What You Missed From Game 7

By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - LeBron James, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36918817

Game 7 was quite the game. At half-time, there were Warriors fans were saying that the Warriors were going to win it all. Then came the final minutes of game 7. It was neck and neck and the Cavs pulled ahead to win it. That's when everyone went nuts and surprisingly everyone missed a lot of stats and things that happened in this game. People jumped to things saying, "Curry lost the game, LeBron James won it, Kevin Love was still horrible in the series and he'll be traded." Well, here I am, and here is what you probably missed from game 7.

Curry Lost The Game?
While Curry really did blow away any chances to win the game towards the end, did he really lose the game? Towards the end, Kevin Love was guarding Curry, and of course, Curry thought he could take advantage of it. But Kevin was on Curry tight. This left room for Curry to get to the rim, but instead of trying to drive, he was set on shooting a 3; a 3 that was well off. This was a big possession and was really the turning point in this game. Curry even said after the game he "settled". He settled for shots. While it didn't lose them the game, it really hurt their chances to get back in it. Instead of closing it out, Curry settled, and that led to the loss.

But What About Klay?
While Curry got a beating from the media, Klay left without a scratch, besides the fact that he left the game without congratulating the other team. Tell me, do you remember Klay making shots in this game? Because he didn't make many. Klay had only 14 points and shot 2-10 from 3-point range. He shot worse than Curry from 3 and didn't show up to the game, yet no one really mentioned Klay at all.

LeBron Carried The Team?
LeBron did a great job in this series, but right after the game, Kyrie's performances were forgotten. This guy was on fire throughout the whole series. While I think LeBron was no doubt the MVP, everyone seemed to forget about guys Kyrie, Richard Jefferson, and Tristan Thompson. Sure, LeBron was great, but recognition for the whole team wasn't there. After all, without these guys, would've they even come close to winning the championship?

Kevin Love Hurt The Team?
People wouldn't stop talking about Kevin Love's performance throughout the series and after it was over. What people missed was Kevin Love's amazing defense and rebounding in game 7. But if they didn't miss that, they sure didn't see his +/- advantage. Kevin Love was a +19 on the floor while Kyrie was only a +10. And LeBron James, he was a +4. When Kevin Love was in the lineup, it was extremely beneficial to the team. The fact that the guy had 14 rebounds in only 30 minutes of play alone was amazing. 

Draymond...
Everyone seemed to forget about Draymond's play after game 7. The guy had 32 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals. He also shot 6-8 from 3. However, no one said a word about it after the game.


And Last... Is Tristan Thompson Defensive Player Of The Year?
The media went crazy after LeBron's block on Iggy. Yet here is the thing, If Iggy didn't change his shot in mid-air, it never would've been blocked. It was a blocked shot. Now, LeBron was good defensively, but guess who was on Curry and Klay chasing out to the 3 point line through the whole game. It was Tristan Thompson. Let me make this clear... Tristan Thompson had 3 rebounds in game 7. Only 3. The reason why? He was chasing guys out on the 3 point line. Tristan Thompson contested 7 three point shots during game 7. That was more than anyone else on the team. He contested more 3 point shots than J.R., more than Irving, more than Shumpert, and more than LeBron. And guess who was doing it, that's right, the starting center for the Cavs. And even while he was out of the paint, he still managed to fit in 2 blocks. When your starting center can guard Stephen Curry, that does a lot. We see a block from LeBron and think he's the best defender, when people don't realize, there is a lot more to defense than that. LeBron might have saved a couple plays, Tristan Thompson might have saved the whole game.


 

There Is Nothing Wrong With The Cleveland Cavaliers

By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - LeBron James, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36918817

Lately in the news I've been hearing that the Cavs are struggling since the all-star break. However, compared to the rest of the league, this is simply not true. I tried to look for reasons why the Cavs are losing, adn I could not find many.

If you look at the Cavs record since the all-star break,it is 7th. You may look at that, and think that it is very bad. The Cavs lost to the Pistons where they just didn't play their best, Kyrie was the only one really playing great. The loss to the Toronto was just the Cavs playing a really good Raptors team. The game they lost to the Wizards, the team didn't have LeBron James. And the loss to the Grizzlies wasn't that bad as you would think it is. While the Grizzlies have had a lot of injuries of late, they still have managed to get the 8th best record since the all-star break. Not to mention, the only blowout loss, was the one where they didn't have LeBron.

Their offense and defense doesn't seem to be the problem as they have the 4th best net rating since the all-star break in the league and they have the 3rd best rebounding percentage. Their effective and true shooting percentages are both top 5 since the break, so it isn't them missing shots either. So if it wasn't anything the Cavs were doing wrong, it must be the opponent.

