Wow. Thoughts on Cavs-Magic Tonight?

[LarBrd33]

only one thought. 

Cavs were overrated.   Celtics choked away a 3-2 lead and a 10 point 4th quarter that would have closed out a series.  Rumor is that KG would have played against Cleveland.  We blew a chance at facing the lakers in the finals.  That's the only thought worth having. 

[Fafnir]

only one thought. 

Cavs were overrated.   Celtics choked away a 3-2 lead and a 10 point 4th quarter that would have closed out a series.  Rumor is that KG would have played against Cleveland.  We blew a chance at facing the lakers in the finals.  That's the only thought worth having. 

Complete bull. Basketball is a game of match ups. The Cavs match up with us a whole lot better than they do the Magic. Our front court doesn't present them the problems the Magic front court does. LeBron can handle Pierce and their four bigs would pound the crap out of our two and a half, Scal being the half.

Even if Mo sucked against Rondo and Ray played west even they'd beat us up too much in a 7 game series on the boards. Any foul trouble by Perk/Baby woudl kill us.

I don't buy any of the KG rumor bs. If he could have played against the Cavs he would have played against the Magic in game 7.

[jambr380]

only one thought. 

Cavs were overrated.   Celtics choked away a 3-2 lead and a 10 point 4th quarter that would have closed out a series.  Rumor is that KG would have played against Cleveland.  We blew a chance at facing the lakers in the finals.  That's the only thought worth having. 

Complete bull. Basketball is a game of match ups. The Cavs match up with us a whole lot better than they do the Magic. Our front court doesn't present them the problems the Magic front court does. LeBron can handle Pierce and their four bigs would pound the crap out of our two and a half, Scal being the half.

Even if Mo sucked against Rondo and Ray played west even they'd beat us up too much in a 7 game series on the boards. Any foul trouble by Perk/Baby woudl kill us.

I don't buy any of the KG rumor bs. If he could have played against the Cavs he would have played against the Magic in game 7.

Seriously, is the KG thing supposed to make us feel better? It would have been much smarter of the organization just to simply say, 'there is no way he would have been back'- saying he would have played in the next series is a slap in the face. Frankly, I would have rather had him in game 7 in Orlando than the first couple of games against Cleveland. You can't compete in the next series if you can't win the one you are currently in.

While I agree that the Cavs are overrated, and it is totally apparent now- they did their thing in the regular season and made it further than we did in the postseason. Hopefully we can come back next year, healthy, and have another run at it. For now, I am going to throw away my sour grapes and root for anyone to beat the Lakers.

[Thruthelookingglass]

The playoff lights might be a little too bright for the CLE guards - West, Boobie, and Mo Mouth have all seemed gun shy and scared in the games I've watched. I actually think Pavo and Wally would handle the pressure a bit better.

Clearly they need to do something - moving Bron to the PF spot and having him play Rashard, plus using Wally and Pavo at the SF against Turko might help.

DWest taking it into the low post was kinda fun, he has some confidence out there.   However his overall production really seemed to peter out at the wrong times. 

You picked up on Wally's play.  I had expected him to play sparingly, but he was out there quite a bit last night.  It still pains me to watch him move, but he's a bit livelier than I remember.

[star18]

"50% from the field for an extended stretch is very, very good for a small forward" Its good, but its not great.  If you were the Cavs, what would you rather Lebron shoot last night 13-29 or 11-16.   Think about that one for a second.   13-29 is good. 11-16 is great.   He doesn't have many 11-16 games, if he is supposed to be so great why doesn't he? Do you think the rest of his team can shoot better than 2-13, well if they can't they don't even belong in the playoffs.

[Smitty77]

Roy,

Jameer is a VERY average defender who is undersized in terms of heighth.  He was a very marginal All-Star to say the least (as is Mo Williams as well!!!).  He was averaging 5.4 assists and was replaced by a guy that started all 48 games for a Western Conf. contender that was also averaging 5.4 assists.  Please, let's stop being quite so dramatic.  I am so tired of almost everyone blowing up Nelson's GREAT loss and comparing it to us losing KG.  (I am NOT saying that you are guilty of that exactly, just of a little exaggeration when it comes to Jameer, that's all.)

Smitty77

I'm assuming that you wouldn't agree that:

1) The Magic were "injury free" this year; or

2) Jameer contributes nothing other than "jacking threes"?

Those are the statements I was disagreeing with.  His loss wasn't as big as our loss of KG, but it wasn't irrelevant, either.

As for Jameer, he was the most efficient PG in the entire NBA this year (in terms of shooting), and he was a starter on the #1 defense on the league.  A lot of people are downplaying his contributions, and that seems silly to me.

Roy,

If I had Howard backing me up, I would look like a decent defender as well.  Not to mention the length on that team with Lewis being 6' 11" and Hedo being 6' 10".  Not to mention having Pietrus on that team.  BTW, Rafer Alston looks like a good defender now too, huh?  I will not argue that Nelson is not an efficient scorer.  But he is NOT a great distributor, which IS the main job of a PG, and he is certainly NOT an above average defender. 

