General Playoff Thread: The Long 2nd Season

LondonSox

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...Dellavedova. I know he had the one (maybe one and a half) good game in The Finals last year and I know we mercifully see less of him this year but I'm sort of surprised that a team so close to a title couldn't figure out some way to upgrade that spot with an eye towards the playoffs. Maybe there was nothing to be done but he can't keep up.
A backup pg, who can shoot and play d pretty well for not much is not your problem here. Esp as he backs up a key player.
 

shawnrbu

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The fact that Kerr can sit Curry for the first 4:30 of the 4th Quarter in a 1 or 2 possession game on the road while Lue is playing Irving and Lebron the entire 24 of the 2nd Half tells you all you need to know in the disparity of depth between the two finalists.
 

coremiller

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The fact that Kerr can sit Curry for the first 4:30 of the 4th Quarter in a 1 or 2 possession game on the road while Lue is playing Irving and Lebron the entire 24 of the 2nd Half tells you all you need to know in the disparity of depth between the two finalists.
Or about the quality of the coaches. The Cleveland bench isn't thaaat bad, esp. with Love coming off the bench. Love, Shumpert, Frye, Dellavadova are hardly a terrible 6-9. Lue just has no idea what he's doing with his rotations.
 

PLagosi

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My perception of this series is that Lebron is quite whiny. Lots of players have been knocked to the ground.
No fouls called. He knocks people over, no fouls called. They have been playing him tight. They were playing hero ball in the fourth quarter, and the refs were letting them play. No ticky-tacks called. He is not getting his usual ridiculous and-ones. just sayin'
 

ilol@u

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Win/Win.
Warriors still close it out in Oracle, and Draymond doesn't contribute to the championship clinching game by the best team in NBA history.

Who is the Finals MVP for GSW? Iguodala again?
 

coremiller

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The MVP so far has been Draymond. in the finals he's third on the team in points, second in +/-, and first in minutes, rebounds, assists, and steals, while also being their best interior defender.

Iguodala is probably next. He has the highest +/- and has been brilliant defensively. But he plays fewer minutes than Green and has done a lot less on offense compared to last year's finals (Iggy had 15, 22, 14, and 25 points in the Ws' 4 wins last year).
 

ishmael

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Lebron is a ridiculous three pointer away from being 1-5 in the Finals. I can't really think of many instances where the bounce of one ball in Lebron's favor would change the outcome of any of the other Finals series in which he's lost.

I think once all the dust settles on his career, everyone will agree he's one of the top 5 players to ever play the game. But with that said, he's also going to be one of the top 5 most enigmatic players in sports history. His greatness on the court would lead everyone to believe that he should have won at least 6 titles, but little things kept him from winning all those rings. Maybe it was poor leadership skills, coupled with blind loyalty to a beleaguered city/state etc.

I hate Lebron. But I love to hate Lebron. And I love that he's provided me six straight years of being glued to my couch come early June to watch what he does in the NBA Finals. He's made me a bigger basketball fan for it, and I'm happy about that. I'm going to be sad when his Finals appearance streak ends, and I won't have a clear heel in mind when viewing the matchup.
Seems like his legacy will end up somewhere similar to Wilt (who also won 2 rings and 4 MVPs): most dominant player of his era, but did not do enough to carry weaker teams (when he had them) in the postseason or lost multiple times as the favorite.
 

crystalline

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The fact that the league didn't suspend him in the last series but does now demonstrates how interested they are in influencing series length.
I think this is right, but I also think the suspension is deserved.

If the NBA sees a direct nut punch as in the latest angle shown on video in this thread, they pretty much have to suspend the player if they care about cleaning up the game.

I like Draymond and I like his game and he's fun to watch. That said I hated his arm-lock takedown on Adams and I think that play even more richly deserved a suspension.
(Maybe I am sensitive because of Wade v. Rondo, but I mostly just hate anything that has an intent to injure. Those takedowns are dangerous and Adams could have ended up with a dislocated shoulder or elbow.)
On the other hand, I don't have a huge problem with the nut punch - it's just gamesmanship - but it's gamesmanship that deserves a suspension when caught on tape.
 

Dogman

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To suspend him now is completely ridiculous. If the league was serious, they should have suspended him for the Adams stuff and not this BS. I agree that this is a move by the league to influence the series to go to 6 or 7 games.

