NBA 2018 Playoffs Thread

[jpotter33]

Toronto's going to sweep the Cavs.

if sny team sweeps it will be the one that swept the other last year.  The Cavs are a terrible matchup for the Raptors because they have no one that can even pretend to guard James.

This is not the same Cavs team of last year. They barely scraped by the Pacers. Toronto's going to sweep them. The Raptors have too much depth, and much , much better coaching. The Cavs have Lebron and that's about it.

This

And how are the Cavs going to guard the Raptors' offense? The Cavs have a collection of some of the worst defensive players in the league. And their offense doesn't flow, either.

They are in big trouble.

except they don't. This Cavs team is not a bad defensive team. They are a better defensive team then prior years with better individual defenders. If they weren't so bad on offense they woild have beaten the Pacers rather easily and the Pacers are a much worse matchup for them.    I suspect they will start Thompson, Love, James, Smith, and Hill against the Raptors.  Only Love is a negative individual defender and it isn't like Ibaka can take advantage of that.  The Cavs beat Toronto in the two games post all the trades.  They swept them last year because Toronto just can't defend James.

Holy hell, Moranis, this is the hottest hot take in the hot take universe, let alone being completely inaccurate statistically. The Cavs were literally the 29th ranked team in defensive rating/efficiency this season, but somehow they’re not a bad defensive team??

Someone is clearly a closet Cavs fan with as warped of a perspective you have on this team.

[Beat LA]

Toronto's going to sweep the Cavs.

if sny team sweeps it will be the one that swept the other last year.  The Cavs are a terrible matchup for the Raptors because they have no one that can even pretend to guard James.

This is not the same Cavs team of last year. They barely scraped by the Pacers. Toronto's going to sweep them.

the Pacers are the worst possible matchup for the Cavs. The Raptors are not.  The Raptors can't stop James, Lowry isn't the player he once was and DeRozan doesn't have the ball skills Oladipo does. I don't think the Cavs will sweep but it wouldn't surprise me either for the reasons mentioned above.

Over the Warriors , or are you just talking about teams in the Eastern Conference?

[celticsclay]

Cavs 6.5 point underdog in game 1. I think that is the biggest underdog the cavs have been in an east playoff game since Lebrons return.

[tazzmaniac]

Per a SportsCenter tweet, the Cavs won that playoff series without anyone besides Lebron scoring 20+ points in any of the games.  First time that has happened to Lebron and I'd think it would be very rare especially in a 7 game series. 

[Moranis]

Toronto's going to sweep the Cavs.

if sny team sweeps it will be the one that swept the other last year.  The Cavs are a terrible matchup for the Raptors because they have no one that can even pretend to guard James.

This is not the same Cavs team of last year. They barely scraped by the Pacers. Toronto's going to sweep them. The Raptors have too much depth, and much , much better coaching. The Cavs have Lebron and that's about it.

This

And how are the Cavs going to guard the Raptors' offense? The Cavs have a collection of some of the worst defensive players in the league. And their offense doesn't flow, either.

They are in big trouble.

except they don't. This Cavs team is not a bad defensive team. They are a better defensive team then prior years with better individual defenders. If they weren't so bad on offense they woild have beaten the Pacers rather easily and the Pacers are a much worse matchup for them.    I suspect they will start Thompson, Love, James, Smith, and Hill against the Raptors.  Only Love is a negative individual defender and it isn't like Ibaka can take advantage of that.  The Cavs beat Toronto in the two games post all the trades.  They swept them last year because Toronto just can't defend James.

Holy hell, Moranis, this is the hottest hot take in the hot take universe, let alone being completely inaccurate statistically. The Cavs were literally the 29th ranked team in defensive rating/efficiency this season, but somehow they’re not a bad defensive team??

Someone is clearly a closet Cavs fan with as warped of a perspective you have on this team.

they were 19th post all star break and that is with a number of their better defensive players missing time.  The Pacers averaged 105.6 points a game on the season. They were only hit triple figures 3 games and were only over their average in game 6.  The Cavs defense was not why that series went 7, it was their offense

[celticsclay]

Toronto's going to sweep the Cavs.

if sny team sweeps it will be the one that swept the other last year.  The Cavs are a terrible matchup for the Raptors because they have no one that can even pretend to guard James.

