NBA Finals Plays...

Refs were worth 20-25 points last night and that was predicted, nice job there at least
 
B.A.R. said:
I'm well aware and would expect Cle to have more FT's etc. There was bad no-calls both ways fwiw.

Like I said, this isn't about last night whatsoever but you and Divol seem to think that refs have no influence on games and you guys are absolutely INCORRECT.
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Exactly, like Tip said it. I know refs matter. I believe that Foster is crooked as hell. I also realize that style of officials can determine the outcome of the game just as much as few wrong calls, if not more.
But, I believe that in that particular game, refs didn't help Cleveland.
I believe that letting them play mode, helps a lot a three point shooting team and hurts a team that creates many points in the paint.
I believe that at least one foul on Tristan was really 50 - 50 call and really hurt Cleveland defense and fight on the boards, since Tristan played many minutes with 5 fouls and couldn't be aggressive on the rebounds.
But I don't want to be dragged in to this discussion again.

Good luck Em! I'm rooting for Cleveland, but as I said before the series started, 1 - 1 coming to Cleveland, 2 - 2 coming back to Oakland. If Cleveland win tonight, will probably be on the Warriors in Game 4 (though I really hope Cleveland win the series).
 
Damn what you got Crawford? League must want the dog to pull ahead? Sad. Hopefully Foster back in Game 4. If he's Game 5 this is a tarnished series.
 
Thanks P2W.

Dubs have played their worst games of the playoffs at home, change of venue will help 'em.

They need to attack LeBron's defense off a 48 and 50 min game, get him cramping.
 
BAR...

:cheers3:

LeBron already channeling a possible excuse about the 1-day's rest between change of venues.

Cavs winning this series will be the biggest upset in Finals history.
 
emkee said:
BAR...



Cavs winning this series will be the biggest upset in Finals history.
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Not even close. The Pistons upsetting Kobe, Shaq, Payton and Malone would be a much bigger upset

4 HOF'ers and 2 of the greatest players in history. Detroit smacked them 4-1.
 
Payton and Malone were past it and were merely attempting to ride Kobe's coat-tails to a 'ship. Team had no chemistry whatsoever and put up nowhere close to these current Dubs' numbers.

Pistons that season were the epitome of team basketball with a stonewall defense. Great team that fed off each other.

2014 Cavs (minus Irving and Love) is LeBron and a cast of misfits.

Massive upset.
 
That Pistons team proved it wasn't a fluke and that the Lakers were toast before it started.

I am not as high on the Warriors as you as I do not think this team is better than any Heat team, any Spurs team, Lakers team, Mavs, etc. over the past 15 years.

I think they benefited this season from playing hard every game and the west fell apart in their favor. CP3/Blake played career basketball for 10 days or the Spurs would be here sweeping these fools.

But, it would be a pretty big upset... yes.
 
Whole issue with the Dubs is youth, inexperience which assists their arrogance and it shows up in games especially during the playoffs. That is their achille's heel.

Kerr with not enough big game coaching experience to counter it at this stage and reel in his troops.

Numbers don't lie in this league. Their consistency within the 'numbers' this season makes them better than good.
 
Inspekdah said:
That Pistons team proved it wasn't a fluke and that the Lakers were toast before it started.

I am not as high on the Warriors as you as I do not think this team is better than any Heat team, any Spurs team, Lakers team, Mavs, etc. over the past 15 years.

I think they benefited this season from playing hard every game and the west fell apart in their favor. CP3/Blake played career basketball for 10 days or the Spurs would be here sweeping these fools.

But, it would be a pretty big upset... yes.
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I agree , I'm struggling to find a year this century that they would be the best team in league

I think they would have lost to Spurs this year

Gl emkee
 
emkee said:
Payton and Malone were past it and were merely attempting to ride Kobe's coat-tails to a 'ship. Team had no chemistry whatsoever and put up nowhere close to these current Dubs' numbers.

Pistons that season were the epitome of team basketball with a stonewall defense. Great team that fed off each other.

2014 Cavs (minus Irving and Love) is LeBron and a cast of misfits.

Massive upset.
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Stop repeating ESPN. Have some of your own thoughts. Playing against the best player in the game...in his prime..against a bunch of experienced players who have never been here before is not a massive upset, but keep letting ESPN tell you it is. Just like they said Cleveland had "no chance" after Kyrie got hurt
 
The Lakers were done, toast, finished. Malone and Payton were done. Shaq and Kobe were no longer a productive tandem.

However, at THAT time, it may have been a bigger upset than this. Because at that time the east was the LEAST and no one expected it.

What transpired made it not so big an upset. Lakers getting blown up, Pistons becomming a EC powerhouse and returned back to the finals the following year.

