2010 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals: Cavs (#1) Vs. Celtics (#4)

yoyo, i'm sure you saw the game. that elbow had something to do with it. he didn't have the normal confidence in his jumper and thus he did let the celtics dictate how he played (and hence he drove way too much -> hence way too many turnovers as evident with 8 in game 4 and 9 in game 6). he knew that, and the celts knew that. his jumper will be terrible until he adjusted to that elbow, and he never did. that's not a lack of urgency, that's just a player trying to play his game when his perimeter game has been taken away by his elbow. he's normally a very good perimeter jumpshooter (not great, but still very good if you saw him this year).

and i think he tried to do too much b/c of that. when teams sag off of you, you shoot. he tried to attack way too much and that's just going into a set defense who dared you to shoot and is ready for your penetration.

he played his hearts out tonight if you saw the game. but fans/people like to over-analyze and that's what lebron has to deal with. people are going to claim he's a loser, choker, overrated... and all that crap.

he doesn't have a poor supporting cast. it's just isn't as good as the elite team. yes the cavs had the best reg. season, but lebron alone can beat all the mediocre to good teams by himself during the reg. season. but when you have to face top 3-4 teams over a 7 game series, the cavs will get exposed.

jamison SUCKED (yes, capitalized). mo will sucked just as much except for 2 games. everyone else was below average. and mike brown was as clueless as ever.

WHERE WAS JJ HICKSON? he's more athletic and a better finisher than jamison, who hit nothing all series.

i'm sad for cleveland fans. lebron will leave.

 

I'm not worshiping T-mac lol. I hate him. I'm just saying that if Cleavland actually fouled and played with a better sense of urgency then they could of (while chances very small) won. Also, you don't go down like a wimp, you go down fighting.

 

1) kobe doesn't nearly have as much responsibilities as lebron james. NOT EVEN CLOSE. let's get that out of the way.

2) kobe struggled with the finger for a LONG TIME during the reg. season (and into the playoffs). he had plenty of time to re-adjust his stroke and play with that injury. i'm sure lebron would have adjusted to that elbow the more he played and gotten used to it. he only had 6-7 games. BIG DIFFERENCE.

the other injuries, lebron will play through just fine b/c he's just too strong. his jumpshot was the problem he struggled v. the celtics.

 

meaningless regular season says hi back

 

If you ask me it looked like Lebron was trying to pass the ball too much, even after he hit the two 3s he went back to passing again. The whole game the only thing I was thinking was when is he going to take over the game and just keep going to the basket.

 

exactly. when you have 12 ft's, 19 rebounds, and 9 to's, it seems kind of hard to argue you weren't playing with urgency or being aggressive. 27 points wasn't really scoring, 19 rebounds wasn't really rebounding, 10 assists wasn't really getting teammates shots. lets get real. the turnovers blew, but he was doing everything for the cavs tonight.

this is what happens when you wanna trust your teammates but you know you can't. kobe can give the ball to gasol and expect something good to happen, like a 33/14 game. derek fisher makes more big plays as a role player than the entire cavs supporting cast. when lamar odom occasionally wakes up, he can wreak havoc. there is virtually nobody on the cavs you expect to make a play. delonte west seems like a decent player and then tonight makes smush parker look like an all-star. jamsion was pissing himself the whole game. if shaq isn't being fed dunks, he's bricking jump hooks, missing free throws, and fouling people. kobe is a great player, but he doesn't have to be great for the lakers to win. bynum and gasol can dominate the glass, or odom can throw in a 15/12/5 game, or gasol can render carlos boozer worthless, or fisher will hit 3's. lebron has to be great or the cavs just don't win against playoff teams.

that's been one of the underlying things people miss about the cavs when looking at their great record the last 2 regular seasons. the disparity against good teams and bad teams. the cavs went some crazy long time during the regular season this year without losing to a team under .500. but the last 2 years they have been nothing special against contenders. that's because so many of those games come down to role players, and the cavs don't have them at a championship level. unfortunately contenders with role players are all you meet in the 2nd round and beyond. even when hakeem's supporting casts didn't include a secondary star, you could still rely on big plays and big shots and those were a huge reason we won the title. that isn't here with cleveland. you just pray anthony parker isn't going to brick a 3, or antawn jamison is going to hit the rim, or shaq isn't going to get fouled and just miss both ft's. even lebron james can't do it alone.

