Lets Talk NBA Finals (Matchups & Analysis)

[Git Lo]

Curry has been an offensive threat for years, he plays a way harder position and is undersized it just took longer for people to recognize game. You do realize Lebron can win MVP and not win the ship?

[NBA Maniac]

I hate Le \*\*\*\*\*\*, But now also hate Chicken Curry...
Need to think who i hate more lol

[sando]

Let's hold the reigns on greatest offensive player of all time, let's not forget about the numbers that Jordan was putting up in an era where you could handcheck and the league was littered with elite bigs (and superior overall talent)

Let's be honest, Curry has only been an elite level player for two years


Lebron has been in the league a while, learned from losing to the spurs two out of the three times he faced them that playoffs is all that matters, and to a larger extent, the finals. spurs never gave a fukk about regular season accolades, you keep your eyes on the prize. lebron is coming into this series with fresh legs and we will see him play at a higher level than anyone else on the floor this series. I'll come back to this thread to eat crow if I'm wrong.

Lebron will win finals mvp and that's really the only mvp that matters at the end of the day.

Fair enough. You make some good points. I'm not convinced, however as you said we shall see very soon. Good luck mate.

[KRIT]

One big advantage no one has talked about is Kerr running circles around Lue. I don't think Kerr is all that great, but Lue is clueless. Even if it was OKC, Billy Donovan would have taken Lue to school.

[Snowball]

Cleveland is going to beat the living snot out of the Warriors.
Golden State is nothing on defense. Cleveland can hurt them
in so many ways, there is nothing they can or will do about it
except keep looking up at the scoreboard and getting more and more
desperate as Curry and Thompson try to make hero 3's when they
are down 10+. Over and over again. Irving is a good defender.
Love is a scoring threat, unlike Bogut. JR Smith is a long-shooting
threat the Warriors can't ignore. LeBron can do anything from charge
the hoop to captain complicated schemes. He will be focused on
but that will draw open shooters, as LeBron also excels at the kick-out
pass. The Cleveland bench is stacked with pros who will never give
Golden State any rest. Cleveland is smart on committing fouls and smart
on drawing fouls. Cleveland has the perfect attitude and did not scrape by
anyone, unlike Golden State. Cleveland is loose and healthy. They are
so happy Golden State won because now they can take back the Championship
LeBron worked so hard for but had an injured, lesser squad and a coaching
controversy. None of that now. This will be an enormous, historic win for
the city of Cleveland, who will celebrate their first NBA Championship then
host the Republican convention in the Quicken Arena, then Donald Trump
will post his nomination speech at FirstEnergy just a short walk away,
in front of over 90,000 supporters and the whole country.
I am ready to cash this ticket on both Cleveland and Donald Trump.

[Eddy Munny]

A bit better than Lebron? Are you crazy? Curry is the best offensive player we have seen in a very long time, possibly ever? (Certainly up for debate)

You do realise he was just voted unanimous MVP right? That means he is the most valuable player. Not Lebron. It also means Lebron did not get a single vote. Nobody thought Lebron was the MVP. But of course I can already anticipate your reply "It's a media award, doesn't mean anything" correct?

I am not trying to pick a fight with you, but it's completely ludicrous that you would even say "Lebron is the better passer". The only reason Steph doesn't average Wall/Rondo/Westbrook level assists is because he is so gifted offensively & averages 30 ppg. The kid has the best handles in the game, elite vision & pinpoint passing. Go look at Curry highlights on YouTube and you will see for yourself. Assists highlights not scoring obviously. Lebron is easily the best point-forward in the game but he is not even close to the elite passing point guards (Wall, CP3, Curry, Westbrook, etc)

You either don't understand the game or you are an irrational Cav's homer if you truly think he is a better passer than Curry.

I actually disagree with this. Watching the games, I'm often amazed at how many of Lebron's passes result in wide-open looks for the player on the receiving end... even if it doesn't necessarily result in an assist.

When he's holding the ball, you can just see the wheels turning in his mind... he's not simply contemplating his next move to the basket. He's surveying the defense, anticipating their response to his moves, anticipating his own teammates reaction to the defense, and responding accordingly.

