Eastern Conference Finals- Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics

What's the eventual result in the Eastern Conference Finals?

  • Cavs in 4

    Votes: 6 35.3%

  • Cavs in 5

    Votes: 8 47.1%

  • Cavs in 6

    Votes: 2 11.8%

  • Cavs in 7

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Celtics in 7

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Celtics in 6

    Votes: 1 5.9%
  • Total voters
    17
cabezadecaballo said:
Even at 100%, he's kind of a regular season try-hard gimmick player that excels when the other guys are sleep-walking.
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I'm not sure I'd go as far as say "the other guys." I'd probably limit it to the Cavs, as far as sleep walking. While a defensive liability, he still averaged 25.4 ppg and averaged 27.4 (and a 53 point game) against mostly John Wall who is a very good defender.

I said it during the season when many others on here were worried, but LeBron doesn't care about the regular season. I wasn't ever worried how they would perform in the playoffs, well at least in the East, even when they looked lost towards the tail end of the season. There just isn't any team in the East that is able to compete with a LeBron team surrounded by shooters, unless shots aren't falling. Or like last night when LeBron just falls flat. David Griffin deserves a lot of credit. He has built a great team that plays to LeBron's strengths. That trade for JR and Shumpert was brilliant, taking the risk that LeBron would set Smith (somewhat) straight.
 
tallmadge H2 dad said:
Almost everyone picked CLE in 5. I don't think anyone expected the Cavs to sweep Boston. I still think that 5 games will happen. I think it's just the way this loss occurred that is surprising. At home, I.T. out, coming off 2 blow out wins, up 21 in 3rd qtr, LeBron being a non-factor. I figured Boston would get 1 win, but I expected it to be in game 1 or 2.
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Team rallying around their injured star. They either quit and get blown out or rally and come up with a close win. What's crazy to me, is that the Celtics only won on a buzzer beating 3 while Lebron played his worse game in recent memory. If you told me LeBron only had 11 points and 6 turnovers I would have figured the Celtics would have won by 10 or so.
 
Taco MacArthur said:
I'm not sure I'd go as far as say "the other guys." I'd probably limit it to the Cavs, as far as sleep walking. While a defensive liability, he still averaged 25.4 ppg and averaged 27.4 (and a 53 point game) against mostly John Wall who is a very good defender.

I said it during the season when many others on here were worried, but LeBron doesn't care about the regular season. I wasn't ever worried how they would perform in the playoffs, well at least in the East, even when they looked lost towards the tail end of the season. There just isn't any team in the East that is able to compete with a LeBron team surrounded by shooters, unless shots aren't falling. Or like last night when LeBron just falls flat. David Griffin deserves a lot of credit. He has built a great team that plays to LeBron's strengths. That trade for JR and Shumpert was brilliant, taking the risk that LeBron would set Smith (somewhat) straight.
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I said "regular season try-hard gimmick player", first of all. Secondly, when Wall is picked chasing someone small enough to duck under elbows, defensive responsibility is on the help at that point - not Wall.

Much like Curry and Thompson had significant production drops in last year's Finals with Cavs playing aggressive D, that little tattooed smurf will never sustain high playoff production. He's a gimmick. And the defensive liability he presents is indisputable. I'd take the PG in the draft if I was Boston.
 
tallmadge H2 dad said:
Almost everyone picked CLE in 5. I don't think anyone expected the Cavs to sweep Boston. I still think that 5 games will happen. I think it's just the way this loss occurred that is surprising. At home, I.T. out, coming off 2 blow out wins, up 21 in 3rd qtr, LeBron being a non-factor. I figured Boston would get 1 win, but I expected it to be in game 1 or 2.
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I agree with most of this, except your first statement. Plenty of people thought the Cavs may sweep.
 
cabezadecaballo said:
I said "regular season try-hard gimmick player", first of all. Secondly, when Wall is picked chasing someone small enough to duck under elbows, defensive responsibility is on the help at that point - not Wall.

Much like Curry and Thompson had significant production drops in last year's Finals with Cavs playing aggressive D, that little tattooed smurf will never sustain high playoff production. He's a gimmick. And the defensive liability he presents is indisputable. I'd take the PG in the draft if I was Boston.
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Gotcha, misunderstood what you meant. Thought you were saying he's a regular season player only.

I think IT will continue to have success as a scorer against most teams in the playoffs, provided he stays healthy. Unfortunately for him the Cavs are a very intelligent team capable of figuring out schemes and adapting to them quickly. As long as LeBron captains this team he won't make it further than the ECF, sans the second coming of LeBron joining the Celtics.

Are you talking about Fultz or Ball? Either way the Celtics are in an interesting spot. Do you take Fultz and play him and Thomas together? Fultz is capable of playing the 1 and 2. If they take Ball, I think they'd have to move IT. Obviously IT is a liability on defense and I don't think Ball will ever be a plus defender. Now would be the perfect time to sell on him if they were to do so. But the PG market is so over-saturated I'm not sure what they could get back to make it worth while and I'd be surprised if either the Bulls or the Pacers move Butler or PG for an IT centered package. Maybe they can pull a sign and trade to get Hayward out of Utah.
 
