Basketball

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Re: Basketball

Post by The Deluded Pablo Diego Jose Francisco » Sat May 20, 2017 1:37 pm

Well, that was a massacre!

Could see both Cavs and GSW sweeping both the Spurs and the Celtics with ease.

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Mon May 29, 2017 1:20 pm

Golden State Warriors v The Cleveland Cavaliers.
Some interesting match ups. GSW have the firepower but there's only one ball.
Let Battle Commence!!!

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Re: Basketball

Post by Mifune » Tue May 30, 2017 5:12 pm



Almost time <divax>

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:48 am

Mifune wrote:

Almost time <divax>
GSW 1 Cavs 0.
Dunking practice for Durant!!! Can't remember the lanes being so wide open in a park game, never mind the NBA Finals.
Cavs were fanning out to protect the 3's before defending the ball. Like it or not, IT's ALWAYS BALL FIRST!!! I expect them to sort this out or it'll be 4-0.

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Re: Basketball

Post by The Deluded Pablo Diego Jose Francisco » Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:57 pm

Just saw the replay of the game and the Cavs were soundly beaten. So many cheap turnovers which you simply cannot do against the GSW.

The Cavs are going to have to step it up big time otherwise it'll be a blowout.

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Re: Basketball

Post by Mifune » Sat Jun 03, 2017 8:39 pm

Really don't want Durant to get a ring with the Warriors <erk>

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Mon Jun 05, 2017 3:04 am

2-0.
Off to kip for a few hours!!!

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:38 am

Some great basketball being played. These fellas are on another level. The percentages they execute at under pressure is truly phenomenal. You wouldn't try some of those shots messing around by yourself at the side of a house. They're out there in the NBA Finals, 10ft from the "long" three line and away it goes, NOTHING BUT NET.
Some merciless execution of plays, from both sides to be fair.

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Re: Basketball

Post by Mifune » Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:19 pm

Well I guess basketball is going to be boring for the next few years <erm>.

The Cavs need to sign Westbrook or something.

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:41 pm

Mifune wrote:Well I guess basketball is going to be boring for the next few years <erm>.

The Cavs need to sign Westbrook or something.
Would Westbrook be the final piece in their puzzle? Great player that he is i don't think he's the solution for Cleveland. Cavs already have players who like to touch or bring the ball up and there's only one ball.
In my opinion Cleveland need a player who can dominate a position away from the ball. Surprisingly Mcgee is playing ok inside for GSW but i think if the Cavs had a dominating centre they could really pressurise GSW here.
If the Cavs can force the Warriors defence to collapse in i think we'd see more from Korver as a spot up shooter and Kyrie as a shooter who can spot up or beat a man. Both of these can execute at a high enough % at this level.

I believe for balance a dominating centre is the weapon to add for the Cavs. To be fair though, dominating centres would improve 80% of teams!!!

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Re: Basketball

Post by Mifune » Mon Jun 05, 2017 9:03 pm

PISTON (BLACKCAT) wrote:
Mifune wrote:Well I guess basketball is going to be boring for the next few years <erm>.

The Cavs need to sign Westbrook or something.
Would Westbrook be the final piece in their puzzle? Great player that he is i don't think he's the solution for Cleveland. Cavs already have players who like to touch or bring the ball up and there's only one ball.
In my opinion Cleveland need a player who can dominate a position away from the ball. Surprisingly Mcgee is playing ok inside for GSW but i think if the Cavs had a dominating centre they could really pressurise GSW here.
If the Cavs can force the Warriors defence to collapse in i think we'd see more from Korver as a spot up shooter and Kyrie as a shooter who can spot up or beat a man. Both of these can execute at a high enough % at this level.

I believe for balance a dominating centre is the weapon to add for the Cavs. To be fair though, dominating centres would improve 80% of teams!!!
I'm not quite sure how Westbrook would fit with the Cavs but the rivalry between him with the Cavs and Durant with the Warriors would be awesome. Plus I am of the opinion that great plays can play with each other regardless of fit. Kawhi would be the perfect player for them though and would put them above the Warriors imo. CP3 is on the market this summer too... The problem for the Cavs is they have no cap room to sign another superstar to match GSW. Warriors were only able to sign Durant because of having Curry on the cheap and the salary cap increasing loads. Tristan Thompson has definitely underperformed this series so far though. He has allowed GSW way too many offensive rebounds which has hurt the Cavs loads. Curry got more rebounds last game than Thompson has the entire series so far and he has only scored 8 points.

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Mon Jun 05, 2017 9:22 pm

Mifune wrote:
PISTON (BLACKCAT) wrote: Would Westbrook be the final piece in their puzzle? Great player that he is i don't think he's the solution for Cleveland. Cavs already have players who like to touch or bring the ball up and there's only one ball.
In my opinion Cleveland need a player who can dominate a position away from the ball. Surprisingly Mcgee is playing ok inside for GSW but i think if the Cavs had a dominating centre they could really pressurise GSW here.
If the Cavs can force the Warriors defence to collapse in i think we'd see more from Korver as a spot up shooter and Kyrie as a shooter who can spot up or beat a man. Both of these can execute at a high enough % at this level.

