The Cavs are trying way too hard to beat the Warriors at their own game (and actually the teams are built the same). The Thunder went big and dominated most of the series. They have much more skilled bigs than the Cavs do, but at some point in a 20+ point game last night you'd think Lue would've tried it in that 3rd quarter. Put in Thompson, Mozgov, and make Iguodala/Green mash with them in the post and free up LeBron a little bit. I'll maintain that Thompson was/is one of the most overrated players and rebounders in the game. He's gotten pnuked by Draymond, Iguodala and the Warriors guards all series long. 5 years/$82 million deal wow. What a mistake that was. $16.4 million a year for single digit points and rebounds with minimal defense and no 3 point capability. They need to try something drastic cause they're going to get swept away if they stay with this gameplan.
Kevin Love should come off the bench. They need to start Delly at PG and Irving at SG Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
I was thinking Kyrie with the second unit, although that's always been one of Lebrons forte (maximizing the 2nd unit). Kyrie doesn't distribute well but maybe getting to the hole by himself creates space and points? I just literally saw no adjustment at all from the Cavs last game. Lue should be trying shit left and right yet stuck with what drove them right into the ground in game 1.
Kyrie can't get the offense into any rhythm as the PG. I think they need him to start solely for the fact that they need the firepower to start the game. Lebron isn't playing well, Love is one of the more overrated players in the league and JR Smith isn't scoring points. The Cavs are trying to play like the Warriors and they are getting bitch slapped. That's on Lebron and the head coach. I think Blatt knew they had to play a different way to beat the Warriors and his game-plan was 10x better then Lebron and Lue. Slow the game down, play better defense, not shoot as many 3s. They should've never fired him in the first place. Kyrie can't guard, Kevin Love can't guard ... Lebron can't shoot, I wonder if the Cavs will win 2 games in this series? Cavs will need to break up this big 3 IMO. They should've kept Wiggins.
Idk about personnel changes, you may be right, but they should play like they did last year in the finals against the Warriors. Give it to LeBron and sit on the fucking thing. Slow the game down big time. They should have LeBron do a lot of driving to the hoop and they should be burning the shot clock down. They are doing the Warriors a favor by chucking shots and trying to outscore them. Bad, bad moves. slow the game down, muscle them around, and let Lebron take it to the hole
I think Golden State would win regardless of the Cleveland coach, but Blatt would've given them a much better chance, that's for sure. Harder to pull off an upset when you're handicapped by playing without a coach. If Cleveland goes on to lose the series, LeBron will blame his supporting cast and coaches. Oops, that's his fault as well.
Speaking of missing personnel, where the hell is Timofey Mozgov? He played very well for them last year also.
Mozgov was a Blatt guy. He had played for him in Russia and Blatt liked him. LeBron decided to get rid of the coach and now they play small most of the time, meaning no center. The only bigs they use are Tristan Thompson and Love, neither of whom are conventional centers. Main guys off the bench are Dellevedova, Shumpert, and Jefferson. A lot of small ball.
Too much reliance on Shumpert and JR Smith. Both guys should never been put in a sentence with "too much reliance".
Jimmy Jump @Jokediggy 13m13 minutes ago Doctors gonna rule out Kevin Love for a concussion but been letting him play without a heart for years.
priceless people said Cavs would win this year because they have Irving and Love Love played the first two games and GS won by huge margins Love sits Game 3 and Cleveland wins in a rout. home court helps, but make no mistake, the absence of Love is helping Cleveland tonight.
At what point do you have to consider neutral site playoff games? Home court advantage shouldn't be a 40 point swing, that's fucking ridiculous. And it's not just this series, it's been pretty much every playoff series (happened last year too). I guess that's just the nature of the game, but it feels stupid to me.
It's a fair point, as it's not like that in hockey really. But it puts emphasis on the regular season. Remove home court and why wouldn't the Cavs for example rest a ton down the stretch knowing they secured a birth pretty much in late February.
