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

LeBron at the stand right now if anyone is wondering.

 

LMAO

Marcin Gortat via twitter:

BUhahhhaahahha...WE ALL WITNESSES!!!!

http://twitter.com/MGortat

Dissing LeBron!

 

I don't think he meant it in a bad way but funny nonetheless. :grin:

 

trying to drive so much is part of the reason for the turnovers. like t_mac1 said, he didn't have his jumper (after an extremely good chicago series where he shot 54% on 3's, he fell back to earth -- perhaps because of the elbow), and boston isn't stupid and they have a good defense. you can only drive so much before you are just running people over and picking up offensive fouls. he constantly looked for lanes and took them when they were there (which he didn't do in game 5), but boston guards the paint well. even dwade's shining moment in the previous series involved taking and making a ton of 3's. in fact, looking it up just now, he shot 37 3's in 5 games in that series. when boston is on their defensive game, they keep great perimeter players out of the paint and force role players to make plays. which lebron doesn't have on a championship level (and dwade doesn't have on a D league level).

 

ironically you and tmac1 are the only tmac fans i respect cause you don't twist reality and make insulting comments to rocket greats like some others.

 

Guys as I stated in my previous post, I hate Knee-mac, I'm just saying that couldn't the cavs at least foul? I mean isn't that what any normal team would do? I mean at least Go down fighting.

 

T-Mac fans are really odd sometimes because I don't know how you can like a guy that quits on his team. They puzzle me sometimes but LeBron performance in this series was really reminiscent of T-Mac with Houston, wouldn't you agree?

 

I'm not saying that would have caused them to win the game, I'm just saying it was a better alternative considered everybody else on the cavs were missing easy shots. The Celtics did play better D and they were better under pressure.

 

I like how all the reporters are asking the same question and getting the same answer. Idiots.

 

Tmac in Houston didn't make to any conference semi finals.

fail.

 

NOT EVEN CLOSE? I understand you're a LeBron fan, but let's throw that hyperbole out the window. Kobe doesn't handle the ball as much as LeBron because of the triangle, but they are both expected to score and make plays for the team. Additionally, whenever LeBron doesn't have the ball, he just stands in the perimeter Tracy McGrady style. He rebounds more because he's ridiculously athletic. You'll never be able to say that LeBron is guilty of boxing out.

LeBron will play through a bum hip and ankle because "he's just too strong"? What does that have anything to do with it? What does strength have anything to do with compensating for injuries? A bum hip is a bum hip whether it's on Speedy Claxton or Shaq. It's even worse for a player like LeBron since he initiates contact all the time.

The point is he did not get it done. Whether it was his elbow or his desire or whatever. He was passing the ball to people like Delonte West off his own catch and asking a lesser players to create a play. That's his job. Disgraceful showing. Cavs fans have all the right to blast their "King".

 

Very lukewarm answer to the question about his confidence in Cleveland's gameplan for this game.

 

Lebron coming to the podium with a backpack? Is this a sign that he has packed up?

 

LeBron needs to follow Kobe's lead and get help from Olajuwon on some post moves.

 

i like tmac, but lebron is on 2 levels from him playoffs-wise. i always thought tmac was a great playoff performer for the most part and i never blamed him for the results.

ironically, the way lebron played in this celtics series is how tmac played for the most part as a rocket in the playoffs. very nice stats, playing through injuries, and just coming up short. however, other series, lebron was just on another level. he was tmac in this series though lol.

 

He might want to get a consistent jumpshot before he gets to that point.

 

I mean, I don't defend him like I use to because he isn't on this team anymore, I just can't hate a guy that was my favorite player for a while, just can't. Now to go out and even compare to all time greats of the game (i.e. Hakeem) is just ridiculous. Tracy game me some great memories but no memory can compare to Hakeem hoisting the NBA title 2 years in a row.

 

WHOOO!

No more Lebron in the playoffs! How Sweet it is!!!!

 

Well, that's the curse of the hype machine, t_mac1.....

...things tend to sound a lot better than they actually look more often than not.

Tonight in Boston is that example on display for everybody to see.

LeBron James played about as well, if not better, than anybody could expect under the circumstances. They key is to understand exactly WHAT those circumstances are.

James is a small forward. He excels in transition. He's unstoppable once he gets up a head of steam toward the basket. Everything you do HAS to be geared toward manufacturing those circumstances where LeBron can do what he does best.

People make this mistake routinely with GREAT individual players, thinking that all a team needs is this ONE player to play great and put up numbers and dominate the basketball. This is precisely the by-product of focusing TOO much on one player's individual ability, and not meshing that ability into a true team concept where all players complement each other.

Chemistry, to me, is a synonym for BALANCE. You can't have too many of the same type of players on the same team, because nobody benefits from that.

There isn't anybody on the Cavaliers that can function as a point guard for them. James too often is the de facto point guard. It seems to make sense on the surface—James is the team's best passer and playmaker. His makeup is unselfish enough to where he can function as a facilitator, if the team had enough capable finishers surrounding him. For the brief time Mo Williams successfully impersonated a point guard tonight, the Cavaliers actually looked like they had a chance to win.

I don't like your team's best offensive player reduced to the role of set-up man for extended periods. And by best offensive player, I mean best FINISHER. As you could see from the Cavaliers' performance, there aren't very many guys who can finish plays that LeBron possibly creates.

So making James a point guard is monumentally FUBAR.

I just pointed this out to my son and nephew, t_mac1: Boston has a staple double-screen play that they run for Ray Allen. Allen is a textbook two-guard—he gets an open look from 20 feet, and he usually drains the shot. The Celtic bigs at the time were Rasheed Wallace and Glen "Ticket Stub" (I actually like this nickname for him more than "Big Baby") Davis.

Davis and Wallace set successive screens for Allen, who expertly navigates them from the strong side of the floor to the weak side. Because of Allen's proven ability to score when he's open (even though he didn't shoot particularly well this night), the Cavalier defense HAS to honor Allen's movement. The player (Anderson Varejao, I believe) jumps out to crowd Allen after Mo Williams got lost on one of those screens, and the guy who set the second pick (Wallace) is open for an easy layup, which Rajon Rondo (i.e. offensive facilitator) smartly capitalized on.

All that space created. All those scoring opportunities manufactured. Ball movement and player movement. Easy scoring. Opponent in disarray.

Ball game. In the THIRD PERIOD.

TEAMS win. Good teams beat GREAT players more often than not. LeBron James, hype machine or bad elbow or packing list and address change cards et al, won't change that.

I personally like LeBron James a lot myself, t_mac1. He's a heck of a player. It's scary to think he could get better. But he will. He might even eventually win. Who knows. Stranger things have happened.

But as good as talented players can make you look, it usually work better in winning time to have a plan. One that centers on 5 players, as opposed to one.

I hope James stays in Cleveland. He deserves better coaching and better teammates. And as loathe as I am to admit it, I feel kind of sorry for the city of Cleveland. I'd forgotten that if not for bad luck for their sports franchises, they'd have no luck at all......

 

Mike Brown is not all at fault...

Where was delonte west?
Jamison?

Only Mo Williams showed up and it was on the offensive end. Their regular season record is inflated ...always has been.

I suspected better from Lebron