LLLLLeBron 3-5 Finals Record Without SuperTeam

Discussion in 'NBA Discussion' started by puffyusaf#2, Oct 5, 2014.

  1. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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  2. thkthebest

    thkthebest Administrator Staff Member

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    I just saw this on LakersBall's twitter sidebar.

    This fool ("Senior NBA Writer") just tweeted:

    1. He should spend just 2 extra minutes to do his research. The stat he cited was net offensive rating, which does not include defensive rating.

    2. KLove is +4.2 using that same stat. The team is -4.4 without him in the lineup. I don't think Love has been performing close to what he did last year. I also don't think they're utilizing him correctly, but for this particular stat, those numbers are close to LeBron's numbers. How in the world can you call out Love and cite THIS particular stat? It's simply idiotic and it's interesting how he conveniently leaves out Love's numbers.

    3. He also mentions that the Cavs are 0-3 without him. Well, um...Love was missing for one of those games? Varejao was missing for the past 2 games? Durant was back in the game that LeBron conveniently missed? How about mentioning that they lost to the Thunder with BOTH stars in the lineup (aka a 60-win caliber team), the Hawks who are on pace to win 60 games, and another playoff team in the Bucks? I would expect any team without their franchise player to lose those games, especially when you lose another all-star in one of those games (Love) and a solid rotation player in 2 of them (Varejao).
     
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  3. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    Hey, if he doesn't enjoy being a scapegoat, or living in Cleveland, he's free to come to LA this summer.
     
  4. The Showtime Mamba

    The Showtime Mamba - Lakers 6th Man -

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    http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/pag...nd-cavaliers-one-terrific-tweet?ex_cid=espnFB

    A funny article about Joel Embiid trolling Lebron after the 76ers win against the Cavs today.

    Joel-Hans Embiid ✔ @JoelEmbiid
    Follow

    I told him to sign with us back in the summer and he didn't smh


    Joel-Hans Embiid ✔ @JoelEmbiid
    Follow

    @KingJames hey bro hope you're having a good day...... Want to join us in philly?? Peace

    and stuff he had tweeted previously.

    9:01 AM - 2 Jul 2014
    16,593I hope i'm not gonna get fined already with those Lebron's tweets is it legal to recruit over twitter @NBA ?

    @JoelEmbiid
    Follow

    He probably DM'd me but I dont read my DMs so I'm gonna go ahead and block him

    10:39 AM - 5 Jul 2014

    Incidentally, Love proved he can make some pretty shots in the first quarter and then get tired and forget about the game. Is he just the definition of a stat stuffer or has he quit on this team/coach? Philadelphia had a good crowd (people buying tickets for Bron) and their team is silly but super, super athletic. Noel et al was at times like watching a team of Spidermen bouncing around the court. Oh and Delladova is still awful.
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2015
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  5. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    So is this the start of the downward physical ability of the King? He hasn't broken down before like this and now he has already missed 7 games. I once said I thought Lebron would be nothing without being able to physically overpower guys. Is this where he is headed?
     
  6. FreeThePeople

    FreeThePeople - Rookie -

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    "Just protecting his coach" cause LeBron is now above the coach in the team hierarchy
     
  7. alam1108

    alam1108 - Lakers Legend -

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    Lebron is the star player, the assistant coach, head coach, general manager and owner of that team.
     
  8. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    LOL... the announcer "he pushed his coach so he doesn't get a T" Yup, only the King is so calm in being angry that he thinks of his coach in such away. What a great guy
     
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  9. scnottaken

    scnottaken - Rookie -

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    Hey what seed were the Cavs predicted to be in at the end of the season?
     
  10. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    You guys need to stop piling on LeBron and the Cavs ...... it's petty and unseemly. [​IMG] Now I'm sure Blatt would rather have stayed in Europe than take the money to put up with this. A lot like how the Cheat regarded Spoelstra the first year but Riles the dictator wasn't having any of their bleep.

