Cavaliers (2-0) at Celtics (0-2) Round 1 Game #3 4/23/15

[Beat LA]

Welp, I really wish we were focusing on the draft rather than being in basketball purgatory. Where do we go from here? This team's been maxed out.

I don't think its as easy as saying "trading up", teams don't often trade down in the NBA.

Oh the places we'll go!


Draft picks aplenty, this can't be neglected
Ainge as GM has the job nearly perfected

Superstars big and small, we'll be after
More numbers more jerseys to hang from the rafters


Oh the places we'll go!!

Lol, TP. Well done, sir.

[Beat LA]

Guys ... These games have been decided by three possessions or more and in the last few minutes the Celts haven't even had the opportunity to tie it.

That's not a close series.

Umm, it was a two point difference from 3:30 on in the second game, and we cut it to three until the offensive rebound that led to the three by Love.  Are both instances not examples of being able to tie the game? 

Btw, I know that I've responded to, and disagreed with, a number of your posts lately, so I just want you to know that I'm not singling you out or picking on you for some reason.  Just a general fwi.

[Beat LA]

The Celtics are more than just a player away, unless we're talking about a top shelf player.

Brad needs more weapons.  He's Sun Tzu leading an army of peasants.  Get this man some shock troopers!

Me thinks they forgot to bring their torches and pitchforks.

[greece66]

The Celtics are more than just a player away, unless we're talking about a top shelf player.

Brad needs more weapons.  He's Sun Tzu leading an army of peasants.  Get this man some shock troopers!

Me thinks they forgot to bring their torches and pitchforks.

Cat Stevens

[GratefulCs]

Welp, I really wish we were focusing on the draft rather than being in basketball purgatory. Where do we go from here? This team's been maxed out.

I don't think its as easy as saying "trading up", teams don't often trade down in the NBA.

Oh the places we'll go!


Draft picks aplenty, this can't be neglected
Ainge as GM has the job nearly perfected

Superstars big and small, we'll be after
More numbers more jerseys to hang from the rafters


Oh the places we'll go!!

Lol, TP. Well done, sir.

TP right back at ya!

[Beat LA]

We can win four in a row...

Sippin

What does that mean, lol?

He's sippin on some drink, man


And some green kool aide


I'm about to fix me some green kool aide right about now. Gonna need it for the next four games

Ahh, that's what I figured, but still, thanks for the clarification.  Lol at the next four games, btw.  Gotta get dat drank, ahaha.

[Beat LA]

The Celtics are more than just a player away, unless we're talking about a top shelf player.

Brad needs more weapons.  He's Sun Tzu leading an army of peasants.  Get this man some shock troopers!

Me thinks they forgot to bring their torches and pitchforks.

Cat Stevens

Outstanding, lol - TP.

[slamtheking]

Fascinating seeing the talent gap between these two teams. We are going full throttle and executing as well as we are capable... Meanwhile they are jogging through the entire thing and in complete control.  They can take over the game on a whim.  It doesn't even look like lebron broke a sweat in this game.

in what universe was this team executing well?  TO's galore not to mention a lot of critical rebounds coughed up. 

C's were so exposed in their need for a real starting-quality PG and Center (that can rebound).

IT was useless.  Bass was useless.  AB barely above useless.  Zeller was awful on the boards. 

Sully looked better than he has since returning.  Crowder was great to watch out there giving it his all.

Other than those 2, I wouldn't say anyone else came close to playing their best.  play hard? sure.  Play well, not so much.

[hwangjini_1]

Fascinating seeing the talent gap between these two teams. We are going full throttle and executing as well as we are capable... Meanwhile they are jogging through the entire thing and in complete control.  They can take over the game on a whim.  It doesn't even look like lebron broke a sweat in this game.

in what universe was this team executing well?  TO's galore not to mention a lot of critical rebounds coughed up. 

C's were so exposed in their need for a real starting-quality PG and Center (that can rebound).

IT was useless.  Bass was useless.  AB barely above useless.  Zeller was awful on the boards. 

Sully looked better than he has since returning.  Crowder was great to watch out there giving it his all.

Other than those 2, I wouldn't say anyone else came close to playing their best.  play hard? sure.  Play well, not so much.

this is a team with limitations. but within those limitations they did execute unevenly, but most of all they missed too many open shots. and they took too many shots too early in the shot clock.

this is a young team and execution is expected to be uneven. the shooting, well, that is more a lack of talent right now.

all in all, the effort was great and i will take that. this team have never given up and like that about them.