I hope GS blows them up in game 5.
 

jablo1312

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If Draymond doesn't sack tap LBJ, or already have 3 flagrants, we're not having any discussion about whether the league wants to influence series length. Even if it's a weak suspension, DG needed to know that he was one misstep away from being suspended in the NBA Finals. You'd think such a mentally tough athlete would be able to toe the line between aggression and stupidity on the sports biggest stage, even if he was provoked.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Iggy might play 38-40 minutes tomorrow. No excuse for Love to not have a big game.
Well the Warriors are likely going to go with line-ups that feature not only Iguodala in Draymond's spot but more than likely Livingston as well. Brandon Rush may get a look in spots as well though his defense is hit or miss leaning towards mostly miss. Kerr et al are, no doubt, coming up with something. The questions are whether it is enough to patch over the hole left by Green's absence and, if it is, what Lue does to counter it. I think Green's loss for this game is as close to series turning as Cleveland can get. If this goes back to Cleveland, I think the series does, indeed go seven.

In the end, Green has no one to blame but himself. As Three10toLeft pointed out, this isolated incident isn't all that bad (btw, to clarify, I never played this way but to pretend these guys don't take all sorts of shots at one another during games, especially during the playoffs and Finals is silly) but the culmination of all of his actions have brought this to bear. As I said earlier, Green is a habitual line-stepper and this time he simply went too far.
 

Ed Hillel

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He was suspended for acquiring a fourth flagrant point. If you assess the flagrant, there's no way to avoid the suspension.
Sure, but he was in the exact circumstance when he booted Adams in the nuts and they chose not to upgrade that to a flagrant. I personally thought that was significantly worse, but I guess I could see the old "we let you get away with one, you're on extremely thin ice" after Adams that pushed them to a suspension now.

I could also see the respective series' statuses at the time playing a role.
 

jon abbey

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Sure, but he was in the exact circumstance when he booted Adams in the nuts and they chose not to upgrade that to a flagrant. I personally thought that was significantly worse, but I guess I could see the old "we let you get away with one, you're on extremely thin ice" after Adams that pushed them to a suspension now.

I could also see the respective series' statuses at the time playing a role.
The Adams one was called a flagrant 1 at the time and was upgraded to a flagrant 2 upon league review later. That play is 2 of the 4 points (1 for a play with Michael Beasley in the first round, 1 for this LeBron thing) as to why he is now suspended, it takes 4 points.
 

Ed Hillel

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The Adams one was called a flagrant 1 at the time and was upgraded to a flagrant 2 upon league review later. That play is 2 of the 4 points (1 for a play with Michael Beasley in the first round, 1 for this LeBron thing) as to why he is now suspended, it takes 4 points.
Oh, my bad, sorry about that. That's almost stranger, though, isn't it? By upgrading to a flagrant 2, they assessed he should have been kicked out of the game, yet they chose not to suspend him.
 

BigSoxFan

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Klay on LeBron:

"I guess his feelings just got hurt."

Awesome. Can't wait for tomorrow. Strong possibility of some quality F You 3's from the Warriors.
 

Devizier

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His greatness on the court would lead everyone to believe that he should have won at least 6 titles, but little things kept him from winning all those rings.
Well, it's bad management, really. The Cavaliers built an awful team around him the first time around. He only has himself to blame this time, though.
 

Grin&MartyBarret

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Oh, my bad, sorry about that. That's almost stranger, though, isn't it? By upgrading to a flagrant 2, they assessed he should have been kicked out of the game, yet they chose not to suspend him.
Suspensions are on a points based system. The flagrant 2 gave him three flagrant points in these playoffs, which meant that another flagrant--either 1 or 2--put him at or above 4 flagrant points. 4 points equals a one game suspension. Being ejected does not automatically equal a suspension. This is all very clearly laid out in the NBA rule book.
 

Ed Hillel

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Suspensions are on a points based system. The flagrant 2 gave him three flagrant points in these playoffs, which meant that another flagrant--either 1 or 2--put him at or above 4 flagrant points. 4 points equals a one game suspension. Being ejected does not automatically equal a suspension. This is all very clearly laid out in the NBA rule book.
I understand all of this, I just misremembered what had happened. I also understand that being ejected does not necessarily warrant a further punishment/suspension. However, if the league is upgrading something to a flagrant 2 after the fact, they are admitting the player should have been ejected. Given that they were not, I think the most logical and equitable rule would be to administer a minimum one-game suspension. Even without the mandatory suspension, it seems like the logical discretionary ruling.
 

Three10toLeft

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Lebron's response to Klay, claiming he was going to "take the high road, like (he's) been doing for the past 13 years." is a microcosm of the reason why people hate this guy. Or maybe it's just me.

Was he taking the high road when he was calling Love out on Twitter last year? Or was it when he was taking a dig at people for having to "wake up with their same problems" when asked why people enjoy watching him fail? This guy is a prick.

It'd be great to see GS close it out tomorrow. But it would be really great to watch Cavs fans have their hopes on high one last time, and then see them come plummeting back to earth with a blowout in Cleveland at the hands of Draymond and the Warriors.
 

BigSoxFan

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I think LeBron's biggest crime is being entitled, naive, and sometimes tone deaf. Don't really think he's a prick.
 

jon abbey

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The Green suspension only moved the line from GS -8 to GS -5 1/2? If I were a betting man (I am not), I would think seriously about taking the points.
 

