DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum NBA Offseason continued II

Last season the Heat beat the Pelicans by 6, Warriors beat the Cavs by 6, Bulls beat the Thunder by 9, Rockets beat the Spurs by 4

The previous year the Thunder beat the Spurs by 8, Miami beat the Cavs by 10, the Wizards beat the Knicks by 10

The previous year the Warriors beat the Clippers by 2, the Heat beat the Lakers by 6

The previous year the Lakers beat the Knicks by 6, the Heat beat the Thunder by 6, the Clippers beat the Nuggets by 10

I don't know.......it's just an opinion........but, I don't like Christmas Day games. We have a close family and we sure as heck are not going to sit around watching bb all day long and not talk.

Close games do not equal good games.

haha what constitutes a good basketball game?

I realize not all close games are good, but every good game is close IMO

I agree, I think of all the days athletes put in that one should be a day off for family.

I had court side seats to last year's Cavs-GS game and didn't go because it was Christmas.

Wow!

Lol yeah, sitting courtside is such a great experience, especially for a game like that.

I guess it all depends on how close your family is and what the plans are, etc.

I do like the Christmas day games and I appreciate how the NBA sets it up, but I also totally understand the point of view that the players deserve that day off. That's especially true for players like LeBron who seem to play on Christmas every year.

As far back as I can remember I don't ever remember a TV being even turned on Christmas day in our family.

I can see that, but I could also see the flip side of how cool of an experience it would be to be able to share that with your kids.

That's the rub. I was invited by a friend who's uncle is the CEO of Adobe or something and those are his season tickets. It wasn't going to be a family trip. It was going to be me and my buddy.

Now it makes sense.

For us, it's an "on in the background" kind of thing. Nobody is watching, but we're aware that it's on. Sort of like Thanksgiving football.

LOL.......yeah. And I guess that is why I don't like those games, because when I watch a game I really want to watch it. But again, it's just personal preference. No big deal.

Its a good break from the A Christmas Story marathon.

The guy I learned to paint from grew up in that time period and loved that movie, for his sake I tried to get into it but just couldn't do it.

For tradition sake I always watch it a few times ... just for nostalgia I guess

Hell, I still watch that old Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer most years. LOL

That's classic, I don't blame you haha

I've never linked to Instagram before, but here goes...

Lego Finals

that is fantastic

The fans wearing "CLE" shirts was a very nice touch.

That same guy on Instagram recently made a video of the fumbled punt return TD for the MSU/UM game. Very nice.

The Curry one was hilarious.


Question for the audience, when did it finally set in that we won?

It still seems like a dream to me

I'm still waiting for the league to issue a technical foul on the Cavs bench from coming onto the court with .7 seconds left. Curry will hit the free throw, drain a 3 and get fouled in the process to complete a 5-point play. We lose.

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I watch Game 7 every few days, usually while falling asleep. Perfect relaxation.

I was expecting Lebron to get hurt, not be able shoot free throws and get taken out of the game because of it. Then some scrub comes in and bricks the free throws. Curry hits the game tieing 3 and Golden State proceeds to win. I will NEVER forget the last few minutes of that game. I started getting a sick feeling in my stomach when they went up 87-83. I felt the close out avalanche was coming.

Also, I'll admit it. I cried when I saw Lue and Lebron crying. I also got emotional seeing Earnest Byner on the redone version of Believeland. It was really brutal hearing his apology over the fumble. I hope the Cavs winning helps him sleep better at night.

I was so stressed out that game. Every shot was live or die. It was SO INTENSE. I felt screwed up from stress for like 3 or 4 days later. It took a long time to sink in. Now I am like AW YEAH WE WON! I finally bought my cavs t shirts a couple weeks ago. I am in happyland.

When the Warriors choked on those last two shots and we won I could hardly believe it. I ran outside and screamed. My neighbors probably thought I was nuts. But then again they know I am a Cleveland fan.

It's still crazy to me that everything went down the way it did.

Once Kevin Love locked down Steph Curry on that possession, everything else seems like a blur. It all happened to so fast. It literally seems like yesterday.

I've heard people talk about a rubber match next June. I just can't even go there right now. Still coming down from that high, and obviously the NBA regular season is so damn long. It literally spans all four seasons of the calendar year.

I expect our guys to have a big hangover too. I would not be surprised at a sluggish start. That's fine by me. I think we can really deal with the ups and downs of the season better knowing they are pacing themselves for the playoffs. As much as I would love to see the Cavs shoot for 70+, I totally get that Lebron and the Cavs front office are both in agreement about resting guys, and limiting minutes, etc.

I still watch the last minute of the game on youtube from time to time, and it still is really hard to believe. You just knew we weren't going to win a championship in some ho-hum series in 4 or 5 games. Kyrie's bucket was with 53 seconds left in game 7.

