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Why are you comparing the Warrior's competition to the Cavs? The Warriors won 73 games. The Cavs won 57 games. The Warriors SHOULD have an easier path. 57 wins is a 3 seed out west and it means going through the Spurs/Thunder AND Warriors.
BTW - 2015 Grizzlies and 2016 Thunder > any east team Lebron has faced in 2 years.
The Spurs are another great team from the west - let's look at their road the last 4 years:
What about the 2011 Mavs...48 win Blazers, 57 win defending champ Lakers AND 55 win Thunder...all before getting a crack at the east's beat team.
As you see, great teams out west have regularly had to face teams in the 2nd and 3rd rounds that are as good or better than whoever they could meet in the finals.
Cavs have swept their past three Eastern Conference opponents so if OKC or Memphis are better than their last three opponents or any other eastern conference team...is it a 5 or 6 game series
The Cavs could have easily had another 5-7 wins if they gave a lick about the Regular season
Last edited by eastcoastbias; 05-14-2016 at 06:59 PM..
Cavs have swept their past three Eastern Conference opponents so if OKC or Memphis are better than their last three opponents or any other eastern conference team...is it a 5 or 6 game series
I don't think sweeping Hawks or Pistons means anything. Spurs, Warriors, OKC or healthy Clippers also sweep those teams. I'm wondering if any team in the east aside from Cavs can beat Lillard and the Blazers in a 7 game series.
And why would another 5-7 regular season wins matter - they would still be the 3rd seed out west. That means they probably go through Spurs and Warriors/Thunder to make the Finals. Playing in 2-3 series where you have a very real possibility of losing is surely more difficult than playing in 1, right?
i guess you can look at it that way. GS shedding nerves or the Cavs running out of bodies and scorers...this is debatable...probably both were considerable factors.
Let me ask you...Would the finals be different this year if Curry didn't have Thompson and Green? Would things be suddenly okay if Livingston is playing 35 mins a game and Speights is inserted more and relied upon heavily.
I'd like to see what others think mainly the betting public...Cavs with home court would be dawgs against OKC???? Just anothet Lakers won't sniff the playoffs the next four seasons kind of wager. You want to play the psych card with past NBA Final experience...can Durant beat Lebron?
I'm not talking about MY opinion but rather the betting public and I explained why.
So what? That's the way it shook down. It had to be an advantage for the Warriors to cruise into The Finals last year without facing a team that could beat them. Lest we forget:
1) Swept Pelicans 4-0. Might I add that the Pelicans were missing their center and point guard, to where they could have possibly stolen a game if they were 100%...
2) Beat Grizzlies 4-2. The Grizz played them tough the first few games and deserve credit for that, but no one picked Memphis to win that series. The last three games of that series was easy money for the Dubs...
3) Swept the Rockets 4-0, who were also missing their point and PF. Rockets could have won at least 2 if healthy; hell, Memphis won 2 and last year's Rockets were better than them...
So Golden State had the easy waltz into The Finals last year---they avoided having to play OKC in the first round, and they avoided San Antonio and LAC in the West Finals since one of those teams had to eliminate the other. Cleveland was by farthe toughest competition they had last year, and even then, they got a Cleveland team that went 2-3 without Love and Kyrie (Game 1 last year was an instant classic; it is entirely plausible to believe the Cavs could have won that game had Kyrie not gotten hurt). That Cavs team, the same team that was "unchallenged" last year too, won 2/5 without their second and third best players...
Don't talk about who had/has the easy road. Everybody the Warriors played last year was hurt to hell. They lost two games to Lebron and a bunch of role players. Its about time they get some prime competition in the Thunder...
Granted I was over in Europe for the conference finals last year, and most of the restaurants I were at were showing hockey, but I'm pretty sure the Rockets won 1 game against them last year.
Why are you comparing the Warrior's competition to the Cavs? The Warriors won 73 games. The Cavs won 57 games. The Warriors SHOULD have an easier path. 57 wins is a 3 seed out west and it means going through the Spurs/Thunder AND Warriors.
BTW - 2015 Grizzlies and 2016 Thunder > any east team Lebron has faced in 2 years.
The Spurs are another great team from the west - let's look at their road the last 4 years:
What about the 2011 Mavs...48 win Blazers, 57 win defending champ Lakers AND 55 win Thunder...all before getting a crack at the east's beat team.