This is not the same Cavs team of last year. They barely scraped by the Pacers. Toronto's going to sweep them. The Raptors have too much depth, and much , much better coaching. The Cavs have Lebron and that's about it.

This

And how are the Cavs going to guard the Raptors' offense? The Cavs have a collection of some of the worst defensive players in the league. And their offense doesn't flow, either.

They are in big trouble.

except they don't. This Cavs team is not a bad defensive team. They are a better defensive team then prior years with better individual defenders. If they weren't so bad on offense they woild have beaten the Pacers rather easily and the Pacers are a much worse matchup for them.    I suspect they will start Thompson, Love, James, Smith, and Hill against the Raptors.  Only Love is a negative individual defender and it isn't like Ibaka can take advantage of that.  The Cavs beat Toronto in the two games post all the trades.  They swept them last year because Toronto just can't defend James.

Holy hell, Moranis, this is the hottest hot take in the hot take universe, let alone being completely inaccurate statistically. The Cavs were literally the 29th ranked team in defensive rating/efficiency this season, but somehow they’re not a bad defensive team??

Someone is clearly a closet Cavs fan with as warped of a perspective you have on this team.

Lol. This was funny potter. They are definitely a bad defensive team. They are a bit better then when they were playing IT and were historically bad, but definitely not great now.

[cman88]

I am not sure if this Moranis poster is serious, or just throwing out hot-takes that might even be embarrassing for a fan on a Cavs board.

Cavs are a poor defensive team. If they were so great, how come they blow double digit leads soo often?

The raptors are a much deeper team than the pacers and have home-court advantage.

They struggled to beat a Pacers team in 7 games. Lebron had to average nearly 40points a game just to do it. Can he do it again? and will it even be enough against a better/deeper team? I dont think so.

[Phantom255x]

Toronto's going to sweep the Cavs.

if sny team sweeps it will be the one that swept the other last year.  The Cavs are a terrible matchup for the Raptors because they have no one that can even pretend to guard James.

This is not the same Cavs team of last year. They barely scraped by the Pacers. Toronto's going to sweep them. The Raptors have too much depth, and much , much better coaching. The Cavs have Lebron and that's about it.

This

And how are the Cavs going to guard the Raptors' offense? The Cavs have a collection of some of the worst defensive players in the league. And their offense doesn't flow, either.

They are in big trouble.

except they don't. This Cavs team is not a bad defensive team. They are a better defensive team then prior years with better individual defenders. If they weren't so bad on offense they woild have beaten the Pacers rather easily and the Pacers are a much worse matchup for them.    I suspect they will start Thompson, Love, James, Smith, and Hill against the Raptors.  Only Love is a negative individual defender and it isn't like Ibaka can take advantage of that.  The Cavs beat Toronto in the two games post all the trades.  They swept them last year because Toronto just can't defend James.

[Moranis]

Since when does saying a team isn't bad mean they are great.  You guys are nuts.

[liam]

Since when does saying a team isn't bad mean they are great.  You guys are nuts.

But the Cavs are a BAD defensive team.

[Moranis]

Since when does saying a team isn't bad mean they are great.  You guys are nuts.

But the Cavs are a BAD defensive team.

post all star break (i.e. post trades) they were in the middle 10 teams in the league, making them average.  They were on the lower end, so below average works just fine.  And that is with them having a lot of injuries to some of their better defenders.  They are in fact a much better defensive team then they were last year.  They aren't nearly as good offensively because they greatly miss Irving on that end, but their defense is good enough for them to get out of the East if they have any sort of even decent shooting outside of James.

[Green-18]

Since when does saying a team isn't bad mean they are great.  You guys are nuts.

But the Cavs are a BAD defensive team.

post all star break (i.e. post trades) they were in the middle 10 teams in the league, making them average.  They were on the lower end, so below average works just fine.  And that is with them having a lot of injuries to some of their better defenders.  They are in fact a much better defensive team then they were last year.  They aren't nearly as good offensively because they greatly miss Irving on that end, but their defense is good enough for them to get out of the East if they have any sort of even decent shooting outside of James.

I firmly back Moranis on this take.  The narrative of Cleveland being an atrocious defensive team has become the most popular criticism of their team despite the fact that recent results suggest it to be untrue.  People have it drilled into their head because the defense was historically bad up until the All-Star break. 