And it's not just that he often makes the right pass... but the pass itself is a thing of beauty. His remarkable strength enables him to fire a fastball to another teammate seemingly from anywhere on the court, from a variety of angles... passes that might result in turnovers for mere mortals. More often than not, he hits his target right in the numbers, allowing the recipient to immediately get into his shooting motion.

This Lebron does while also shouldering the lion's share of the scoring, good deal of rebounding, and often being tasked with guarding the other teams' best scorer... if Lebron was a one-dimensional player whose sole asset on the floor was facilitating, he too could put up Rondo type assist numbers.

[JayDr3am]

I have seen you support Louie constantly. That guy is the scourge of this entire forum. Therefore your opinion is worthless. Leave this discussion to the grown up's.

hahahahaha i support louie louie cause its funny to get him goin. i support him strictly for entertainment purposes. i know how much yall despise him but being the contrarian i am, i have no choice but to egg him on and encourage his madness. i know louie louie is wrong 90% of the time (hes going to kill me when he reads this) lmao but louie louie is my boy!

[tsty]

Why do people bring up the hand checking argument every single time? lol what about the fact there was no defence back then?

Curry/Lebron would of averaged 40+ in Jordan's era

[JayDr3am]

Why do people bring up the hand checking argument every single time? lol what about the fact there was no defence back then?

Curry/Lebron would of averaged 40+ in Jordan's era

curry wouldnt have done shit in jordans era.. they were too rough back then. curry would have 3 injured knees. and dont ask where the other knee came from. thats how bad they would've fukked him up. if curry played with the arrogance he does and shot this good back in the day he would be on the ground more than half the game.

[spargament]

Analysis:

Cavaliers superior team. deeper. more athletic. physically stronger. greater distribution of talent.
little warriors inferior. smaller. weaker. more brittle. most ability restricted to two contributors.
LeBron second coach. instructs. teaches. hones team performance. work together.

little curry. expert in early celebration. PhD. perfected it. what me shoot. celebrate early. team witnessed. learned.
now all little warriors expert early celebrators

not good. bad skill to develop. not a skill. habit. a bad habit. early celebration. kiss-of-death

Analysis:

Ratzz bad capper. Biased. Buys his own bs. Only writes in fragments.
Spargament quicker. Objective. Willing to listen to those that present well-formulated arguments.
Ratzz and Louie sound identical. circlejerk. delusional duo.

Spargament. Telling it how it is. PhD. Perfected it.

...okay that was already exhausting and I just ran into the "what me shoot" part that I can't even decipher.

[survive]

One thing to keep in mind...gsw isn't gonna get caught up in the moment like they did last year in the first few finals games

[tsty]

curry wouldnt have done shit in jordans era.. they were too rough back then. curry would have 3 injured knees. and dont ask where the other knee came from. thats how bad they would've fukked him up. if curry played with the arrogance he does and shot this good back in the day he would be on the ground more than half the game.

lol hand checking would have zero influence on curry's game

The fact that you are forced to play 1v1..lol

[sando]

hahahahaha i support louie louie cause its funny to get him goin. i support him strictly for entertainment purposes. i know how much yall despise him but being the contrarian i am, i have no choice but to egg him on and encourage his madness. i know louie louie is wrong 90% of the time (hes going to kill me when he reads this) lmao but louie louie is my boy!

Fair enough. There probably is no point arguing over the whole Curry/Lebron thing, because as KRIT said it is rather subjective and hard to quantify. Good luck with your plays in the finals.

[JayDr3am]

Fair enough. There probably is no point arguing over the whole Curry/Lebron thing, because as KRIT said it is rather subjective and hard to quantify. Good luck with your plays in the finals.

i agree with krit. its hard to quantify, thats also the beauty of sports.

& oh its never an argument.. just hardcore banter

[sando]

I just went to YouTube and picked the very first video that came up when I searched for "Curry assist highlights". There are plenty more videos. Hell this one is from 2 years ago. I don't think you guys that are trying to make an argument for Lebron being the better passer are aware of what exactly Curry can do when he is not looking to score.

