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GM6: Cleveland (2) @ Boston (3)


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The turnovers, the turnovers, the turnovers. The fact that his post up game is too easily defendable by single coverage. The fact that his handle isn't top notch. The fact that his pull up game isn't there. The passivity. The fact that most of his baskets came after the Cavs were down big. The fact that he can be gameplanned away much easier than Kobe. Boston's rotations were sharp, but too often at the point of attack, Tony Allen beat LeBron.

 

It's not about playoff success or playoff failure...it's about playoff performance. It's also about competitive hunger, and the ability to look adversity in the eye and rise above it. All the successes LeBron has had in the postseason have come when his team was an underdog or didn't face real adversity.

 

His performance in this year's playoffs was well below his capabilities, well below what Cleveland needed from him, and especially in terms of picking up his intensity level, well below what Kobe would've provided. A bad series is a bad series, but LeBron is supposed to be Superman right? He turned in a similar performance in last year's Game 6 against Orlando.

 

LeBron hasn't proven that he can turn it on against the best of the best in the playoffs in extreme pressure situations. Kobe has proven that.

Excellent post.

 

This game wasn't even a concern of mine, but it's good seeing LeBron lose after the cockiness all season long. It was bound to catch up to him.

 

LeBron deserved his regular season MVP, but that's about it...both seasons. As I've said numerous times, teams declined to double him during the season until the drive, but Boston put it on him immediately, and he couldn't get anything else going because...

 

a) he has no post game

b) he has no jumper when it's strongly contested, and

c) his footwork needs a lot of work (which ties into his post game and splitting the double)

 

LeBron is an athletic monster, but he doesn't have the advanced fundamentals to beat opponents any other fashion. You take away his drive, and he has to depend on the free throw line, or his teammates.

 

I wasn't exactly rooting for either team...way, way too tough to root for the Celtics because I can't stand anyone there...but it put a smile on my face to see LeBron give up multiple times during those double-digit leads, and it was also good to hear Mark Jackson put him on blast for doing so.

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Let's look at Kobe Bryant in the 2004 NBA Finals and how he fared once the series went back to Detroit

Game 3: 11 points, 4-13, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 turnovers lost by 20

Game 4: 20 points, 8-25, 0 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, lost by only 8 due to a Shaquille O'Neal 36-20 performance

Game 5: 24 points, 7-21, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, lost by 13

Well, when you have three excellent perimeter players guarding you throughout the game (Billups, Hamilton, and Prince) and often times being double/triple teamed, yeah, your stats are going to suffer. Got to give credit to the Pistons there, they had a gameplan and executed it.

 

Also, had it not been for Kobe hitting the 3-pointer at the end of the 4th quarter in game two to force OT, the Lakers would have been swept. Not that it matters much, but hey at least Kobe won them a game...

 

Tough break for Cavalier fans tonight, though. This was supposed to be THEIR year, but it just didn't pan out. Lot of questions for this franchise right now.

 

I didn't really care who won this series, but I am SO looking forward to facing Boston in the Finals. Revenge, baby!

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The baiting needs to stop, by the way. Doesn't matter who you were rooting for.

 

And I don't think the title of this topic, or the content, have anything to do with Bryant...so I have no idea why that discussion even took place in here.

 

Kobe and Lakers fans aren't the only ones rooting against LeBron (and not all were).

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The baiting needs to stop, by the way. Doesn't matter who you were rooting for.

 

And I don't think the title of this topic, or the content, have anything to do with Bryant...so I have no idea why that discussion even took place in here.

 

Kobe and Lakers fans aren't the only ones rooting against LeBron (and not all were).

 

I kind of brought the topic up as part of the reputations that have been reinforced through this series. Diesel, I'll try to respond to your arguments in a new thread within the next few days.

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ESPN experts...

 

http://i43.tinypic.com/v8elpi.jpg

 

Guess I would've said Cleveland in seven, though...but not against the Magic last season.

These expert picks irk me so much. Abbott, Hollinger, and Ford also had the Lakers over the Jazz in 7. I hate the media some times, they are so clueless

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These expert picks irk me so much. Abbott, Hollinger, and Ford also had the Lakers over the Jazz in 7. I hate the media some times, they are so clueless

 

Virtually all the evidence pointed towards a Cavs victory based on how each team played over the regular season. You can't always assume teams playing below the level they're capable of, and there was almost no body of work of Boston playing a full 48 minute game against a good opponent.

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ESPN experts...

 

http://i43.tinypic.com/v8elpi.jpg

 

Guess I would've said Cleveland in seven, though...but not against the Magic last season.

I'm a fan of the ESPN analyst, stop baiting me!

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