Cavaliers vs. Rockets

[cman88]

I dont understand the faith people are putting into the cavs to put it together. this isnt a "slump" this has been going on all season. the Wizards are .5 games of taking over the #3 seed and dropping the cavs to #4

they have never been lower than the 2 seed in the lebron era. This isnt the 2010 celtics, or even last years cavs where they have rested players. They are just not good.

even in the win streak, the warning signs were there. they were winning, but they were giving up just as much points as they were scoring and it took herculean efforts from lebron to win those games.

maybe they still make it out of the east. but they will be CRUSHED in the finals by any western conference team.

but, making the finals as a 3rd, 4th, 5th seed with THAT defense is going to be difficult for the cavs. Especially if Lebron is checked out.

[2short]

I think the only thing they can do is replace Lue with a hard ass coach who will hold everyone lebron included accountable.  Just watched the "highlights" of the game and the cavs initial defense and help defense is horrible.  Lebron was highlighted by fratello 4 or 5 times for not helping on d
Time to call Scott Skiles

[cman88]

to put in perspective, the Miami heat who are the 7th seed are 2 games back from the cavs. And the cavs are 1 loss away from dropping to the #4 seed.

If they keep losing, Lebron might have to play all series on the road in the playoffs

[SHAQATTACK]

Lebron is playing and acting like a person not intrested in staying on that club.  He seems distant from the reality of the situation.  His words have no iron in them .  Just media lip service . 

His family has shopped high schools in LA , he has one foot out the door.

[trickybilly]

The Celtics need to focus on getting themselves winning consistently again. The Raptors, Wizards, and Bucks are the new competitions in the East.

You can scratch LeBron James off, he's toast.

That's bit OTT. But Korver, Rose, Wade, IT, Jeff Green, and Channing Frye is not the support that LeBron needs right now. 2013 that team would have been dope..

Raps are our only real competition to get out of the East

[timpiker]

I watched the end of the Rockets game and the look on LeBUM's face.  And I thought of that C's game a few years ago when LeBUM had that look on his face that he just didn't give a sh*t. 

[Snakehead]

I watched the end of the Rockets game and the look on LeBUM's face.  And I thought of that C's game a few years ago when LeBUM had that look on his face that he just didn't give a sh*t.

https://twitter.com/Schultz_Report/status/959989841026052097

Yeah... this is not personally caring.   

There is a lot of blame aimed at different people, I think the group defensive effort and some guys they have are clearly done and not bringing much.  Then the fit of their players doesn't work unless some of these guys are playing super hard (like Tristan Thompson is a big example for me, I would also say Love, who has to really buy in to work with that team, as he did when they won). 

They also have one of the worst coaches in the NBA I would say.  That never helps.

Same problems that they had early in the year.  Nothing has changed.

[droopdog7]

I dont understand the faith people are putting into the cavs to put it together. this isnt a "slump" this has been going on all season. the Wizards are .5 games of taking over the #3 seed and dropping the cavs to #4

they have never been lower than the 2 seed in the lebron era. This isnt the 2010 celtics, or even last years cavs where they have rested players. They are just not good.

even in the win streak, the warning signs were there. they were winning, but they were giving up just as much points as they were scoring and it took herculean efforts from lebron to win those games.

maybe they still make it out of the east. but they will be CRUSHED in the finals by any western conference team.

but, making the finals as a 3rd, 4th, 5th seed with THAT defense is going to be difficult for the cavs. Especially if Lebron is checked out.

I don’t recall that we were resting players in 2010.  We just turned it on in the playoffs.

[RJ87]

I watched the end of the Rockets game and the look on LeBUM's face.  And I thought of that C's game a few years ago when LeBUM had that look on his face that he just didn't give a sh*t.

https://twitter.com/Schultz_Report/status/959989841026052097

Yeah... this is not personally caring.   

There is a lot of blame aimed at different people, I think the group defensive effort and some guys they have are clearly done and not bringing much.  Then the fit of their players doesn't work unless some of these guys are playing super hard (like Tristan Thompson is a big example for me, I would also say Love, who has to really buy in to work with that team, as he did when they won). 

They also have one of the worst coaches in the NBA I would say.  That never helps.

Same problems that they had early in the year.  Nothing has changed.

That's like the one play he showed some effort. 95% of the game, he played just as lackadaisical as the rest of the team.

[GreenFaith1819]

NBATV Analysts Mike Fratello and Brendan Haywood nailed it, for me.

I'm disappointed in LeBron James.

Mike and Brendan pointed out / broke down SEVERAL cases of LeBron James loafing on defense.

"HE" needs to pick it up. He's the best player in the NBA, supposedly.

All this talk/blame on Isaiah Thomas is MOSTLY unwarranted.

For IT I wish he'd just put his head down and work himself back into Game Shape. Be silent. That is HARD for him because he's a natural leader.