Handle - Curry has the best handles in the league (huge part of being a great passer) - Irving is also really good, same as CP3 & J-Smoove, but nobody is on Curry's level. Guy can embarrass anyone, including the most elite perimeter defenders.

Vision - Lebron's court vision is elite, but I would go as far as to say Curry's is other-worldly. Look at how many behind the back & no look passes he pulls off & usually hits his man in rhythm.

#5 & #6 are ridiculous...

[JayDr3am]

currys handles are nice.. hes got a couple moves in his bag but he doesnt come near the passer lebron is im sorry sando he just doesnt

[sando]

currys handles are nice.. hes got a couple moves in his bag but he doesnt come near the passer lebron is im sorry sando he just doesnt

I give up. You can't debate with Cav's fans. Lebron is top 10. Curry is in the discussion as best passer in the league. The discussion would be between Westbrook, Wall, Curry, CP3, Rondo & probably Rubio too. Small minds just see his 7 assists per game & think he is not elite. Well it's hard to average 10+ assists unless you are a pass first pg (as all of those mentioned are other than Westbrook). To average over 30ppg and still be good for 6-7 assists is amazing in itself. With his handles & vision could easily average 10-12 assists per game if he wasn't such a deadly offensive threat.

[JayDr3am]

I give up. You can't debate with Cav's fans. Lebron is top 10. Curry is in the discussion as best passer in the league. The discussion would be between Westbrook, Wall, Curry, CP3, Rondo & probably Rubio too. Small minds just see his 7 assists per game & think he is not elite. Well it's hard to average 10+ assists unless you are a pass first pg (as all of those mentioned are other than Westbrook). To average over 30ppg and still be good for 6-7 assists is amazing in itself. With his handles & vision could easily average 10-12 assists per game if he wasn't such a deadly offensive threat.

guess what sando, lebron does it all.

[Eddy Munny]

Well Curry is a point guard... he's got a point guard's body and a point guard's handle. There are just certain things a Porsche can do that a Hummer can't. But if we are judging a player's passing ability purely on effectiveness, and not so much aesthetics, I think Lebron is in the conversation with Curry.

Curry gets the nod for creativity, but Lebron's passing isn't just an afterthought to his game. James seemingly always finds a way to get teammates involved and that's a major reason why he instantly elevates any band of scrubs he shares the floor with.

Curry is more likely to find one of his passes on "Sportscenter's Top 10" but Lebron's passing prowess is just as impactful to outcome of a game. It's just that Lebron's passes are more utilitarian, I guess you could say. He often times makes them look much easier than they really are.

[DrUppercut]

While I enjoy a healthy debate, the finals will not come down to who is a better player, Steph or LeBron. It will come down to matchups and team basketball. When capping a game matchups are key. For those who claim Cleveland will win easy because now they have Kyrie and Love, it's not like they will play 7 On 5 now. You now lose Tristan Thompson minutes by playing Love and Thompson is considerably better at pick and roll defense. Steph and Draymond use the pick and roll extensively and that's not a situation you want Love in. Kyrie can play defense well when he wants, but I doubt his ability to play 40 minutes of D 7 games in a row. So the added ability to take the burden of carrying the offensive load off LeBron comes at a price of weaker defense. The Cavs will probably try to beat the warriors at their own game of 3's which I wouldn't want to bet on. Yes the Cavs will get hot and win a couple of games when they shoot lights out but trying to outshoot the warriors isn't something I'd like to back with my money. I'm taking the warriors -5.5 game 1

[Menses]

