Golden State is way better than they were last season. They won 73 games for a reason. I'm not sure Cleveland is better. Love and Kyrie will really be liabilities in that series defensively. Spurs are a better matchup.
Warriors have personnel that are interchangeable and versatile to play both ends. They are so good that they can mask Curry's defensive shortcomings. Fast, mobile and smart players. The only way to beat them is pound them on the glass and pray their shots don't fall with the same efficiency.
Portland beat a paul-less, griffin-less clippers. they were just over .500 in the regular season. this is a fluke.
my dad and I were talking about this the other day. after all the strife, the cavs will indeed waltz to the finals with minimal resistance and wait for whichever battered team comes out of the west. this could go wrong.
I'm still not all that impressed by Cleveland... I think the Spurs or Warriors still beat them. I don't think Cleveland is much better or worse than OKC (you know... last game excluded). The Spurs or Warriors should still win this.
*should*, but gs should have pounded the love/irving-less cavs last year, too. we'll see; maybe i'm wrong, but i think cleveland was bored in the regular season. they knew it didn't matter. but they walked all over det and might be coming together at the right time. i'll be watching the cle/atl series with some interest in this regard.
I don't know man Cleveland hasn't earned the right to be bored. I think the rumors of clashing heads and personalities on that team are probably true. I hope ATL gives them some work though.
Tyrone Lue vs Gregg Popovich or Steve Kerr and Luke Walton? How many points per game is that a deficit for Cleveland? Especially when the real coach LeBron doesn't like what he's hearing, and Shumpert's using him for a towel rack.
I'm not even sure Cleveland would beat the Warriors without Steph. They still wouldn't have an answer for Draymond and Klay. The Warriors would still have a superior bench. We know Iggy made LeBron a volume shooter in the Finals last season. Livingston would take advantage of Kyrie in the post and on the other end his length and size would both Irving and force him to long, contested shots. This Warriors team is sensational. They have so much depth, so many weapons, they're just so unselfish and have such great chemistry, and they have a great coach. It's a lot like when Chicago won 55 games I believe it was without MJ and they were possibly a blown call away from making it to the East Finals without him back when the East was actually good.
^^^ Lol, you guys sleeping on the Cavs again make me laugh. The Cavs wouldn't beat the Warriors without Steph? C'mon now. It went 6 games last season with no Irving or Love. I've been hearing this all season, how Toronto is a real threat, how the Bulls were gonna beat the Cavs, how whoever comes out of the West is gonna destroy Cleveland. Cleveland may very well sweep their way to the Finals and be so well rested, while the Warriors and Spurs beat up on eachother. Eh, no matter, but I've got so many of these crazy quotes bookmarked now for if the Cavs win it all. I'm going to irrationally blame you guys for being so cocky about them not having what it takes, because you're helping to build a better narrative for LeBron. "He beat the greatest regular season team ever! GOAT!".
Not sure what's funny. Again the Warriors broke NBA history this year. They're better than they were last season. They were great last year and this year they had the greatest regular season of all time and have won three straight blow outs without Steph. The Cavs are a good team, but I can't imagine any scenario where they'd win more than a game against Golden State. They took them to six without Kyrie and Love. Good for them. They still didn't win and because of their struggles defensively I'm not sure how big of an impact Love and Kyrie will have anyway in a series. Without Steph I would still pick the Warriors to beat the Cavaliers because they'd still have a huge advantage on their bench, an advantage with the coach, and they still would have the second and third best players in the series.