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

[OttoinGrotto]

Lonzo Ball isn't working out for the Cs. First, I assume the Cs are set on Fultz, so this is like me saying, "I'm not going to go on a date with Jennifer Lawrence". Second, he has to be careful if he tries to avoid these workouts, I got a feeling that Fox is going to be creeping up, same with Jackson and Tatum.

"His camp respectfully declined."

Dubious.

 

[orange79]

"His camp respectfully declined."

Dubious.

Code for, "The Celtics???? #&^* no!!!!"

 

[Alsacs]

Code for, "The Celtics???? #&^* no!!!!"

If the C's traded the pick LaVar isn't letting him workout for anybody but the Lakers.

LaVar wants Lonzo in purple and gold and nowhere else.

 

[Briancuse]

If the C's traded the pick LaVar isn't letting him workout for anybody but the Lakers.

LaVar wants Lonzo in purple and gold and nowhere else.

Im sure the Lakers can't wait to meet Lavar.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Thank you, Ty Lue for sitting the starters in the fourth quarter. Don't wanna see anyone get hurt.

One of the reasons I think the Cavs are a better team heading into the finals than last year's team is the upgrade at back-up point guard: Deron Williams vs. Matthew Dellavedova. Deron was great off the bench in the first half.

Amazing stat: Celtics never led once in three home games against the Cavs. How did Cleveland lose that one game at home?

Cavs-Warriors III, heart be still. Great rivalry, so many good story lines, so many good -- and downright great -- players.

Including this guy, who's going to his seventh straight final, only non-Celtic to ever do so. OK, OK, James Jones is in his seventh straight final, too, but with a yuge asterisk.

Lot to pick from, but my favorite LeBron move -- other than his long embrace with Isaiah Thomas after the game (schmaltzy) -- was LeBron's fake-out and finger roll on the fly.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Tristan Thompson's reaction is priceless (yo, LeBron, give in to your baldness, stop trying to cover it up -- it ain't workin').

 

[skurey]

7 straight finals. It's ridiculous. Yeah yeah watered down East but upsets still happen! Not against LeBron though.

 

[OrangeDW]

7 straight finals. It's ridiculous. Yeah yeah watered down East but upsets still happen! Not against LeBron though.

Yeah. I try not to let the incredibly annoying, too young to have ever actually watched Jordan but obsessed with him anyway, overly pressed Lebron fanboys that do nothing but post memes featuring misleading stats on every social media site 24/7 distract me from Lebron's actual greatness. It's not his fault that so many sports fans are stupid and annoying.

I wish the conversations of him weren't usually about comparing him to someone else that he never even played against. Just enjoy him for what he is. He's the best player of his era, and an all time great. He does it all, he automatically makes his team a contender, and for a guy that has spent half his life as a mega-celebrity(those people sadly often end up completely warped and crazy) he seems like a pretty good guy. Pretty soon Father Time will get the best of him like it does every athlete, might as well just enjoy the ride.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Yeah. I try not to let the incredibly annoying, too young to have ever actually watched Jordan but obsessed with him anyway, overly pressed Lebron fanboys that do nothing but post memes featuring misleading stats on every social media site 24/7 distract me from Lebron's actual greatness. It's not his fault that so many sports fans are stupid and annoying.

I wish the conversations of him weren't usually about comparing him to someone else that he never even played against. Just enjoy him for what he is. He's the best player of his era, and an all time great. He does it all, he automatically makes his team a contender, and for a guy that has spent half his life as a mega-celebrity(those people sadly often end up completely warped and crazy) he seems like a pretty good guy. Pretty soon Father Time will get the best of him like it does every athlete, might as well just enjoy the ride.

Testify!

Warriors laying 7 at home first game, surprised it's not more. A buddy who's a degenerate gambler (Lakers/Kobe fan) has put some money down on the series: he's taking the Cavs and the points opening game and Kyrie to be series MVP. If the Cavs win, I'd expect LeBron to be MVP, but hope my buddy cashes in on the kid with the Mamba Mentality.

