First of all, SU’s prediction of the Cavs in 6 games was not that far off. It didn’t look good at 0-2 but stranger things have happened. A few observations:
- Cleveland’s comeback from down 3-1 ranks right up there with the Boston Red Sox series win over the Yankees in the ALCS in 2004 when they were down 0-3. Both teams were trying to win their first world championship and both achieved something that had never been done before in terms of comebacks.
- Richard Jefferson had a huge series. All the talk was how Channing Frye would help Cleveland with his 3-point shooting but he hardly got off the bench in the last few games. SU is very proud of Richard.
- Knick fans must be happy to have 3 former players get their first rings (JR Smith, Mosgov, Shumpert). A tribute to the Knicks’ ability to make trades to help other teams. I guess you can also throw Channing Frye in there but he has been gone for a much longer time.
- Just think about this statement: a team with JR Smith in the starting line-up won the NBA championship. And he played significant minutes every game. It speaks to the greatness of LeBron.
- When you watched LeBron in those last 3 games, you saw how he made his teammates better and how he played both ends of the court. How many blocks on breakaway lay-ups did he have? He is a true superstar and in the top 5 of all-time greats. And, Knick fans, when you talk about Melo being a “superstar”, look at the difference here. It’s not even close and he’s not one. Carmelo is a great scorer – a modern day Adrian Dantley.
- It’s time for the NBA to make a new rule: no taking your mouth piece out of your mouth and chewing on it. Man, that is a bad look. It almost makes you turn away. First time is a warning; 2nd time is a technical.
- The Minolta Turning Point of the series was clearly Draymond Green’s suspension in game 5. But he earned it for a series of bad fouls. SU does not feel sorry about that.
- What was Kyrie Irving doing in the last 30 seconds when he raced up the floor by himself and almost turned it over? He is a great, great scorer and made a couple of and 1’s in this game that made me laugh out loud they were such great shots. But his basketball IQ must be in single digits to have tried that last play.
So, what does this mean going forward? All the talk has been about moving Kevin Love but SU actually thinks LeBron may want to move Irving out of town and bring in Carmelo. You know he would love to get championships for his buddies Melo and Chris Paul. SU says how about a trade of Irving for Melo? The Knicks need an up tempo point guard and LeBron can easily move back to playing the point in Cleveland (heck, he pretty much does anyway). Irving and LeBron are still a mis-match. If I am the Knicks, I make that trade and throw in some extras to make it work (must admit cannot even think of what extras they have).
Final thought: LeBron was totally gassed at the end of the game. He had nothing left. I did not understand why Cleveland kept walking the ball up the court and then making LeBron go 1 on 1. Run the offense that got you there. They were fortunate that the Warriors went 0 for 9 down the stretch. It’s a fine line between winning and losing for sure.
Before I go, must comment on the US Open final round. That was embarrassing. Not making a decision on whether Dustin Johnson made the ball move on the 5th hole until after the round is over is like playing game 7 of the NBA finals and not checking on a 3-pointer that was near the line until the game is over. Golf is one strange sport.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
SU must get your opinion- Cleveland won that series playing isolation basketball. Every possession either Kyrie or Lebron one on one . While GS didn’t have their typical offense going (credit Cleveland D)- I would argue that iso beat team ball. Credit to caliber of players?
Harris, I think you could say that happened in this series. However, as the series went along, it felt like Golden State was going more one on one than in the regular season. Perhaps that’s a function of the better defense or more likely, a more familiar defense as you see the same team over and over again in a short series and it’s harder to run your plays. But you make a fair point.
Epic 7th game and yes… Labron arguably does move up into the top 5… with only Jordan, Russell, Wilt & Jabbar still ahead but not by that much. Though LaBron should get most of the praise deservingly it was Cayre’s crazy 1 on 1 launching of his last 3 pointer that put them in their final position to win it. Not only was LaBron gassed it appeared most of Cleveland were gassed and/or seemed to be hanging around and letting LaBron win it or lose it. Love and Jefferson had some huge offensive boards rebounds late in the game which were big. In an OT game I think you’d have to give Golden State the edge as they seemed to have a bit fresher legs. I guess we will never know.
One big point which gave Cleveland an edge in this last game was that the Refs let them play. The physicality of play gave Labron and his crew a definite edge. It took Golden State out of their rhythm is crucial for their success during the regular season. Quickness was replaced by strength… not only in the paint but getting started as well
Winning 2 games on the enemies court was as huge as it gets…
When Labron gets a statue it should have him swatting a shot away up against the backboard. That is LaBron at his “baddest.”