But at the time, would it have been bigger? Odds say so
 
Capone said:
Not even close. The Pistons upsetting Kobe, Shaq, Payton and Malone would be a much bigger upset

4 HOF'ers and 2 of the greatest players in history. Detroit smacked them 4-1.
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That team never makes the Finals if not for Fisher hitting the .4 miracle. Popovich fucking blew that play... Manu wasn't shading Fisher to his left which is odd as Manu is a lefty and the play was on the left hand side of the court, Bruce Bowen was ON THE BENCH for that play, and worst of all Payton wasn't guarded on the inbounds pass...if Horry fronts him the play never happens.

I was there....This is the Kennedy assassination moment of my lifetime.
 
Capone said:
Stop repeating ESPN. Have some of your own thoughts. Playing against the best player in the game...in his prime..against a bunch of experienced players who have never been here before is not a massive upset, but keep letting ESPN tell you it is. Just like they said Cleveland had "no chance" after Kyrie got hurt
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I'm a 'numbers' man more than a 'names on jersey's' man who avoids ESPN as much as I can. It would be a massive upset, imo.

We are entitled to our own opinions. East is fucking awful this season, case in-point - you only need to see who was repping the 1-seed in the EC.

Look inside the layers, Capone.
 
Capone said:
Not even close. The Pistons upsetting Kobe, Shaq, Payton and Malone would be a much bigger upset

4 HOF'ers and 2 of the greatest players in history. Detroit smacked them 4-1.
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This has been an enjoyable and educating thread for me to read; being a Laker fan, however, I do have to chime in and disagree with the comment above. Perhaps on a national level, it was a big upset. However, this was the year Kobe was coming off his extra-curricular activity in Colorado...including throwing Shaq under the bus. 2004 was the height of their animosity toward each other and you could tell Kobe wasn't 'all-in' to win the championship this year if it meant Shaq collecting yet another finals MVP. This was a completely disjointed/dysfunctional team....Payton and Malone were poor teammates and their skills were diminished. Yes, they are HoF but they weren't of that caliber in 2004. I remember thinking 'uh-oh' going into that final v a talented, cohesive and hungry team. If Lebron pulls this off, I don't see how anyone can criticize him ever again...not that people should be anyway.

Good luck tonight, Emkee.
 
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Not to hijack at all .. Blazers over sixers in the late seventies ... that is how far you would have to go back to find an upset as big as this would be
 
I agree that might be 2nd place; however, Portland swept the team with the best regular season record in the conference finals, so one could have seen this coming. I would contend this seemed like a bigger upset than it really was because Philly won the 1st 2 games rather handily before getting swept 4 straight. I agree it was amazing to see them lose 4 straight after pretty much dominating the first two games.

Oh...in case anyone was wondering...I'm old.
 
So you finally agree with me on something...

I too didn't mean to hijack anything.

1st quarter game 3...Cavs just appear to be playing harder to me; GS almost too cool to try too hard. Sort of reminds me of the '84 finals a little bit. Long way to go, anyhow...
 
Paid to see the Dubs remain arrogant. Can't play casual through 3 quarters and turn it on late, they play like that for 40 mins and they win.

Might have to torture myself and back them again in Game 4 based on the 4th quarter. Fuck this team.

When the best player in the league wants to win, you have to bring your A-game right from the start to counter it.

Better squad but mentally-inferior. Them's the breaks, live and learn.
 
Line says Warriors roll in G4. Line says NBA deploys their road crew in G4. They got their series now... it's time to play basketball again.

I think we've both been ignorant and ignored these crews. It's been rugby for far too long. 150 mins and counting.

It's not good for the league and it's not how teams like Nash's Suns, the Heat, etc. have succeeded. If this was how they called Bulls series the Bulls would have cruised to the finals winning each game 74-68.
 
emkee said:
I'm a 'numbers' man more than a 'names on jersey's' man who avoids ESPN as much as I can. It would be a massive upset, imo.

We are entitled to our own opinions. East is fucking awful this season, case in-point - you only need to see who was repping the 1-seed in the EC.

Look inside the layers, Capone.
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You don't need to preach numbers to me. I have more than you'd want to read. Would like to say the West is just overrated, but that's not it. GS just doesn't do well against defensive teams. All their home loses were to defensive teams (Spurs x2, Cavs, Bulls).

In history, this wont go down as a huge upset if Cleveland wins, imo

And the Pistons, they were +400 to beat LA going into the series( just about what the Cavs were down 0-1 without Kyrie) , and 41-1 to win in 5 games. Your numbers should have told you that
 
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emkee said:
BAR...

:cheers3:

LeBron already channeling a possible excuse about the 1-day's rest between change of venues.

