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The Cavs and Clippers have never played a 7 game series. A hungry Paul, Jordan, Griffin, Redick and Crawford would've gave the Cavs far more resistance than any team in the east. The same goes for OKC in a 7 game series. Looking at regular season games is pretty useless. Detroit was 3-1 against the Cavs, but look how that turned out..."competitive sweep".
Of course they haven't played a 7 game series. They're in a different Conference. If you want a one Conference league, feel free to start a petition to get the NBA to change it. Again this is more woulda, coulda, shoulda. Maybe the Clippers would give more resistance to the Cavs than any team in the East, and maybe they wouldn't. Maybe the Cavs would've won the championship last year if they had a healthy squad, but they didn't. Golden State was the better team, and stayed healthy.
The only series that's competitive right now is the Spurs-Thunder. Golden State is playing an overachieving, above average Portland team; the Warriors are the better team, you're suppose to be up 2-0 with or without Curry. The Warriors haven't had a team challenge them yet and don't say Game 2 because Portland wasn't gonna stay hot like that forever. The West is just top-heavy but beyond the top 3 or 4 rest of the West is average to mediocre. The East is starting to become more competitive, it's not the JV League that most of you Western Conference homers or the national media love to assume. Just because you have two great teams and a very good team in a conference doesn't make the whole conference great.
Two Game 7's were played in the East in the last round. The West 1st Round series ended in sweeps or 5 games, Blazers-Clippers was the only series that went Game 6. And, if you think the East Finals "will be another Cleveland cakewalk", you haven't been watching the Heat in these playoffs or you've only been watching the West in the playoffs. If they meet the Cavs in the East Finals, the Heat will give the Cavs a series. Now, if we were to play the Raptors then that would be a different story.
The fist paragraph can be address by the fact the Clippers two best players got season ending injuries in the same game. So Portland/GSW is not really the series comprised of the two best teams from that bracket.
And Miami has no shot against Cleveland without Bosh. Bosh would make it interesting, but they would still lose. If Miami is letting Charlotte take them 7 games, then they really aren't ready for the Cavs. The East playoffs are an afterthought. Cleveland might lose two games before making the Finals. And that's not because they are so great. Its because their competition is non-existent.
The Cavs and Clippers have never played a 7 game series. A hungry Paul, Jordan, Griffin, Redick and Crawford would've gave the Cavs far more resistance than any team in the east. The same goes for OKC in a 7 game series. Looking at regular season games is pretty useless. Detroit was 3-1 against the Cavs, but look how that turned out..."competitive sweep".
I guess we are finding out that the Regular season is meaningless, Cavs seem to be playing focused and inspired basketball.
The fist paragraph can be address by the fact the Clippers two best players got season ending injuries in the same game. So Portland/GSW is not really the series comprised of the two best teams from that bracket.
And Miami has no shot against Cleveland without Bosh. Bosh would make it interesting, but they would still lose. If Miami is letting Charlotte take them 7 games, then they really aren't ready for the Cavs. The East playoffs are an afterthought. Cleveland might lose two games before making the Finals. And that's not because they are so great. Its because their competition is non-existent.
Yea cause Golden States has had such tough competition so far. They played the worst team in the post-season, and got lucky and now get to play an average Portland team. How exciting.
Of course they haven't played a 7 game series. They're in a different Conference. If you want a one Conference league, feel free to start a petition to get the NBA to change it. Again this is more woulda, coulda, shoulda. Maybe the Clippers would give more resistance to the Cavs than any team in the East, and maybe they wouldn't. Maybe the Cavs would've won the championship last year if they had a healthy squad, but they didn't. Golden State was the better team, and stayed healthy.
No one is arguing for a one conference league. The point is - don't let regular season games be your barometer of how a 7 game series will go. As far as woulda, coulda, shoulda - don't talk sports if you don't like opinions. You'll be hard pressed to find many people that think the Clippers aren't a better team in a 7 game series than most if not all EC teams aside from the Cavs. The Hawks look to be on pace for a 2 year 0-8 record against the Cavs. The "2nd best" team in the east has possibly the worst playoff performing star combo we've ever seen.