I believe for balance a dominating centre is the weapon to add for the Cavs. To be fair though, dominating centres would improve 80% of teams!!!
I'm not quite sure how Westbrook would fit with the Cavs but the rivalry between him with the Cavs and Durant with the Warriors would be awesome. Plus I am of the opinion that great plays can play with each other regardless of fit. Kawhi would be the perfect player for them though and would put them above the Warriors imo. CP3 is on the market this summer too... The problem for the Cavs is they have no cap room to sign another superstar to match GSW. Warriors were only able to sign Durant because of having Curry on the cheap and the salary cap increasing loads. Tristan Thompson has definitely underperformed this series so far though. He has allowed GSW way too many offensive rebounds which has hurt the Cavs loads. Curry got more rebounds last game than Thompson has the entire series so far and he has only scored 8 points.
Cavs already have James and Irving. No doubt Westbrook would bring something but anything he added would be cancelled out by LJ and KI having the ball less. Yes, both LJ and KI could adapt, but they'd effectively be doing less somewhere else.
Kawhi is a different kettle of fish to Westbrook as i believe he could add to the pot without taking anything else away. Plus he plays very good defence in a number of positions. Westbrook plays good aggressive defence against guards when he wants/needs to, but Kawhi defends longer. If Kawhi could defend Durant effectively then he'd have a big impact on the points swing. I'm not sure in the Cavs salary cap could handle Kawhi's money unless James took a huge cut. To be fair it wouldn't totally surprise me if LJ would do this to win.

GSW are strong in the guard position and very strong in the forward position. I believe a dominating big man attacking them inside is the quick fix to their problem, apart from Kawhi of course.

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Re: Basketball

Post by Mifune » Mon Jun 05, 2017 9:54 pm

Don't know how many dominating centres are really available at the moment though. Nerlens Noel is a free agent this summer and is a very good defender but is not great offensively. He will be asking for the max as well so not sure the Cavs could pay him.

PG13 is out of contract next summer. Not a centre but he is an elite defender.

This is all just hypothetical anyway. The only way the Cavs have cap space to sign another superstar is by trading one of their current ones. GSW were in a unique position to be able to sign Durant. Other teams aren't going to be able to match them superstar for superstar.

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:42 pm

Mifune wrote:Don't know how many dominating centres are really available at the moment though. Nerlens Noel is a free agent this summer and is a very good defender but is not great offensively. He will be asking for the max as well so not sure the Cavs could pay him.

PG13 is out of contract next summer. Not a centre but he is an elite defender.

This is all just hypothetical anyway. The only way the Cavs have cap space to sign another superstar is by trading one of their current ones. GSW were in a unique position to be able to sign Durant. Other teams aren't going to be able to match them superstar for superstar.
You're absolutely right as there's less of them around to start with because many are stretch 4's at best nowadays.
The game has changed a lot due to the current outside dominance but if another Shaq came along i can guarantee he'd force another change. I think any of the top old school centres would have a f***ing field day against some of these fade away 4's and 5's. Most of those lads wanted contact, they didn't try to avoid it. Even a player like Hakeem, who wasn't the tallest, would torture this lot with his footwork and aggression.
If they couldn't get a proper centre then a Kevin Mchale type would destroy them. Even as a superstar he was still one of the most underrated players of all time. His moves down low were an education. He taught Kevin Garnett for one!!!

You're right about the cap space at the Cavs. GSW are in this position because their team evolved naturally with one late addition in KD, they aren't a manufactured super team. They've made themselves a super team.

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Re: Basketball

Post by Mifune » Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:54 pm

PISTON (BLACKCAT) wrote:
Mifune wrote:Don't know how many dominating centres are really available at the moment though. Nerlens Noel is a free agent this summer and is a very good defender but is not great offensively. He will be asking for the max as well so not sure the Cavs could pay him.

PG13 is out of contract next summer. Not a centre but he is an elite defender.

This is all just hypothetical anyway. The only way the Cavs have cap space to sign another superstar is by trading one of their current ones. GSW were in a unique position to be able to sign Durant. Other teams aren't going to be able to match them superstar for superstar.
You're absolutely right as there's less of them around to start with because many are stretch 4's at best nowadays.
The game has changed a lot due to the current outside dominance but if another Shaq came along i can guarantee he'd force another change. I think any of the top old school centres would have a f***ing field day against some of these fade away 4's and 5's. Most of those lads wanted contact, they didn't try to avoid it. Even a player like Hakeem, who wasn't the tallest, would torture this lot with his footwork and aggression.
If they couldn't get a proper centre then a Kevin Mchale type would destroy them. Even as a superstar he was still one of the most underrated players of all time. His moves down low were an education. He taught Kevin Garnett for one!!!