Cavs winning this series will be the biggest upset in Finals history.
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2/1 dog winning a series, not that big of a deal. We may look back in a decade and wonder "The best player of all-time in his FIFTH straight NBA Finals was a 2/1 dog to Curry/Klay with no championships or experience?"
 
The difference now is that so many more people talk about it in real time. No one was trying to slot that Pistons team in history after three games, lol.

Trust me, I'm used to this. I'll rest easy if/when the buzzer sounds after a fourth Cleveland win.

And spek, you're a broken record. You said the Warriors would roll in game two. And probably three, I just didn't see it. Why would game four be any different, they haven't "solved" Cleveland yet? Either team could arguably be up 3-0, but only a fool would argue that the Warriors have just not hit their stride. They couldn't win in regulation at home. Twice.
 
Here's where spek, emkee, and bar blame it on the refs. Does being wrong on the internet really hurt that much guys? That you have to make excuses? For whom? twinkie? We all forgive your insane opinions.
 
Nothing like a guy blowing smoke up the ass of a team he probably didn't know existed until 3-weeks before the playoffs started.

No excuses. One team is playing Finals ball, the other team isn't.

Refs are letting them play a style that favors LeBron bully-ball but if you own a pair of balls and a brain, you counter that through adjustments (Kerr stock taking a hit dramatically).

Dubs did somewhat adjust in the 4th quarter last night with Lee which worked but was too little, too late not helped by Curry reverting back to his showman style on 3 crucial plays.

Dubs like most 'youth' today seem soft and lazy. You work hard to get what you want, no cutting corners especially in the Finals.

It's a big upset because the numbers I make (similar to the Elo ratings) have the Dubs as the 5th best team and the Cavs the 90th all-time.

Odds reflect LeBron's presence which Vegas will always respect and the Dubs relative playoff 'freshness' but are not indicators as to where they rank.

Content with my 'big upset' opinion.
 
I'd be salty to coming in other peoples threads defending my team if I cheered for anything Cleveland sports related. Actually, I wouldn't.

The pace and style this series has taken on is amazing. Completely different than anything we've seen in the NBA in some time. Heart, desire, and will have a lot to do with it. But a couple early fouls to establish a cleaner, smoother, pace would have this series probably going the other way.

When can you find the refs out emkee for G4?
 
Cleveland only relevant because the dude that abandoned them came back out of pity and greed.

Ref assignments released in the morning, Spek.

Probably see a Joe Crawford in there. Ken Mauer would be a good sign for the Dubs.

Line tells us something.

Cavs will not recover if the series turns, they can only play one style to win - bully ball. They are not deep enough to adjust, it's all up to Kerr and the Dubs tomorrow night.
 
Game 4...

Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers

The play...

Warriors ML -140 (3 units)

Have to continue to put my money where my mouth is and stay loyal to my 'numbers'. Dubs win Game 4.

This is the Dubs last hurrah. Lose here and it's curtains for your 'ship hopes.

Teams of this model rarely lose and/or fail to cover 3 straight in the playoffs granted it's appears to be all about attitude for the Dubs.

Signs were there late in Game 3 as Disney as that sounds.

Spread somewhat telling.

No pro-LeBron refs left, they were trotted out in Game's 2 and 3. WC Champs should be able to run their offense.

If in the unlikely event that the Cavs are victorious, have a fairly obvious plan in place to re-cooperate one's losses in the remaining games.

Enjoy.

:popcorn:
 
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Home dogs playing off a home dog win are 3-12 SU (4-9-2 ATS) last 13 occasions in the playoffs.
 
em could have saved his breath and text and simply said, "warriors, max bet, they're due"
 
Trolling his picks thread is bad form, Tip.

With you on Dubs ML Emkee. Let's hope no one strains a vagina on the way to the arena. Cavs showing all the heart so far and I have NEVER seen Lebron play this hard. I have seen him play way better, but not this hard and determined. Let's get the cash.
 
tipyerbartender said:
How many of 12 had Lebron James?
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None which leads us to ask why is this NBA God a home dog again. Even the team that guy Capone said had the biggest upset in Finals history - the 2003/04 Detroit Pistons, were a home fave in Game 4 off a Game 3 win as a home dog.
 
What's trolling? Not agreeing, calling out ref shit, and being right before it happens? Yeah, I guess that's annoying.
 
tipyerbartender said:
What's trolling? Not agreeing, calling out ref shit, and being right before it happens? Yeah, I guess that's annoying.
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Here you go old fella...

trolling
Being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-stander, because it's the internet and, hey, you can.
Guy: "I just found the coolest ninja pencil in existence."
Other Guy: "I just found the most retarded thread in existence."
 
I guess I'm a troll and never knew it. Before the internet, we used to call it having a point.
 
I'm not going to have a carpetbagger rewrite history. The refs have zero to do with 2--1. Less than zero.
 
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