Throwdown":ztfhet6p said:
I think even if GS pulls this off they won't have enough juice left. If you seen how well there Cavs have played thus far, they're on a mission. I swear to god they took two off vs Toronto, there's no way a team dominates the first two games like that and then loses the next two without that.
The thing about this OKC series is OKC gave the formula, play big and be physical, don't try and match their quickness, stymie it, I think Cleveland can do that.
I disagree with this entire post.
Can we stop running with the meme that GS is going to just pass out on the court because they're playing playoff basketball? Yeah they went for the 73 win mark, but over the course of the season they routinely blew teams out of the water and rested entire quarters in the process. Kerr manages this roster EXTREMELY well. Rarely would any of the starters go over 36 minutes in a game. They just happen to be stacked talent wise, so much so they could have this roster management and still be better than the rest of the league.
As far as the Cavs go, if you watched the Raptors play all postseason, you'd see they were a very Jekyll & Hyde team at home and away from Toronto. The Cavs eventually blew the doors off them in Game 6.. but the Raptors played much better at home all season. They didn't "take games off" .. the Raptors just play a lot better in front of that home crowd.
I do love the notion that suddenly OKC gave this radical formula on how to beat the Warriors though. If you look at the best defensive teams in basketball, Golden State had no problems with any of them up until this series. In fact if you take a look at the Top 10 defensive teams in the league this year..
the Warriors were a ridiculous 22-2 against them.
Cleveland by the way, does not have the defenders the Thunder do. Nor do they have the size. I know everyone is going to go "but last year in the Finals, the Cavs didn't have Kyrie or Love!" .. and offensively that absolutely makes a difference.. but defensively I think it greatly hurts the Cavs. Draymond Green was basically invisible outside of soccer kicking Steven Adams in the nuts, but do you honestly believe Kevin Love is going to check him? Kyrie Irving may get 25-30 a night, but he's going to give that up just as easily. JR Smith isn't Andre Roberson on defense. Not even close. LeBron is going to get his.. as he always does.. but the Warriors run so much deeper than the Cavs it's really not fair.
I personally think this is going to be a short series. I think a comeback like this just springboards a team into playing some very inspired basketball. And if you noticed in the WCF, Curry and Thompson started to catch fire together for the first time all postseason. When both those guys are clicking, they are borderline unstoppable. And that was against a team that had played them tougher than any other team in the league this year.. matchups matter a lot in sports. The WCF this year reminded me of Seahawks-Niners the year we won the Owl. The poor Broncos had no idea what was about to run over them, and I don't think the Cavs are equipped to handle the Warriors.