It's showtime -- let the (NBA) games begin!

[Fireball Jr.]

Fireball Jr. - how are you feeling about the Spurs/Cavs game tonight?

Looking forward to watching, nice Monday night entertainment. Trying not to put too much emphasis on this as far as a must-win, but I wanna see the Cavs who beat Utah in a slugfest show up, not the Cavs who rolled over for the Wiz the other night.

Curious to see what Lue may do to shore up the Cavs' defense. Not sure what he can do, but the Cavs have to rebound better, and they're certainly capable. Better rebounding would help a lot, so would having Shumpert in the lineup. I'm wondering why Derrick Williams, who can play good D, suddenly is a DNP.

If nothing else, I expect the Cavs to bring their A-plus game tonight. No excuses, but they don't seem to get it up every night, are antsy for the real season to begin. I expect Kyrie or LBJ to go for 40 tonight.

And if they lose, c'est la vie. Just as long as they don't get hammered. Injuries aren't helping... just as I was developing a man crush on Korver, he seems to be breaking down. Kyle Korver out for tonight's game against Spurs

Bottom line: if I were still a betting man, I'd want more than 5 1/2 tonight. But I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

I really enjoy the players-only telecasts on TNT. I'm so tired of Charles, Kenny, Ernie, blah blah blah. Love Kevin Garnett, wanna hang with him.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Fireball Jr. - how are you feeling about the Spurs/Cavs game tonight?

gulp

 

[Alsacs]

Celtics one half from moving into first place in the East.
I am shocked how easily the Spurs are winning.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Celtics one half from moving into first place in the East.
I am shocked how easily the Spurs are winning.

Kawhi mvp

 

[RF2044]

Cavs are in big, big trouble.

Amazing how poor they are defensively. Injuries? What?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Did LeBron really get hurt, or was he doing that thing where he goes over the top acting like he's hurt? I saw an article that said he rolled around on the ground for almost 5 minutes.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Did LeBron really get hurt, or was he doing that thing where he goes over the top acting like he's hurt? I saw an article that said he rolled around on the ground for almost 5 minutes.

It certainly was a bit dramatic, that being said is LeBron ever really hurt? Guy always seems to bounce back.

I keep thinking there is no way that the Cavs don't make the finals, still assuming they will flip a switch but they are really going to need to get it together which I still think they will

 

[Cusefan0307]

With the moves they made midseason Cleveland is now playing a bunch of guys that can't play defense.

 

[Knicks411]

I still think we're going to look up at the beginning of June and the Cavs will be in the finals, and all the worrying will be for naught. That said, I'm not a cavs fan, so I don't really care if they miss out. If I'm in the Cavs organization, I'm worried.

Crazy stat I saw. In his career, Michael Jordan played 1,251 games, regular season and playoffs. Lebron has now played 1,253. Also, there was a game in 2008 where Lebron came off the bench. There has to be a story there.

 

[Alsacs]

I still think we're going to look up at the beginning of June and the Cavs will be in the finals, and all the worrying will be for naught. That said, I'm not a cavs fan, so I don't really care if they miss out. If I'm in the Cavs organization, I'm worried.

Crazy stat I saw. In his career, Michael Jordan played 1,251 games, regular season and playoffs. Lebron has now played 1,253. Also, there was a game in 2008 where Lebron came off the bench. There has to be a story there.

LeBron's' body is more Karl Malone than Michael Jordan.
Malone played in 1669 career games and didn't break down till his last year.

 

[MikeSU02]

It certainly was a bit dramatic, that being said is LeBron ever really hurt? Guy always seems to bounce back.

I keep thinking there is no way that the Cavs don't make the finals, still assuming they will flip a switch but they are really going to need to get it together which I still think they will

I think he got a stinger and that's why he was fine for a second and then went down.

I think the Cavs are still fine coming out of the East. But I don't see how they can beat GSW, Hou or SAS with the defense as it currently is.

I think people are overrating the East. Boston is good, but their best player is a huge defensive liability. Washington and Toronto are good, but not great teams. I think Boston would be, at best, maybe the 5 seed in the West and I think that is a stretch.

 

[Knicks411]

I think he got a stinger and that's why he was fine for a second and then went down.

I think the Cavs are still fine coming out of the East. But I don't see how they can beat GSW, Hou or SAS with the defense as it currently is.

I think people are overrating the East. Boston is good, but their best player is a huge defensive liability. Washington and Toronto are good, but not great teams. I think Boston would be, at best, maybe the 5 seed in the West and I think that is a stretch.

With their defense as it currently is, they aren't making it out of the east. I think everyone knows their defense will get better when it counts; the question is; to what degree?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

With their defense as it currently is, they aren't making it out of the east. I think everyone knows their defense will get better when it counts; the question is; to what degree?

I wonder if they almost need to just go the other way. They probably aren't locking any teams down. Maybe their best chance is to go all chips in on offense and hope that between Thompson's rebounding and an occasional spectacular steal or block from LeBron they scrap together enough stops to come out ahead most games.

 

[skurey]

I saw someone compare them to the 2014 Heat who pulled it together enough to get to the finals and then got run the heck out of the gym. We'll see what happens. At the end of the day they have LeBron and that's usually good enough to win a lot.

 

[Cusefan0307]

If you're Cleveland I think you would rather see Golden State in the finals instead of SAS. Me thinks Kawhi has proved himself as Lebron's Kryptonite over the past couple years.

 

[Knicks411]

I wonder if they almost need to just go the other way. They probably aren't locking any teams down. Maybe their best chance is to go all chips in on offense and hope that between Thompson's rebounding and an occasional spectacular steal or block from LeBron they scrap together enough stops to come out ahead most games.

I think they pretty much have to, there aren't a lot of defensive guys on the team. They just need better effort from the guys they have. They're like 23rd in defensive efficiency YTD; that's not getting it done, period.

 

[kirbivore]

With the moves they made midseason Cleveland is now playing a bunch of guys that can't play defense.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Bigger hit in NBA history - Kermit Washington's punch on Rudy T, or David Lee's elbow to LeBron?

 

[Melancer46]

In the past 25 or so days, the Bucks went from a 12% shot at the playoffs to a 97% chance

It's amazing how huge of an impact Khris Middleton has on games. He's really brought this team together.

 

[br801]

Bigger hit in NBA history - Kermit Washington's punch on Rudy T, or David Lee's elbow to LeBron?

What Washington did was egregiously stupid.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Russ is a freak. Drills a three with two guys on him to tie OKC-Orlando game in closing seconds, finishes with 57 (40 shots!), 13 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals -- OK, and 7 turnovers -- in OT win. Sick.

Still don't think he's MVP.

BTW, thanks, Bucks for beating the Celtics in Boston. East top spot tied again.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Russ is a freak. Drills a three with two guys on him to tie OKC-Orlando game in closing seconds, finishes with 57 (40 shots!), 13 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals -- OK, and 7 turnovers -- in OT win. Sick.

Still don't think he's MVP.

BTW, thanks, Bucks for beating the Celtics in Boston. East top spot tied again.

I feel like Westbrook does so much for his team people are starting to count it against him.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Love the Brogdon kid....pretty good second-round pick.

 

[Melancer46]

Love the Brogdon kid...pretty good second-round pick.

Should be the ROTY