We saw THAT in BOS, with IT.

But again LeBron James needs to look at the man in the mirror.

I still cannot count them out - even IF they're an 8th seed. As long as LeBron James suits up CLE will have a shot.

But this blame game on IT is unwarranted, mostly.

[GreenFaith1819]

The sad thing here is that IT could very well be the Fall Guy for CLE. And that is not right.

[KGs Knee]

The sad thing here is that IT could very well be the Fall Guy for CLE. And that is not right.

Yeah, IT is not the main problem in Cleveland.  But he is part of the problem.  He really isn't giving them anything right now.

[GreenFaith1819]

The sad thing here is that IT could very well be the Fall Guy for CLE. And that is not right.

Yeah, IT is not the main problem in Cleveland.  But he is part of the problem.  He really isn't giving them anything right now.

He can't, at least not yet.

IT is at least several weeks away, IMO. But by then he could be traded and take the fall for LeBron James' loafing.

[KGs Knee]

The sad thing here is that IT could very well be the Fall Guy for CLE. And that is not right.

Yeah, IT is not the main problem in Cleveland.  But he is part of the problem.  He really isn't giving them anything right now.

He can't, at least not yet.

IT is at least several weeks away, IMO. But by then he could be traded and take the fall for LeBron James' loafing.

IT should have just had the surgery to repair his hip this summer.  Now, he's lost his 'Brinks truck' anyway, and may have even further hurt his market this upcoming summer.  Nobody is going to trust that hip of his now.

But I don't feel bad for him.  He's still made more money this year than most people will ever make in their lifetime.  Playing professional sports means you need to take the good with the bad.

[BackDoorCut]

That and these Rockets are legit. GSW is still favored but if the Rox stay healthy, I can see them dethroning the Dubs.

To beat a superteam, you need to form a superteam yourself. The Rockets have James Harden and CP3 complemented by Clint Capela and Ryan Anderson. The Warriors have Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, complemented by Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. The Warriors have met their match.

Clint Capela and Ryan Anderson are by no means in the same echelon as Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Klay Thompson could be a number 1 option on the right play-off team. He has 3 years of averaging 20 points per game to his name. Ryan Anderson has never averaged 20 and Clint Capela has just emerged this year. Eric Gordon is the 3rd member of their big three. None of the rockets Starting 5 give you the two way play that the warriors have except Chris Paul. The warriors have 3 players that will receive all nba defense votes at the end of the season. The rockets probably have 1. I'm not saying the rockets won't give them a run for their money. I just don't see them taking 4 out of 7 games against the warriors.

I understand where everyone is coming from with the Cavs recent woes but I think one needs to be weary prior to writing them off. I remember 2010+ Celtics having the same concerns. I remember thinking how foolish it was for people to write them off as I knew they had more in the tank. Personally I think we might have 'em this year. In saying that, I wouldn't be surprised if they willed their way past us this year just like those late Paul Pierce teams seemed to do against the 1st Cleveland stint teams led by Lebron.

Also not quoted here, but are you kidding me ? Lebron is most definitely not toast. He's averaging 26.6, 7.9r, 8.7a on .545 from the field. Everyone around him is toast.

Klay, at best, is the no. 1 option on a 4-and-out playoff team, if he’s lucky.

Tell me a team he could be the best player on and they win a game, let alone series.

While I agree that Clint and Ryan (lol) aren’t Klay and Draymond, the latter two are by no means superstars, they are products of their environment.

I would not expect Houston to win 4 of 7 in a playoff series against Golden State. Their two best players haven’t proven anything and Golden State is a proven model.

I’d honestly favor other teams putting it to together (Wolves, Thunder, Spurs) and taking the Warriors by surprise than the Rockets outgunning them. It could happen, just seems very unlikely.

If you put Klay on detroit instead of Blake the pistons would make the jump to 6th team in the east. In saying that they'd be lucky to win more than two games, as I said, He's not going to carry a team to a championship. But he'd get their name in the hat. Klay is not a product of his environment. He's a world class shooter and a fantastic defensive player. He's increased his points per game every season of his career despite having to share the ball more and more. You can make the argument he should be more efficient when defenses must account for other MVP candidates, however his usage has been trending downwards (very slightly year over year 15-17).


Houston, I agree. Isn't very likely to knock off the Warriors. D'antoni's team have very anecdotal evidence of playing complete crap defense come playoffs. The warriors have Andre, Klay, Kevin Durant and Draymond. Iguodala while not in his prime, has 2 NBA all defense teams to his name. He can still put the clamps on. The Rockets have CP3, Ariza and Clint? (haven't watched enough rockets to say definitively) who can play lockdown defense. One could also pool Ariza in with the ilk of Iguodala, in saying that He's not locking down Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson.