And everyone will tell us we don't stand a chance .... so let's just go win the whole darn thing.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
If I'm the Cavaliers, I am asking her permission to use that as our motto next year.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
Did anyone notice LeBron's demeanor in the post game celebration and interviews with EJ? He was all business. His mood was telling his teammates it ain't over. Not for a second. The hardest part is yet to come. He seemed completely uncomfortable celebrating that moment for more than what it was. He knows the journey is not over.
And this makes me feel good about something. When the Bulls won their last Finals in '98, the Jazz were the slight favorite. Doug Collins came out and said the only way you are going to beat Jordan is you are going to have to rip his limbs off and his heart out. I kinda feel like LeBron is in that mode now. Something tells me he's not going to let the Cavs lose. Immortality in Cleveland is at stake. You're going to have to physically rip him apart to beat them.
I'm starting to feel like the Cavs may actually get this again.
I tend to agree with that. Look at the team that beat the Hawks. With all due respect to Tristan and Delly, they are not Love and Kyrie. However, Lebron just refused to let them lose.
I also think that Blatt and his staff did a great job of putting guys in position to win these games. I think that the coaching has been hugely undervalued.
One good thing about tonight's game is that Lebron only played 29 minutes, and Kyrie played only 22.
The 2 guys with the highest +/- tonight? Shumpert with a +27, and Mozgov with a +23. That is exceptional. Neither guy scored a lot, but both played defense, and made life miserable for the opponents.
I am starting to wonder if the Cavaliers might have a more difficult decision regarding Love and Thompson that I thought they would. However, I think that they could have played Love like they did Thompson and he would have also been great in that role. Still, it will be interesting to see what decision they make here.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
I'll be honest with you...if the Cavs win it all I won't get too bent out of shape if Love isn't on the Cavs next year.
I also think win or lose most of these guys will want to stay on this team even for slightly less money. They have built something special that is really hard to find...something that money can't buy. Happiness through winning with guys yoy genuinely like to play with and for. Add in the fact that guys like Love and JR and Shumpert know how miserable it is to play for the dregs of the league, and I think mostly everyone will be back.
But if they win it all and Gilbert sells the team to a new owner who moves them to Seattle, then so be it ...the curse will be over!
If they win it all everything will be different. Some players will bolt for money we can't match but I think you're right, most of the guys will want to be here. I could see losing TT to a team that gives him crazy bank. and who knows about Love at that point. I'm not sure he's part of the mix or not. I just don't know.
Still, not counting any chickens. Taking 4 off the Warriors is NO Joke. I don't have enough of the BBall smarts to know the details of how well we match up but I've been watching enough of that warriors back court to know they have a lot of the same magic we've been graced with the last month. It's going to be very tricky. This Curry kid they have, he's spicy!
"Team Chemistry No Match for Team Biology" (Onion Sports Headline)
That game couldn't have played out much better for the Cavs.. it's about time. Built a nice comfortable lead, LeBron didn't have to go balls to the wall for 42 minutes, Kyrie had a chance to get some PT to test his knee out and develop a comfort level but really didn't have to exert himself.. (Did anybody else wince every time he hit the floor, which was about 3 times?)...
Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that in game 4 of the Eastern Conf. Finals, the loudest ovation of the night would have been with Delly came into the game in the first quarter..
And Blatt with the quote of the night, "Well, we're in Cleveland, nothing is easy here."
I'm certainly not going to get crazy here. The Cavs will be underdogs and should be. Golden State is super good. Curry is the best shooter I have ever seen. I'm not going Cleveland jinx gloom and doom here, I just don't see Cavs winning it. Which might be a good thing. I've was wrong with the Browns of the 80s, the Price/Daugherty Cavs, and the Indians of the 90s. I thought some of those teams would win it all only to be wrong.
“Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family.” -AOC
LeBron just not going to let us lose. He's dialed in and just appears so focused and determined. What a way to finish the sweep and head into the freaking NBA freaking Finals!
It's time to get real if you haven't already Clevelanders. Oh and the exchange of words between coach Blatt and LBJ, very powerful.
I'm not as optimistic as some of you guys here (but that's normal for me), however I'll also admit that I didn't expect us to be in the Finals.
