DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum NBA Finals Discussion II

Be honest, how many of you wanted to celebrate like Lebron did after that game?



https://vine.co/v/eMVdzVpiPb5

He is PUMPED!

I was happy but shocked we pulled this off. I went to bed, got up, saw the last 8 minutes or so of the fourth quarter, then OT.

I just watched the rest of the game. Crazy! God, I hope we can pull off winning this all.

Winning this game gave me some much needed hope.

Kyrie is a better player, but the Cavs are a better team with Delly

We share the ball more, lebron has it more, and we're better defensively .... Some games I agree

I'm still as pumped as I was after OT last night. Needed that win badly.

Something to think about, and i'm sure GS has, they are like an inch, or a lebron drive instead of jumper from being down 0-2 on the "toughest place to win in Nba" Now they have to go to the second hardest place to win in the NBA and try to split the games there. I still think we have a blowout win in us, one where JR and Shump go off. Or delly hits a few more shots...He needs to stop shooting 3's off the dribble, thats not his game...catch and shoot, catch and shoot

JR played more intelligently on offense in this game. He had better shot selection and actually drove a couple times to keep the defense honest. That was good. But defensively he is just stupid. The team- for that matter- needs to quit racking up quick fouls in the fourth quarter. There's been multiple games during the playoffs that they've gotten a couple stupid reach-ins, an over-the-back, etc. Save some of those for later. We can't continually put teams in the bonus with half a quarter left to play.

I know this was an uncharacteristically poor shooting night for the Warriors, but the Cavs were even worse. Shumpert needs to remain confident. He's better off the drive than given credit for and is a bit of a streaky shooter. JR still has to have a big game or two in him. There's more meat on the bone.

Yeah, Delly needs to play his game and the pull up threes are clearly not part of it. JR needs to calm down. Those fouls were just... life deflating. So dumb.

Cavs shot 32% which is the lowest shooting % in a finals victory and they're the first team in Finals history to win a game without the top 2 out of 3 scorers.


How did we win?

You can also make the argument GS was one Curry shot away in Game 2 in OT from being up 2-0 too.

Also, had Lebron hit the GW in regulation in Game 1, there's no way to know how last night's game would have played out. I doubt the game would have been the same because Kyrie wouldn't have hurt his knee and both teams would have different attitudes and game plans.

Delly shut down Curry.

If I could amend this to display my own opinion, I would say "Kyrie is a better player, but the Cavs matchup better with Delly."

I don't think the Cavs are a better team with Delly. Kyrie on the floor makes this team better on so many levels. However, Delly I thinks creates a situation Golden State may not have been ready for. Now, I'm not sure if last night's performance by Curry was more because he had a bad game or because of Delly's 'tough as nails' play (maybe both), but if it is the latter, GS should really be worried if their best player can be marginalized so much. I do expect Curry to bounce back Tuesday.

JR Smith dumb fouls drove me crazy, by the way. I almost would have needed to order a new TV this morning.

Question--- Anyone question the role ( or lack thereof) of Mosgov late in the game? I've listened to the radio this morning explaining GS 'small ball' approach that made Blatt play that way as well but thought to ask here.

I said in the last thread that JR will explode for 25+ in one of the next two games. We need him to do that to take the heat off Lebron.

I said a few days ago that I thought the Cavs needed to come out and figuratively punch the Warriors in the mouth. I think it's likely that they are a weak minded team who has had everything go right for them the entire year. Create doubt and let's see what happens. Create some adversity and let's see what happens. They've never been on this stage before. That counts for something.

The post game interviews with the Cavs after Game 1 and the Warriors after Game 2 were completely different. The Warriors were acting like they lost the series last night. After Game 1, LeBron just seemed even more determined.

LeBron is the ultimate x-factor. I couldn't believe the number of media and fans who believed the Warriors were going to run away with Game 2. Please tell me the last time a team with LeBron on it was run away from. I grew up watching Jordan, the greatest competitor in any sport I've ever seen, and LeBron has that look right now. He mentioned at the podium last night that he has goals he will not discuss at this point in time. He knows how important this is to Cleveland. I've never seen him so locked in or focused. The Warriors are going to have to literally dismember him or take his best shot every night for the rest of this series.

