DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs Discussion Continued

18 turnovers-type sloppy. 6 by Lebron. We really need to clean that up if we want to go further than the 2nd round.

yeah your right looking forward to us getting JR for a couple of games 25 point victory.
Go cavs

J/C ..... Pat Riley has evidently not let things go ..... funny how he was fine with things when he was on the good side of the ledger ......

Does Pat Riley have a problem with how LeBron James left Miami? - CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-bask...ames-left-miami

On Monday, Miami Heat President Pat Riley held a media availability and was asked about the plan for the offseason. Unprompted, Riley issued a statement which was interpreted by Miami media as a shot at LeBron James. From the Miami Herald:

Riley was asked about the draft and next season and the Heat's president, in classic Riley style, dropped a loaded one-liner, which was immediately interpreted as a dig at LeBron.

"No more smiling faces with hidden agendas, so we'll be going in clean," Riley said.

Asked to clarify if that comment was about James, Riley said, “that could be anyone across the board,” before adding, “I've already got about half a dozen emails from people I don't even know recommending [a player], and somewhere in that email or text is always a smiley.”

via Did LeBron mislead Pat Riley last summer during free agency with a smiley face emoji? | Heat Check.

(Side note: click that link, it's incredible. Best American Sportswriting, 2015.)

For what it's worth, here's LeBron's comment about it on Tuesday:

Ethan J. Skolnick ✔ @EthanJSkolnick
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LeBron was asked about Riley's presser. "Whatever he said, that's not my concern right now."
10:45 AM - 21 Apr 2015

There's been rumors of bad blood between the two since Riley held a press conference going into free agency last year and challenged the Heat's trio of stars to stick together. Instead, James bolted back to Cleveland, made the playoffs as the two-seed, and the Heat fell apart due to injuries and inconsistencies, missing the playoffs.

The problem is that whatever James may have told Riley, he had the right to change his mind. It's LeBron's career, LeBron's life, LeBron's legacy. James was rumored to have cut off all contact with everyone but Dwyane Wade during the time in-between July 1st and when he reached his decision eleven days later. Chris Bosh says he didn't hear from him. Most people say that he was on lockdown. James was facing inordinate scrutiny and pressure from everywhere, just as he did in 2010, and seemed to be geared towards staying away from it. He flew immediately to Rio the morning his decision appeard on SI.com, flying to the World Cup.

The man literally left the country to get away from the story.

James gave Riley four years, four finals, two championships, millions of dollars. He did his time, his contract had an option, he exercised it, he left. The end. The rest is just details.

There is some speculation that Riley's comment is related to a "hidden agenda" of James with regards to his late-season tweets that the Heat needed to draft Shabazz Napier, who was... not great as a rookie. So the idea goes that LeBron fed that idea to the Heat to get them to draft Napier, intentionally sabotaging the Heat.

Well, that could be true but a. it would be a remarkably stupid idea to draft a player because James suggested it, not only because you're the ones in charge of basktball decisions but because of James' opt-out, b. if the 24th pick in the NBA draft "sabotaged" your season, you probably went awry somewhere else and c. I'm still struggling to imagine James thinking to himself "Muahahaha, now my fiendish plot will be unleashed! I will convince them to take a UConn point guard which is never a good idea and they will fall from the ranks while I leave to go to a cold weather city with a history of losing so prolific there are literally documentaries about it." But that's just me.

Maybe Riley was misinterpreted, and the comment was taken out of context or was simply innocuous. But Riley's known to a. be hyper-competitive and b. hold grudges. But it certainly doesn't seem this situation is over, for Riley or for James.

I can almost guarantee a loss in Boston, we haven't played well at all..Dellevedova can't stay in front of anyone and its exposing our interior...mostly with TT in there...he has no idea how to play defense...luckily hes a beast on the offensive boards. We play too complacent and soft and then think we can turn it on and win, which we have been able to, but these two games are alot closer than they should have been..We do this against Chicago and we're going home. I kinda wished we'd played indiana first round, they would have been a tough test and we wouldn't have looked past them and they would be a great test with george back to get us ready for Chicago.

Blatt really needs to put someone on the block, Love is a top 5 post player at his position..No idea why we aren't wearing the paint off the floor with him against the Celtic frontcourt. Blatt is getting outcoached by Stevens, but it's great experience for him and I think if we get to the finals, he'll be ready. Lebron needs to stop playing hero ball and play within the system...he's a turnover machine..luckily he does so much well it covers it up.

