For those who say Cleveland is having a cake walk to the finals, remember they almost got eliminated in the first round.
Cleveland is just ballin out right now. They clawed back from what should have been an insurmountable deficit in game one, dominated a testy game 2, and crushed the Raps spirit this game. Mad props to the King.
That shot was incredibly difficult. The body control to go full speed full court and shoot a right handed runner while going left at that angle off the glass with a guy on you is crazy. Try it for yourself.
I'll say it again: OK, the shot had some difficulty, but the Raptors softness on the play was a complete joke. Post game, Dwayne Casey said a trap was on for LeBron and the guys on NBA TV laughed at him. Watch the replay a few times. It was comedy. It was the NBA version of my NFL saying: "Prevent defenses, prevent defenses from winning".
The Cavs barely made it past the Pacers. They've essentially squeaked by this Toronto team, including a lot of pure luck with Toronto missing so many easy inside shots. I'd also point out that you predicted the Sixers to beat the Celtics 4-0 or 4-1. Celtics have one unique thing going for them: they have the smartest coach in the NBA. If there's any coach that can figure out how to slow Lebron down or at least wear him down and make him work harder for his points, it's Brad Stevens.
I respect Lebron's greatness, but I would love nothing more than to have Harden absolutely destroy him the finals and make him cry.(But thats just getting ahead of ourselves by alot.)
Agree with you the Cavs barely made it past the Pacers, but the Celtics barely squeaked by the dysfunctional Bucks. In the 2nd round, each has dominated one game and won two close ones for a 3-0 lead. I overrated the Sixers because of how the Celtics played against the Bucks and didn't expect them to falter so badly against Stevens' patented maul and brawl defense. The Cavs are doing what they do every year which is get better every round in their obligatory Finals run. LeBron will work harder to score but now that his teammates are pitching in, they will do quite well. I also expect they will give the starless Celtics offense major fits. It won't be as ugly as last year.
East's problem is they have no team with anyone that can defend LeBron and match his production. There's no more good SF's outside of Giannis that have that ability. Only threat to LeBron is if Kawhi and PG13 both go to 2 of the contenders such as Kawhi in Boston and PG13 in Phila or vice versa. Maybe get Boogie in Washington with his boy John Wall for Beal to NO? Id like to see Tyreke go East to someone like the Pacers or Heat. Of course none of this will happen and instead PG13 and Kawhi end up in LA and another star out East will get traded to the West. Watch Memphis hand Cleveland Marc Gasol. So many horrible organizations out East. I'm sure the Knicks will give Isiah Thomas the max contract.
Yeah anybody who disagrees with that is just being silly. It was horrible defense, Lowry was not guarding anyone and they should've at least tried to really get it out of his hands or have two guys on him with one ready to help. Now it was just one guy CHASING Lebron, so nobody was in front of him. That just cannot happen. The shot was difficult, but not that much.
Extremely difficult shot, but not so much for Lebron with his control, strength and jumping ability. How many difficult fade away had he made prior? That’s why you must defend him one on one with a few seconds left on the clock and the series at risk.
It's pretty self explanatory. I don't believe in a team built around Lowry and DeRozan. It's not just LeBron. They looked less than themselves against the Wizards too.
It is part of why Cleveland ask for ball in backcourt. Smart coaching, you can’t stop a Lebron with a full head of steam. He woulda got the ball somehow.
So, the Clippetors about to get swept in order to complete another great choke, how surpising...kinda funny thinking right now about the talk about how good the East was during the regular season, this team is the 1st seed in the East while in the West a team like the Warriors is the 2nd. Pretty sure OKC would've won the Eastern conference lol.