 

[Knicks411]

Yeah. I try not to let the incredibly annoying, too young to have ever actually watched Jordan but obsessed with him anyway, overly pressed Lebron fanboys that do nothing but post memes featuring misleading stats on every social media site 24/7 distract me from Lebron's actual greatness. It's not his fault that so many sports fans are stupid and annoying.

I wish the conversations of him weren't usually about comparing him to someone else that he never even played against. Just enjoy him for what he is. He's the best player of his era, and an all time great. He does it all, he automatically makes his team a contender, and for a guy that has spent half his life as a mega-celebrity(those people sadly often end up completely warped and crazy) he seems like a pretty good guy. Pretty soon Father Time will get the best of him like it does every athlete, might as well just enjoy the ride.

It sucks, I have seen so much Lebron vs Jordan stuff even in the last day or so since the Cavs won the east. Obviously I get it on one level, they're probably the two best who ever played and the comparison is natural, it just sucks we're talking about this now instead of what has the chance to be an awesome finals.

 

[Knicks411]

Testify!

Warriors laying 7 at home first game, surprised it's not more. A buddy who's a degenerate gambler (Lakers/Kobe fan) has put some money down on the series: he's taking the Cavs and the points opening game and Kyrie to be series MVP. If the Cavs win, I'd expect LeBron to be MVP, but hope my buddy cashes in on the kid with the Mamba Mentality.

I took the Cavs +275 to win it all a while back; I think I have a decent chance to cash

 

[Fireball Jr.]

It sucks, I have seen so much Lebron vs Jordan stuff even in the last day or so since the Cavs won the east. Obviously I get it on one level, they're probably the two best who ever played and the comparison is natural, it just sucks we're talking about this now instead of what has the chance to be an awesome finals.

Celebrate the game, Mark Jackson often tells Jeff Van Gundy when he starts kvetching about something (I love Jeff on TV, selfishly hope he never goes back to coaching).

I think LeBron handles the issue pretty well here after the shootaround in Boston Thursday.

 

[OrangeDW]

Testify!

Warriors laying 7 at home first game, surprised it's not more. A buddy who's a degenerate gambler (Lakers/Kobe fan) has put some money down on the series: he's taking the Cavs and the points opening game and Kyrie to be series MVP. If the Cavs win, I'd expect LeBron to be MVP, but hope my buddy cashes in on the kid with the Mamba Mentality.

I don't think the W's have anyone that can guard Kyrie. But I also think a healthy Curry is going to light the Cavs up and they have nobody that can check him either. Will be interesting. I think GS had too much this time, but I wouldn't be shocked at a Cavs win. One thing about teams that rely so much on the jumper...if they aren't falling, they don't have the options at the rim that a team with Lebron does(neither team has a back they the basket low post guy)

 

[Knicks411]

I don't think the W's have anyone that can guard Kyrie. But I also think a healthy Curry is going to light the Cavs up and they have nobody that can check him either. Will be interesting. I think GS had too much this time, but I wouldn't be shocked at a Cavs win. One thing about teams that rely so much on the jumper...if they aren't falling, they don't have the options at the rim that a team with Lebron does(neither team has a back they the basket low post guy)

I think you can argue Durant mitigates some of that issue. (also, they've basically been one of the 2 most successful teams of all time the last 3 years)

I'm curious to see what happens with Love. He maxed out around 30 minutes per game down the stretch of that series.

Lebron is so so good, you can never count Cleveland out. But I keep coming back to the fact that the series went to the final seconds of game 7 last year...and then the warriors added one of the 3 or 4 best players in the game. It's hard for me to get past that

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The waiting annoys me. I get that this is dictated by the TV contract, but geez, we're sitting around for a good long time between games.

 

[Alsacs]

The waiting annoys me. I get that this is dictated by the TV contract, but geez, we're sitting around for a good long time between games.

It's all the Bachelorette/Bachelor TV show fault.
ABC doesn't want to give up a night of that show to start the Finals on a Monday or Tuesday.
Plus the NBA doesn't want game 2 on a Friday or Saturday so they want Thursday-Sunday.