Cleveland is going to beat the living snot out of the Warriors.
Golden State is nothing on defense. Cleveland can hurt them
in so many ways, there is nothing they can or will do about it
except keep looking up at the scoreboard and getting more and more
desperate as Curry and Thompson try to make hero 3's when they
are down 10+. Over and over again. Irving is a good defender.
Love is a scoring threat, unlike Bogut. JR Smith is a long-shooting
threat the Warriors can't ignore. LeBron can do anything from charge
the hoop to captain complicated schemes. He will be focused on
but that will draw open shooters, as LeBron also excels at the kick-out
pass. The Cleveland bench is stacked with pros who will never give
Golden State any rest. Cleveland is smart on committing fouls and smart
on drawing fouls. Cleveland has the perfect attitude and did not scrape by
anyone, unlike Golden State. Cleveland is loose and healthy. They are
so happy Golden State won because now they can take back the Championship
LeBron worked so hard for but had an injured, lesser squad and a coaching
controversy. None of that now. This will be an enormous, historic win for
the city of Cleveland, who will celebrate their first NBA Championship then
host the Republican convention in the Quicken Arena, then Donald Trump
will post his nomination speech at FirstEnergy just a short walk away,
in front of over 90,000 supporters and the whole country.
I am ready to cash this ticket on both Cleveland and Donald Trump.

GSW are good defenders.best in the league ..CAVS are horrific on defense..lol and Kyrie is a turn style...what I expect to see once in a while is Lue go ham and put Bron on Curry just to piss people off..and shut him down for a quarter....Donovan had Adams guarding Curry in the 4th... but of course that series was rigged....watch the difference in how Curry is defended..Shumpert..Bron, Delladova...on the switch...physical play....he scores 25 ish....but the video game shit stops in this series....

[Menses]

Why do people bring up the hand checking argument every single time? lol what about the fact there was no defence back then?

Curry/Lebron would of averaged 40+ in Jordan's era

Curry not so much...the defender could handcheck across mid court.constant physical play...back then it was delladova all day long.....and fouls were not a given..unless you were Jordan...Bron cannot shoot to save his life...neither would average 40....not a chance...

[sando]

Well Curry is a point guard... he's got a point guard's body and a point guard's handle. There are just certain things a Porsche can do that a Hummer can't. But if we are judging a player's passing ability purely on effectiveness, and not so much aesthetics, I think Lebron is in the conversation with Curry.

Curry gets the nod for creativity, but Lebron's passing isn't just an afterthought to his game. James seemingly always finds a way to get teammates involved and that's a major reason why he instantly elevates any band of scrubs he shares the floor with.

Curry is more likely to find one of his passes on "Sportscenter's Top 10" but Lebron's passing prowess is just as impactful to outcome of a game. It's just that Lebron's passes are more utilitarian, I guess you could say. He often times makes them look much easier than they really are.

Eddy you are a classy guy & sharp as a fox. Can't argue with your logic. Good luck with your over today...

[JArrieta49]

But they have a coward as their leader.

bingo

[DrUppercut]

Tonight was an indication of how much better the warriors are as a team. LeBron is a better individual player but Steph is on a better team. Their ability to lock in on defense allowed them many opportunities in transition which allowed them to control the game. Doesn't matter who's better, Steph or LeBron, it matters which team is better and how the components of the team match up with each other. Let's knock off the fan arguments and get into some real analysis!

[Yuri7999]

Cavs have

1) best player in the game
2) revenge
3) so much more rest
4) numerology
5) better depth
6) can match offensively
7) bigger chip on shoulder

With no lue, frye, love or Irving took the exact same team to 6 games

I would not be surprised if cavs won in 5 games but think you can take the cavs win in 6games propane go to sleep

Bro Lebron almost beat gsw alone last year! Imagine adding Kyrie and love .. Trust me CAVS won't play the same as when they played gsw earlier this year ! This is the playoffs and a lot have change..

Analysis:

Cavaliers superior team. deeper. more athletic. physically stronger. greater distribution of talent.
little warriors inferior. smaller. weaker. more brittle. most ability restricted to two contributors.
LeBron second coach. instructs. teaches. hones team performance. work together.

little curry. expert in early celebration. PhD. perfected it. what me shoot. celebrate early. team witnessed. learned.
now all little warriors expert early celebrators

not good. bad skill to develop. not a skill. habit. a bad habit. early celebration. kiss-of-death

Really? Didn't look like that tonight. Only one game, but not looking good for cavs backers. Where are you at, ratzz and loserloser? I want more of your brilliant basketball analysis. Clowns!

