DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum NBA/Cavs Discussion III

You're assuming LeBron grabbed Harden's arm..

When i watch it, it look to me like Harden hookes James' arm trying to get the foul called on him..

*shrug*

If you hook the defensive player that's a foul. Bottom line.

Harden did do that. . . only after LeBron already fouled him.

LBK and the foul line didn't go well together. Wished Love would have hit on some of the good chances he had on the three balls.

I wish we'd work the inside more if the shooting game isn't hitting.

All I know is that was the best NBA game I have watched in a long, long time.

It had a playoff atmosphere to it. The teams were going after one another. There were multiple twists and turns.

We lost, but I was very happy w/our effort and that was a delightful game to watch.

It was entertaining, no doubt about that. Both teams were playing with a lot of intensity and energy.

The crowd was very enthusiastic.

While I agree with the spirit of this post, I don't agree with the effort in terms of playing smart basketball. For some reason LeBron has been hell bent on being a one man show the last few games. For such a normally unselfish player, I don't understand what's driving him.

And I hate the body language between LeBron and Love. Actually I think it's non-existant. I look for them to be talking, high fiving, enjoying the success they've been having, and I just don't see it between them two. And why he wouldn't involve Love down the stretch in this game is bizarre to me, especially with Kyrie out.

I fear Love might leave after this year, and the Cavs might not have anything to show for it. There will be some fans who will think it won't matter, but they don't understand how well Love is playing. He's nearly a double, double every night. On a team with so many scorers, you need gritty rebounders, and he provides that. And his defense has improved. Defense is an effort and mindset thing, and the whole team has bought into that, including Love.

While I did enjoy the intensity of the game, the Cavs played dumb basketball, and I find that disappointing.

If Kevin wants to leave, and I can see why he might, winning regardless, I would use whatever picks I had to move up and grab Kaminsky and slot him in Love's spot..

I thought it was def. a game with a playoff feel. It reinforced my point that our bench is bad and needs to get better..we really miss kyrie when he's out. Not only as the PG, but as the closer..Lebron is about unclutch a superstar in the game. To be honest, if I could put the loss on one person it was lebron. Too much hero ball, turnovers, missed FT's it was maddening. I hate him as a ball handler..he has subpar handles, and he don't have the speed to blow by people anymore. he should have involved more people at the end. He was having a horrible night..no reason not to try to get love or jr involved..no coicidence that the lineup that brought the team back was with lebron getting his rest. Not normal most night, but they shared the ball and were playing defense. I still don't know if Houston could beat us at full strength in 7, but i think it'd take all 7. Especially when they get dwight back.

Not sure if anyone said this, but did anyone feel like the second half was coached by Mike Brown? In that, Lebron controlled every possession, drove to the hole as the other 4 just watched?

Where were the designed plays? Man, I hope that doesn't continue. Maybe it wasn't Mike Brown.....maybe it's Lebron.

Do you expect to be missing our PG and #2 scorer a lot in the playoffs?

Do you realize how small benches are in the playoffs?

Thats my point...we really need kyrie to make this work..our bench has Zero ability to pickup should a starter get hurt with the exception of TT. But to my point, statistically we have the worst bench in the NBA. A deep bench is essential to a extended playoff push, obviously not all 15, but 6-8,9, 10 maybe..and right now the only 2 I'm comfortable with is Shump and TT..the rest aren't playoff quality depth.

Exactly...lebron's ego loses too many games.. He needs to realize he has plenty of help now. Not sure if its just because kyrie was out or he was playing harden, but lebron cost us the game last night. And if I'm being honest. With Kyrie out, I rather have JR take a last second shot than lebron. The game boiled down to FT's. Lebron really needs to clean that up as much as he gets to the line. a 30mil a year player shouldn't be shooting 70%,,its unacceptable. And completely fixable. He was much better in Miami.

He shot 75.8% in 4 season in Miami..

74% in 8 seasons here..

Currently 71.6% this season..

Wait, What?? Lebron has made a TON of huge clutch plays. But he can also can't get out of his own way sometimes. I'd go with "he's the most jekyll and hyde superstar" in the game. Three of Eleven at the line is not acceptable. And the "hero ball" stuff needs to be controlled significantly. I get it if he's feeling it like in Game 5 of the Detroit series. But I think too often, he'll pound the ball for 23 seconds and hoist up a 22.5 foot fall-away 2-pointer trying to be a hero. And then if he misses, he tries it again attempting to get into a rhythm. I agree, it's maddening to watch.

yeah, you're exactly right...he's his own worst enemy at times..I think at times he believes in his hype too much.. This league is so much more talented and offensive oriented than ever before.. but Lebron tries to shoulder too much at times. I still think not replacing delly will come back to bite us. Hes just not nba quality. 3 points and 42 minutes last night. The other issue I had with last night is and well most nights since we traded away 2 first round picks is the lack of minutes Mosgov gets. Especially down the stretch when teams are going to try to get to the rim to draw fouls. I expected him to get starters minutes. He played 18 last night.

