DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs Discussion Continued

Smith two games. We are looking at seriously struggling this next series.

Double T going to have to step up big time. We are going to need Miller and especially James Jones to hit them threes. Damn JR that was just stupid.

We simply won't have enough offense to win series against Chicago. Gasol and noah will chew us up. Plus you have to guard rose and butler. I don't see it

To be fair, we beat chicago without love twice already in the regular season i believe. i know once definitely.

They have nobody to guard lebron or kyrie.

You sure bad-mouth the Cavs a lot.

What about Love's injury? Why aren't you talking about how freaking dirty that was?

Why aren't you talking about how Crowder was constantly pushing, forearming, elbowing guys on the Cavs?

No, it's all about how dirty Smith is.

No excuses? Losing Kevin Love is a legit excuse. Not having Smith for 2 games is a legit excuse.

They are starters for a reason.

Coming from you, this probably means the Cavs will sweep.

But were Rose and Butler playing in those wins?

If Smith were available in all the games, I'd probably go 50-50 on the Cavs advancing. Of course, we could also have gotten a cold shooting Smith in the first two games too.

Oh well. We can just hope The Bucks take 1-2 more games to tire them out.

go cavs.
Dont let kevins love injury get you down.

rose got injured during one of those games i think.

Those are painful.

I'm not trying to minimize it. I'm a big Love fan and defender.

I just think we can win without him against Chicago. Guys will just have to step up.

And I'm a big believer in the Top 5 rule. Other than the Spurs, you can't win a title without a top 5 player.

The Cavs arguably have 2 of the top 5 players in the league. The Bulls don't.

Also, and this is something I've thought about a lot. When the Red Sox won after all those years, it was in the most improbable way. They couldn't just win. It had to come with a ton of drama and improbable-ness. Down 3-0 to your arch enemy.

Our championship is not going to come easy. It just wouldn't be the way to break the curse.

#tryingtostaypositive

Yup.

If you want to win this thing, you have to overcome something like this. There is no reset button. I think Lebron realizes the road is going to be a little rougher, but I don't think he's putting his head down and just feeling sorry for himself. His leadership is going to be challenged here though. The urgency starts now.

The big bad Bulls are struggling with Milwaukee, at home, by the way. If Milwaukee pulls this off, they realistically could be up 3-2.

The Bulls aren't perfect either. They aren't the defensive power that they were when Lebron sent them away in 5 games twice with the Heat. They're better offensively, but they don't lock down the perimeter like they used to. At times ,in this series, the Cavs will have the better defensive lineup on the floor, and the Cavs haven't played great defense all year either.

You have the best player in the world, homecourt, and a budding superstar in Kyrie Irving. This isn't the end of the world. They'll get over this, and whenever this Milwaukee series ends, I expect Vegas to still favor the Cavs in the series.

And Bucks win. Hell to the yeah.

While losing Smith for 2 games hurts, Shumpert can slide into his spot pretty seamlessly. The problems is going to be the player taking Shumpert's role as the backup. We have a couple of solid offensive options, but he is such a lockdown defender (and Smith is a better than most people think defender as well, with really quick hands) that we will lose that aspect when another backup comes in.

I do wonder how we will use the rotation of players between SF and PF to compensate for the loss of Love. The one good thing is that we do have some options there, and just as importantly, options who are playoff tested. We also have the ability to slide the defensive assignments around if we need to. I think that we'll use Thompson at the 4 a bit, but I don't see us starting him and screwing up the offensive flow by clogging up the middle.

On a different note, I really hate the way this Game 4 is being presented. Here is an example, from CBS Sports: "Smith punch forward Jae Crowder in the head" ....... and then .... "Olynyk grabbed forward Kevin Love's arm while fighting for a loose ball, dislocating his shoulder."

I think that this makes what Smith did seem much worse, and what Olynyk did seem much less.

Everyone knows the play on Love is dirty. People are making excuses for Smith because he is on their team (just like Celtic fans are defending Kelly Olynyk.)

J.R. Smith purposefully elbow a dude in the head and people are defending him like it was an accident. He was lucky to only get two games.

No way Shumpert fills in for JR seamlessly. That's crazy talk.

But I do believe he can be good enough.

We are going to need some guys to step up.

I would put Shumpert on Rose and LeBron on Butler. In crunch time I would switch the two and let LeBron clamp down on Rose. Let Kyrie carry the O. We will need an unexpected performance in a couple of games from one of Delly, Jones, and maybe Miller. Mozgov will need to play above average as well. None of that is unachievable or long shot odds.

Chicago has a really, really solid starting 5. But they're beatable even without Love and JR.