There was nothing special with the Cavs' opponents shooting percentages at all since the break, in fact, they aren't that high. I looked at 2nd chance, fastbreak points, points off turnovers, and points in the paint for the Cavs opponents since the break and I saw nothing, in fact the Cavs actually did very good in limiting these categories. So really, couldn't find anything wrong with the Cavaliers.



I then decided to check their clutch stats and how the team did when the game had a differential of 5 points or less in the last 5 minutes of the 4th. The Cavs game up quite a bit of possessions and lost 2 games in the clutch because their opponents FG% was so high. 48%. 9th worst in the league. The only other teams above .500 that were worse were the Detroit Pistons who only lost 1 game in the clutch and the Thunder who are actually struggling. It should be noted that the Thunder lost all 5 of their games in the clutch since the all-star break.

So is there really anything wrong with the Cavs? They lost a couple of close games and 1 without LeBron James. They just need to play a little better defense down the stretch. I wouldn't say that this team is struggling like the Thunder are though. The Cavs are fine. They are playing good defense and are playing good offense as well and they are still a title contender.

Fantasy Friday: Point Guards

Point Guards are necessary to a great fantasy team. They can provide assists, steals, and great 3 point shooting. The best fantasy point guards grab rebounds and average a great amount of points. So who are the best point guards in fantasy land. Well, here they are.

10. Goran Dragic: You will see him get more assists this season with the Heat and hopefully shoot the same. However you will probably see a drop in points with Dragic. Would be a good guy to have on your team though.

9. Mike Conley: A good offensive player but you can't forget about his offense. Great guy to have as he will give you steals and will give you assists as well as the points.

8. Kyle Lowry: I don't think his PPG will go up. I do however think that his assists numbers will rise. A thing to be concerned about is his turnovers as he averaged 3 in the playoffs last year. Another thing to note is that his 3 point percentage is dipping down to 33%. Kyle Lowry is a very streaky shooter, something to be concerned about.

7. Derrick Rose: The former MVP averaged over 17 PPG last season and should be noted that he does great in every other category, but with many past injuries, Derrick Rose could come with a price. Should you take Derrick Rose? Well, that's up to you.

6. Damian Lillard: While Damian Lillard averaged 21 PPG last season, that number is expected to rise. He will probably be one of the top scorers in the league. This man is a great 3 point shooter to top it off. So why is he ranked so low? Damian Lillard is very inconsistant. He had 28 games where he scored under 18 points. Also, he averages only 6.2 Assists. He isn't the best point guard for fantasy available.

5. Kyrie Irving: Kyrie averages about 21 PPG and shoots the ball really well from deep. While he isn't very well in the assist department, he can play great defense, getting 1.5 Steal per game. Kyrie is a much better defensive player than he is given credit for. You shouldn't have him as your main offensive focus, but you should have him for some defense and offense.

4. Chris Paul: He is one of the best fantasy players. He can score, pass, shoot, steal, and commit few turnovers. However, after a season with no injuries, I have a feeling that Paul will fall and his numbers will drop. If he is available at the right time, I would take him though.

3. Stephen Curry: We all know Curry. He can score, and shoot the ball. He will provide you with some steals, but he will score and shoot. You will not be short of 3's if you have him on your team. Yes he will provide some assists and a couple rebounds, but again, he will score and shoot.

2. Russell Westbrook: He was an amazing fantasy player last year. Almost averaged a triple double. Averaged over 2 steals per game. Your saying, "Why isn't he number 1?" Well, 3 reasons. Westbrook averaged 4.4 Turnovers last season. He shot under 30% from 3 point range. And to top it off, when Durant comes back, Westbrook's numbers are sure to drop. Don't get me wrong, he is a great fantasy player, he just isn't the best point guard. But this is the person who is...

1. John Wall: Shocker huh. John Wall averaged a little more than 17 PPG but it was all the other numbers that made up for it. 10 assists per game, 4.6 rebounds per game, 1.7 steals per game, and 0.6 blocks per game. Wall's numbers, I would assume, will climb even high this next season. I think he will probably get up to 20 PPG this next season. That is why J-Wall is number 1.

