Hoosierhoopster

Philly says they're going to make a run for PG. Now that would be interesting. I am a now well-documented PG fan, but even leaving that aside, he would make Philly an immediate title contender, perfect fit, imo. Don't think it happens, just looking at it from Philly's perspective.

Absolutely- but he had Kyrie without whom they lose that series, and an all around better team around him.

I only watched the first quarter tonight but noticed in the last game that the C’s ran a 2-3 zone several times (don’t see that a lot in the League!) and LeBron carved it up with smart passing. Game 5 should be a war. Now we see how the young C’s Handle pressure, and how much difference home court makes. One thing has been consistent, your C’s have played much better at home. That of course is a hallmark of a young team and your rising stars may step it up. Tristian has been a major part of the Cavs better play.

I think Cavs win the next and it’s 2-2. Averages favor C’s, since Cavs would have to have won 4 of 5 after dropping 2, but I think Game 5 is the one to watch, if C’s just win that at home to go up 3-2 that’s a ton of pressure

I guess you can call that a statement game. Tristian T makes a difference. Let’s see what the C’s do in game 4

EJ was big time tonight. Rockets played with great ball movement, much, much better game with less iso and great attacking play

Go Arsenal!

Cleveland is such a weird team in these playoffs. I agree with Van Grundy that LBJ’s greatness is camouflaging the problems with that team. Boston is better, no question. Now we’ll see if LeBron is able to come back from 0-2 and beat your C’s largely on his play. At this point I think your C’s are on their way to the Finals (where they lose), but LeBron, we’ll see

Your C’s are playing very well, but I don’t see them in 5 over the P’s, 6 yes, 5 no, not the way Vic was playing. That’s a little bit much on the homer scale there my friend!

C’s will go up 2-0. Things will get interesting in Cleveland

Agree on all points. LeBron has played his best basketball of his career, outside of the comeback from down 1-3 to beat GS for the Championship. When he brings it, he's just been unstoppable. But the Cavs are something of an enigma this year, they've played so badly including in the playoffs in some games and then turned around and blitzed the Raptors (who seemed to lose their mojo after that Game 1 loss). I've started thinking of the Cavs as the team example of "Good Troy Bad Troy" lol.

Yes, that's what I mean by interesting, will LeBron and the Cavs come out and throw it down, or are they in bad shape against Boston? I tend to think LeBron will take over, especially with the ridiculous "LeBron defender" statement (what an idiot, a direct vocal challenge to LeBron is about as stupid a thing as can be done in the playoffs). But the game planning by Stevens, and the Celtics' never-say-die play should make this more interesting. These Cavs are playing better, and LeBron is by far the best player on the floor, but the Cavs still aren't very good.

Cavs didn’t even show up. Game 2 will be interesting

Time will tell. I agree much of how the Raptors failed against Cleveland falls on Lowry and DeRozan — and in that respect a new coach who is able to get more from them may help — but by the same token I don’t think the seeep by the Cavs can be laid at the feet of Casey. The Raps just aren’t good enough, and the Cavs are playing a lot better, as weak as they’ve been. Casey clearly did a really good job this season and over the past 6-7, notwithstanding the Cavs / LeBron beat down

^^ And he's a key building block for Toronto. They love him, there's just no reason they would trade him barring, as Gleas indicates, a blockbuster superstar trade.

Yeah, and more than on the surface. He improved their record in 6 if the past 7 years, took them to the number 1 seed in the East and won more games this season, I believe, than Toronto had ever won. And he just won COY. Then they fire him. Might’ve in part been due to benching DeRozan, but probably more just because they got embarrassed, again, by LeBron. Msybe the plan is like what GS did when they fired Mark J, who built that team into which Kerr just stepped, and then got all the glory. Still seems stupid to me, but time will tell

You're probably right, and you certainly know your C's better than I do. I'm obviously not a C's fan, but I love how well they're playing as a group right now, that 4th quarter last night was outstanding, and they just don't quit. Both Rozier and Smart had great plays, whoever gets either gets minimally a really solid player. If the P's were to get Rozier, that would be a strong move. As good as the P's played this year (with Vic in), that group is missing a couple of pieces. Rozier, that would be interesting. Btw, just went back and checked, didn't realize Smart led the +/- at +10.

Yeah I tend to think they'll lose one, that's a tough one. Smart does all those little things.

Didn’t think so either, and he got flustered and was too tentative going up, then Rozier made a great strip play. R is turning into a heck of s player

Those last 5 minutes were outstanding. Philly played great ball down the stretch to take the lead and Boston made unbelievable plays at the end to pull out the W with everything on the line! The defense and then Rozier's strip of "The Process" was fantastic, as were multiple plays over those 5 minutes. Like I said, I hear you on things to complain about in the NBA, and I have my own, and it's all about what any of us prefer, personally, but you agree that there are plenty of things in the college game -- UNC's dirty program and the NCAA's ineptitude, Coach Cal and his two vacated FF's running UK and building an NBA pipeline there (and of course UK is the most disciplined college program of all time), Louisville and Slick Rik, another winning program while using prostitutes etc. etc. etc. -- to be bothered with as well, right? I still enjoy college ball, along with the NBA.

Again it's all completely subjective, you like and dislike what you like and dislike, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's some great ball going on in the NBA right now, though

What a game last night, btw. I'm not a Philly or C's fan, but that was a great game. And I would LOVE to have Rozier on my team.

^^ And then there's the point that the college model, with the NCAA tourney one-and-out tourney, and the NBA model, with 7-game series in which the better team SHOULD win, are simply different. If your focus in on upsets, then college ball will be more appealing. For me, there is much to love in both (the level of basketball in the NBA is so much higher than college ball, it's close to the difference between high school and college ball), and there's much to complain about in both (the level of cheating in college ball, the impact of agents, the dirty college programs -- the same programs that often win it all, e.g., UNC, and in the NBA, the level of control star players have, the ridiculously bad and sometimes blatantly obvious favoratist officiating, etc. To each his own, it's a matter of preference

Thought of this discussion when I heard not one of the other coaches gave him a vote for COY this season - http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23455672/brad-stevens-coach-boston-celtics-downplays-not-receiving-single-vote-peers-coach-year-award Kind of makes me go, uh, what? He definitely deserved some votes -- each coach only got one vote, so I can see how it's possible he was a number of coaches' #2 pick or whatever. But still. Coaches who got a vote: Brett Brown D'Antoni Pop McMillan Rivers (... over Stevens, this year? Did he vote for himself?) Snyder Stotts Will be interesting to compare the media's picks. I loved his response: "The way that thing works is you get one vote. And I'm telling you, I looked at the sheet and there's no way that I would have voted for me over any of the other 29 people," Stevens said. "And the guy that should have won got it. And the other guys that got votes, they're unbelievable. "I'm stealing from those guys all the time. It's so incredible to have an opportunity to be one of 30. And I think it's a lot more important to just focus on competing with your team rather than trying to compare yourself to others. Because I'm telling you, if it gets to be a comparison contest, I'm screwed." How much of that is sincere Stevens, and how much of it is tongue in cheek? Great response.

Lol 😂