You're right about the cap space at the Cavs. GSW are in this position because their team evolved naturally with one late addition in KD, they aren't a manufactured super team. They've made themselves a super team.
Joel Embiid is the new Hakeem <awe>


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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Tue Jun 06, 2017 6:21 am

Mifune wrote:
PISTON (BLACKCAT) wrote: You're absolutely right as there's less of them around to start with because many are stretch 4's at best nowadays.
The game has changed a lot due to the current outside dominance but if another Shaq came along i can guarantee he'd force another change. I think any of the top old school centres would have a f***ing field day against some of these fade away 4's and 5's. Most of those lads wanted contact, they didn't try to avoid it. Even a player like Hakeem, who wasn't the tallest, would torture this lot with his footwork and aggression.
If they couldn't get a proper centre then a Kevin Mchale type would destroy them. Even as a superstar he was still one of the most underrated players of all time. His moves down low were an education. He taught Kevin Garnett for one!!!

You're right about the cap space at the Cavs. GSW are in this position because their team evolved naturally with one late addition in KD, they aren't a manufactured super team. They've made themselves a super team.
Joel Embiid is the new Hakeem <awe>

I really like the look of Embiid, he's got great skills for a big man. That mix tape is awesome by the way, i hadn't seen it before and Embiid definitely has some of those moves locked. There's another one on youtube where Hakeem is teaching Lebron James footwork and moves, it's outstanding to watch if you want to learn. It's a very precise video in terms of education. Basically, if you can master his footwork it's almost impossible to stop.
Seeing Embiid pull off a few Hakeem Shake's makes me wonder if there'll ever be another Kareem. I don't know how old you are but Kareem was a complete one-off at the time and there hasn't been one since. Still the all-time leading points scorer ahead of all the greats including Jordan etc. He's obviously famed for the Skyhook. At the time there weren't as many videos to watch so i pretty much assumed he hit a couple of skyhooks a game from 4-6 feet when the offence had broken down. Not a chance, it was his f***ing "go-to" move from 6-12 feet, even further sometimes which is f***ing mental in a game situation. Kareem was unstoppable on his day, which was pretty much every day.

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Re: Basketball

Post by Mifune » Tue Jun 06, 2017 10:42 am

Not old enough to have seen him play at the time but seen plenty of video of him play. I feel he is always badly overlooked when people talk about greatest ever, he deserves to be in that conversation more than he is.

I think Hakeem has said he sees some of himself in Embiid and has offered to train him. Embiid has said before that he is one of his idols and studies him a lot. Which you can tell.


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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Tue Jun 06, 2017 11:45 am

Mifune wrote:Not old enough to have seen him play at the time but seen plenty of video of him play. I feel he is always badly overlooked when people talk about greatest ever, he deserves to be in that conversation more than he is.

I think Hakeem has said he sees some of himself in Embiid and has offered to train him. Embiid has said before that he is one of his idols and studies him a lot. Which you can tell.

100% agree about Kareem and how he's perceived. It's only fairly recently that he's started to appear on sports/basketball analysis programmes. He's a multi ring winning all-star, Hall Of Famer and All Time greatest points scorer FFS!!! He was either winning finals, at finals or in the play-offs for the best part of 2 f***ing decades!!!
You can only really judge players in their own generation. Kareem was one, if not the very best across two of the greatest generations!!! Teams tried to stop him every night and most just gave up, opting to try and deny the inbound pass.

You can absolutely see Hakeem's moves in Embiid, especially the footwork and head fake spins. I obviously knew all about Embiid but watching the video you posted closely really shows how fast and fluent he is with those moves, no jerkiness whatsoever. For a player so young that is absolutely outstanding. Being truthful i doubt even Hakeem was so smooth at that age, although Embiid has the advantage of being able to copy and develop. Hakeem was a pioneer, just like Kareem.

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Re: Basketball

Post by The Deluded Pablo Diego Jose Francisco » Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:02 pm

I really cannot see GSW losing this now, KD seems like a man on a mission in these finals and will deservedly be the finals MVP.

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Re: Basketball

Post by PISTON (BLACKCAT) » Sat Jun 10, 2017 10:51 am

3-1 now.
Can't see GSW having three bad shooting games if they're given good looks from outside. Cavs need to get right into their faces and give them some kind of pressure so GSW at least have something to think about. Cavs need to change the odds, not wait for GSW to let them work themselves out.
Nothing is impossible but the sheer number of things that need to go the Cavs way across three games would make this a miracle in my opinion. Stack all those low percentages together and you'd have a better chance winning the National Lottery two weeks running!
No team has ever come back from 3-0 down in the finals.

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