    Not one..... not two..... not ANY [​IMG]


    Ball Don't Lie
    Report: Cavs ignore play calls, discuss Blatt's issues with opponents

    [​IMG]
    By Dan Devine11 hours ago Ball Don't Lie


    LeBron James holds back Cavaliers head coach David Blatt during the second quarter against the Suns. (Casey Sapio-USA …

    Much of the in-game intrigue during LeBron James' Tuesday night return to the Cleveland Cavaliers lineup to take on the Phoenix Sunsfocused on the moment when James pushedhead coach David Blatt aside during the second quarter, which, as I wrote, looked to me like the star player trying to prevent his coach from picking up a technical foul for arguing with the official, and which is exactly what both James and Blatt said it was after the game. After the Suns' 107-100 win, though, the focus turned to the fact that not even the reinsertion of James into the lineup — nor him turning in a strong performance in the process, scoring 33 points on 11-for-18 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists in 37 minutes — could turn the tide for a Cavs team that has lost nine of its last 10 games to fall to an underwhelming 19-20 on a season that began with championship aspirations (if not necessarily expectations).

    Again, as I wrote Tuesday night, a sub-.500 record in mid-January isn't proof positive that all is lost and that the 2014-15 Cavs are dead in the water. General manager David Griffin's recently acquired troika of reinforcements — wings J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, and center Timofey Mozgov — have to be integrated; a now-divorced-from-"chill mode" James must find ways to fruitfully coexist with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in a harmonious offensive ecosystem. Everyone, from Love (who was benched for the entire fourth quarter on Tuesday, the second time in recent weeks that's happened as Blatt has looked for lineups that work) to Irving (who was summarily outshined by Suns counterparts Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe) to James (who has quite as nimble or intimidating as he has in years past) to the peanut gallery, has to defend more actively and soundly.

    Things sure do seem plenty dark right now, but the Eastern Conference playoffs don't start for another three months; the Cavaliers still have time to get their house in order. That said, however, the post-loss post-mortem from ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst suggests that the house might be a little bit messier than we might have realized:

    [League scouts, executives and rival players] see [Cleveland] players appearing to run different plays than the bench calls, see assistant coach Tyronn Lue calling timeouts literally behind Blatt's back during games, and hear Cavs players openly talking about coaching issues with opposing players and personnel. Not once, not twice, but frequently over the past several months.For weeks now, the small talk when league personnel run into each other at college games, airports or pregame meals has frequently started with: "What the hell is going on in Cleveland?"
    Given all that's been in flux in Cleveland — the elevation of Griffin from interim replacement for the ousted Chris Grant to the full-time personnel boss, the offseason installation of the franchise's third head coach in three seasons, a near-total summer roster overhaul headlined by the signing of James and the trade for Love, the scrambling to cope with the season-ending injury to center and expected defensive centerpiece Anderson Varejao and James' two-week absence, the shifting roles and responsibilities of just about every key piece of the on-court operation, the recent trades reloading on the fly, etc. — it would be understandable for frustration to boil over for some of the folks involved.

    Especially, from where I'm sitting, Love, who seems a much more awkward fit in Cleveland's offense than I anticipated, who just heard his coach say he wasn't a max player and had to have a talk to clear the air about that, who's dealing with questions about whether or not he'll opt out of his contract come this summer (and weirdly saying he won't, although he'd seem to be a fool not to), who's now finding himself parked for fourth quarters and who's looking precious little like the All-NBA power forward he was in Minnesota. To hear Love tell it, though, he's good with going along to get along, so long as it actually gets the team along, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com:

    It was the second time this season Love was benched for the fourth quarter of a game, the last time coming in Cleveland's 98-89 win Dec. 26 in Orlando."It wasn't challenging," Love said after finishing with nine points on 3-for-11 shooting and nine rebounds in 27 minutes. "I know that both times, if you told me I was going to sit out the fourth quarter, maybe I would have thought it would have been tough. But we had a great rhythm going tonight. I thought the group that we had out there was doing a great job of getting us back into the basketball game, and more than anything, they gave us a shot. We just wanted to win a basketball game after dropping five or six in a row."
    Tuesday was another loss, however.
    And not long after it, Love met with Cavs general manager David Griffin for a face-to-face talk in the corridor leading to the Suns' practice court after the game before he entered the adjacent visitors locker room, where he spoke to reporters.
    On Love's reaction to the benching, Blatt said, "He's a pro, and I'm sure he handled himself accordingly."
    All that said: Windhorst's reports about Cavs players allegedly running whatever they want and airing grievances in public, and about Lue — whom Griffin and owner Dan Gilbert made the highest-paid assistant coach in NBA history this summer, which is the sort of thing you tend to notice when you're the guy above him on the organizational flow chart — allegedly making moves to (ahem) step over Blatt's decision-making on the sideline wouldn't seem to constitute the height of professionalism. More than that, if true, they'd seem to suggest that Griffin's recent vote of confidence in Blatt's work during his inaugural NBA campaign and affirmation of his job security didn't really fully penetrate the Cavs' locker room. (Somewhat fitting, since concerns over whether Blatt's ability to display the same reach were reportedly rattling around the heads of some Cleveland higher-ups late last month.

