**2016 Official NBA Playoffs Thread**

[KC_Connection]

Round 1:

EAST:

#8 Pistons @ #1 Cavs
#7 Pacers @ #2 Raptors
#6 Hornets @ #3 Heat
#5 Celtics @ #4 Hawks

WEST:
#8 Rockets @ #1 Warriors
#7 Grizzlies @ #2 Spurs
#6 Mavericks @ #3 Thunder
#5 Blazers @ #4 Clippers

[OldSchool]

I love how some people are saying Curry sucked in this game and it was all Klay.

Sure, Klay was a monster shooting from 3, but Curry was no slouch in the game. He closed it out in the 2nd half along with Klay and almost finished with a Triple double with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. That's a damn good/great game but peeps, including myself, are just so used to him being better than just good.

[RustShack]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

The Warriors will obliterate the Cavs' weak shit defense and they won't even need Curry to do it. I'll save my prediction for after they finish the job on KD/Westbrook, but I'm thinking something like Warriors in 5.

Lmao

[Al Bundy]

The game is being replayed on TNT right now. The Warriors bench is is bad.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

How can a fan coming off a championsgip and record setting season be so miserable. ....absolutely pathetic

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

There will definitely be scoring, but that improved offense won't be enough to make up for their lack of defense. Golden State's ability to get what they want whenever they want against them should prove to be the difference.

If Tyronn Lue is smart, he will abandon what they've done all year and use a strategy like last year. I would rotate JR, Shumpert, Delly, Jefferson continuously and force them to focus on relentless defense. I'd run the entire offense through Lebron in iso like they did last year and encourage the Cavs to slow the offense down so GS is forced to play at a slower offense. Probably need to get Mozgov back in there. Unlike last year, you now have shooters who can hit an open shot off of iso. They were missing wide open 3's last year. They won't this year.

That's what they'll do if they're smart. But I don't know that Lue will do that. He seems more interested in outrunning and outgunning the other teams, and his team doesn't play with discipline. That works against the East. It might actually be an okay strategy against OKC. But it's a disastrous strategy against GS.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by OldSchool

I love how some people are saying Curry sucked in this game and it was all Klay.

Sure, Klay was a monster shooting from 3, but Curry was no slouch in the game. He closed it out in the 2nd half along with Klay and almost finished with a Triple double with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. That's a damn good/great game but peeps, including myself, are just so used to him being better than just good.

Curry did nothing in the 1st half, much better in the 2nd. He was definitely the 2nd best player in the game in the end behind Klay after Westbrook collapsed down the stretch.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

If Tyronn Lue is smart, he will abandon what they've done all year and use a strategy like last year. I would rotate JR, Shumpert, Delly, Jefferson continuously and force them to focus on relentless defense. I'd run the entire offense through Lebron in iso like they did last year and encourage the Cavs to slow the offense down so GS is forced to play at a slower offense. Probably need to get Mozgov back in there. Unlike last year, you now have shooters who can hit an open shot off of iso. They were missing wide open 3's last year. They won't this year.

That's what they'll do if they're smart. But I don't know that Lue will do that. He seems more interested in outrunning and outgunning the other teams, and his team doesn't play with discipline. That works against the East. It might actually be an okay strategy against OKC. But it's a disastrous strategy against GS.

I agree. They have to play much slower (Blatt slowed the game's to a snail's pace last year, they need to do it again to stand any chance) and they have to figure out a way to get Shumpert and Dellavadova in the games more to guard Steph and Klay.

I kind of think the ship has almost sailed on most of that, though, and I don't expect Lue will change much of anything until it's already too late. It's beyond obvious that their starting lineup don't have the defense to counter the Warriors, though, and almost certainly won't be able to make that up with offense of their own.

Also, can you imagine what Draymond is going to do to Love in this series?

[mcaj22]

I wouldnt count the Thunder out yet.

Dion Waiters has a monster game coming I can feel it. A bum special as I like to call it.