That's true, but without JR, I'm thinking split at home, get JR back, split in Chicago and make it a 3 game series with home court.

We need LeBron to go off one game and Kyrie to go off one game.. then balance out the other games.

I think that Shumpert and Smith are remarkably similar.

Both guys are solid shooters. Smith shoots 41.7% this year, and Shumpert shoots 41%. They are both pesky defenders, and I think that Shumpert might be the better defender of the 2. Smith does have great anticipation and quick hands, but Shumpert is quicker, and can jump like he was shot out of a cannon. Shumpert is a better rebounder.

However, in the way they are used, they are remarkably similar. Shumpert will be able to get out and run with Lebron like Smith does. He can knock down a 3 pointer. Ironically enough, Smith is probably better at sharing the ball and setting up teammates. Shumpert is actually shooting better in the playoffs than Smith.

I think that Shumpert can fill the Smith role very well, almost seamlessly. I do worry about who will fill his role as the backup though. That is my bigger concern, not so much because of his offense, but because of his defense when he comes into the game.

Almost forgot.. big props to the Bucks for extending that series again, that's 2 more days of rest. Hope they can take it to 7 games for a couple more days of rest for Love...

Heck, I hope they take the series from the Bulls.

Didn't I read somewhere that unless the series went 7 games, the 1st game of the next Cavs series would start Saturday?


So here's hoping the Bucks can win game 6

I love the guy. Either you like winners or you don't.

It's not his fault he is better than almost everybody he plays against.

I agree...think split at home. What about Mike Miller. He never plays. Maybe he can be the guy to step up and hit the threes to create the spacing.

That's what sports does to us... I hate Noah in the same way I hate John Elway or Ben Roethlisberger or the way I hated JJ Redick when he was at Duke. It's not a personal hatred, it's a "Damn, would you stop beating my team" kind of hatred.

I dont like him because he is a big mouthed punk. He's a damn good player at what he does, but he's an ahole

j/c

We're about to see what kind of coach Blatt is for these next 2 games. His use of the bench and rotations will be interesting to watch.

I expect LBJ and KI to use this Love injury as a focus to rally the team.

The more I read about shoulder dislocations, the more I think Kevin is completely done this season. It would be rare for someone to be close to 100% a week or two after a dislocation (unless the dislocation happens frequently).

We can only hope that the Bucks elongate the series, maybe the Bucks win, have our team play "next man up" basketball, and keep extending the season so Kevin might have a chance to come back.

I told my brother when it happened, Love is finished this year..even if he omes back, he won't have any strength in it without proper rehab

Just echoing the sentiment of the board and here at work, Love is done for the season and JR just can't stay outta trouble in the postseason.

Bang, just like that two starters gone. These next two games, I just don't know.

Someone needs to take out Olynyk's knees - for REAL.
Make him pay for the kind of cheap crap he pulled on Love.

I think a 1 game suspension in a season of 82 games when the effect of what he did on the playoff picture is pathetic and Adam Silver is now as worthless as stern in my opinion

Even if they gave him 10 games, that wouldn't change anything. We'll still be without Kevin the rest of the year and our Finals chances have dropped like a stone. Outside of the NBA putting a hold on the playoff schedule until Kevin can return, I don't think they can do anything to make me feel better.

Unless they have a time machine, the damage is done.

I'm probably more pissed at JR than the whole Kelly/Kevin situation. Injuries will happen, but stupidity is worse.

j/c



https://twitter.com/JohnTelich8

Wow. That sucks.

Always something.

I had a feeling this was likely the future announcement. Oh well.

If you're looking for a silver lining, Kevin can't opt out and leave like this. He gets hurt and then leaves....no way. He almost HAS TO stay on for another year.

j/c:

City of Cleveland will rally around this. Game 1 will be LOUD!!

cleveland curse

It might not change anything for Cavs situation, but I'm trying to understand the 1 game suspension. The NBA in suspending Olynyk is saying he did something above and beyond. He may not have intended on ripping Love's limb off, but they obviously feel there is some sort of intent in there or he would have not got anything.

Does anyone really think J.R. has eyes in the back of his head and knew that swinging an arm like he did would take out a knee? I don't think J.R. intended to wipe out the dude's knee.

So...whether spilt milk or not, I say that all things being equal (which they aren't in the level of magnitude of impact) either J.R. should get 1 game just as Olynyk or the WNBA player for the Celtics should get 2 since again the NBA is saying there was something there other than a simple foul.

I want to hear the explanation and not speculation such as "J.R.'s history".

Unless someone works within the league office, you're not going to get anything other than speculation here.

The Drive, The Fumble, The Decision...

.....The Tear? The Twist?