Smitty77

[threats13]

"50% from the field for an extended stretch is very, very good for a small forward" Its good, but its not great.  If you were the Cavs, what would you rather Lebron shoot last night 13-29 or 11-16.   Think about that one for a second.   13-29 is good. 11-16 is great.   He doesn't have many 11-16 games, if he is supposed to be so great why doesn't he? Do you think the rest of his team can shoot better than 2-13, well if they can't they don't even belong in the playoffs.

just so you know only 9 Forwards in NBA history have shot over 50% from the field in their career.  Heres the list:

Randy Wittman - .540
Kevin Williams - .536
Doug Collins - .526
Boris Diaw - .522
Maurice Cheeks - .512
Walt Frazier - .511
Reggie Lewis - .510
George Gervin -.508
Magic Johnson - .506

http://www.nba.com/statistics/encyc/Player.jsp?type=TOTALS&season=all&conf=all&team=all&position=G&age=all&height=all&active=all&exp=all&rule=all&clock=all&college=all&min=all&sortOrder=6

So can you stop saying that Lebron's only good because of his FG% and not great.  Get it straight Lebron is great hands down.  Youre nitpicking his numbers when the guy singlehandedly brought this team to the ECF.  I dont see that stat in the boxscore.

 And just to wet your pallet lebrons shooting .522 in the playoffs next closest is Kobe at .459.
http://www.nba.com/statistics/player/Scoring.jsp?league=00&season=42008&conf=OVERALL&position=0&splitType=9&splitScope=GAME&qualified=N&yearsExp=-1&splitDD=

[vinnie]

"50% from the field for an extended stretch is very, very good for a small forward" Its good, but its not great.  If you were the Cavs, what would you rather Lebron shoot last night 13-29 or 11-16.   Think about that one for a second.   13-29 is good. 11-16 is great.   He doesn't have many 11-16 games, if he is supposed to be so great why doesn't he? Do you think the rest of his team can shoot better than 2-13, well if they can't they don't even belong in the playoffs.

just so you know only 9 Forwards in NBA history have shot over 50% from the field in their career.  Heres the list:

Randy Wittman - .540
Kevin Williams - .536
Doug Collins - .526
Boris Diaw - .522
Maurice Cheeks - .512
Walt Frazier - .511
Reggie Lewis - .510
George Gervin -.508
Magic Johnson - .506

http://www.nba.com/statistics/encyc/Player.jsp?type=TOTALS&season=all&conf=all&team=all&position=G&age=all&height=all&active=all&exp=all&rule=all&clock=all&college=all&min=all&sortOrder=6

So can you stop saying that Lebron's only good because of his FG% and not great.  Get it straight Lebron is great hands down.  Youre nitpicking his numbers when the guy singlehandedly brought this team to the ECF.  I dont see that stat in the boxscore.

 And just to wet your pallet lebrons shooting .522 in the playoffs next closest is Kobe at .459.
http://www.nba.com/statistics/player/Scoring.jsp?league=00&season=42008&conf=OVERALL&position=0&splitType=9&splitScope=GAME&qualified=N&yearsExp=-1&splitDD=

Not to nitpick, but aren't many of the players on this list guys who played guard most of the time they were in the league?

[star18]

Those stats don't show anything. First of all Magic Johnson is not a foward and Mo Cheeks isn't even close to being a foward. There are plenty of NBA fowards who have shot over 50% from the field for their career.    They include:Bo Outlaw .567,Bobby Jones .558, Kevin McHale .554,  Larry Nance .546, Otis Thorpe .546, Cornbread Maxwell .546, Adrian Dantley .540, Charles Barkley .540, Kiki Vandeweghe .525 etc.. Also there are over 250 players in NBA history to shoot over .475 for their career and Lebron James isn't one of them.  So again like I said 50% from the field is good but its not great. 13-29 is a good game, 11-16 is a great game, and you don't see him getting many nights 11-16. 

[star18]

Not only that those stats are way off they are not even close.  Here are some career playoff FG% leaders for fowards:Kurt Rambis .574, Kevin McHale .561, Bernard King .560, Cornbread Maxwell .545, James Worhty .544, etc.   So I don't see where you get these numbers from, trying to make me believe that 50% from the field as a foward is such an unheard number in the NBA.  Its good, not great.

[star18]

"just so you know only 9 Forwards in NBA history have shot over 50% from the field in their career"  Actually no, not really.

[BASS_THUMPER]

orlando gettin that ring!

youth is so key

[Fafnir]

"just so you know only 9 Forwards in NBA history have shot over 50% from the field in their career"  Actually no, not really.

Here is the complete list of career FG% leaders. There are a lot of forwards above 50%.

[Donoghus]

Referees for tonight (sorry if posted elsewhere)

Well, the conspiracy theorists were convinced Bavetta was gonna be involved.

Orlando @ Cleveland

D. Crawford M. Davis B. Spooner

[hpantazo]

Referees for tonight (sorry if posted elsewhere)

Well, the conspiracy theorists were convinced Bavetta was gonna be involved.

Orlando @ Cleveland

D. Crawford M. Davis B. Spooner

Cavs should be able to win this one at home with only marginal help from the refs, they are saving Bavetta for game 6