[notorious]

So much cetainty according to the CP experts.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I agree. They have to play much slower (Blatt slowed the game's to a snail's pace last year, they need to do it again to stand any chance) and they have to figure out a way to get Shumpert and Dellavadova in the games more to guard Steph and Klay.

I kind of think the ship has almost sailed on most of that, though, and I don't expect Lue will change much of anything until it's already too late. It's beyond obvious that their starting lineup don't have the defense to counter the Warriors, though, and almost certainly won't be able to make that up with offense of their own.

Also, can you imagine what Draymond is going to do to Love in this series?

Yeah, Love will be a disaster. Which goes back to the point I made 2 years ago that the Love trade was really awful. I hope I'm wrong. You just can't hide him against a team like GS. And if they draw Golden State, I bet they'll really regret trading away Varejao because Mozgov has been really bad this year.

I like the OKC matchup a hell of a lot more. You can put Shumpert on Westbrook and Lebron on Durant. It's not ideal, but it can get the job done.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Yeah, Love will be a disaster. Which goes back to the point I made 2 years ago that the Love trade was really awful. I hope I'm wrong. You just can't hide him against a team like GS. And if they draw Golden State, I bet they'll really regret trading away Varejao because Mozgov has been really bad this year.

Except we didn't know at the time of the trade that the Warriors were beginning a dynasty, that an otherwise mediocre PF like Draymond Green would establish himself as one of the league's top defenders, and that Steph Curry would shatter every shooting record ever over the next 2 years. They had just come off a first round loss to the Clippers and were firing Mark Jackson. Hell, at the time, Cleveland looked like the prohibitive favorites for the next several years at least.

Also Varejeo is basically a corpse now, so I don't think he would have helped much at all. Mozgov is the better player.

I like the OKC matchup a hell of a lot more. You can put Shumpert on Westbrook and Lebron on Durant. It's not ideal, but it can get the job done.

Two undisciplined stars who play selfish and choke when the pressure is on and a bunch of other flawed role players around them who they aren't willing to trust? Yeah, I would have taken that too. Unfortunately, any realistic hope of that ended last night.

[KC_Connection]

http://www.sbnation.com/2016/5/29/11...source=twitter

NBA conspiracy theorists now have yet another piece of tin foil to load into their "The NBA Is Fixed" gun. The NBA's official Facebook page has already created events for next week's NBA Finals, and they already have the teams that will be competing listed. Warriors-Cavaliers will start on June 2, according to the NBA. There's only one problem with that: the Warriors still have to play Game 7 against the Thunder.

Look, I'm not saying the NBA is fixed, but what I am saying is that the NBA is absolutely, 100% fixed.

NBA already posting the Cavs/Warriors series. They know.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by Miles

Still premature too call this over.

I know anything could happen - but I'd bet on the Warriors w/o hesitation.

[KevB]

Another stat from last night that really tells the story : on OKC final 13 possessions, there were 1 or fewer passes on 12 of them.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Except we didn't know at the time of the trade that the Warriors were beginning a dynasty, that an otherwise mediocre PF like Draymond Green would establish himself as one of the league's top defenders, and that Steph Curry would shatter every shooting record ever over the next 2 years. They had just come off a first round loss to the Clippers and were firing Mark Jackson. Hell, at the time, Cleveland looked like the prohibitive favorites for the next several years at least.

When the Cavs made the trade for Kevin Love, my first comment was why the hell would a terrible defensive team trade for a terrible defensive player? Everything is out of whack. Tristan belongs at the 4 flexing into a 5, not as a full-time 5. There are games where Lebron would dominate as a 4 instead of a 3 but they have no flexibility to do that now. The Cavs continually struggle to get the Big 3 equal touches. And it forced the Cavs to have to scheme into hiding Love on defense, except unlike GS, they don't have enough elite defensive chips to hide Love. It was a misfit trade in so many ways.

Love is a good asset to many teams, but terrible trade for the Cavs. As I've said before, they could have kept Wiggins, acquired a true rim protector like Mozgov without giving up picks, and hell could have gotten a part-time version of Love in someone like Channing Frye for almost 1/3 less.