No More Kyrie Means More Marion

"Shawn Marion Mavs" by Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA - Shawn Marion. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shawn_Marion_Mavs.jpg#/media/File:Shawn_Marion_Mavs.jpg

 

Kyrie Irving is out for the rest of the playoffs. To me, this Cavs team isn't done yet. They have key contributors that I think really could be a big impact for this Cavs team. Mike Miller and Shawn Marion are going to come and play. They both have great playoff experience. While this will be a hard task to take down the Golden State Warriors, all these 2 have to do is give some points and be great contributors. Take a look at what these guys have done in the past

Mike Miller:

• 5.2 PPG for the Playoffs over his carreer
• 7.3 PPG in the Playoffs last year for the Grizzlies
• 11.3 PPG for his career
• 40.7% from 3 point range over his career
• 4.4 RPG over his career
• 2.7 APG over his career

Shawn Marion:

• 4 time all-star
• 13.9 PPG in the Playoffs over his career
• 15.2 PPG over his career
• 8.7 RPG over his career
• 1.5 Steals over his career
• 1.1 Blocks over his career

I really don't understand why the Cavs aren't playing Marion right now. Why do they even have this player on their team if they don't even play him? This guy was a 4 time all-star with major playoff experience. He is also a great defensive player. This guy should be played but for some reason, Coach Blatt refuses to. I just don't understand it. But now with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving out, he should have to play them. I actually think the Cavs will play great with Miller and Marion on the floor, and that the Cavs are not out of the finals yet.  

The Finals Have Started!

The Warriors have won the first game of the Finals. It was a close game as it went into overtime. I have to admit, it was a little rough for both teams though. 

When I first started watching the game I saw LeBron miss a fade-away shot pretty badly and then the next time down the floor, J.R. Smith bricked a three off the backboard. The game wasn't too great to start off. However, by the end of the 1st, Cleveland had a 10 point lead.

One thing that was really surprising to me is that the Warriors didn't have a player who had over 7 rebounds but they still won the rebounding battle. Everyone on the Warriors had at least 3 rebounds. They all crashed the glass.

If you take a look at the Cavs scoring, It was really just LeBron and Kyrie with Timofey Mozgov giving some offense. Kyrie and LeBron combined had a total of 65 points. Besides Mozgov, LeBron, and Kyrie, the rest of the team only scored 17 points. For the Warriors, that's what you want. You want this to be a 3 on 5 kind of game. The Warriors love that. I think that you have to be happy with only 3 people really coming out and scoring points. 

I really think Bogut could do a better job on Mozgov and he didn't look that great on defense. He just wasn't filling up the paint like he usually does.

If you the Warriors, you have Klay Thompson back and he is looking good as ever. He played great basketball. If your the Cavs, you have to be really disappointed. Kyrie just went down and you could be missing 2 of the big 3 now. They need Kyrie. He is the next best offensive player after LeBron on the team. They need him. They really need him.

The last 32 seconds of regulation wasn't the best last 32 seconds that I've seen before. Stephen Curry had the ball but couldn't make the layup as he somehow got his layup blocked by Kyrie Irving. Then LeBron gets the ball and puts up a really dumb shot that he was going to miss. Really poor shot selection. Shumpert got the rebound and put it up last second and somehow almost won the game. But he missed and the game went into OT. The Warriors ended up making their free throws and played great defense as they limited the Cavs to 2 points that were scored in the last 24 seconds as the Warriors just kind of LeBron get a wide open layup. They were like "who cares, we won". It was a great game. But the series isn't over. We have 3 more games at the least and 6 at the most. It will be a great finals series, I can already tell.

Cavaliers VS Bulls (game 4)

Final Score: Cavaliers win 86-84



Series tied 2-2

LeBron shoots at the buzzer. Hits It! Three game winning buzzer beaters in 3 consecutive nights. How did LeBron get off the shot. Well, the Refs let the Cavs get everything together. I don't really agree to that. The thing is, the Cavs won. Obviously they need to keep winning. Let's take a look at how they must play in order to do that.

The Cavs aren't playing that great. In fact, LeBron's isolations and shot selections haven't been that great. He shot 7 threes again and only made 1 again. Yes, he hit the game-winner, but there are shots that will fall. Coach Blatt should think about taking Shumpert out of the starting line-up and put Smith back in. Smith makes the spacing so much better and is more offensive minded. And with a game that was scored in the 80s, I would be more concerned with offense. Kyrie Irving really needs to get into the offense. He shot just 2-10 from the field. He did do well from the free throw line as he was 8-8. He also only had 2 assists. And if you are this Cavs team, you need to let Kyrie handle the ball just to get his confidence going. The Cavaliers as a team did shoot well from the free throw line as they shot 23-24. They really need to keep that up.