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

Welp, I really wish we were focusing on the draft rather than being in basketball purgatory. Where do we go from here? This team's been maxed out.

I don't think its as easy as saying "trading up", teams don't often trade down in the NBA.

They're still focusing on the draft. You're looking at, most likely, the difference between 11 and 16. You can't tank and have anything this team has as a positive moving forward. Like IT? Well, he ain't here if tanking is going on. Like, these things aren't all or nothing.

This is the thing I hate about these discussions. Philly has convinced everyone there is one way to tank and that is the absolute only way. And it isn't that theres is a bad way but it isn't the only way to rebuild. Again, the Philly plan isn't neccesarily bad but it has been made into the Platonic ideal of rebuilding and that isn't true. It is one way. There are other ways to rebuild and we are seeing it here. And it isn't worse. It is different. Have a little faith and believe that there is more than one way to go about rebuilding. And one isn;t objectively better than another. Don't get suckered into that Hinkie is the only way.

[LarBrd33]

Fascinating seeing the talent gap between these two teams. We are going full throttle and executing as well as we are capable... Meanwhile they are jogging through the entire thing and in complete control.  They can take over the game on a whim.  It doesn't even look like lebron broke a sweat in this game.

TP.  We just don't have anybody who is a threat offensively no matter where they are.  We have a couple guys that can hit shots at a slightly higher than league average, but we can't really force our game style on anybody.  Meanwhile, the Cavs are just making impossible shots.  I'm proud of the Celtics out there, but I'm really wondering how many of them we bring back

I'm happy for our effort, but this entire series has gone like this:



When lebron needs to take over this game, he will.

That is such BS. They're down 3 points right now because they're "toying with us." Give me a freakign break.

They have been up by two possessions for the vast majority of this series.  We have had admirable effort, but the cavs have been in control of all of these games.  These games weren't as close as they appeared.

I literally just don't know what to say to your ridiculous comments anymore lol  You predicted this series wouldn't be close, so you're sticking to that prediction.... no matter what the evidence might suggest....

To be fair, 3-0 isn't exactly close.

3-0, in a vacuum, isn't close



We aint in no vacuum

None of these games were close.  None came down to a possession or two.  An 8 point victory is a definitive victory.  Sure they haven't been blowouts, but that's mostly because the cavs have been bored with this tune up.

C'mon.  Atlanta vs Boston in 2008 was "close".   Philly vs Boston in 2012 was "close".   This series hasn't been remotely close.  We are down 3-0.  We have been outplayed in all three games.   There has never been a time in this series where Cleveland was threatened.

Celtics - Hawks 2008 Scores:
G1: 104-81
G2: 96-77
G3: 102-93
G4: 97-92
G5: 110-85
G6: 103-100
G7: 99-65

Celtics - Cavs 2015 Scores:
G1: 113-100
G2: 99-91
G3: 103-95

Yet the Hawks series was close, but none of our games have been close. 

Heh.  They won 3 of the games.   Sure as heck closer than this inevitable sweep.  Every game a victory by multiple possessions.  Cavs have never looked concerned.

Kenny, Chuck, Shaq and Ernie summed up the dynamic of this series nicely.   Cavs are the Cat.  Boston is the ball of yarn.   THis series hasn't been close. 

Proud of the effort, but it's been clear every game which team was in control.  At no point has ever felt like Boston could actually win one.

[LarBrd33]

Fascinating seeing the talent gap between these two teams. We are going full throttle and executing as well as we are capable... Meanwhile they are jogging through the entire thing and in complete control.  They can take over the game on a whim.  It doesn't even look like lebron broke a sweat in this game.

TP.  We just don't have anybody who is a threat offensively no matter where they are.  We have a couple guys that can hit shots at a slightly higher than league average, but we can't really force our game style on anybody.  Meanwhile, the Cavs are just making impossible shots.  I'm proud of the Celtics out there, but I'm really wondering how many of them we bring back

I'm happy for our effort, but this entire series has gone like this:



When lebron needs to take over this game, he will.

Umm, what the hell is that supposed to be, lol? I know it's pokemon, but I never really got into that fad in 2nd/3rd grade, haha, so could you please explain what's going on in this picture?

It's that thing in comics/movies/tv where a really powerful tall person (the Cavs) puts their hand on top of the head of a feisty little angry person (the Celtics) safely out of reach of the flying fists.    That's how this series has gone, imo.   Boston wildly flailing those arms... Cleveland holding us at arm's length.  We have never really had a shot.

