Have I mentioned how much I’m starting to hate the Warriors? All they do is fail uphill, and catch break after break.
They draft a point guard with bad ankles, and that lets them sign him to a below-market contract before he becomes a superstar with no ankle problems.
They face Cleveland in the Finals, but wait: Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving are both out.
They face Cleveland again and lose, but wait: the same hypnotic powers that let them sign Iguadala after knocking his team out the playoffs work again, and they land Kevin Durant.
San Antonio is handing them their ass, in Oakland, but wait: Kawhi Leonard’s bad ankle gets re-aggravated by Golden State’s goon, and he’s out for that game, then next, and possibly more.
At this rate, I fully expect Lebron James to break both his legs after being undercut on a dunk, then sign with the Warriors.
So you’re saying the Warriors aren’t nearly as good as they seem to be?
I’ll flip on the goon squad though - Draymond Green is the Warriors’ goon. I’ve seen nothing that implies Zaza Pachulia is making repeated attempts to injure other players. Bad decisions, over-retaliating, and throwing his weight around - yes. I just can’t agree with Popovich that the play that injured Leonard was intentional and meant to injure. I’m open to proof that I’m wrong.
No, they’re good, but also comically fortunate, even relative to the good fortune any team needs to be a contender. Most teams that give a long-term deal to their injury-ravaged point guard don’t see him become a top-5 player with no injury problems. Most teams that suffer a historic collapse in the finals don’t get to immediately sign another top-5 player to bolster the squad. The only actual misfortune they’ve suffered, that hasn’t immediately been alleviated, is Steve Kerr’s continuing health problems.
I meant that Pachulia plays for the Warriors, and is a goon, hence “the Warriors’ goon”. I agree that Green is the chief goon for their team.
I won’t disagree with that. I’ll note that the Durant signing was more the fault of the Thunder - the writing has been on the wall for years. Not long ago, they had an incredible Durant/Westbrook/Harden core that would have been a juggernaut if the team built around them. Instead, the front office traded Harden and refused to spend any money for…anyone. Durant would get a max contract anywhere - a contender just wasn’t going to happen in Oklahoma City. It’s more James to Miami than anything falling specifically to Golden State.
The video linked there is exactly the one I was watching earlier, and won’t disagree with the verdict. I just don’t see the play with Leonard on that level. To me, the little hop is what happens when you’re off balance, moving sideways, and don’t have to drop your weight to make a quick change in direction. It’s a body correction, and it just happened to be in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time against exactly the wrong player. I understand Pop and others that question it - I just can’t agree.
To the new matchup between Boston and Cleveland, I find myself just a little excited. Not for thinking the Celtics stand any chance against the Cavaliers - I’d guess the average margin will be double-digits, and Boston only has a chance to steal a game if Cleveland’s starters sit out Game 3 for rest. It’s nothing against the Celtics - I just can’t see Isaiah Thomas doing his Superman schtick past LeBron. I’d be delighted to be wrong, but I just foresee yet another Warriors/Cavaliers party.
Yeah, that went pretty much as expected last night. The Celtics missed way more open shots than usual, but they weren’t really slowing down LeBron at all, so I don’t think it mattered all that much - they’d just have lost 130-125 instead of 117-104. Oh well. #1 pick!
Seriously, though, Cleveland didn’t just beat Boston last night, that took away their manhood on national TV. I’ll tell you one thing: Danny Ainge must have been absolutely PISSED at watching that performance. That was a gutless effort from Boston. I’ve seen lopsided losses but watching the game, that loss was worse than the score. Boston had no energy. They were afraid of Cleveland.
I like Brad Stevens as a coach. I think he’s a smart guy and has good character. And his calm and composed nature has helped this team mature. But he’s gonna have to show some Gregg Popovich between now and game 3 or I wouldn’t put it past Ainge to show him the door. Ainge played with possibly the greatest Celtics teams of all time and those guys were brutally competitive. That’s not what Ainge stands for and if the Celtics play like that again I bet he phones up his old teammate Larry Legend and begs him to come back into coaching again.
As embarrassing as last night was - and I missed most of it due to a wedding rehearsal dinner, but what I saw was pretty embarrassing - there is literally zero chance that this happens.
As if we weren’t already pretty much guaranteed to see Cavs/Warriors III when the playoffs (perhaps even the regular season) began, now the Spurs and Celtics have both lost their best players.
I see both the Warriors and Cavs going into the NBA Finals with 12-0 records.
Yup, GS up 98-86 headed into the 4th and will likely be up 3-0
We know cleveland will go 4-0 because they are going home where they are tougher to beat
The strange thing is, in every game there’s been points when San Antonio or Boston have looked like they were about to make it a game. Then four minutes later they’re down 15 with a stunned look on their faces like “what just happened?”
This is one of the first years in a long time when I just haven’t been able to watch the NBA playoffs, which is usually a pretty good pretty after the first round. But I don’t think I’ve missed anything from the looks of things. It’s unfortunate that San Antonio’s been plagued with injuries just when it looked like they were beginning to play their best basketball of the year, but I still think GS is a better team by at least 2 games in a best of 7 series. OTOH, I never really doubted that Cleveland would take the East – they just got bored. And now suddenly, they’re looking like a very deep and balanced type of team that can go small & fast or longer & stronger inside – or mix it up with both.