The Bulls have a lot to work on. Before I get going, I am going to stress this so much. They need to let LeBron shoot the jumper. Lay off of LeBron and get into a position where you can take a charge or defend if LeBron decides to drive. LeBron is shooting 28.6 on uncontested jumpers. Next, they need Mike Dunleavy to produce for this team. Nikola Mirotic didn't play that great for this Bulls team. He shot just 1-9 from the field. Also, when Aaron Brooks and Kirk Hinrich were in the game, that's when the Bulls offense was the best. They need to be played more. They need to keep up their defense as they are doing great with that. Their offense is the only thing they need to change. If they can get that going, they have a good shot at the next game.

Cavaliers VS Bulls (game 3)

Final Score: Bulls win 99-96



Bulls lead series 2-1

I have to say, the officiating wasn't that great in this game. LeBron fouled Butler on that 3. Butler traveled on the reverse layup. LeBron fouled Derrick Rose with about 4 seconds left as he knocked it out of bounds. But the ending was great. I saw Derrick Rose put up the last shot. Then I exploded. "OH MY GOODNESS!" I yelled about 23 times. I'm sure the whole neighborhood was all like, "what's happening over at Aaron's place." "someone probably dunked it." Yeah, well guess what. That wasn't a dunk people. That was a game winning shot. But the game winner wasn't the only thing that won that game. It was everything that the Bulls did leading up to that. Let's take a look at what the Bulls did to have that game tied to those last 3 seconds.

Well, Derrick Rose got to the free throw line and he had a great game overall. He scored. Jimmy Butler did great too. Also, Derrick Rose kept Kyrie Irving to 11 points and 3-13 shooting. That is great. Joakim Noah didn't score or shoot well, but he did great on rebounding and defense. That's all you can ask from him. The whole team did a great job of limiting the Cavs to 39% shooting from the floor. Nikola Mirotic had a great game as he had 12 points and 8 rebounds but his defense was the biggest thing. He had a defnsive rating of 88.4. That is great. Aaron Brooks is still struggling and he really needs to pick it up on offense. He shot 1-7 from the field and 0-4 from 3-point range. They also controled the rebounds as they had 54 while the Cavs had 39.

The Cavaliers have a lot to change. With Kevin Love gone, they don't have a big to really spread the floor. Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov seem to clog up the paint and it becomes harder for guys like Kyrie Irving and LeBron James to make shots in there. They obviously could use Love right now. Especially against a match-up like Pau Gasol. LeBron needs to calm down a bit and stop taking too many shots. He was just 1-7 from 3 point range. And let's face it, LeBron isn't the best 3-point shooter. He just needs to get his teammates involved more. Not to mention, LeBron had 7 tunrovers. J.R. Smith had a great game. He shot 4-8 from 3-point range and 2 of those were in the last 2 minutes. Clutch. One thing that the Cavs did great was forcing the Bulls to shoot contested shots. The Bulls shot a total of 63 contested shots! They only had 27 uncontested. That is great contesting by the Cavs. The Cavaliers need Love. If this team even beats the Bulls, they need him for the next round, because without him, they will have lots of troubles.

Cavaliers VS Bulls (game 2)

Final Score: Cavaliers win 106-91



Series tied 1-1

Is this a rewind. Deja vu? I think it could be. The Bulls always seem to win game 1 then lose the next 4 when they play LeBron in the playoffs. Well, it could be a coincidence. And here how the Bulls can make it so the rewind doesn't happen.

The Bulls need everybody to perform much better. Let's take a look at the individual performances of all these players.

• Pau Gasol: 11 points, 3 turnovers, 4 rebounds, and 3-8 from the field
• Joakim Noah: 4 points, 4 shot attempts, 0-2 from the free-throw line
• Jimmy Butler: 18 points, 2-7 from 3pt range, 1 assist, -26 plus/minus advantage
• Derrick Rose: 14 points, 6-20 from the field, -13 plus/minus advantage
• Aaron Brooks: 4 points, 1-8 from the field, 0-4 from 3pt range

And those were the worst. They can't have that. They can't afford it. Kirk Hinrich played great shooting 3-3 from the field and 2-2 from three point range. He was only played for 12:18 minutes though. That is just disappointing. You obviously need to play him more. Some things need to change for this Bulls team.

This Cavs team was amazing. Yes, LeBron and Kyrie had a combined 54 points but I want to focus on Iman Shumpert and James Jones. Shumpert had 15 points while he shot 4-7 from deep. James Jones had17 points off the bench as he shot a surprising 5-9 from 3-point range. However, James Jones didn't win them the game, he just kept them in it. The team had a plus/minus advantage of -1 when he was on the floor. So he obviously just helped them stay in the game. If he wasn't there though, the Cavs would have lost the lead because their bench would have played so bad. Again, I'm still waiting for this Cavs team to play Marion more. He is very skilled and they need to use him. Other than that, this team is playing great. If they win their next 3, I will start thinking that it is impossible for the Bulls to win a playoff series against LeBron.