I do watch quite a bit of basketball and think Golden State is the best team in the NBA right now, but I think we have a fighter's chance because of their lack of physicality and their inexperience in the playoffs
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
If the Cavs can play perimeter defense like they they have so far in the playoffs, I think the Warriors struggle. The Warriors are not a physical team like Cleveland is now with TT and TM in the middle. Shump and JR have been OUTSTANDING on defense and on the boards. Lets see if Delly can get under Curry's skin too.
Unlike the Western Conference fast-paced ball, the Finals will be slow, methodical, possession-by-possession basketball. This will be unlike what GS is used to and it will throw them off their rhythm.
Cleveland ultimately has the x-factor with LBJ having so much Finals experience. GS doesn't have that experience.
I hope GS wins tonight. Both teams might be a bit rusty with the long layoff.
Gonna be fun to watch! I like the Cavs chances right now.
------------------------------ *In Baker we trust* -------------------------------
The Cavaliers have lost 2 games in the playoffs thus far.
The 1st loss was to the Bulls to open that series. We had just lost Kevin Love to injury, and JR Smith was suspended for that game as well. We lost that game by 7. Blatt was looking for answers, and he started Miller in Love's place. Some people wondered about starting Thompson, but many seemed to think that would not work because of the fit, and him plugging up the middle.
The 2nd loss to the Bulls was a game where the Bulls hit a last second shot to win the game. Kyrie struggled mightily in that game. Shumpert was playing with a pulled groin. The Bulls won on a last second 3 pointer. (and we returned the favor in the next game)
Anyway, those are the 2 losses we have suffered in the playoffs. We have not had Love for 10 games. We missed Kyrie for 2 games, and he was limited in several others. JR Smith ,missed 2 games. Shumpert injured his groin. Lebron has been battling almost every injury under the sky.
Somehow the Cavaliers, and especially their coaching staff, have adjusted. Blatt took a lot of abuse for his decision to start Miller in game 1 of the Bulls series. He took a lot of abuse for the TO situation. Some said "See, Lebron is really the coach" when he said "Give me the darn ball" at the end of game 4 against the Bulls. However, look at how the defensive schemes have come to fruition this off-season. The Cavaliers are the #1 defensive team in the playoffs, (tied with the Bulls, ironically enough) allowing only 92.6 PPG. That is just incredible. (for comparison's sake, Golden State allows 96.7, and Houston allows 111.1 PPG) The Cavaliers have also out-rebounded almost everyone, and this is without Kevin Love's 10 per game. Blatt and his staff have done a spectacular job of setting up the schemes, and fitting players into them. One player goes down, and another steps up. Imagine if Golden State had lost Green from the 2nd round on, and then also had Curry have to miss a great deal of time, including missing 2 games entirely. I wonder how they would have done.
Not bad for a guy whose other coaching option was being an assistant for the Warriors.
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love can travel with the team for the remainder of the postseason after having his left shoulder re-evaluated, general manager David Griffin confirmed to ESPN.com.
Love traveled to New York to have the shoulder looked at by Dr. David Altchek last week while the Cavs were in Atlanta for Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Hawks, Griffin said.
Altchek, who performed the season-ending surgery on Love's dislocated left shoulder at the end of April, said the All-Star forward also can stop wearing the sling he's used to stabilize it for the past month.
Love rejoined the Cavs for Game 3 in Cleveland on Sunday, sitting in the second row behind their bench.
Love averaged 18.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 47.1 percent from 3-point range in the first three games of the first round against the Boston Celtics before suffering the injury. He has not addressed the media since. Cleveland has gone 8-2 without him, sweeping Boston, beating the Chicago Bulls in six games and taking a 3-0 series lead on the Hawks.
Love can opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent this summer.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
I'm not going to feel better about our chances against Golden State until leadtheway gets in here and tells us we're going to get destroyed.
don't worry, cfrs will be here shortly to tell us that.
Good, we need someone on here who clearly knows more than all of us because we're biased.
I admit to being extremely biased when it comes to my sports teams.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
The Cavaliers played both the Rockets and Warriors twice.
We went 1-1 against the Warriors, and lost both to the Rockets.
However ......
