going to be relentless whether down by 4 or down by 30. I actually thought he deferred to Durant too much late.

Man, Curry is annoying. Chewing the mouth guard and always staring at the floor when he walks ...I hate the way he acts. Really enjoyed the OKC victory. I hope they can pull this off, but like another poster said I wouldn't be surprised if GS won 4-1.

OKC's switching and literally sticking on the perimeter caused some problems for GS. It's rare to see GS's offense so stagnant and sideline to sideline.

Credit OKC (even though neither team played their best ... by a long shot).

Looks to be a 7 game series now most likely