Cavaliers VS Bulls (game 1)

Final Score: Bulls win 99-92



Bulls lead series 1-0

Bulls had full control in this game and the Cavaliers better step it up. Let's take a second on what the Cavaliers need to change for game 2.

Cavaliers will still not have J.R. Smith and Kevin Love for game 2, so they absolutely need to put Tristan Thompson into the lineup. They also should play Shawn Marion more. He is a skilled player. Why did they get him? Was it so they could have someone to play the nights they were resting LeBron? No, Marion is a great player. LeBron also needs to play better. He had 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 9 assists. Sure that looks good, but he only shot 9-22 from the field, 0-3 from 3 point range, and had a total of 6 turnovers. Let Kyrie handle the ball. He is a much better decision maker than LeBron. I hate it how this team has one of the best Point Guards in the league with the best handles and can pass and they don't even use him. They also need more from their bench. The bench only had 16 points. They didn't play well at all in this game. They need to play better.

The Bulls handled this game well. Joakim Noah needs to step up a little. He didn't have a single point and had 4 turnovers. Mike Dunleavy played really great. He shot 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from 3-point range. Pau Gasol played really well as he had 21 points, 10 rebounds and shot 10-16 from the field. Not to mention, Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler had great games as well. I really think that it is smart not to play Nikola Mirotic in this round. They do need their bench to play well though. This Bulls team will start to get tired through the round and they need to have a bench that can produce. They did look okay in this game though.

That's all from this game. This will be an interesting series. Let's see who will win game 2.

Cavaliers VS Celtics (game 2)

Final Score: 99-91



Cavaliers Lead Series 2-0

This was a great game with lots of improvements from game 1. Everyone was more comfortable and people were playing great. Let's take a look at the Cavs first.

The Cavs played aggressive and great. Love looked more comfortable and was better defensively. He had 2 blocks and had an awesome alley-oop dunk. One thing that was concerning was LeBron having way too many turnovers. He finished with 6 in the game. The whole Cavs bench wasn't that good on the court. The all had a negative plus/minus advantage on the court. J.R. Smith shot horribly from the floor. He shot 3-12 from the floor and 1-8 from the 3-point line. One great thing is that he didn't jack up 18 threes, (although 8 is still a little much), but he was more defensively minded. He had 5 steals in the game.

The Celtics had a pretty good game again. One question I have is why does Avery Bradly put up more shots when he is missing. In game one he shot poorly and put up a ton of shots. In game 2 he shot semi-good but only put up 2 threes and 8 shots. He had made both his threes. Even though Bradly was perfect from deep, the Celtics shot poorly from 3-point range overall. They shot 22 threes while only shooting about 27%. Kelly Olynyk does need to get involved in the offense a little better. That's what lots of people say. I think he is fine though. He get good quality looks for himself and others. He lead his team in plus/minus with +13. He was one of three players above 0.

This is a great series. We all thought this would be a walk through the garden (get it, Boston Garden) but the Celtics have been a tougher match than anyone would have expected. We'll see if they can win one here.

Cavaliers VS Celtics (game 1)

Final Score: Cavs won 113-100



Cavs lead series 1-0

It was close throughout the first half. The Cavs won the game in the 3rd quarter though. Although, it's hard to win against the Cavs with your best player coming off the bench. Take a look at the Cavs. Love, LeBron, and Irving had a combined total of 69 points, 13 assists, and 21 rebounds. That is 61% of their teams points, 68% of their teams assists, and 45.5% of their teams rebounds.

Kevin Love struggled in the first half but ended up with 19 points. Kyrie had a total of 30 and James had 20. The main thing that the Celtics have to do is take all three of these players out of the game. That is going to be hard to do and I don't think any team can do it. I would look for them to force the ball out of Irving's hands and into LeBron's hands. LeBron thinks he is the best ball handler on the floor. Lets be honest now, Irving is. LeBron had 5 turnovers in the game and Kyrie only had 1. If you have LeBron handle it he will turn the ball over. You really need to make sure Irving passes it off. Irving will take you one on one, while LeBron's iso is not nearly as good.

As for the Cavaliers, they need to get all three of the players involved like they were doing. I am okay with Kyrie in isolation because he can pass the ball and make shots for him so easily but LeBron isn't that great of a ball handler and I would not want him in Iso. Sure if there is a miss-match, post up or Iso. But other than that, just run through the plays. The most successful teams get everyone involved like the Spurs and Hawks for example. If you get everyone involved, you will win. It's that simple.