[Drucci]

Incredibly frustrating loss. This one is on clearly on us : we made a lot of runs but never managed to seize the lead back because we committed stupid turnovers or gave them offensive rebounds.

The end of 4th quarter play where Cleveland got an offensive rebound and Kevin Love hit an uncontested 3 summed up the game. It's one thing to lose because one of their stars hit amazing shots over and over again (and it happened in this game) but it's so frustrating to lose because of all these little details, especially when the team is aware of it. We basically can't stop Thompson on the glass.

Kudos to Love for having a great game, he sucked during the first two but was basically a star tonight.

Also, I don't understand why Stevens never benches Bradley even when he is obviously killing us (poor D on Kyrie, bricked shot after bricked shot and poor selection). Doc rarely benched him too and I can't understand why.

Hopefully we win the next one to give the home crowd something to cheer about and save our honor.

[Beat LA]

Fascinating seeing the talent gap between these two teams. We are going full throttle and executing as well as we are capable... Meanwhile they are jogging through the entire thing and in complete control.  They can take over the game on a whim.  It doesn't even look like lebron broke a sweat in this game.

TP.  We just don't have anybody who is a threat offensively no matter where they are.  We have a couple guys that can hit shots at a slightly higher than league average, but we can't really force our game style on anybody.  Meanwhile, the Cavs are just making impossible shots.  I'm proud of the Celtics out there, but I'm really wondering how many of them we bring back

I'm happy for our effort, but this entire series has gone like this:



When lebron needs to take over this game, he will.

Umm, what the hell is that supposed to be, lol? I know it's pokemon, but I never really got into that fad in 2nd/3rd grade, haha, so could you please explain what's going on in this picture?

It's that thing in comics/movies/tv where a really powerful tall person (the Cavs) puts their hand on top of the head of a feisty little angry person (the Celtics) safely out of reach of the flying fists.    That's how this series has gone, imo.   Boston wildly flailing those arms... Cleveland holding us at arm's length.  We have never really had a shot.

Ahh, I see.  I just wasn't sure if it was a specific pokemon reference or not, haha . Tbh, Lebron looked bored out there, but I think that we could have won the last two games.  I know that I've probably been unfairly hard on him, but Smart has played really well in this series, and I can't understand why he isn't getting more minutes.  A lot more, especially with Thomas taking a dump on our chances tonight, lol. Ugh.  If we wanted a selfish, undersized, point guard who loves the big moment, why couldn't we just have waited to take Ryan Boatright in the second round or something , smh?  Sigh.

[LarBrd33]

Fascinating seeing the talent gap between these two teams. We are going full throttle and executing as well as we are capable... Meanwhile they are jogging through the entire thing and in complete control.  They can take over the game on a whim.  It doesn't even look like lebron broke a sweat in this game.

TP.  We just don't have anybody who is a threat offensively no matter where they are.  We have a couple guys that can hit shots at a slightly higher than league average, but we can't really force our game style on anybody.  Meanwhile, the Cavs are just making impossible shots.  I'm proud of the Celtics out there, but I'm really wondering how many of them we bring back

I'm happy for our effort, but this entire series has gone like this:



When lebron needs to take over this game, he will.

Umm, what the hell is that supposed to be, lol? I know it's pokemon, but I never really got into that fad in 2nd/3rd grade, haha, so could you please explain what's going on in this picture?

It's that thing in comics/movies/tv where a really powerful tall person (the Cavs) puts their hand on top of the head of a feisty little angry person (the Celtics) safely out of reach of the flying fists.    That's how this series has gone, imo.   Boston wildly flailing those arms... Cleveland holding us at arm's length.  We have never really had a shot.

Ahh, I see.  I just wasn't sure if it was a specific pokemon reference or not, haha . Tbh, Lebron looked bored out there, but I think that we could have won the last two games.  I know that I've probably been unfairly hard on him, but Smart has played really well in this series, and I can't understand why he isn't getting more minutes.  A lot more, especially with Thomas taking a dump on our chances tonight, lol. Ugh.  If we wanted a selfish, undersized, point guard who loves the big moment, why couldn't we just have waited to take Ryan Boatright in the second round or something , smh?  Sigh.

It's alright.  This was a fun team this year.  They always gave it a great effort.   They played like Celtics.  I hope we can build on it next year by adding some talent.