Kyrie is an ice cold criminal..if there was one person on this team I'd want taking the last second shot, its him...dude has no nerves, and he can cross anyone in the league over, ANYONE. I love he's looking to facilitate more..we just need guys to start shooting better. I think JR will go off soon, but his defense has really surprised me..he's bought in completely. He was the steal of that trade, not shumpert.. Shumpert needs to stop shooting like he's JR..lol, just play defense dude.

I really hope we jump on Boston early thursday..Don't even let them or the crowd get into it.. I think if we do that, game 4 will just be a formality at that point. Rest up and get ready for bulls


Just a playoff note...man how old do the spurs look...I have no doubts we could beat them in the finals...problem is they are going home first round.. Memphis and Clips look pretty tough. I think both of those could take us to 7 and beat us if a few things go right. In the East, only chicago worries me. We need to get more physical, and we need to start now so we aren't trying to do it for the first time against Chicago.

All I know is I'm glad playoffs are here..been some fun games to watch and the cavs are finally relevant again.

holy cow
How due you know lebron wouldnt have scored 50 if we needed it?
next round lets see how heathy rose is having to play defense
against a point that can score 40 against him if he isnt 100%.

Gotta clean up the turnovers. Just have to.

we clearly know we can turn it on and beat the Celtics ... and we will

the Bulls will be another story IMO ... we have to be hitting on all cylinders to beat them and/or Atlanta

A joy to watch them. Kyrie in game one.
Feeling more upside than I am seeing for the Cavs. Playing sloppy too often. Tough after this, but they can play for it all when they get hot.

I want be surprised if the Cavs jump out to a 20+ lead in game 3.

LOL, he's got a ton of nerve.

Pat Riley reminds me of those Baltimore football fans that cried and cried about how unfair it was when they lost their team then gleefully took one from somebody else... it's the same story only in reverse.

After this quote from Crowder, you may just be right, Candy!

Is Mozgov intimidating? Crowder laughs. "No. Nobody on their team is intimidating."

Jay King Tweet

I hate saying this, but the Cavs have been sleep walking for at least 1/2 of each game so far ... both teams know the Cavs could NEVER lose a 7 game series to the Celtics.

It's not a good habit to get into, so I hope we see the Cavs just put them away in 4/5 games.

But I also wouldn't be talking any smack if I were the other teams.

I don't think they are sleepwalking. I think the Celtics start off really fast, much faster than the cavs. They are able to compete playing fast. But eventually they wear down and play the cavs speed, and the cavs pull ahead.

As good as Irving has been, the Celtics have done a good job sealing him off driving the lane. Trying to stop LBJ getting to the rim in this current offense is a lost cause, but I'd like to see Irving find a way to get to the rim, so he has something to lean on offensively, in case his shot has an off night.

I've been ok with the fist two games. There is some sloppiness, but overall they are playing well. Boston is playing hard. They're a bunch of young guys, so of course they're going to grind all 48.

I worry about tomorrow. I think it may be the 1 loss in the series. We've gotta cover the 3 point line. Usually when you get these lopsided matchups, the lower seeded team coming home has that game 3 where they ride the crowd and shoot the lights out and have nothing for the next game.

They're killing us on P&R but I think if you avoid those 8 or 9-0 runs that ends with a 3 pointer before the timeout, you can win this game and crush the hopes of a young team.

Tim Duncan


I don't know what else to say. The guy is a computer.

Great game. This series is ridiculous. And it's the first round.

+1

I will never understand why the NBA gives two days off between games 3 and 4.. Where no travel is involved..

I think the Celtics might sneak in a win in Boston but this series is over in 5.

I would like to see us win one in Boston and have Love go for about 25 and 15...

Less games per night = elongated playoff period = More TV revenue

It's odd, during the regular season the NBA enjoys forcing road back-2-backs and 4 games in 5 nights....but then does a 180 once the playoffs start. They get conservative, preach rest, and want the "best product possible" for the fans.

Pick a methodology and stick to it.

The last thing I wanna see against Boston is another 'Game 5'.

Love is hammering it!

This so far is a pretty hardcore game and very intense. The refs are blind and missing a lot of calls on our behalf. ESPECIALLY that one on Mozgoz where he got hit in the neck.

How could you miss that????????