I felt like we won the mental game when Lebron stuffed Curry and won the stare down, and then yanked Curry up off the floor after that collision and patted him on the arse like a whipped 'lil boy. It didn't set in for certain until Lebron made that second free throw.

The more I watch, the more things I notice. The final inbound play happened because of a foul to give that the Cavs put on Draymond. I thought it was unlike the Warriors to be hesitant on that possession before the foul knowing the Cavs had a foul to give. They looked shook up, and nervous. Kinda like the Russians in the miracle on ice when they didn't pull the goalie in the final minute because they hadn't really been there. That teams season was on the line and they were not quick to make a decision. The Cavs fouled Green with about 6 seconds left, and that allowed them to take a breath, reset their defense, and with a four point lead, could really swarm the side of the floor with Curry and Thompson. It's a play that sticks out more as I watch.

The Kyrie bucket is legendary, but at the time, I still thought GS was capable of going down and tying the game. Kyrie almost made a fatal mistake soon after when Love was able to keep Curry from getting off his shot. Irving took the ball down, tried to attack/get a foul, and almost turned the ball over. It ended up back in his hands and he was able to get the ball to Love. The Lebron foul when he almost redesigned the logo on Draymond Green happened right after. How would the game had gone had Irving turned it over there.

It's almost not fair to ask that question because there were probably a hundred items like that for both sides of that series. It was that close. I believe I read that before Irving's bucket, both teams were tied at total points in the series. A dead heat. That's really amazing.

It was kind of funny, but I felt like we had a real legit shot at winning it after Game 6. Curry got ejected and their team as a whole looked rattled. Kerr was saying things after the game like, "Well we just need to keep doing what we're doing". It was at that point I was thinking, "Wow! We're actually in their heads ... we have a real chance of beating them on Sunday!"

Of course the Cleveland fan in me tempered expectations greatly.


I went through the 5 Stages of Exuberation after Game 7 (Similar to the 5 Stages of Grief):

1) Denial - "We're going to foul on a three point shot. Is that a second left?? Is the game over?? Did he really just say it's over??? No fouls?? We're celebrating, right!?"

2) Rage - "YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" ... As I sprinted around the house, bouncing off the walls, waking up neighbors, tossing small children into the air ...

3) Depression - Well, not really depression, but weeping tears of joy, while also giggling uncontrollably.

4) Acceptance - Finally realizing that your team has actually won a Championship and you sit their with a smile on your face that could literally not be punched off your face, even if John Elway, Jose Mesa, and Michael Jordan walked into the room and slugged you.

5) Bargaining - This is where your kids realize you're the happiest you've ever been in your life, and start asking you for ice cream and toys at the toy store, because they know you'll say yes to anything at this point.

My only regret is that I really didn't get to celebrate. We got home from a very long vacation, and had been in the car the last 2 days. We picked up a very nice bottle of bourbon in Louisville that morning, and drank a nice glass each once the championship was secured.

I always said I'd be in Cleveland the night they had a chance to win a game that clinched a title, but it just wasn't going to happen. We had spent the last 9 nights, in 3 different cities, 2 hotels, and a beach house.

I always thought I'd be blackout drunk when a Cleveland team won but I was pretty sober the whole day, haha. Figures.

I think what sealed the game was the execution on the last 2 plays. They cut time down by 4 seconds which was absolutely huge.

For me, what changed the pace of the game was the Warriors building a lead and JR nailing two 3s in a row to get us back in it. It was our statement that we would not lay down to die.

If you look at the last three games, this is where GS lost them:

Game 5 2nd H = Got outscored 51-36
Game 6 1st Q = Got outscored 31-11
Game 7 4th Q = Got outscored 18-13

I'm still not sure how the best offensive team in 24 years managed only 24 total points in two consecutive quarters (Game 5 4th Q + Game 6 1st Q) and managed only 13 points in the 4th quarter of Game 7 on their home floor and nothing after the 4:39 mark. So Bizarre.

One play from Game 7 that stands out from each side? I'll say Curry tossing the ball behind his back out of bounds, I think that was between Lebron's 3 free throws and his 3 to take a 2 point lead. The one Cavs play, Lebron's block.

It was funny.

I was watching, while trying not to watch. I was confident, and still freaked out a bit. I look at the TV when GS missed that final shot ..... and I almost couldn't believe it.

I was reading my Bible as the game was winding down. lol That's true. I was so wound up that I just couldn't take it.

When GS missed that shot, I was just in shock. I admit to tears when "I" saw Lebron fall to the floor in tears of joy.

It was absolutely incredible.

Curry and Klay were garbage in game 7. Draymond made that game competitive. Dude went bonkers from 3. Livingston gave a good effort too.

Curry and Klay seemed overwhelmed or sloppy or something ... it was strange to see them like that. Credit our guys/coaches for getting them out of rhythm