    There's plenty of time for Cleveland to get its house in order, yes, but a house divided against itself cannot stand. The Cavs need to get everyone on the same page, and pronto, if they're have any hope of pulling out of their recent tailspin in time to not only find their form for the postseason, but also make a real run at a top-half-of-the-East seed — entering Wednesday's action, they sit a full seven games back of the No. 4 Chicago Bulls in the race for home-court advantage — to avoid having to begin the opening round of the playoffs, and perhaps contest a deciding Game 7 against one of the conference's stronger squads, on the road.

    It seems like the only way that'll start to happen, though, is if James turns in not only the same level of play he provided in Phoenix on Tuesday, but also the brand of leadership that can get Irving, Love and the rest of the roster in line and engaged ... and if Blatt can sift through the static to rediscover the voice and strategic acumen that made him such a wild success in Europe and such an appealing hire this summer. Put simply, winning solves it all. With an upcoming slate that includes a slew of tough opponents — the Los Angeles Clippers, Bulls, possibly resurgent Charlotte Hornets, Kevin Durant-led Oklahoma City Thunder, definitely resurgent Detroit Pistons and potential title contender Portland Trail Blazers — the cure won't be easy to come by, but this is the time for Blatt and his crew to discover it.


    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...coaching-issues-with-opponents-210405860.html


     
  11. Manve77

    Manve77 - Rookie -

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    Let's see where cavs will end up this year and then we can talk if james has passed his prime or not...But his game is not on the same level as 2-3 years ago...
     
  12. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    There really isn't a discussion, to me, about Bron's Prime. The guy is in his Prime. He has the talent and skillset to still dominate. His problem is he has relied on athleticism for most everything and, in my opinion, never really developed his other skills for when that athleticism begins to fade. I do believe Bron was on some type of enhancers and stopped this year which explains the drop in everything. In the end, I think he will suffer what many great stars do and that is a dramatic drop in skill as opposed to a gradual progression.
     
  13. trodgers

    trodgers Administrator Staff Member

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    Bleacher Report: 55-27 (2nd in East)
    CBS Sports: Winning Eastern Conference by all four Analysts, seeded 1st or 2nd on all projections.
    Yahoo!: 3 of 5 Analysts had Cavs as East Conf Champs, 1 (Dwyer) had them as NBA Champs
    NBA.com: 1st seed, NBA Champs; 1st seed, lose Finals; 1st seed, lost ECF; 1st seed, lost ECF; 1st seed, lose NBA Finals; 1st seed, lose Finals

    16 analysts:
    1st seed: 11 of 14 responding
    2nd seed: 3 of 14 responding

    EC Champs: 10 of 15 responding
    NBA Champs: 2 of 5 responding
     
  14. John3:16

    John3:16 Moderator Staff Member

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  15. scnottaken

    scnottaken - Rookie -

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    Thanks! I also just looked up ESPN's predictions for NBA playoffs, and a good half of them had the Cavs winning it all. Aren't they the ones that said that the Lakers were unlikely do to well when they got Dwight because of growing pains? Of course we didn't do well for entirely different reasons. Mainly Dwight being softer than Charmin.
     
  16. wcsoldier81

    wcsoldier81 - Lakers All Star -

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    Cavs can't defend = no chance at the title ... even if Lebron goes 2009 on the opponent teams , something I doubt he's still able to do
     
  17. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    Guess the "warmth and sunshine" ..... cough .......cough...... in FL was all he needed. Played very strong against the Clips last night, 32 pts 11rb 7 assists in their victory on a back to back outing. C'mon now who doesn't like a conspiracy story with LBJ?
     
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  18. alam1108

    alam1108 - Lakers Legend -

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    Dude clearly juiced up when he went to Miami for that mid season vacation.
     
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  19. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    Packed up "to go" too?


    Do the "random" soon..... c'mon. Pat down first [​IMG] and watch carefully [​IMG] to rule out use of whizzinator.
     
  20. John3:16

    John3:16 Moderator Staff Member

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