In this series the Cavs offense struggled big time.  LeBron has never needed to work harder to score this early in the playoffs.  The Cavs averaged nearly 17 less PPG than their regular season number.  It was the worst offensive series from a LeBron James team since beginning his NBA Finals streak with Miami 8 years ago. 

[Fafnir]

Are we really debating that the 109 DRTG post all-star Cavs are better defensively 109.8 DTRG pre all-star break Cavs?

Especially given their post all-star game strength of schedule was on the easy side and most of the teams that fell behind them were tanking?

After a 7 game series when they had a 111 DRTG overall? Everything the Cavs have done this entire season has indicated an awful defensive team. What success they did have against Indiana was predicated on a "junk" trapping defense that a NBA "should" shred.

[Green-18]

Are we really debating that the 109 DRTG post all-star Cavs are better defensively 109.8 DTRG pre all-star break Cavs?

Especially given their post all-star game strength of schedule was on the easy side and most of the teams that fell behind them were tanking?

After a 7 game series when they had a 111 DRTG overall? Everything the Cavs have done this entire season has indicated an awful defensive team. What success they did have against Indiana was predicated on a "junk" trapping defense that a NBA "should" shred.

Are we really debating that the 109 DRTG post all-star Cavs are better defensively 109.8 DTRG pre all-star break Cavs?

Especially given their post all-star game strength of schedule was on the easy side and most of the teams that fell behind them were tanking?

Yes, because people are ignoring the context of Moranis' argument.  Do we really think the Cavs gave the same level of effort late in the season compared to this playoff series? 

Are the Cavs a good defensive team?  Absolutely not.  Is their poor defense the reason this series went 7 games?  I say no.

The Cavs struggling offense gave away 4 additional points off of turnovers compared to the regular season.  Cleveland was a top 10 team in lowest turnover percentage during the season.  Their playoff turnover percentage of 15.7% would have ranked them as the 2nd most turnover prone team in the entire NBA.

It gets even worse when you look at transition scoring.  Cleveland only scored on 40% of their transition opportunities.  This would rank as easily the WORST in the NBA.  They were top 10 in this category during the regular season.

I am NOT implying that the Cavs are a good defensive basketball team.  They are a below average unit but still not as bad as their terrible regular season numbers suggest.  This series went 7 games because of poor offensive execution.   

[Moranis]

Are we really debating that the 109 DRTG post all-star Cavs are better defensively 109.8 DTRG pre all-star break Cavs?

Especially given their post all-star game strength of schedule was on the easy side and most of the teams that fell behind them were tanking?

After a 7 game series when they had a 111 DRTG overall? Everything the Cavs have done this entire season has indicated an awful defensive team. What success they did have against Indiana was predicated on a "junk" trapping defense that a NBA "should" shred.

Are we really debating that the 109 DRTG post all-star Cavs are better defensively 109.8 DTRG pre all-star break Cavs?

Especially given their post all-star game strength of schedule was on the easy side and most of the teams that fell behind them were tanking?

Yes, because people are ignoring the context of Moranis' argument.  Do we really think the Cavs gave the same level of effort late in the season compared to this playoff series? 

Are the Cavs a good defensive team?  Absolutely not.  Is their poor defense the reason this series went 7 games?  I say no.

The Cavs struggling offense gave away 4 additional points off of turnovers compared to the regular season.  Cleveland was a top 10 team in lowest turnover percentage during the season.  Their playoff turnover percentage of 15.7% would have ranked them as the 2nd most turnover prone team in the entire NBA.

It gets even worse when you look at transition scoring.  Cleveland only scored on 40% of their transition opportunities.  This would rank as easily the WORST in the NBA.  They were top 10 in this category during the regular season.

I am NOT implying that the Cavs are a good defensive basketball team.  They are a below average unit but still not as bad as their terrible regular season numbers suggest.  This series went 7 games because of poor offensive execution.

Yeah that is my point and the reality is, without Game 6, the Cavs defense looks a lot better overall statistically.  Lebron shot 55.3%, the rest of the team shot 38.8%.  Kevin Love was the 2nd leading scorer at just 11.4 ppg and no one else in the series even had a 20 point game.  The Cavs won a series when they averaged 94.9 ppg.  A team like the Cavs can't don't do that with terrible defense.