PS It was nice to see Green come out and give LaBron a hug while the other Warriors went back into the locker room. Now that’s class. He was actually built for that type of game while most of his fellow Warriors are more finesse types. SO DID THE BETTER TEAM WIN? No other sport are whistles called more often than in basketball. The refs do create an environment in which the game is played. Holding the Warriors to 89 points on their home court is the result of this kind of physical play. It may not be fair, but no one is going to complain here. Maybe the refs did fix the game against the Splash Brothers….. not.
PSS I would never trade Cayre. He took alot of hits but still managed to score everywhere and kept up his overdrive play to the last second. Can Melo do that for 48 minutes?
Andy, I agree with you about the refs in game 7. They definitely called it differently from game 6. It’s also the better way to go – let them play and let the players determine the outcome. Even LeBron didn’t complain on his last drive to the basket when he was blocked but hit on the hand. And he complains on every call – as does Curry. I saw Curry stay on the court as well to congratulate the Cavs. Only Klay Thompson appeared to go quickly into the locker-room.
Finally cleveland fans (like me) can breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate.
There is no chance the Cavs will trade Kyrie for Melo. That’s a NY fantasy. Kyrie won’t be traded and Melo isn’t coming to Cleveland. However, given that Kevin Durant is a free agent, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lebron tries to convince KD that he should insist on a sign and trade to Cleveland for Kevin Love and whatever else is necessary. That may qualify as a Cleveland fantasy.
As to why Cleveland slowed down the game so much in the fourth quarter, remember that Cleveland played only a 7 man rotation the entire game. Only RJ and Shumpert got any real minutes off the bench. yes, Mo Williams got 4 minutes also. GS went 10 deep. I think TLue did a great coaching job the entire series. No else came up with schemes to defend the Splash brothers as well.
Now that the Cavs have a title can the Browns be far behind? Yeah, I guess they can.
Go Cavs
Dave, congrats on your Cavs’ victory – you certainly have waited a long time. You can give props to Lue but if Draymond Green doesn’t get suspended for game 5, we may not be having this exchange. However, he figured something out on his rotations and substitutions and playing Jefferson big minutes seemed to help quite a bit. He also got a lot of out of Kyrie in the last few games. If I am Durant, I want to win a championship on a team where I am the man – not LeBron and Kyrie’s sidekick. Melo is a better fit as he is older and on the downside of his career. Great game 7 – not always the case.
Interesting/coincidental footnote: the Stanley Cup champions and NBA champions both won after a mid-season coaching change. Not sure if that’s ever happened before; maybe you can get the SU research staff to check on that.
Mark, the SU research staff is too busy running complex statistical models on whether the Mets can win a World Series with almost no offense this year. I guess you have to figure that this never really happens in the NFL as coaches don’t get fired that often mid-season nor do teams respond like that. Certainly, in baseball this happens a lot. I think I can safely say that it’s the first time that teams won championships in hockey and basketball with mid-year coaching changes in the same year that the US Open winner was penalized for a stroke on the last round 🙂
If we’re going to play what if with Draymond’s suspension, if he had been suspended during the OKC series as he should have been, the Warriors wouldn’t have been in the finals.
No, actually he would have been suspended for game 4 in OKC and they got blown out of that game anyway when they went down 3-1. Wouldn’t have mattered if he played that game.
unless he got a 2 game suspension, which he deserved
/e sits and waits for the Rose to the Knicks analysis to be posted by SU.
Regarding the suspensions, the NBA should take a hard look at how they police behavior. Mostly because it doesn’t really work. In addition to the suspension, there was also the fine for a player throwing a mouth guard followed by the fine for a coach saying that he agreed with the player who was fined. The fines are theoretically large enough (I don’t think even these multi-millionaires are happy to part with $25K) but they aren’t getting anyone’s attention. It’s really a matter of the timing. If the NBA wants to police this behavior the penalty needs to meaningful and immediate. Maybe, if you kick a player or throw a mouth guard or whatever there should be a technical foul type thing but more than 1 shot. Maybe 5 shots (one for each player on the other team). The kind of thing that can be game changing. The kind of thing that will get a coach angry at a player who commits one of these fouls rather than supportive of that player.
Rose to the Knicks. Will this matter? Most revealing thing about the trade is that the Knicks got a draft pick. 2nd round. Next year. But when was the last time they added a pick?