[Git Lo]

Tonight was an indication of how much better the warriors are as a team. LeBron is a better individual player but Steph is on a better team. Their ability to lock in on defense allowed them many opportunities in transition which allowed them to control the game. Doesn't matter who's better, Steph or LeBron, it matters which team is better and how the components of the team match up with each other. Let's knock off the fan arguments and get into some real analysis!

thank you for have a fukkin clue sheesh

[DrUppercut]

In the spirit of my last post let's look at some of the things the Cavs can do different in the second game. Cavs will definitely make adjustments. They need to do a better job controlling the glass, a weakness Oklahoma city exploited to some success in the conference finals. LeBron needs to take over on offense like last year and really control the game. Kyrie can definitely improve on his performance as well by playing within the system a little more to get better quality shots. Lue wil probably play Frye more due to love's defensive liabilities. I thought Thompson played well and though I don't expect it i would try to play Mozgov and really pound golden state on the glass. I would try and get Mozgov minutes when bogut is in the game and have the guard defender try and fight thru the pick rather than switch and expose Mozgov's defensive liability. But overall I still think the Cavs have a tough task ahead because the warriors are superior defensively.

[DrUppercut]

Hey KRIT what side do you like in game 3?

[Git Lo]

There he goes again stab stab stab stab

[Yazworm91]

Actually Curry is commonly accepted as the best basketball player in the world these days, so that would make him the best player on the floor. Nobody stays at the top forever, however Lebron is still a beast no doubt, but there is a very good reason Curry was unanimously voted the MVP this season.

If there is any question on who is still the best player in this league it's been answered once again in the finals this year. Regardless of the outcome of game 7. Curry is one of the biggest jokes of an MVP in basketball history. Like I stated either in this thread or another. Klay is the best player on that GSW team. And Lebron is the best player on any court.

[Yazworm91]

I've never trolled anyone on this forum but all of this is laughable...except my original post.

Actually Curry is commonly accepted as the best basketball player in the world these days, so that would make him the best player on the floor. Nobody stays at the top forever, however Lebron is still a beast no doubt, but there is a very good reason Curry was unanimously voted the MVP this season.

He wasn't even the 5th best player on the court in this Finals.

1. Lebron
2. Kyrie
3. Draymond
4. Klay
5. Curry

Accepted by who? The media? When Curry averages 35.8 pts, 8.8 apg and 13.3 rpg in the finals then we can start talking about being on the same planet as Lebron. Curry is a great shooter but you take Klay or Green off that team they don't beat Portland. You take everyone off the cavs, Lebron still make the finals and go to a game 6. Curry couldn't go to Philadelphia and turn their franchise around but Lebron could that's about as simple as it gets.

I was on okc +435 series and ate it when the better team couldn't close it out. I've now doubled up on Cleveland. If Gsw shoots 50% again from 3 line I'll just lose my money. Lebron wanted this match up. I'm not sure who all paid attention close enough in game 1 last year when Kyrie played one of his best defensive games ever before he got hurt. You could tell he had already decided he was going to show Curry he was better and he did up until he got hurt.

Kyrie outplayed him this entire series. Just like he had planned on doing last year.

Everything you have said is simply your opinion, not fact. I barely agree with any of it, for example - you are implying Curry can't create his own shot, which makes me question how much you even know about basketball? Anyway I hope you haven't put too much money on the Cav's because IMO the Warriors are the better team clearly & they have home court (bonus).

He didn't create his own shot this entire series. He is a system quarterback.

Oh it's "Bron" is it? Yeah you're definitely not the standard Heat/Cav's fan boy who thinks Lebron can do no wrong.

I'm not a Warriors fan, but it is plainly obvious that Curry is the most valuable player in the league. Also the most dangerous, as in how easily he can turn a game on it's head. He is also the most exciting player to watch. Lebron was once these things, but time catches up to everyone eventually...

Yea did you see how Lebron caught up to Iggy to block his shot when the game was on the line? What about the last two games when Curry would cry about getting fouled instead of getting back on defense??

[Time is Money]

I think you got some crow to eat in this thread, Sando.