OCST

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I think LeBron's biggest crime is being entitled, naive, and sometimes tone deaf. Don't really think he's a prick.
I like LeBron, but if this is your assessment, entitled + naive + tone deaf = prick IRL, so no different here
 

HomeRunBaker

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The Green suspension only moved the line from GS -8 to GS -5 1/2? If I were a betting man (I am not), I would think seriously about taking the points.
Teams routinely step up and role players compensate for losing a key player. I expect another solid Warrior victory and likely 4th quarter blowout despite Green's absence. It kinda reminds of the Lakers clinching game on the road in Magic's rookie year when Kareem was out injured for that game and back in LA waiting for Game 7 while missing the entire championship celebration following the game.
 

johnmd20

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Cleveland is running into a terrible matchup, they'd probably be favored against any other team.
And this is the key. Cleveland matches up much better with OKC and they would have had home court advantage. The GS matchup for the Lebron's is horrible in every way imaginable for them. Cleveland would have been favored against OKC. Yet they couldn't beat them? Ridiculous.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Cleveland is running into a terrible matchup, they'd probably be favored against any other team.
Yeah I agree they best OKC when favoring in home court. The Warriors are simply a horrific matchup for them especially on the road so without home court we already kinda knew what the result would be. I don't place any of this on LeBron as he's the primary reason they can even remain competitive in these games.
 

BigSoxFan

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I'd take Spurs over the Cavs even with home court. I think OKC and Cavs would have been a close matchup. I lean OKC given how they looked in the playoffs but could see Cavs winning in 7 or something.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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File under "completely unsubstantiated rumors" but word around Oracle is that Draymond may be a paid customer in attendance at this evening's game.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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File under "completely unsubstantiated rumors" but word around Oracle is that Draymond may be a paid customer in attendance at this evening's game.
Isn't he going to be next door in a suite at the A's game? I heard he's not allowed in the building from 2 hours before tip, but would be allowed in to the celebration if they win.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Isn't he going to be next door in a suite at the A's game? I heard he's not allowed in the building from 2 hours before tip, but would be allowed in to the celebration if they win.
Heard that as well but I then heard he might be in the crowd. Seems dubious because while I have no doubt that Lacob would get him a seat and even pay the fine for being in the arena, it would likely create a lot of friction with the league office.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Heard that as well but I then heard he might be in the crowd. Seems dubious because while I have no doubt that Lacob would get him a seat and even pay the fine for being in the arena, it would likely create a lot of friction with the league office.
The league office already responded to this rumor stating that Green would face additional penalties which would be at Silver's discretion.

Draymond is quickly entering Artest/Rodman-like territory.
 

BigSoxFan

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The league office already responded to this rumor stating that Green would face additional penalties which would be at Silver's discretion.
Don't make Deflategate reference...

Don't make Deflategate reference...

Don't make Deflategate reference...
 

DJnVa

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Any of these props jump off the page? I like the Iguadola over 9.5 rebounds/assists with Draymond out. I have a free $25 bet.

Rebounds+Assists Moneyline
801 Over 45 Pts+Rbes+Assists -150
802 Under 45 Pts+Rbes+Assists +120
Must Play
Rot# LeBron James (Cavs) Total Made Free Throws Moneyline
803 Over 4½ Made Free Throws -175
804 Under 4½ Made Free Throws +145
Must Play
Rot# LeBron James (Cavs) Total Made 3 Point Field Goals Moneyline
805 Over 1½ Made 3 Pointers +100
806 Under 1½ Made 3 Pointers -130
Stephen Curry (Warriors) Total Points+Rebounds+Assists Moneyline
901 Over 40½ Pts+Rebs+Assists -150
902 Under 40½ Pts+Rebs+Assists +120
Must Play
Rot# Stephen Curry (Warriors) Total Made Free Throws Moneyline
903 Over 4½ Made Free Throws -115
904 Under 4½ Made Free Throws -115
Must Play
Rot# Stephen Curry (Warriors) Total Made 3 Point Field Goals Moneyline
905 Over 5½ Made 3 Pointers +100
906 Under 5½ Made 3 Pointers -130
Must Play
Rot# Klay Thompson (Warriors) Total Points Moneyline
907 Over 23½ Points -115
908 Under 23½ Points -115
Rot# Andre Iguodala (Warriors) Total Points Moneyline
919 Over 10½ Points -105
920 Under 10½ Points -125
Must Play
Rot# Andre Iguodala (Warriors) Total Rebounds+Assists Moneyline
921 Over 9½ Rebounds+Assists -115
922 Under 9½ Rebounds+Assists -115
 

DJnVa

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Yeah, I think the Klay is a lock too.

Might just throw a few bucks on each of them.