1/9/2015: @ Golden State. L 94-112. (without Lebron and Shumpert) 2/26/2015: Golden State @ Home. W 110-99
1/7/2015: Rockets @ Home. L 93-105. (without Lebron and Shumpert) 3/1/2015: @ Rockets. L 103-105 (without Kyrie)
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
The noticeable absence of Kevin Love in the celebrations concern me. We know it has been a rocky relationship with him and the rest of the team. It seemed like he was finally starting to fit in and find his place when he received the injury. Now he is barely seen. It feels like he is currently as much apart of this team as Dion Waiters is. This really scares me. I do not want to loose him in the offseason.
TT play has been a revelation since Kevin Loves injury, and made everyone forget about Love, but it is a mistake to undervalue Love. We never used him in the post as much as we could have, but he can create for himself and others when he posts up. WIth Love, Irving and Lebron we can always have two players who can create there own shot on the floor at all times. Just as Kyrie coming back allowed Lebron to get extended breaks in game 4, Love provides even more opportunities for Lebron to rest. This is something that Tristan will never be able to do. TT plays better defense, and is a slightly better rebounder, but love is no slouch in the rebounding department. If we want sustained success we need Love to provide scoring and breaks for Lebron.
The lack of Love in the post game celebrations concerns me as he may have one foot out the door already. Andy is always present. Love is not. I hope a concerted effort is made to include him in the finals so that he feels a part of this team and appreciated. For sustained long term success, we are going to need him.
Winning it all this year will take the sting out of losing Love if that happens.
We have to win it all. Too much riding on it.
Ending the championship drought it Cleveland.
LeBron's legacy. He cannot go 2-4 in Finals. And his legacy is absolutely cemented if he brings Cleveland their first championship in 51 years.
Love potentially leaving.
All the FAs and opt outs the team has.
There is a lot riding on this Finals. A loss could be very bad. A win could be meteoric. Will mean way much more to Cleveland than Northern California who didn't really care about the Warriors until a couple of years ago.
I too have been concerned about the body language of Love with the team but LeBron specifically throughout the entire season. But if the Cavs win it all this year and it comes to pass that Love leaves, then so be it. If they lose and Love leaves, that will sting.
I personally don't think LeBron cares whether Love is on the team or not. All just speculation on my part. But if true, at the end of the day, I am going to trust in LeBron's judgment at this point. He's earned it.
The noticeable absence of Kevin Love in the celebrations concern me. We know it has been a rocky relationship with him and the rest of the team. It seemed like he was finally starting to fit in and find his place when he received the injury. Now he is barely seen. It feels like he is currently as much apart of this team as Dion Waiters is. This really scares me. I do not want to loose him in the offseason.
TT play has been a revelation since Kevin Loves injury, and made everyone forget about Love, but it is a mistake to undervalue Love. We never used him in the post as much as we could have, but he can create for himself and others when he posts up. WIth Love, Irving and Lebron we can always have two players who can create there own shot on the floor at all times. Just as Kyrie coming back allowed Lebron to get extended breaks in game 4, Love provides even more opportunities for Lebron to rest. This is something that Tristan will never be able to do. TT plays better defense, and is a slightly better rebounder, but love is no slouch in the rebounding department. If we want sustained success we need Love to provide scoring and breaks for Lebron.
The lack of Love in the post game celebrations concerns me as he may have one foot out the door already. Andy is always present. Love is not. I hope a concerted effort is made to include him in the finals so that he feels a part of this team and appreciated. For sustained long term success, we are going to need him.
He was not allowed to travel with the team until now ...... and they had him 2 rows behind the bench, probably to keep him from being run over and re-injured if a player came running into the bench. That is just my humble assumption.
I should add that I think that the role that Thompson is playing right now is the role that Love wanted to play. However, since he is a much better 3 point shooter, he was pushed outward by the scheme. I see nothing that Thompson does that Love cannot also do, while still having that 3 point shooting aspect to his game as well.
I love Thompson's hustle and effort on every play, but I wonder how we find minutes for Mozgov, Love, Thompson, and Andy. I also wonder how we afford them all. We have Moz for next year, then he gets a new deal ..... and we have Andy for a couple more years. (but he's no guarantee) I do wonder if maybe Love plays next year on a one year deal, and sees how it goes. (If the Cavaliers re-sign Thompson first)
Anyway, just a few ramblings and loose screws rattlign around ......
Last edited by YTownBrownsFan; 05/27/1512:56 PM.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
I don't think I've seen a Cavs game on TV without Joe Haden in the background either lol
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