If the Cavs win Game 3, I think that self doubt really creeps into the Warriors psyche and the series will be there for the taking.

Win or lose, LeBron is doing exactly what he said he would do. Take the court, give everything he has to the team and the city and let the chips fall where they may. Win or lose, this isn't Boston of 6 years ago where he literally stopped trying because the rest of his team couldn't give enough. This LeBron has completely grown up and matured over the last 5 years. And he's showing it with his leadership and play. He is reminding so much of Jordan right now it's crazy.

What worried me about the LeBron factor was his awful showing last year against San Antonio, and another bad showing against San Antonio in 2007.

Rish, I agree with pretty much everything you said, but this stuck out the most. The Cavs have had to play through LeBron getting two weeks off, losing Kevin Love, losing JR Smith and Kyrie in the Bulls series, LeBron being banged up, Shump being banged up, losing Kyrie for good and using a piecemeal approach to a starting lineup. And, it seems that they have not really missed a beat. Golden State, on the other hand has not had to fight through losing two of their top three players to get here. If the Cavs come out and smoke them in Game 3, I think we close it out in 5.

Say what you will about the refs, but it was a good thing they gave Mozgov that make-up no-call after their fake traveling ended up being the difference in game 1. We needed every point we got this game so that was a huge no-call.

I dunno if Klay will shoot the ball as elite as he did last night. he cooled off in the 4th.

Our defensive will was the main reason we won this game.

But man we are having way too many offensive mistakes that had zero to do with what GS doing.

Well then they owe LBJ two in the next game. That rake job across his arms with the official looking right at it (as well as the jump ball) always brings back the thoughts of Donaghy betting on NBA games while being a ref. People always ignore the "fix is in" complaints, but nobody can ever convince me that Tim Donaghy was and is the only recent NBA ref that ever had skin in the game. I will maintain the NBA refs are only one notch up from the WWE. They just get it wrong wayyyyy too much.

Well, I kept my mouth shut on the one because it looked like LBJ had a few extra steps so he could have easily been called for the travel.

Yea he definitely traveled on that.

but man.....Green is absolutely trash. And he should've fouled out after that jump ball in OT. dude can't cover lebron, and the refs are letting this dude get away with so much crap.

Actually, I think Mo Speights missed dunk is what would be driving me crazy if I were a GS fan. That could have been the difference.

BTW, I saw the funniest tweet last night after that comical ending to the 3rd quarter by Fake Jimmy Haslam:
The end of the 3rd Quarter brought to you by the Cleveland Browns.

Harsh, but funny.

Watching our offense shut down at the end of games is just painful. If you take the final 3 minutes of game 1 and the final 3 minutes of game 2, we are 1 for 10 from the field... taking mostly contested shots, falling out of bounds, etc..... it's a good thing we are 6 for 8 from the foul line or we would be down 0-2.

Last night with about a 12 point lead and a little over 3 minutes to play when LBJ crossed midcourt and just stood there until the shot clock ran down to about 6 seconds, my first thought was... Crap, they are going to let them get right back in this... and sho'nuff...

LeBron was fouled by 3 different Warriors on his drive with 1+ seconds left, he should have been shooting 2 FT's JMHO ...

People also made a big deal out of GS being the first jump shooting team to be favored to win the finals... from what I've seen, perimeter jump shooters are the NBAs version of the quarterback, you can't touch them. close out on a 3-point shooter and graze his forearm or bump his hip well after the ball is gone and it's a foul... go down inside you can get face-raked, held, arms whacked, no call.

It also bugs the crap out of me when a jump shooter gets the defender off his feet and then lunges into him and gets the foul, I know they all do it, I know LBJ got away with a pretty flagrant one last night... but that should either be a no call or an offensive foul.. I hate that call as much as any other... oh, that and the walking screen that very seldom ever gets called.

yea i don't like when anybody does that, Cavs or not. Thats a cheap way to get to the FT line.

one thing i will say about ISO ball....and i know everybody on this board hates it, and it annoys me too.

But we are down Love and Irving....Bron playing ISO ball is giving the rest of the squad some rest on the offensive end...because they are putting up an ungodly amount of effort on the defensive end, specifically Delly and shumpert.

we all saw it in the 4th Qtr...Delly couldn't make it down the court at one point. these guys are tired.

