DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum NBA Finals III The Empire Strikes Back

My only optimism is that last round we went to Toronto, played like crap, lost two games..

Then came home and destroyed them for two games..

Then went back there and destroyed them again..

So yeah.. Cavs in 6. Obviously..

Editors Note: No, I am not comparing Toronto to GS.

Just wanted to say...

The title of this thread is freaking awesome lol that's all

/end of pointless post

Down two-naught. Waiting for our better team to show. Don't over think it. We need a win. We need a hero (or four).

I am in a save face mode myself.

Cavs have to stop playing tight. I get this impression that they think you have to be technically perfect to beat GSW. Go back to what worked against Toronto, whip the ball around, get the open shot, let it fly, play with intensity... have fun.. stop playing scared.

If we can win these next two at home, I'll have hope

It's more likely we get swept thank it is we tie it 2-2

I'll play it safe and saw we in 1 of 2

Then lose in 5

That's just the way I feel too.

Sometimes reality really bites.

Just win the next one and look like you have fixed some of the things that looked so awful in games 1 and 2. Hell do enough to show the critics and bandwagon deserters that you at least belong in this series.

Hypothetical: Kevin Love misses Game 3, Cleveland plays significantly better and wins..

What do you do for Game 4?

Knock KLove's ass out for the rest of the series "accidentally."

You start him but you have a quick trigger if we look like we are reverting back to game 1 and 2 style.

I've never watched the NBA until the last couple of years with the Cavs. My mom and dad have always loved it and followed Michael Jordan for years. When he retired, my mom fell in love with Lebron to take Michael's place. So they cheered on the Cavs. They fell so in love with the Cavs and were able to watch every game on Fox Sports even while living in Dayton, that they completely disowned Lebron and stuck with cheering for the Cavs after the "decision".

My parents are getting up there and have both been experiencing some health problems over the last couple of years and have been more home bound than in the past. The Cavs have been wonderful for them to have something to watch together and root for. I watch when I can and we text back and forth during the games.

They are still hopeful, but I've seen the wind go out of their sails after the last two games. Those were painful for me to watch and I'm not even a fan. I was so hoping my parents could get the joy of a championship win, they would be so crazy happy, like the rest of you, I know. Their time is getting pretty near though, and I was really hoping they would get their championship this time around.

Come on Cavs!!

I would bring him off the bench in a smaller role. At this point, your salary and status don't matter. It's about finding something that works.

I really think the Cavs should consider a change in the starting 5 or in the rotation anyway. There's nothing wrong with it. Golden State did it last year against us.

It's not complete and total desperation, but it's enough to where you need to stop resting on what you have done up to this point.

i think having Love and JR come off the bench would work, have Shump or Frye start

Frye has played 11 total minutes this series at a +1 overall. He hasn't even had a chance to prove anything, bad or good.

Start him. Play him a lot. He is the second best player on the team. One really bad game on the road (vs the Warriors) and presumably one good game at home without him would not change that.

If somebody else who would be competing for him with playing time like Frye really played a great game then you would obviously try to get him more playing time (probably a good idea with Frye anyway) and that might mean you play Love somewhat less, but don't go overboard with the changes just based on a couple games.

That's because he can't guard anyone (and that's saying a lot considering some of the guys who the Cavs have been playing).

Sadly that's too true. He doesn't even seem to rebound very well...

Frye is just a shooter. That is nice when there are guys you can hide him on on defense (Carroll), but the Warriors don't have that player.

'Just a shooter' is underselling him a bit-- he's shooting 57% from 3 this post-season and it's not easy to get a good contest on a guy who is 6'11". Yeah he's hot, yeah he will regress to the mean but I'm just saying, as long as he is hot you might as well give him some minutes. Every player on this team outside of Lebron has some pretty significant holes in their game.

What does "hot" mean? It's been two weeks since he was "hot."

Also, one of the reasons the Warriors have been able to lock down the Cavs is because LeBron has a huge hole in his game -- he can't shoot.

Unfortunately if Frye can't get open then his shooting doesn't matter and as of right now he looks slow. <sigh>

I'm really excited for this game, I'm not sure if we can win but either way, it will have my heart pounding!

At least we got some good news...

KLove out for game 3
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love will not be cleared for Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors this evening.

Love, who suffered a concussion on Sunday, was ruled as questionable following shootaround this morning in which he participated in portions of the session. The Cavaliers were hopeful he would be given the go tonight, but the league informed the team the earliest he would be granted permission to play would be Game 4 on Friday.

ESPN first reported the news.

Veteran Richard Jefferson will likely start in his place. He has been seen working out with the first team. When asked about Love's situation over the last few days, LeBron James response has been "next man up."

Love did not participate in practice on Tuesday. He sustained the concussion in the second quarter of Sunday's game after Harrison Barnes inadvertently elbowed him in the back of the head during a fight for a rebound.

Love out. Now we'll see what this smaller lineup looks like

Kevin Love is basically a 6'8 SG.

I don't know how much smaller we can get.

It's more of a phrase/playing style than the actual sizes.

It's obvious we can't have TT/Love/Lebron out there together ... GS just destroys us.

IMO we need Lebron to play 4 or maybe even 5 to matchup best defensively.

My favorite part about all of this is however everyone keeps saying we need to trade Kyrie and Love..

..For what?

They are good offensive players, that are injury prone, that give little else on the court, and apparently nothing on the big stage..

What exactly are we going to get in return for that, that's going to make us better?

And guess what, as soon as you tear this team apart, to build a team to beat GS.. they lose in the 2nd round and you end up losing the Finals to Memphis or whatever random team..

Out of those 4, JR, Frye, Love, and Shumpert, the cavs need production.. I don't care which ones give it to them..

What we really need is for Mozgov to get back to his form of a year ago, and help shut down the middle.

*Sigh*

They won't play him at all except for garbage time. I guess Lue thinks we're fine as it is.

I don't think he's a good play against GS, but hey it couldn't get any worse.

I would try to play:
Kyrie
Shump
JR
Lebron
TT

I don't mind that lineup until Bogut comes out. TT is worthless on the perimeter.

Zach Lowe on game three:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/160453...ow-play-defense

j/c:

I saw two comments I really disagree with:

--Losing Love is not good news.

--TT is our best perimeter defender.

I wonder what y'all watch, sometimes.

I don't see how losing Love is good news.

You argued we have the same talent as Golden State.

Yes, I did.

And you argued that we should blow up the team.

What's your point?

I don't even like the Cavs as much as I did before they ran Blatt off, but I pray they win to shut-up all the whiners who were so supportive all year. LOL

DO OR DIE

LET'S GO CAVS!!!!!