People act like the Clippers have a resume of postseason dominance anyway:
2012: 40-26 (equivalent of 50-32 record in normal 82 game season), 5th seed, 4-3 1st round, swept 0-4 second round by Spurs 2013: 56-26; 4th seed, lost 2-4 to Memphis in 1st round 2014: 57-25; 3rd seed, won 1st round 4-3, lost to Thunder 2-4 2nd round 2015: 56-26 3rd seed; won 4-3 1st round, lost 3-4 2nd round to Rockets 2016: 53-29, 4th seed; lost 2-4 1st round to Blazers
Who exactly were the Clippers a legitimate threat to? Don't say Cleveland, and certainly not the Warriors. The Los Angeles Clippers are the Toronto Raptors of the West--2/5 of their playoffs in the Chris Paul era have ended in the first round. They've been to the second round three times in the Chris Paul era, with a total record of 5-12. They allowed the '15 Houston Rockets to make history on them by coming back down 1-3 to win the series last year. This is one of the more overrated teams of the last 15-16 years, with their overrated coach, their overrated stars (Paul, Griffin), and their chronic underachievement in the NBA playoffs. They aren't built for playoff ball, and their "elite" coach lucked into getting Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett when both ere still in their primes--otherwise he'd be Scotty Brooks...
Miss me with this talk of what the Clippers could have done. They weren't a lock to beat Portland this year, as the series was essentially going back to LA 2-2 before Paul and Griffin got injured. They are regressing in a conference that's regressing, and their window of opportunity has about one more year before it closes. Chris Paul has no significant success to his name, even after being paired with an all-star coach, an elite young frontcourt in Griffin and Jordan, and Top 3-4 seeds in the West year after year. Overrated...
The Los Angeles Clippers weren't a serious championship contender, and would have gotten smoked by Cleveland if they lucked their way into the Finals. Maybe they could have beaten Toronto, but honestly, what has anyone here seen from the LA Clippers in the last 5 years to make them believe they'd even be a lock in that series? Both they and the Raptors would have underachieved into the first ever NBA co-championship...
Overrated!
By the way, Golden State has earned their accolades with back to back seasons of regular season dominance, they are that good. I am a believer, but in all things fair, to this point, they have also had about the easiest stroll through the plaoffs in the last two years:
2015--played a Pelicans team missing Holiday that they would've probably swept anyway, but the Pels WERE NOT at full strength and the Warriors were; beat a full-strength but slow Memphis; beat an overachieving, injured Rockets team it would've probably taken 6-7 games to beat if the Rockets were full strength; beat a severely depleted Cavaliers team that logically could have beaten them if both sides were equal strength--Cavs won two games without either Irving or Love to scheme for! Not to mention they missed out on the Clippers (who ere better last year) and the Spurs...
2016--beat the Rockets, a team even worse than the Pelicans last year; beating up on an overachieving but talent-deprived Blazers team...
So while we all play the "what if" game, lets not take away from the Warriors' success, but lets also keep in context that they haven't exactly run through a strong West. This team has had a relatively easy postseason two years straight!
Last edited by murksiderock; 05-05-2016 at 03:30 PM..
No one is arguing for a one conference league. The point is - don't let regular season games be your barometer of how a 7 game series will go. As far as woulda, coulda, shoulda - don't talk sports if you don't like opinions. You'll be hard pressed to find many people that think the Clippers aren't a better team in a 7 game series than most if not all EC teams aside from the Cavs. The Hawks look to be on pace for a 2 year 0-8 record against the Cavs. The "2nd best" team in the east has possibly the worst playoff performing star combo we've ever seen.
Cool, I'm excited for the Cavs to beat the Warriors then. After all lets be fair, the Cavs were injured in last years playoffs and took the Warriors to 6 games. No way can the Warriors beat a healthy Cavs squad in 7 games. Regular season doesn't matter, so throw the two games the Cavs played against the Warriors out the window. And don't tell me what I can and can't talk about jack.
Yea cause Golden States has had such tough competition so far. They played the worst team in the post-season, and got lucky and now get to play an average Portland team. How exciting.
First round is a given for a #1 seed. The only reason they have it easier in the 2nd round is injuries. Granted, they are making it look easier than it should be given that they are playing without the league MVP.
