It's LeGoat's world, and we are all living in it. There is no need to be afraid, NBA fans. Balance will be restored: Cleveland still gonna sweep this series. Sorry Pacers fans, I am not worried. Also Rockets '17 champs, heard it here first. Ban me.
Thought the Pacers really blew an opportunity to steal a game from the Cavs...The PG13 3 pointer that brought the game to 1 was a great look but it was a very tought shot. Secondly, after the Cavs committed the foul to give on the last possession, the Pacers shouldve known that the plan was to double George at the top and force someone else to beat them. This shouldve immediately triggered a secondary play for a better look. There were two really good options: 1. Miles shouldve immediately run up to set a back screen on Lebron and PG13 shouldve attacked the double from the left. This wouldve forced Jefferson to make a decision on the roll and it wouldve set up Lance Stevenson for a wide open layup at the rim, or sag back allowed for Paul George to get an open shot on the wing(going left..tought shot to make for a righty). 2. If PG was able to make the pass at the rim, Lance shouldve back screened Jefferson and allowed Miles for a rim run from the left...bucket.
What's hilarious is that LeBron said PG made the right call, he also missed Lance open underneath the basketball. But, in all honesty, he should have known the double was coming, they did it in the previous possession...what kind of play was that anyway?
"I gotta get the last shot. I talked to C.J., I told him I gotta get the last shot." Shut up Paul! Winners and losers of NBA playoffs opening weekend Winner: Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder Loser: Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan While the situations weren't identical, Snyder and McMillan made different decisions about whether to take a timeout late in their teams' games and got different results. After the Pacers forced a LeBron James miss down one with 20.0 seconds remaining, McMillan took his team's final timeout to set up a play. The Cavaliers used their foul to whittle that time in half, then trapped the ball out of Paul George's hands and forced Miles into a contested jumper off the dribble at the buzzer. Later Saturday, Snyder let his team play without at timeout after Chris Paul's basket tied the game at 95 with 13.1 seconds on the clock. The Jazz never hesitated, getting the ball to Joe Johnson, who coolly sought out a screen from Joe Ingles to get Jamal Crawford switched on to him. Johnson drove on Crawford and scored over the help as the buzzer sounded. In Snyder's case, the decision to play without a timeout was easier for a couple of reasons. A stoppage would have allowed Clippers coach Doc Rivers to sub out Crawford for defensive stopper Luc Mbah a Moute, and Snyder could draw up a play in the preceding timeout assuming the game was tied because otherwise the Clippers would have merely intentionally fouled. The Pacers had no such stoppage to prep for the final play. Two shots is also a tiny sample size. Had Johnson missed, it's possible Snyder would have been criticized for not calling timeout to get organized. But the limited evidence suggests teams are probably better off playing without a timeout unless it's necessary to advance the ball to half court in the closing seconds. Incidentally, the criticism of Indiana's final play we did see -- George complaining that he should have taken the last shot -- rings hollow. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, George is 2-of-31 in his career on shots to tie the game or take the lead in the final 15 seconds, a total that surely includes plenty of desperation attempts but still reflects how difficult it is for a star to score in these situations on a defense stacked against him. The Pacers didn't execute well enough after George gave up the ball, but an open shot from a role player is better than a forced one by George. Loser: The idea that the Cavaliers would flip the switch defensively when the playoffs started The 18th consecutive win for LeBron James' team in a first-round game was the closest yet, as Cleveland needed to sweat out a C.J. Miles miss at the buzzer -- more on that in a moment -- to hold off the Indiana Pacers at home. As has been the case throughout the second half of the season, the Cavaliers struggled defensively. The 118.9 points per 100 possessions the Pacers scored were the fourth-highest offensive rating of the opening weekend and a whopping 12.3 more than Indiana averaged during the regular season. Cleveland's offense was good enough to survive dismal defense in the playoff opener, but at some point the Cavaliers are going to have to get stops to win.
I think McMillan calling a time out was a really bad decision. As JVG stated that allowed the Cavs to setup their D (mainly double team Paul George).
The pass to Stephenson wasn't there. The Pacers should have known the doubleteam was coming and had a plan, but it's clear they didn't. That was the real failure.
Paul George has been pretty inconsistent in the past 2 minutes. Throws up a bad lob. Jacks up a bad 3. Drives in the lane and makes a good pass. Makes for good entertainment, I supposed, but Indy fans' sphincters are clenched to the max right now rofl
Cavs offense in the their 4th quarter collapses are mind blowingly bad. How do you have Kyrie, Love, and Bron but you go scoreless on 7 straight possessions? Does Lue know how to run anything but an iso or high screen and roll? Zero type of motion, lot of ball watching
Why is George jacking up 3s? He's done this twice (both early in the shot clock) and that's killed the momentum. Drive in and draw defenses in. It creates fouls on Cleveland and / or open teammates for easy dunks.
He wasn't about to let anyone else get the big shots this time. But I don't think that one was bad... pretty reasonable look.
