Warriors vs Cavs || First Take gm2 ||

I was talking with my boy... I can’t think of another star, where if you took away his tricks he would be knocked down a tier.

Athletic Alchemy

Not sure we will be able to retain Javale.. Bell is a keeper my only concern with him is health.

Athletic Alchemy

you see when he got down hill last night!? He is running out of juice.

Athletic Alchemy

About starting Javale, I think we do it again, Looney has proven that in the Houston series he could at least slow down Harden, also Harden starts every set looking to catch someone so that he can get a foul call. Looney is disciplined and worked well then. But Javale has much better hands and rolls to the rim and can finish so much better. And Javale can stay with LeBron a little better than Harden, of course it takes someone else in the paint but other than Dray it's always going to take someone else at the rim anyway. Looneys hands are his achilles heal. He seems to have very little ability to catch the ball, especially in traffic. Now I'm thinking they don't sign him next year, Bell has more upside and will save us money. The wild card is D Jones... Back to Harden, I hope the refs get together next year and further cut down his ability to get foul calls. First on the agenda is his move where he stops establishes a pivot foot then hops both feet back 4 feet (yes a travel) then jumps forward to shoot his 3. It's impossible to eat up his air space to contest straight on as with the hop back he is able to come back forward at the defender when he shoots. Had to get that off my chest.

Russ

⬆️ This

DaniellieeE

TINFOIL HAT SQUAD: Alcy baby you know they're gonna let LeBron get one in CLE so we can win on our home court and get that home game $$$. Watch one of these games in CLE we're mysteriously gonna try a itty bitty wittle teeny tiny bit less hard and oops CLE sneaks out an 11-point win (also gotta lose by enough so the stars aren't trying to chuck backflip circus shots in the last minute and break their legs).

Major Powers

One gets the feeling that Kerr got nudged out of his small ball with rookie centers fixation a bit by the contibutions by DWest when he actually was allowed to play against the Rockets and then Javale in his minutes in game one, and I was really happy to see him get the start last night. It was a kind of coaching aggression that we haven't seen from Kerr since he first started Iggy against the Spurs at the point, defining how the Warriors were going to play instead of letting the other team make that decision for them. There's an obvious tradeoff, but you can't always play it conservatively. Not sure how much that set the table for the big four to play the way they are at their best, Steph the front man, Dur-can uber-efficient with quiet domination, Hopalong Thompson filling holes every time they appear, and dRaymond always stirring the pot, but they were all on as a unit last night. Shawn was great, loved the West three, loved the Andre-Bell interaction, and it's cool to see Swaggy out there as a kind of defensive stopper, a physical force on that side of the ball, finally earning his money in an unexpected way. I still say it's going to be a split in the buckle on the rustbelt, and the Warriors to finish it off back in Oracle in five. And "Fresh Legs" Curry is halfway to his finals MVP. All as it should be.

I think this is a JaVale series. He vertically spaces the floor better than Looney and Looney uses his IQ to defend the perimeter, but LeBron can just get right by Looney, even though he gaps them. JaVale uses his quickness and athleticism to defend the perimeter, and can recover on LeBron. The Cavs also struggle to guard the pick and roll and JaVale is more of a pick and roll player and Looney can't finish around the basket or roll as well as JaVale. JaVale got a lot of dunks. The Cavs have no communication. Some players want to switch, others not. Even when the center doesn't get a wide open dunk, they get a favorable switch and the guard goes to work. "The Stop" looks different with a fresh Chef

You had said before, but really understood more from this game how Dray plus an offensive force in the center position change the offense and Draymond's impact on that side of the ball. That was the first game where I saw McGee able to play that many consecutive minutes without mentally switching off due to fatigue. They need to invest more McGee as the starting center next year throughout the series, regardless of his ups and down. It seems there are too many holes in the offense (even with 3 of the best scores in the league) with Dray on the perimeter and a big who can't or is hesitant to score. Once Bell develops a jumper, which I think he will, it should be those two playing the majority of the minutes in the 5 spot next year.

Stevie Ray

You forgot the stone around the Raptors neck......Drake! If you want to defend the north, Drake must die!

Steven Stanley

I am of the complete belief that the higher the score the more likely the Warriors win even in a game that will turn on 1 possession and I think the 2 factors that favor the Warriors so much in that scenario are: LeBron has a history of running out of gas (thus Irving was often the finisher), the faster the pace the more likely Lebron's legs are drained at the end effecting his 3 and free throws, and the bigger one is the Cavs still have core players who are slow in transition defense (Korver, Love, LeBron, JR, Thompson) and the faster the pace, the more that element of the Cavs NEEDING to sprinting back on defense comes into play. I applause Steve's use of JaVale last night because he was very good on the offensive end, pressuring the rim, spacing the floor, and when JaVale gives energy which he always does, other Warriors do as well....I recognize Javale didn't have much impact on the defensive end and occasionally he'll make a bonehead play. The only thing that concerns me about going the Cleveland is pace of game and health.

Steven Stanley

Half hoping LeBron finds another gear and his shooters rain fire in game 3. If he feels the sweep coming his body will surrender and his mind will turn to free agency by the third quarter. Also just got around to the LeBronto podcast episode. I was a Raptors bandwagon jumper but your roasts of T-Mobile assistant manager Lowry and "gecko-looking" Derozan had me howling.

Jason Treit

I agree it wasn’t as dominant as what the end result was. I have rewatch Javale’s minutes again. I don’t remember any specific blown coverages by him. If Steph and KD are going to both play well I don’t think Cavs can hang. Outside of a ridiculous 3 point night.

Athletic Alchemy

John Wooden: "All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low". Big win but we can't get comfortable. GSW shot almost 60% and Cavs shot 41%, but the game was still close thru 3 quarters when it should've been a blow out based on the stats. This is one cause for concern and we need to address it. The Cavs are still getting high quality shots off 90% of Lebron's drives. Our defense needs to get better bc they will make more of those shots in Cleveland. Javale had nice stats on the surface but I don't think he was amazing like you think. The defense was bad with Javale on the court. Plus/minus: Javale +0, West +10, Looney +6, Bell +4.