Really like the start so far. Love that LBJ started off the game going to the rim 3 times. Show the youngbloods that you don't get cute on the road in the playoffs.

"The hustle of the Celtics" = Being able to grab and do whatever they want..

Mosgov had both arms around the ball, and Crowder puts his hand on it and that's somehow a jump ball?

I see the hometown cooking is in full effect. What a bunch of crap.

Way to finish off the half strong there, despite Boston trying to turn this into a hockey game.

It's easy to not be intimidated when you realize the refs won't call you for fouls..

Congratulations. You're not "intimidated"

You might even win a game.

Still losing the series..

Better win tonight if you don't wanna get swept..

JR is getting hot!

That LBJ break away dunk was nasty!!!!!!

Smith got his game back tonight, and Love was huge.

I said this would be a sweep, and I think that's even more likely now. The Celtics got everything tonight, and it still wasn't enough.

Some dude in that background of the postgame interview flipping off the cameras ... stay classy Boston!

Great game from Love tonight, although it sort of shows why we use him as a stretch 4. It's just a better spot for him. Lebron and Kyrie draw the attention outside and he can just hit those easy corner threes. I don't think that's really misusing him. He was 2/6 inside the three line. He had a few post-up scores, but I don't think he demands the attention in the paint the way Kyrie and Lebron can when they drive in.

And congrats to Boston. They played really "tough" when the refs gifted them just about every call they could get/not get, and they still lost by 8. I thought for sure that Joey Crawford was calling this game at first.

NBA has easily the worst officiating of any professional sport..Some of these calls tonight were just plain horrible and should cost them the chance to ref playoffs. That blatant flagrant against kyrie and that prick actually walked over and stared kyrie down...how can anyone look at that and not say that was intentional, not to mention he hit him in the head. And JR gets a tech for a little shove trying to keep the piece..ugh

As far as the game goes, it's boston...if they had 1 star on that team we might be behind in this series...we aren't playing tough at all, especially inside...they doubled us up with points in the paint. I know the plans change a little in the playoffs, but I haven't seen the intensity on defense in the playoffs that was there in regular season. With the exception of a few spurts. Luckily its boston, our talent is just to great for them to overcome...Round 2..I'm concerned. Hopefully this series is just us coasting because we know we can beat them on talent alone. Though I'd love to have Boston's bench.. ours is downright pitiful..watching dellevedova in the playoffs has been difficult. Can you imagine if we had a Thomas or olynk coming off the bench for us...man.

I will say Boston has a lot of punks on their team and it will be great to send them home on their home court. I'm really hoping chicago drops one or two but Milwaukee sucks as well so I don't think that will happen. Chicago/Cleveland needs to be the ECF..Atlanta doesn't scare anyone

Kevin's 3 with about two minutes left was a dagger when they cut it to 3. Big shot.

I'm glad he was able to have a great game with Kyrie struggling a bit.

Lebron with the line of the night- "You can try, but I'll block it."

Those nine whole minutes a game must be excruciating to get through. Especially since he's +3 for the series. You may want to have Boston's bench, but you know what we have? Three All-Stars making max contracts. I'd much rather have that. As a downside, you're forced to live with a shorter bench and guys making minimum contracts ... but after they put in those 9 minutes a game, you get to watch your better talent come away with a win.

Seriously, reading leadtheways posts you'd think he'd want Bostons roster over ours.

Ok, not trying to be a downer here, but this just an observation...I never see Love and LeBron celebrate. Not even on that final assist and final three by Love.

Yes, I do look for it. They seem to coexist, but not necessarily like each other.

I really hope the Cavs win it all this year in case Love bolts.

I have seen them bump hands and such after an assist. I just don't think that Love is as demonstrative on the court as Lebron is.

I do firmly believe that Lebron knows that Love makes them a much better team, and Love realizes that his best chance for winning multiple titles is right here in Cleveland. He can also make more money here than anywhere else.

I do think that Love is closer to Kyrie than he is to Lebron, and that's fine. Not every player on every team is automatically best friends with every other player. I do think that Love's comments about his MPV vote stung Lebron a bit, and were probably calculated after Lebron's tweet about fitting in. However, they appear to be playing better together, and Lebron has made some beautiful assists to Love so far in the playoffs, especially for big 3's.

I also think that love's back affects his emotions on the court. However, and maybe this is homer eyes, but I think that everything is going to be fine, and that all involved will realize that their best championship options exist in Cleveland, together.