 

Repetitive tinman at it once again says hi.

 

Do you have some sort of radar? Lmao.

 

The Cavs played in the eastern conference and whipped up on a bunch of easy teams like the Knicks.

The playoffs exploit the team's coaching and character.

I do believe LeBron should have gone Dwayne Wade and just driven every time he got the ball.

Mike Brown's coaching was horrible. His motivation skills are in question.

 

the celtics built a fence around the basket and dared him to shoot. lebron, the smart player that he is, knew he can't make a jumper to save his life (outside of those 2 3s). he kept attacking and if he saw a crease, he'll try to finish. but he did the right thing by passing.

let's be real: lebron is an ALL-AROUND offensive player. if you take away his jumpshot and 3pt shot (which he relied on A TON throughout the season and first round of the playoffs), he's not going to be the same player offensively.

you have to give him credit for still being able to do what he does knowing the celtics sagged off of him A TON.

 

So why did you compare him to Doc Rivers in your previous thread? That is something a rookie on this board would do...

 

Somebody referenced a regular season game in a conference semi final thread.

you know there's no comparison here.

LeBron jacking desperation 3s is probably not the best strategy either.

 

even dwade doesn't drive that much brother. he only averaged 6-7 fts v. the celtics in the first round. he made his JUMPSHOT though. you can't drive all the time v. the celtics with KG and perkins in there.

playoffs show who's the best team for the most part over a 7 game series. that was the celtics. they were the more balanced team, and easily the better defensive team.

 

so rats like you can follow the piper.

if you don't like the thread, then don't post on it

 

So you just admitted you were a rookie, interesting. Your threads really exemplify what some new posters should take after. Way to set an example for others.

 

I don't get hyped over the regular season as much as i do how they stack up in the playoffs. The cavs have a good team, but I have questioned brown for a minute now. He's doug collins part 2. He's blinded by greatness and panic everytime the other team makes a run. I thought he mishandled the rotations all series long and tonight was just another example. Why put shaq on garnett? Why no delonte on rondo more. Why jamison was allowed to play even if he was sucking big time.

Of course james will take the brunt of the playoff loss, but he did his job and some. Mo Williams is a good player, but if all you're going to do is have him spot up, then thats wasting him. Varejo played well and picked up the intensity and should've played more. They played right into the celts hands by slowing the game up and playing 1 on 5 again. I still think he will come back unless someone big signs with NY first, then he may rethink.

 

Yep I agree, that was amazing though, not 13 points, more so you're ability sense when something wrong is going on. tinman to the rescue.

 

true. but game 5 and the end of game 6 shows that they didn't give their best effort, clearly a coaching fault.

before people jump on lebron, it took awhile for all the greats to win. remember jordan had to beat the celtics and pistons first before he learned to dominate the playoffs.

it just sucks to be a cavs fan, i think he'll jet.

 

BRONS UP. :grin:

 

i dont think lebron is a choker/overrated etc as other do i just think he played a good statistical game but had very little positive impact on the game itself. thats what bothered me. we've seen players come in and may not even score a basket but totally change the flow of the game before..thats something lebron didnt do tonight which as i said is just odd to see considering he is a master at making defenses adjust to HIM and not the other way around.

its hard to know how much the elbow is hurting him he has played the entire series with it. He shot slight over 50% combined through the first four games of the series with the elbow injury but well under 50% the last two games where he threw up two of the most mysterious games of his career. If people are going to praise him when he has great games in spite of the elbow injury they shouldnt be able to use it as an excuse when he has poor games because of it. his shooting mechanics still looked the same to me, this isnt like the situation kobe had last season/this season when he had to change the follow through and the way the ball comes off his shooting hand because of his finger injury. not comparing the two players here just stating while his elbow injury probably made it more difficult/painful to shoot it didnt change his actual shooting motion which would account for an extremely poor fg% the fact he shot well the first four games of the series leads me to think that it was more than just the elbow




On a side note I would just like to mention that I feel sad that if this was the final game of Shaq's illustrious career that it ends like that and with little to no media coverage either. He is one of the greatest ever to play and should be given a bit more respect about it possibly being his last game, he has earned it.