Anyone else see the tweet the rockets sent out last night saying Harden is the "New King James" I want to be mad, but I think its hilarious how delusional they are..you ask all the coaches in the league who would you rather build around lebron or harden.. I wouldn't think anyone takes harden..Lebron could score 30+ a night if he chose to, he rather get more people involved, last two games notwithstanding. Houston will see how Harden does in playoff ball when his soft-ass gets abused. And those open lanes he sees now ends with him on his 4th point of contact

Yeah but even the announcers said that Harden said he's trying more on defense!

MVP! MVP! MVP!

How can trying more be a bad thing? Harden is ridiculously good, did you see who he is playing with? Their second best player right now is probably Trevor Ariza.

He's not trying more.

He's trying. At all..

He never tried before.

To hilariously bad results.

So it's a bad thing that he is now trying on defense?

Technically? No.

Is it a good thing that he never tried before?

That was the other disappointing part about yesterday.

James > Harden

James + Love >> Harden

And the Cavs still lost. They were their own worst enemy.

I agree that Harden is ridiculously good. Not sure who I would rather have, Harden or Westbrook. Both ridiculously good.

Aren't we talking about this season?

Completely agree. I think those early playoff years unhinged him a bit. The press told him things like: "Jordan would never pass up a game winning shot" and he took over Game 5 against Detroit ... so now he thinks he can do it whenever he wants. Problem is, when he's not feeling it, he keeps trying to force the issue hoping he can get hot.


He's NBA quality. He's just not an offensive scorer. It's like saying Bruce Bowden only averaged 6 points a game, so he must of sucked. Delly basically defers to the superstars (which they want anyway), provides assists and puts up the occasional three-pointer (which he's 2nd best on the team in 3P%). He's mostly there to harass on the defensive end, which he does. For league minimum, you're going to be hard-pressed to find anyone that's going to replace what he does. The problem is when Kyrie goes down, he can't be expected to put up Kyrie-like offensive stats. But good luck finding anybody that will at a league minimum contract.



I don't get that either. I'm not sure if that's Blatt's call or what. It's not like Moz isn't producing though. His PER-36-Min averages are up there with the better centers in the league. He's just not getting the minutes for some reason. Maybe Blatt just doesn't want to risk wearing down his big man until the playoffs? Maybe he's not conditioned enough to play more than 24 mins a game? I hope it's not the latter.

MVP.. last two games against Curry and Harden (two of the three leading competitors for MVP). He got the best of Curry in a big way and would have probably gained ground on Harden too if he could have made some free throws (and I'm not just talking about the last 2).. 3 for 11 is something he should be able to do left handed with his eyes closed.

I understand that we are trying to keep people fresh, but Mosgov needs to be on the floor more.

I love Delly, dude is a bit underrated, however he doesn't have a consistent shot we can rely on right now. If he hits 40% of what he put up yesterday, we win that game against houston. When Kyrie is out, we are relying too much on lebron, and hoping streaky shooters like Smith and Shumpart can fill the void. Right now They are huge on defense, but we need more points out of them, at least with regards to Shumpart.

and we got to get Love involved more. The "clear the floor and let lebron drive to the rim" only worked because they didn't have Dwight out there. However, we also lost this game because James had hands down the worst FT line night of his career.

that was simply terrible.

Bulls are losing Butler for a bit now too..

Looks like harden got suspended a game for the nut kick...he should have been thrown out then...refs really love houston. But harden is a tool...not sure why we didn't use perkins a single minute. Nothing else to thump a few people around the rim...namely harden. Last night was one of the worst coached games by blatt in long time..Think he outsmarted himself

I don't think there's anything Blatt could have done. LeBron decided he was going to play hero ball.

thats when you be a coach and sub him out. If lebron is a team player like he says, he should have no problem with that, especially how he was playing. But I get what you're saying, most coaches aren't going to sub lebron..only a few could do it and get away with it. Don't think Blatt is in that league yet.

GO CAVS!

Welcome back Irving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad we finished early. Big 3 played less than 26 min each. That's huge for tomorrow.

And of the - what? 2? 3? - in NBA history that could've, zero would've.

Phil wouldn't pull Mike or Kobe if they were in a stubborn funk. Pat wouldn't pull Magic...

...you live and die with your superstars as a coach. That's just how it works.

You measure the coach by what he whispers in that guy's ear, not the obtuse bravery to sub a frustrated and ineffective best player on the planet for...what exactly?

That can work in most team sports.

But not at QB. And LeBron is about as QB as you get in the NBA

6/7 next games are on the road.

Actually, 9 of the 13 remaining games in March are on the road.

And it's a tough set of games too.

@Toronto
@Atlanta
Phoenix
@Dallas
@SanAntonio
@Orlando
@Miami
Brooklyn
Indiana (they seem to have our number)
@Milwaukee
@Memphis
@Brooklyn
Philly

LOL

https://vine.co/v/O0XL2upIu6a

"Who's this?"

Ha ha ha