This was a shocker, flat out. There were many who woke up this morning and couldn't believe it...they didn't even bother to tune in since the Cavs were rolling and Thomas was out.
But as the retired Chris Berman always said...that's why they play the games...

And this is the curiosity that in LeBron James...looks completely disinterested in playing last night. Kind of like James Harden in game 6 of the Rockets/ Spurs series.
 
Wow, didn't expect that. Totally expected the Cavs to sweep.

It is what it is though, have to get refocused and take the series
 
Taco MacArthur said:
Gotcha, misunderstood what you meant. Thought you were saying he's a regular season player only.

I think IT will continue to have success as a scorer against most teams in the playoffs, provided he stays healthy. Unfortunately for him the Cavs are a very intelligent team capable of figuring out schemes and adapting to them quickly. As long as LeBron captains this team he won't make it further than the ECF, sans the second coming of LeBron joining the Celtics.

Are you talking about Fultz or Ball? Either way the Celtics are in an interesting spot. Do you take Fultz and play him and Thomas together? Fultz is capable of playing the 1 and 2. If they take Ball, I think they'd have to move IT. Obviously IT is a liability on defense and I don't think Ball will ever be a plus defender. Now would be the perfect time to sell on him if they were to do so. But the PG market is so over-saturated I'm not sure what they could get back to make it worth while and I'd be surprised if either the Bulls or the Pacers move Butler or PG for an IT centered package. Maybe they can pull a sign and trade to get Hayward out of Utah.
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Fultz. I wouldn't touch Ball with the top pick.

I don't know what Thomas' contract is, but I don't think he'll ever be a starter for a championship team. He's a back-up or a novelty or a star on a sub-par team as far as I'm concerned. If he doesn't make sense predominantly backing up Fultz, I'd trade him. I half wonder if his injury is preserving his value for just that.

They'll be headed for disappointment if they stick with Thomas. I hope they do, as a Cavs fan.
 
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tallmadge H2 dad said:
Almost everyone picked CLE in 5. I don't think anyone expected the Cavs to sweep Boston. I still think that 5 games will happen. I think it's just the way this loss occurred that is surprising. At home, I.T. out, coming off 2 blow out wins, up 21 in 3rd qtr, LeBron being a non-factor. I figured Boston would get 1 win, but I expected it to be in game 1 or 2.
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:laugh: EVERYONE expected a sweep after the first two games and the Thomas injury.
 
cabezadecaballo said:
Fultz. I wouldn't touch Ball with the top pick.

I don't know what Thomas' contract is, but I don't think he'll never be a starter for a championship team. He's a back-up or a novelty or a star on a sub-par team as far as I'm concerned. If he doesn't make sense predominantly backing up Fultz, I'd trade him. I half wonder if his injury is preserving his value for just that.

They'll be headed for disappointment if they stick with Thomas. I hope they do, as a Cavs fan.
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Disagree. I don't think Thomas will win a championship.
 
I think most expected the Celtics to take game 1 or 2. Once that did not happen and those games were actually drubbings, a sweep became very possible. Last night's fiasco is just one in a continuing series of the Cavs allowing lesser teams back into games.
 
cabezadecaballo said:
Fultz. I wouldn't touch Ball with the top pick.

I don't know what Thomas' contract is, but I don't think he'll never be a starter for a championship team. He's a back-up or a novelty or a star on a sub-par team as far as I'm concerned. If he doesn't make sense predominantly backing up Fultz, I'd trade him. I half wonder if his injury is preserving his value for just that.

They'll be headed for disappointment if they stick with Thomas. I hope they do, as a Cavs fan.
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It expires next year, fwiw. Which makes it harder to trade unless you're a borderline contender who could use an offensive spark off the bench, ie Spurs. But they don't have the trade chips.
 
I think even before Thomas went down a fair amount of people expected a Cavs sweep. It probably wasn't the consensus, but to say no one expected it is incorrect.
 
The Cavs played at an extremely high level the first 5 halves of this series, while Boston struggled. Boston can shoot the ball well, it's what they are. The big thing now is how does each team shoot tonight?
I think the first 5 halves, the Cavs played a little above their heads, the Celtics below. The 2nd half, things changed. Does it just change briefly, or now does things come closer to the middle? If Boston can somehow pull out another win tonight...look out.
 
14Red said:
The Cavs played at an extremely high level the first 5 halves of this series, while Boston struggled. Boston can shoot the ball well, it's what they are. The big thing now is how does each team shoot tonight?
I think the first 5 halves, the Cavs played a little above their heads, the Celtics below. The 2nd half, things changed. Does it just change briefly, or now does things come closer to the middle? If Boston can somehow pull out another win tonight...look out.
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I agree with 14red, the big thing is how the teams shoot tonight, that will determine the outcome of tonight's game.
 
joesports and cabez have been rather quiet about the actual series ever since calling me out for my prediction of a closer series. Wonder why.
 
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