TV is ruining a lot.

 

[Knicks411]

The waiting annoys me. I get that this is dictated by the TV contract, but geez, we're sitting around for a good long time between games.

It does suck, my spin zone on it is that the teams will be rested so the quality of play should be super high.

It's all the Bachelorette/Bachelor TV show fault.
ABC doesn't want to give up a night of that show to start the Finals on a Monday or Tuesday.
Plus the NBA doesn't want game 2 on a Friday or Saturday so they want Thursday-Sunday.

TV is ruining a lot.

It's weird because I think they stayed away from Friday in general for a while, but Game 7 in 2014 would have been on a Friday. Last year game 4 was a Friday, and this year it is as well. (game 4 is the only game that comes with a 1 day break between games as well, fwiw)

Also, just for some perspective, I was looking up the 14 finals schedule; Game 1 wasn't until June 5.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

It's all the Bachelorette/Bachelor TV show fault.
ABC doesn't want to give up a night of that show to start the Finals on a Monday or Tuesday.
Plus the NBA doesn't want game 2 on a Friday or Saturday so they want Thursday-Sunday.

TV is ruining a lot.

TV's also paying a lot.

I've got a basketball jones (wait, I hear music....)

 

[Alsacs]

It does suck, my spin zone on it is that the teams will be rested so the quality of play should be super high.



It's weird because I think they stayed away from Friday in general for a while, but Game 7 in 2014 would have been on a Friday. Last year game 4 was a Friday, and this year it is as well. (game 4 is the only game that comes with a 1 day break between games as well, fwiw)

Also, just for some perspective, I was looking up the 14 finals schedule; Game 1 wasn't until June 5.

Game 4 was on a Friday because the Republican convention was in Cleveland and the NBA couldn't stretch the series for TV as much as they wanted to get the arena ready.

The NBA hated the Friday night Finals game and won't do it unless of arena issues.

 

[Alsacs]

TV's also paying a lot.

I've got a basketball jones (wait, I hear music...)

]

I like this one better

 

[Knicks411]

Game 4 was on a Friday because the Republican convention was in Cleveland and the NBA couldn't stretch the series for TV as much as they wanted to get the arena ready.

The NBA hated the Friday night Finals game and won't do it unless of arena issues.

They're doing it this year also.

I want to know the story about 2014; game 7 on a friday!

 

[Briancuse]

I like this one better

I miss the old Nba on Nbc.

 

[Alsacs]

They're doing it this year also.

It's not
Thursday-Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday?

 

[Knicks411]

It's not
Thursday-Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday?

From the NBA website

Game 1 – Thu. June 1: Cleveland at Golden State, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 2 – Sun. June 4: Cleveland at Golden State, 8 p.m., ABC/R
Game 3 – Wed. June 7: Golden State at Cleveland, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 4 – Fri. June 9: Golden State at Cleveland, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 5 * Mon. June 12: Cleveland at Golden State, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 6 * Thu. June 15: Golden State at Cleveland, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 7 * Sun. June 18: Cleveland at Golden State, 8 p.m., ABC/R

I think they're looking to add in more days off. Like I said, there's only one game that has just one day off between games, everything else is 2. May have something to do with going back to 2-2-1-1-1 vs 2-3-2

 

[Alsacs]

From the NBA website

Game 1 – Thu. June 1: Cleveland at Golden State, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 2 – Sun. June 4: Cleveland at Golden State, 8 p.m., ABC/R
Game 3 – Wed. June 7: Golden State at Cleveland, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 4 – Fri. June 9: Golden State at Cleveland, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 5 * Mon. June 12: Cleveland at Golden State, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 6 * Thu. June 15: Golden State at Cleveland, 9 p.m., ABC/R
Game 7 * Sun. June 18: Cleveland at Golden State, 8 p.m., ABC/R

I think they're looking to add in more days off. Like I said, there's only one game that has just one day off between games, everything else is 2. May have something to do with going back to 2-2-1-1-1 vs 2-3-2

I forgot about the 2-2-1-1-1 switch.