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Toronton, Washington another group of pretenders
The Cavs are legit. Likely a Cavs-Hawks ECF.
Don't know if they could beat whoever comes out of the West, though.
Toronton, Washington another group of pretenders
If they can get Love on track, the only issue is Lebron wearing down. At times James seems superhuman but he is trying to make the finals for the 5th straight year that kind of toll even on a man of his amazing athletic gifts is asking a lot. If they get contributions from so many sources like last night then he may be able to coast. But I think when they face a real legit contender (i like ATL, Wash and Bulls but all are shaky contenders at best) from the West my guess it will become the Lebron James show like last year's finals. Problem is no West contender even GSW gives me complete confidence they will be able contain James like SAS did last year. If spurs can get their own together the repeat finals might be the best bet for beating James. Before last year I would say dont bet against Bron when he has help but he had it and still lost.
LeMVP > chucking got
I already called it in November tbh. Cleveland as bad as they are can easily sweep their way to the finals and take 2 weeks to prepare for the NBA Finals. While the West team will barely crawl to the Finals all bloodied and beat up.
ing BS
but I called it long long ago.
The thought of you in a crawl, bloodied and beat up is enticing.I already called it in November tbh. Cleveland as bad as they are can easily sweep their way to the finals and take 2 weeks to prepare for the NBA Finals. While the West team will barely crawl to the Finals all bloodied and beat up.
ing BS
but I called it long long ago.
Charge.
you're already shining shoes got
back to work
Take heart. It's a Cleveland team.
ma goin ham on cub
Not a huge fan of Lebron, but I can't believe some people here thought this Cleveland team will have an early exit considering how weak the East is.
Slurp, Gags, Slurp, Slurp...LeMVP > chucking got
I say ECF, Atlanta is just too good of a team to lose to Lebron.
+1 Love is the X-Factor. Someone one RealGM pointed out he was shooting 37% in this 11 game stretch and Cleveland is still dominating.
If the Hawks are still playing in peak form, they would be hard to beat.
Cavs vs. Bulls is still intriguing. I know a lot of people are down on the Bulls, but I can still see them giving Cavs fit. Right now Hawks (obviously) are the clear favourites in the East, and can beat the winners from the West. I can't see any other East team beating the West champs.
Highly doubt that. Gasol's addition hasn't quite worked out for Chicago, he's honestly entering Kevin love status this year. (Empty stats) Thibs is losing his team from my understanding, along with pending issues with Rose and Noah's health and key players like Taj Gibson questioning the teams direction at this point. They have zero chemistry right now and their brightest spot (Butler) will most likely have a disappointing playoffs after being ran to the ground by Thibs (40 MPG).
This. Great points ... but shhh S&H, anything remotely negative (how dare you compare a player like MVPau to that overrated no defense chucker KEVIN LOVE!!!)
on Gasol is taboo around these parts. Either it's a rotator cuff agenda or we just dont appreciate sublime post play, even when it comes with horrid pnr defense and soft post defense. Gasol does provide a vet that has won and a better half-court offense than the bulls ever had. They are a darkhorse much like your Clips but I think both will fail in Late May and wont see June.
Also TT is giving butler the "Deng treatment" and look how he has flamed out after a few years of crazy minutes ...
I simply see the Bulls matching up with the Cavs. The Bulls still has a strong defensive system. They are not executing as well because of injuries and possibly boredom, but with the right motivation, I can still see the Bulls bottling up Irving and giving Lebron a hard time, not to mention they don't seem to have too many people being able to hold MVPau in check.
As for MVPau being in K-Love territory, I don't trust it. He is not as agile and nimble as he once was, but he can still rotate and be a defensive player. Noah coming back healthy would be very helpful for MVPau as well.
That said, i get suckered by the Bulls every year, so I am likely to be wrong again this year.
The Bulls defense has gone from elite to middle of the pack. Currently ranked 14th in points allowed (3rd last year) giving an average of 99.2 per game. It's not "boredom". Gasol's a true offensive beast, but he also equally gives up the same amount of points on the other end, this is why Miriotic and Gibson +/- are better than Pau. Players are scoring on him with ease.
Mozgov 7-14FG,
Horford 11-14FG
Gortat 4-7FG
Vucevic 16-24FG
Gortat 10-16FG
Favors 8-15FG
Dwight 6-12FG
Brook Lopez 13-21FG
Anthony Davis 13-24FG
Skip to 2:00 mark. It's a good breakdown of Pau's deficiency as a big man with videos and stats to back it up.
Btw, that video I posted makes you really appreciate what Atlanta is doing. That's some great basketball right there.
Lowe also had some strong observations too, but when this was brought up in another thread. It was "MVPau not appreciated per par" ... or "the SAT failing gangbanger" is the real problem. Instead of discussing the valid hoops issue raised.
Man if Pau did join the spurs (last off season) and played like this some fans would have elevated to him just under Duncan status tbh.
But others would have been just as frustrated (on DEFENSIVE end) as Laker fans were. to be fair Mike D and Mike Brown (kobe too) failed to utilize Pau effectively but it seems the change re-energized him and I am happy to see his points and rebounds back up. Defense? No bueno ...but he is trying harder and altering shots.
amen. Budenholzer is EXACTLY the type of coach the Lakers should have sought instead of chasing names. They will make the same mistake chasing stars but every star they have chased or rumored to want are hurt or playing hurt: So glad we lost out on those guys or did not trade for em ...
1. Dwight (hurt)
2. Melo (playing hurt)
3. rondo (hurt)
Only guys Lakers truly wanted that are healthy are Pau and Lebron and they treated the former shabby and had no shot at James. I doubt Lebron will ever take on another building project if he has the choice ...
Bulls > Cavs.
I would tend to say that is what Atlanta does vs. what is wrong with MVPau. Atlanta's bigs are really unorthodox as they just pull everybody outside, not to mention having the quickness and handles to drive. Most teams do not have that, and Atlanta has pretty much been exposing other bigs all year long.
That said, I am not saying MVPau is as MVPau as he was at his peak, he is clearly slower than what he was before, but I don't see him as a defensive liability in the sense of a Brook Lopez or a Kevin Love.
Speaking of which, Love has the outside shooting, but I don't see MVPau guarding him, it would be Noah or Gibson. MVPau will be guarding Tristan Thompson or something, which doesn't have the shooting or handles as the Atlanta bigs, which means that they can't expose MVPau Atlanta did.
MVPau's defense this year is WAY better than his Laker days. he's not Bill Russell, or even the old MVPau, but he is not the 2013 MAPau (Most Average Pau) either.
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