Spurs vs Cavs - Breakdown

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Originally Posted by timvp

Maybe but Oberto needed time to learn the system. He had points during the regular season this year when he sucked. Plus he isn't that good of a matchup against Dirk.

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I don't know. Oberto played very well against Dallas in this regular season like game 2 (01-24-07) and 3 (03-05-07). Points, rebounds, good stuff and hard job.

But, tonight is "the night". :lol

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Originally Posted by BeerIsGood!

Cleveland isn't built to come back from large double digit point deficits. If the Spurs can jump on them early and make them press the Cavs will struggle to score and likely force things with James.

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That is pretty much what I was thinking. If Cleveland fall behind I can see them forcing the ball to LeBron, and the Spurs will recognise and load there defense up to stop him which will make the rest of the Cavs have to make shots to catch up.

- Cavs look vulnerable in the 3rd quarters. For some reason they don't come out of the locker room to well, and LeBron tends to get passive. Could be a good time for the Spurs to really attack them.

That's been a problem for the Cavaliers going back to the Washington series. Some of it is just a malaise coming out of the locker room; part of it is, they've generally come out with Hughes running the point and not enough shooters on the floor, allowing opponents to pack the lane and force Cleveland to knock down jump shots, which they haven't done. In the last couple of games of the Detroit series, however, the Cavaliers were able to spread the floor more effectively in the third.

Story- between Games 4 and 5 against Detroit, coach Brown was asked about the third quarter, and he said "a friend" told him to set a goal for his team of three layups/dunks to get them out of their stagnation. He didn't say who the "friend" was, but everyone's best guess is that he's a fellow head coach, his first name ends in two "g's", and his nickname is the term we in Ohio use for "soda".

The Spurs weren't a great third quarter team versus the Jazz either. If it's close at halftime, I expect it to remain close going into the fourth. The Spurs usually play best in the second and fourth quarters.

Bump so I an read everyone's opinions on the match ups and then what actually happened.

Would just like to say the Spurs owned this game in the 3rd just like a few of us suggested would happen. Cavs have to fix this trend, because they are not going to win 4 out of 6 against San Antonio with 3rd quarter efforts like that.

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Originally Posted by JoeTait75

- Cavs look vulnerable in the 3rd quarters. For some reason they don't come out of the locker room to well, and LeBron tends to get passive. Could be a good time for the Spurs to really attack them.

That's been a problem for the Cavaliers going back to the Washington series. Some of it is just a malaise coming out of the locker room; part of it is, they've generally come out with Hughes running the point and not enough shooters on the floor, allowing opponents to pack the lane and force Cleveland to knock down jump shots, which they haven't done. In the last couple of games of the Detroit series, however, the Cavaliers were able to spread the floor more effectively in the third.

Story- between Games 4 and 5 against Detroit, coach Brown was asked about the third quarter, and he said "a friend" told him to set a goal for his team of three layups/dunks to get them out of their stagnation. He didn't say who the "friend" was, but everyone's best guess is that he's a fellow head coach, his first name ends in two "g's", and his nickname is the term we in Ohio use for "soda".

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That's been a problem all YEAR. They certainly cannot afford that against the Spurs. I said the same thing during the Pistons series and they somehow won two games while having that awful 3rd quarter, but the Spurs are just a lot better. The Cavs can't coun't on any of the Spurs players bitching at the refs and each other like Sheed, Prince, Rip, and Billups. It just won't happen.