As you see, great teams out west have regularly had to face teams in the 2nd and 3rd rounds that are as good or better than whoever they could meet in the finals.
You're talking about everyone else. I'm telling you that the 2015 Golden State Warriors didn't play a gladiator schedule to The Finals. The Cavs played the Bulls and the Hawks last year, had a tougher road than Golden State. Hell, the '16 Warriors are just now getting ready to play a team that's both fully healthy AND explosive enough to beat them. First competition in the last two postseasons....
Listen, at the end of the day, we're all discussing semantics. It doesn't matter how you win, as long as you do. I get so tired of you (and others) always bitching about the East and Lebron "having it easy", without pointing out how relatively easy the Warriors had it last year...
You're talking about everyone else. I'm telling you that the 2015 Golden State Warriors didn't play a gladiator schedule to The Finals. The Cavs played the Bulls and the Hawks last year, had a tougher road than Golden State. Hell, the '16 Warriors are just now getting ready to play a team that's both fully healthy AND explosive enough to beat them. First competition in the last two postseasons....
Listen, at the end of the day, we're all discussing semantics. It doesn't matter how you win, as long as you do. I get so tired of you (and others) always bitching about the East and Lebron "having it easy", without pointing out how relatively easy the Warriors had it last year...
The Warriors are one team and 2015 is one season where anything can happen. If the Cavs play out west they are thrown into the shuffle. Perhaps they get GSW's road or perhaps the get the Thunder or Spurs road. If not for injuries, the Warriors would've played the Clippers and now Thunder. They played a good Grizzlies team last year. The point is - a team out west has a better chance of meeting a team that can prevent them from making the finals. I don't think anyone will disagree with that. Sure the Warriors were lucky to get some breaks (if you call 55 win Grizz and Thunder a break), but I'm sure they would GLADLY take Lebron's road to the finals the last two years. Cavs had some breaks too if you recall - the Bulls were up 2-1 before Gasol's injury and the Hawks were absolutely gutted by injuries. This year, every team just sucks so the Cavs likely make the finals well rested.
If the finals matchup is GS vs Cleveland which I'm strongly leaning towards. I'm going to say GS in 6. While Lebron is going to do his thing the two I worry about most are Irving and Love as both are sieves defensively. One thing I don't like is when teams change their style/personnel to matchup with a certain team. Cleveland subscribed to this theory and so far it's working. Granted DET/ATL aren't what I would call great teams but atleast it gave the Cavs a chance for two extra practice rounds.
So what? That's the way it shook down. It had to be an advantage for the Warriors to cruise into The Finals last year without facing a team that could beat them. Lest we forget:
1) Swept Pelicans 4-0. Might I add that the Pelicans were missing their center and point guard, to where they could have possibly stolen a game if they were 100%...
2) Beat Grizzlies 4-2. The Grizz played them tough the first few games and deserve credit for that, but no one picked Memphis to win that series. The last three games of that series was easy money for the Dubs...
3) Swept the Rockets 4-0, who were also missing their point and PF. Rockets could have won at least 2 if healthy; hell, Memphis won 2 and last year's Rockets were better than them...
So Golden State had the easy waltz into The Finals last year---they avoided having to play OKC in the first round, and they avoided San Antonio and LAC in the West Finals since one of those teams had to eliminate the other. Cleveland was by farthe toughest competition they had last year, and even then, they got a Cleveland team that went 2-3 without Love and Kyrie (Game 1 last year was an instant classic; it is entirely plausible to believe the Cavs could have won that game had Kyrie not gotten hurt). That Cavs team, the same team that was "unchallenged" last year too, won 2/5 without their second and third best players...
Don't talk about who had/has the easy road. Everybody the Warriors played last year was hurt to hell. They lost two games to Lebron and a bunch of role players. Its about time they get some prime competition in the Thunder...
I get the feeling that if GS won it all this season you'd be making the same argument:
"Warriors avoided playing the Spurs and Clippers, the 2nd and 3rd seeded teams".
They didn't avoid playing any team. It's not their problem if the other teams avoided them by losing or not making the playoffs.
Btw, they didn't sweep the Rockets last season nor this season. How did the fullstrength Rockets do against the Curry-less Warriors this post-season?
I'll take the Raptors over the Heat today 89-85 to conclude the conference finalists teams.
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