Cool, I'm excited for the Cavs to beat the Warriors then. After all lets be fair, the Cavs were injured in last years playoffs and took the Warriors to 6 games. No way can the Warriors beat a healthy Cavs squad in 7 games. Regular season doesn't matter, so throw the two games the Cavs played against the Warriors out the window. And don't tell me what I can and can't talk about jack.
Your opinion is noted. And no one is telling you what to talk about - just don't think you can talk sports by dismissing everyone else's opinions as "woulda, coulda, shoulda". Sports is all about favorable and unfavorable breaks/scenarios.
People act like the Clippers have a resume of postseason dominance anyway:
2012: 40-26 (equivalent of 50-32 record in normal 82 game season), 5th seed, 4-3 1st round, swept 0-4 second round by Spurs 2013: 56-26; 4th seed, lost 2-4 to Memphis in 1st round 2014: 57-25; 3rd seed, won 1st round 4-3, lost to Thunder 2-4 2nd round 2015: 56-26 3rd seed; won 4-3 1st round, lost 3-4 2nd round to Rockets 2016: 53-29, 4th seed; lost 2-4 1st round to Blazers
Who exactly were the Clippers a legitimate threat to? Don't say Cleveland, and certainly not the Warriors. The Los Angeles Clippers are the Toronto Raptors of the West--2/5 of their playoffs in the Chris Paul era have ended in the first round. They've been to the second round three times in the Chris Paul era, with a total record of 5-12. They allowed the '15 Houston Rockets to make history on them by coming back down 1-3 to win the series last year. This is one of the more overrated teams of the last 15-16 years, with their overrated coach, their overrated stars (Paul, Griffin), and their chronic underachievement in the NBA playoffs. They aren't built for playoff ball, and their "elite" coach lucked into getting Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett when both ere still in their primes--otherwise he'd be Scotty Brooks...
Miss me with this talk of what the Clippers could have done. They weren't a lock to beat Portland this year, as the series was essentially going back to LA 2-2 before Paul and Griffin got injured. They are regressing in a conference that's regressing, and their window of opportunity has about one more year before it closes. Chris Paul has no significant success to his name, even after being paired with an all-star coach, an elite young frontcourt in Griffin and Jordan, and Top 3-4 seeds in the West year after year. Overrated...
The Los Angeles Clippers weren't a serious championship contender, and would have gotten smoked by Cleveland if they lucked their way into the Finals. Maybe they could have beaten Toronto, but honestly, what has anyone here seen from the LA Clippers in the last 5 years to make them believe they'd even be a lock in that series? Both they and the Raptors would have underachieved into the first ever NBA co-championship...
Overrated!
By the way, Golden State has earned their accolades with back to back seasons of regular season dominance, they are that good. I am a believer, but in all things fair, to this point, they have also had about the easiest stroll through the plaoffs in the last two years:
2015--played a Pelicans team missing Holiday that they would've probably swept anyway, but the Pels WERE NOT at full strength and the Warriors were; beat a full-strength but slow Memphis; beat an overachieving, injured Rockets team it would've probably taken 6-7 games to beat if the Rockets were full strength; beat a severely depleted Cavaliers team that logically could have beaten them if both sides were equal strength--Cavs won two games without either Irving or Love to scheme for! Not to mention they missed out on the Clippers (who ere better last year) and the Spurs...
2016--beat the Rockets, a team even worse than the Pelicans last year; beating up on an overachieving but talent-deprived Blazers team...
So while we all play the "what if" game, lets not take away from the Warriors' success, but lets also keep in context that they haven't exactly run through a strong West. This team has had a relatively easy postseason two years straight!
The Clippers lost to the Rockets last year in 7 games, but do 2015 Rockets = 2016 Rockets? 2015 Rockets won 56 games (same as 2015 Clippers). They only won 1 game against the Warriors but game 1 was decided by only 4 pts and game 2 by 1 pt.
Also notice a trend here...Spurs, 56 win Rockets, Thunder, 56 win Grizzlies - GOOD teams in the west have been beating up on each other for years. Of course the Clippers came out on the losing end, but it's not like they played bad teams. I won't even hold 2016 against them.
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They played the worst team in the post-season, and got lucky and now get to play an average Portland team. How exciting.
