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Lebron is a funny guy
There is NO way they would beat the Lakers or the Spurs in the Finals
James confident Cavs would compete in these finals
SI.com
Two things were obvious after Cleveland's first NBA finals appearance: LeBron James had to get better, and the Cavaliers had to get better around him.
With both accomplished, James is confident the Cavs would be in a fair fight this time if they can follow the best regular season in franchise history by returning to the finals.
"Absolutely,'' James said. "I don't think there's one team in our league that's just clear-cut better than another team.''
The San Antonio Spurs were clearly better than the Cavaliers in the 2007 finals, sweeping a Cleveland team that played some of the ugliest basketball that had ever been seen in the championship round. The Cavs managed just 322 points, easily a record low.
"Obviously they were in the finals for a reason. Whatever the case was, they didn't get it done,'' point guard Mo Williams said. "We're confident this year that we have everything we need to be the favorite and be the team that comes out on top.''
Williams is one of the reasons, acquired last summer and becoming the best guard James has teamed with in the NBA. He gave the Cavs additional outside shooting, and since those finals they've also added depth to their front line with Ben Wallace and Joe Smith.
New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank, whose Nets lost to the Cavs in the '07 playoffs and twice this week, has seen the improvements in James and his team.
"Not only is he getting better, they've surrounded him with shooting,'' Frank said. "You think about Cleveland's model, they've done a great job. They have a great, great player, they've surrounded him with 3-point shooting and size.''
James knew it wasn't only his supporting cast that needed work. He shot just 36 percent against the Spurs, who shut off his path to the lane and forced him to take jumpers that he repeatedly missed. He went to work that summer building a reliable outside shot while playing with the U.S. national team, one that's consistent enough now that San Antonio's defensive strategy wouldn't be as effective.
"That series made me a better player, who I am today, because I knew I had a lot to learn,'' James said. "I knew I had a lot to improve on, me as an individual, so I'm a much better player now because of that.''
Lebron is a funny guy
There is NO way they would beat the Lakers or the Spurs in the Finals
Wouldn't laugh too hard, they'll get a ring before the mavs
Laugh all you want, but you and other Mavs fans thought we were ed in 2007 :flag:
Who won the le: Spurs
Who got humilated in the 1st round: you gay ass team :lmao
I didn't know if you got the memo or not, but the Spurs suck this year man. I normally try to not bash the Spurs on here, but they just aren't that good.
Only difference is Spurs were actually good that year.
based on his record vs the elite teams...its pretty clear to me
que Joetait
I have a LOT of respect for the Spurs, Lefty. But they'd have their work cut out for them if they played the Cavaliers in the Finals.
Yeah, I'm not sure that a team that's going to win somewhere around 55 games despite a rash of injuries to its best players is a team that "sucks" or "just isn't that good."
They might not be as good as the Cavaliers -- and I doubt the Spurs would beat the Cavs in a Finals series this year -- but the fact that the Spurs aren't as good as the Cavs is a pretty far cry from saying that the Spurs "suck this year" and "just aren't that good."
The Wizards suck this year. The Kings suck this year. The Pacers just aren't that good. The Suns just aren't that good.
I guess I shouldn't say they suck, but there is no reason to think that if they got in the Finals the Cavs couldn't win a game or 2. I meant it in the context of "There is NO way they would beat the Lakers or the Spurs in the Finals"...that's a crazy comment. The Spurs haven't shown anything this year that would lead us to believe they would actually make the Finals, let alone sweeping the Cavs if they meet there
I don't know how anyone could pick SA over Cleveland at this point
I would as long as Tim is with the spurs and Manu is healthy they have a great chance, Pop>Brown, and the spurs have already shown how to stop lebron
Dan..you're better than that man...almost all year we've been without at least one of our big 3..our main players...All three guys could easily be our best player. Take Lebron off the Cavs and what do you have? If all 3 are playing good ball, we're a different team, and after 2007, your team should know just as well as anyone
Easily...like this
Spurs>Cleveland
What is that even supposed to mean? Has ESPN fired all their copyeditors?confident Cavs would compete in these finals
You're pretty out of touch. They haven't had their big 3 healthy, just wait till the playoffs man you don't know how dead wrong you are..
They're 23-4 against the west.
I dont get it, you call him King Nothing but then say if you shut him down his team is nothing. Which means the fact that he has his team at 58 wins in quite remarkable.
I gave up thinking about the "too old" excuse like 4 yrs ago because you hear it every year and it doesn't amount to anything
yup, which is why most people automatically ignore it.
Besides what King James said, any one care to check his shooting % vs elite teams? This isn't the regular season, in the playoffs, in a 7 game series, teams
WILL ADJUST and will have plenty of time to to the opposing team. This is why
the one man team philosophy almost never works. Mo Wil is great but he
wouldn't be the guy to count on in the post season. Speaking of Post...the
cavs have NO legitimate post presence. Big Z has a great midrange jumper
he is not the guy you can feed it to late into games to keep the defense
guessing like the spurs do with TD
Legitimate post presences are overrated. Erick Dampier won a championship as a starting center in 2006, and Kendrick Perkins won a championship as a starting center in 2008. The Pistons didn't have much interior OFFENSE in 2004 either.
That's a double-edged sword. In a seven-game series, LeBron will able to adjust and figure out new ways to attack. Look at the history- even in series where he's been shut down at the outset (2007 ECF vs. Detroit; 2008 ECSF vs. Boston) LeBron has come back to have huge games in the later stages of the series. The only exception was the 2007 Finals, and in that case the Spurs never gave him the opportunity to adjust, because the series was over too quickly.
Cavaliers also play very good defense in the Playoffs, because MB can adjust to what opponents are doing offensively over the course of a series.
Why would you be more afraid of Orlando? Atleast the Cavs have gotten to the finals.
I dont know, if the Spurs would play the Cavs in the finals I would be VERY worried...this is a much different team than in 2007.
Part of our problem in 2007- and this is not to detract from the wholesale ass-whupping San Antonio laid on us- was that we were in "happy to be there" mode. All that season the Cavaliers had geared themselves to beat Detroit. They expended a tremendous amount of effort and energy to do that, and when they did, they and the town celebrated as if there was no tomorrow.
But there was a tomorrow. And when that tomorrow came, everyone woke up hung over from the triumph over Detroit, blinked, and said, "Wait- we have to play another series? Against THOSE guys?"
Plain and simple, the Cavaliers weren't ready, from a talent standpoint and from a psychological standpoint, to compete with a team like San Antonio on the sport's biggest stage. But this team is different. Better in terms of talent, more mature, more experienced. They have a better idea of what it takes to win a World Championship in this league. The expectations have changed.
8 of the last 10 les are from Shaq and Duncan. Post presence is underrated,
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