Cavs Lose again

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

There was a preview of the Eastern Conference finals last night (does anyone really think it won't be Cavs vs, Hawks?), and it looked like an interesting game. Too bad it was only available to those with League Pass. Hawks won by 9, and now are 3-1 on the season against Cleveland. This is going to be a great series...a classic battle between a real team that plays the game the right way and a team manufactured around stars. Atlanta does everything well except rebound the basketball and are really fun to watch, but the Cavs have the 3 stars and are intriguing to watch themselves. The margin of difference last night was the margin of difference of the benches, as the starters played even. Eventually I think this is what does it for Atlanta, but we all know any team with James on it is always a contender. At least I know who I will be cheering for!

[Coolbreeze44]

LST, you got something coming for us tonight in this thread?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

LST, you got something coming for us tonight in this thread?

Wish I would have watched that barn burner. Irving goes off for 57 on 20-32 and 7-7 on threes :-o !

But once again our guy Kevin Love gets no credit from the media for this victory...all they talk about is Irving and James. Do the math. Without his 8 points (on 2-10) and 5 rebounds, the Cavs don't win last night. Plus he held Tim Duncan to 18-11-8 When is Kevin going to start getting the respect he deserves?

[Papalrep]

5 rebounds??? Thta's what happens when evrything goes in. Kevin should return to Minny and get his numbers up

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The Cavs were 19-17 on the season on January 8th. They struggled defensively, LeBron wasn't playing like LeBron, offensive personalities were still trying to click...

But then they acquired Timofey Mosgov and everything changed. Their team defense is a good handful of PPG better with him, and their record with him is indicative of the impact he's had on the team, as well as LeBron returning to MVP level. The Cleveland Cavs are a blistering 29-10 since that acquisition. How good is that? Spread that over the course of an 82-game schedule and it's a 60-win pace.

They ARE the favorites in the East. They ARE the best team in the East. Scary thing is, they're not even firing on all cylinders yet.

*Keep in mind they still have Haywood's contract to play around with this off-season. They could make a big time trade to get even better.

[thedoper]

5 rebounds??? Thta's what happens when evrything goes in. Kevin should return to Minny and get his numbers up

Bahahaha!!!

Maybe we could trade him for another top pick again too?

[MikkeMan]

Cavs lost their first game without Love against Bulls. I didn't see the game but I tend to think that Cavs might have missed more J.R. Smith than Love in this match-up.

With J.R. they can play small ball lineup Irving, Shumpert, Smith, LeBron and Mozgov/Thompson that matches still quite well defensively with Bulls starters. (Mozgov vs Gasol, LeBron vs Noah, Smith vs Dunleavy, Shumpert vs Butler and Irving vs Rose) but Bulls will have at least couple of mismatches if Butler will defend LeBron (Noah/Gasol vs Smith and Dunleavy vs Shumpert. Noah could probably defend Smith but then he is not protecting rim)

Last nights game Cavs played Miller and Marion 22 minutes and they won't be mismatches against any of the Bulls players. I think that Mozgov and Thompson played together about 15 minutes and during that time Bulls can use also easily two bigs. I think that when Smith is back, Bulls might need to also use more small ball line ups and that will favor Cavs.

[Lipoli390]

The Cavs obviously miss Kevin Love. His numbers were down this season because he had a lot more scoring talent around him. So his role changed. But he's still an elite PF who rebounds, scores and spaces the floor. The Cavs were a legitimate championship contender this season with Love. But without him they're not. Even if the get past the Bulls, which is unlikely, they won't beat both Atlanta and the Western Conference champions.

I'm surprised by how some have overlooked the Bulls. No one in the League except maybe Golden State has a more talented core - Rose, Butler, Gasol, Noah, Gibson, Mirotic. That stacks up well next to LeBron, Irving, Love, Mozgov, T. Thompson, Smith. It also stacks up well next to Curry, K. Thompson, Green, etc with the Warriors. And the Bulls have one of the top three head coaches in the League.

I still see the Warriors winning the title, although I think the Clippers have a shot at coming out of the West. As for the East, I think it will be the Bulls barring a significant injury to one of their core players.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I doubt the Bulls get passed the Cavs. They won with offense last night, but that's not their identity. LeBron and Kyrie WILL get it going.

Also, Lip, they got overlooked because they lost back-to-back games to a banged up Bucks team and they looked shitty doing it. If you watch then enough, you'll see they rely on isolations a ton, especially with D-Rose. I just don't believe in hero ball (unless you're LeBron). Move the ball around and get good looks. Oh, and get to the rim. Rose was 11-26 last night with 0 FTAs. He settles for that mid-range way too often.

I think CLE gets it together. You can't expect them to play that poorly again.

[Carlos Danger]

I doubt the Bulls get passed the Cavs. They won with offense last night, but that's not their identity. LeBron and Kyrie WILL get it going.

Also, Lip, they got overlooked because they lost back-to-back games to a banged up Bucks team and they looked shitty doing it. If you watch then enough, you'll see they rely on isolations a ton, especially with D-Rose. I just don't believe in hero ball (unless you're LeBron). Move the ball around and get good looks. Oh, and get to the rim. Rose was 11-26 last night with 0 FTAs. He settles for that mid-range way too often.

I think CLE gets it together. You can't expect them to play that poorly again.

This sums up my thoughts pretty well. I agree that Love makes them better. But I think they can win without him - at least against Chicago. They laid an egg in the 1st game. I expect them to snap back and take game two. Then getting J.R. Smith back for game 3 should be a nice boost for the rest of series. LeBron and Kyrie are tough to bet against (at least for me). But we'll see. It's the playoffs and anything can happen.