As much as i don't like it, we absolutely need lebron to do that. especially because...at least in the 1st 3 qtrs, he is absolutely destroying whoever is guarding him.

Oh yea....and Blatt is coaching his ASS off!!!

Yeah, it also "shortens the game", the same way an NFL team that is outmatched in the passing game will try to run the ball and limit the opportunities for the opposing offense.

I'm not a big fan of iso-ball but considering what we have to work with, it gives us the best chance to win right now.

What I don't like about our version of iso-ball, is that iso doesn't mean 4 guys go stand in the corner and watch... you can have LBJ running iso with the ball and you can actually have some movement and activity from the other players, we seemed to do a better job of that in game 2 than we did in game 1.

I must admit that I got on this board last night with some straight doom and gloom stuff and then I saw SuperBrown being optimistic, lol. I think the first quarter and the run in the fourth quarter were the toughest to watch, but man, is LeBron incredibly focused and trying to will this team to victory. I think his intensity is rubbing off on the other guys and giving them the confidence to find that resolve...

I won't give up on this team until it is absolutely over or we end up with that trophy....

I gotta admit, had we lost yday's game, I think that would have deflated every gram of faith... for me anyway.

To be honest, Dawg_LB, I think I'm more frustrated and angry that nothing can ever be easy for a franchise in Cleveland. It was bad enough losing Love, but some guys stepped up and then to love Kyrie as well.... Seriously? How much longer does this battered fan syndrome have to go on?

I would have probably given up most or all of my hope had the ball bounced differently last night.

https://twitter.com/rachel__nichols/status/607763276202536960

Just asked LeBron if he was saving Dellavedova a seat on the bus. He laughed & said: "I'm never going anywhere without Delly again."

Talk about job security......

How much sweeter will it be if the Cavaliers pull this out? Imagine a completely beat up and injury depleted team, down Andy, and Kevin, and Kyrie ...... still managing to win it all. That is how you end a curse once and for all.

All in!

All for one, and one for all!

No excuses!

There's only one thing left to do. Win the whole (deleted) thing.

If we pull off a miracle and win game 3, I think we will see an all time legendary performance from Lebron in game 4.

Oh no doubt about it. Winning alone would be it's own "event", but winning down Love, down Irving and others playing with injury would just take the already sweet juice of the berry, and sweeten it up even more!

Probably not wise to admit this, but I'm 99.98% sure if we win it all, I'm going to be the first male to starting crying lol. Tears of absolute, pure and deserved joy though.

Oh, I know that I'll be bawling my eyes out when they finish closing out GS.

Anyway .... about the game ....

J.R. Smith takes blame for Warriors comeback: 'I did some dumb things' - CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-bask...ome-dumb-things

Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith had a rough go of it at the end of Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday. He committed two silly fouls down the stretch as the Golden State Warriors erased an 11-point lead, first needlessly fouling Stephen Curry in the backcourt and then losing track of Harrison Barnes under the basket and giving up a three-point play. He then fouled out after biting on a Curry pump fake late in overtime.

In 38 minutes, Smith shot 5-for-13 for 13 points, and he was a minus-13. The Cavs won 95-93, but he understandably wasn't feeling great about his individual performance afterward.

Rachel Nichols ✔@Rachel__Nichols
#Cavs JR Smith takes responsibility for the blown lead in final minutes of regulation. "It was my fault," he said, "I did some dumb things."

Smith told reporters that he apologized to his teammates, but LeBron James told him that "when you want it so bad, you stop focusing, you try to make plays and you make the wrong plays." James told him he needed to keep his composure.

"Please win this game," Smith said when asked what went through his mind watching the end of the game from the bench. "I don't want the phone calls, the emails, Instagrams, tweets, memes. I don't want none of that right now."

Fortunately for him, Cleveland did indeed win it. He probably got a lot of those same messages anyway, though. And if the Cavs are going to get more victories in this series, they're going to need more from him. Given their lack of depth, it's amazing they were able to pull this one off the way they did.

he owned up to it.

time to move to game 3.

but make no mistake, as much as his idiotic decisions were, he absolutely make some crucial shots when we badly needed them.

Yeah he probably hitting himself over many of them silly fouls, most at just a horrid timing.

Hopefully we can get another 8 three day from him next game! As stated also, some of his points came at crucial and important times.