Making a big deal out of a regular season sweep

[jn77]

is pointless in this instance. The Spurs played the Cavs in the second game of the season. The final score was 88-81. Lebron had 35 points and 4 assists. A big game no doubt, but consider a few facts, the spurs played Elson for 14 minutes, Beno for 12 minutes (only contributed 9 points of offense between them) Manu only had 14 points. Cavs shot 44% while the Spurs shot 42%. Not a terrible performance for game two of the regular season. Loss number two came in January. 82-78 Much more balanced attack from the Cavs. Lebron 19 pts, Huges 18 points, Gooden 10 points. Pop Still played Beno for fourteen minutes (2 points), Oberto not in playoff form (4 points) Duncan 16 points, Parker 26 points, Bonner 24 minutes (8 Points). My point, the cavs have not faced the Spurs team that won 23 games after the All Star break. They will not see Beno in defensive rotations! They will see Jauqes Vaugn, who's defense has improved. They will see Manu playing as well as he ever has, Oberto, Finley, and Bruce are playing solid playoff basketball. Even Elson dosen't look terrible in limited minutes. Two early regular season losses to the Cavs mean nothing. Brin on King James and the Cavs. Spurs will win this series in six.

:toast

[Avitus1]

Its actually kind of funny to me. Everyone thinks its big that the Spurs got beat 2 times by the Cavs but if you look at when it took place its nothing big at all. If Cavs would of played the Spurs after the all star break, they would got it handed to them. If anything they are lucky they only had to play the Spurs 2 times. The luck is about to change though isnt it? I'll agree Spurs in 6.

[td4mvp3]

that would be fine but for the mavs-gs series. the idea that the reg season means diddly can't be taken at face value precisely because of that series in this year.

[SAGambler]

That GS - Mavs thing was more like a once in a lifetime thing. You had the elements of Nellie knowing exactly how to attack Dirk, and a run and gun style that just happened to work.

Kind of like the Sac Kings giving us problems last year.

But since the games we had with the Cavs this year were early on, I don't think you can compare them to the GS - Mavs meetings.

For one thing the Spurs found another gear after the All Star Break. Another thing, we aren't even playing the same players in rotation that we were then. We didn't have Manu bringing the energy off the bench. Lot of things have changed since the last time we met.

I think what we will see Thursday night is a steady dose of TP and Manu driving the lane, creating havoc with their defenders and picking up a lot of fouls on them along the way.

I figure Tims up and under move should put Z on the bench early in the first period.

Hughes may or may not be a factor, considering his injury.

Don't let "Boobie" get started. Play him tight and tough. Maybe give him a couple of hard fouls to see how he responds to physical play..

Remember.......We are now the "Bad Boys" of the league.

[ChumpDumper]

I'm glad someone finally started a thread about the Cavs.

[Louie Vega]

Fucken Cavs fans jacking off over 2 regular season wins!!!! Funny shit!!! LOL

[whottt]

I'm glad someone finally started a thread about the Cavs.


Because there's really no reason to discuss the Cavs much right now :rolleyes



Oh and...

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1747866&postcount=187

[ChumpDumper]

Consider your weight insulted.

[Spurs Dynasty 21]

I'm glad someone finally started a thread about the Cavs.



yeah because the Cavs right now have nothing to the Spurs :rolleyes




all your posts and threads are worthless

[ChumpDumper]

True.

[ChumpDumper]

But thanks for all the attention, dumbasses.

[dbestpro]

In the two losses the Spurs missed a ton of free throws in the first game and it was November. The second game in early January Pop got thrown out with 6 minutes left cause the Spurs were just going through the motions and still lost by four points. It is now 6 months later. Those two teams are both quite different now. The Cav's are better, but the Spurs are focused, which makes them the nearly unbeatable in a four game series. Also, the coaching may play a big factor. Look for the Cav's to surge that will cause Pop to make a counter move that the Cav's will have no answer for. That move may be Bowen on Gibson or any off shooter, while forcing James to shoot jump shots by laying off and rotating an occassional hard double team.

[Clutch20]

Aw, let's go a little bit easier on the Cav's fans. Remember what our '99 WCF title victory did to us back in '99? Had them little flags flying and hanging from almost every thing that you could hang them on? Don't forget the huge run for those tshirts and caps. By that point, fans big and little elsewhere began to hate the colors black and silver. They were funeral colors as far as they were concerned cause when their teams were killed, those were the last colors they saw.
But like others, I too wonder why they come here to hang.
They really suck at smack.
It's like living it all over again, the first WCF and then the Real Deal, LO'B Numero Uno.

[PM5K]

They haven't seen us, and we haven't seen them, the best defensive team in the Playoffs statistically, it goes both ways...

[Chris Childs]

Those 2 regular season games might determine the outcome of the series.

[boutons_]

Most teams' fundamental weaknesses are exposed by the road records.

Cavs were 20 - 21 road in the season, which is very sucky considering 25 of those games were vs EC.

Cavs were only 3-5 on the road against WC playoff teams Mavs, Suns, Spurs (Nov 3), Jazz, Rockets, Nuggets, Warriors (OT), Lakers.

(Against the WC playoff teams @Cavs, the Cavs are only 5-3)

For playoff road, the Cavs won both playoff games @Wizards, but that was a bye because Wizards were so crippled.

Vs. Nets and Pistons on the playoff road, the Cavs are only 1-3.

The Spurs absolutely must take advantage of the Cavs road weakness, hold HCA by winning Games1 and 2.

[whottt]

Most teams' fundamental weaknesses are exposed by the road records.

Cavs were 20 - 21 road in the season, which is very sucky considering 25 of those games were vs EC.

Cavs were only 3-5 on the road against WC playoff teams Mavs, Suns, Spurs (Nov 3), Jazz, Rockets, Nuggets, Warriors (OT), Lakers.

(Against the WC playoff teams @Cavs, the Cavs are only 5-3)

For playoff road, the Cavs won both playoff games @Wizards, but that was a bye because Wizards were so crippled.

Vs. Nets and Pistons on the playoff road, the Cavs are only 1-3.

The Spurs absolutely must take advantage of the Cavs road weakness, hold HCA by winning Games1 and 2.


Holy fnck...boutons with an insightful contribution...I didn't actually think about the Cavs road record much, but you are right, it's a sign of fundamental strength...

It's also an indication of coaching strength IMO.

Good post boutons...you actually cheered me up.

[Ocotillo]

The two games that worry me are the first game and the first game in Cleveland.

The first game because of the rust factor. Hopefully it won't manifest itself.

The first Cleveland home game is worrisome if the Spurs have 2-0 lead, they might coast and LeBron will go off and it could be a rout like the Utah game 3.

[texbound]

It's so funny how people are talking about the Cavs 2 regular season victories and think it has anthing to do with the playoffs.

Detroit went 3-1 against Cleveland in the regular season, but I guess that's totally different :rolleyes

[slayermin]

That first loss to the Cavs was on a back to back. It was the second game of the year and the Spurs looked disinterested in stopping Lebron.

The second loss to the Cavs was a game the Spurs could have won. They didn't take care of the ball, missed some gimmees, and overall, showed no killer instinct. I chaulk up some of their struggles to the old ball. Also, Pop was ejected in the 4th Quarter and PJ was hit with a technical shortly after Pop left.

One positive from the second game was that the Spurs defended Lebron much better. They double teamed him most of the game and Lebron struggled. The game was winnable but the guys made too many mistakes to pull it out.

[ploto]

The regular season games do point to one thing- giving a team like Cleveland the confidence that they can beat the Spurs- and even in San Antonio.