General Playoff Thread: The Long 2nd Season

coremiller

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
5,979
The road for Cleveland was very easy, no doubt. They have only beaten one very good/great team in the last two playoffs as well. I just don't see anyone arguing that this Cleveland team is historically great, so the bar is different.

If Golden State comes out and wins another couple championships than they are in the discussion. Right now their resume looks much more big-3 Celtics than Jordan's Bulls.
The Big-3 Celtics are not a good analogy because they were an oooold team. In 2008, Pierce was 30, Garnett 31, Allen 32. They really had a 3-year window.

The Warriors are still young. Curry is 27, Thompson and Green 25, Barnes 23. The supporting cast is older (Bogut, Iguodala, Livingston are all 30-32), but the core is young. I'm not sure Curry can improve much at this point (at least in the regular season), but Thompson, Green, and Barnes should all be expected to get better next year.
 

jablo1312

New Member
Sep 20, 2005
1,057
Barnes and desperation heaves excepted, were those shots open?

A lot to critique the Warriors on -- they got nothing out of their vaunted bench today -- but the Cavaliers were playing very good defense, especially given the relatively liberal officiating w/regard to screens (they allowed a ton of off-ball contact on both ends, though).
2 days late here...but re-watching the 4th quarter: Curry missed a wide open 3 in the last 5 minutes, Green missed a wide open 3 in the last 5 mniutes. Curry was rusehd by Love but still got around him for the 3 attempted immediately after Kyrie's make, Klay missed a fairly open turnaround jumper that I'm sure he makes in his sleep, Curry missed a layup that Green had to put back himself.

Of course, Green also made 6 3's in a game 7, and the Cavs missed A TON of open 3's themselves. Still, I don't think saying the Warriors choked is taking anything away from the Objectively re-watching those final 5 minutes, both teams sucked on offense, but I thought GSW's defense was better. They got more open looks on offense and couldn't knock down a single one. Championship margins are that thin, but yea if Green or Curry make their wide open looks in the last 4 minutes, the story is probably different.
 

GeorgeCostanza

tiger king
SoSH Member
May 16, 2009
7,290
Go f*ck yourself
Nick Anderson at the FT line choked.
Whatever the next worse thing after "choke" is, is what happened to Nick Anderson. He was ruined as a player after that. Avoided getting fouled like the plague. Really sad and unfortunate because he was a great shooter and a ton of fun to watch on those Shaq Magic teams. Such a shame.