Preview/Live Thread: The Finals Game 1
2015-06-04
Never before has eight days seemed like such an eternity. But in just four hours, we will finally witness an end to that excruciating wait with the tip-off Game 1 of The Finals. The storylines have been dissected, regurgitated and picked apart ad nauseam. Articles have been written. Pods have been cast. Analytics have been scrutinized. Debates have raged. And now, the games will, at long last, be played.
Can the best player on the planet overcome the best team? Exactly what percentage of Kyrie will be available? Can either the current MVP or the four time MVP be stopped? Who will Delly be accused of knee-capping next? Which “rookie” coach will pull off the unimaginable? Will TT or Draymond be the bigger man underneath? Which “Son of Akron” will bring home the hardware? All of these questions and more will finally be put to the test on the NBA’s two grandest stages.
There is nothing more to do today but to somehow make it through the end of the workday, then get home, to a friend’s house, or your favorite sports bar, get your Cavs gear on and get ready for the epic showdown that so many of us hoped for from the moment that LeBron made his decision to come home.
For me, between the late-night podcast, reading endless articles and tweets, watching tons of Cavs hype videos and recaps of how they got to this point, and debating the outcome of this series with so many of the Warrior bandwagon fans in my neck of the woods, I’ve barely slept in the last 24 hours. I’ve somehow managed to survive on Red Bull and adrenaline, as well as a continuous loop of some of my favorite musical anthems to get me pumped up for the impending Cavs foray into the Finals.
I’m sure everyone has their own particular music that gets their blood pumping for the wine and gold. Here’s my top five…
#5 (For the EDM crowd)
#4 (For the old-school hard rock crowd)
#3 (For the dub-step/hip-hop crowd)
#2 (For the Indie Anthem crowd)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OmMPaLmxKg
#1 (For the Hans Zimmer superhero crowd)
And here it is used in my personal favorite LeBron Playoff Hype Video…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOLID82bESs
Enjoy the listens… share your own… and GO CAVS!!!
JFJ and LeBron look like they’ve been playing together for a while.
Bron has 31 points already…
Bron has so many great post moves… wish he’d do even more…
Kick it out to JR Smith . . . next time.
Curry giving Delly respect… defending him like a threat.
Gotta shoot more than 62% from the free throw line against a team shooting 100%.
Bron not hitting throws…
When LBJ takes things towards the basket istead of shooting straight up or fading away good things always happen.
Was waiting for that Paul Brown graphic…
JR has wasted a couple possessions with Saint Weirdo twos.
Bron ain’t gonna get away with the the chicken wing again.
Hopefully he won’t have to, and will move the ball more
He should get away with anything he wants until they call every grab and push he gets going to the rim. There were three fouls before the green foul and iggy got him on the neck prior to the chicken wing
Especially out west. I don’t think bout will get the arm hold. Iggy though is locked in for the job on lebron. Unless he gets in foul trouble
LBJ down low is fun to watch.
I think he is so strong the refs don’t get the contact till he is mugged.
Lebron is so mentally tough, it’s incredible
Draymon with 4 fouls, thats greattt
The behind the back move threw JR off I think…
Draymont green getting the max this July.
Then TT should also…
No question. I think I was skeptical in March. Now I am a believer.
I hope so. Will be a waste.
Shooting %:
Cleveland 44.1%
Golden State 44.8%
Irving is playing insanely good perimeter defense
Mychal Thompson is Homer Simpson
Kyrie the scrapper. If that was Delly they would be accusing
Ha, aint that the truth.
Kyrie has never played defense this well IMHO
I heard he was a killer in the fiba games. When harden and curry lit it up
Kyrie making a real difference…
those 3’s are falling for them now
At least 3 fouls on that exchange. Glad they let them play until mozzy was clobbered. At least he got the call. Eventually.
They are outhustling us with the rebounds I find since the first quarter. We need to step it up
How did that TT shot come back out? Defying the laws of physics.
Great board work.
WHY LeBron??
Because he’s a step and a half away. He’s watching.
When Mozgov and TT make a play underneath, LBJ needs to step in.
Some horrible officiating.
Bogut completely walked before the Thompson three…
Kyrie with his FIFTH rebound!
Bad call there. Bogut grabs TTs jersey and somehow TT gets an offensive foul? Come on refs!
My wife almost swore at the red. That’s how bad the call was
Tt grabbed his hand and pulled Bogus away from the driving layup.
Wtf just happened?
How was that a foul on Thompson? Man these commentators make me scratch my head….
After all the things they’ve missed this postseason, I have to think the networks need to spring for bigger monitors.
Shoulda been a no call or a double foul.
Didn’t see tt do it live but on replay he tried to sell the trick
Bogut grabs TT’s jersey. TT gets the foul, wipes out a hoop.
They always get the second guy.
Dubs blog:
“Yup, Bogut does that ALL the time and gets away with it”
by DontcallmeIggy on Jun 4, 2015 | 7:35 PM up reply
Kyrie is making things happen, Kyrie’s game is soo smooth
That was like magic!
SHUMP with the Pickpocket on Curry!
Shump picks Curry’s pocket.
TT switching onto Steph is a bad idea…
Kyrie is a new man tonight.
Kyrie is a wizard. What level I don’t know.
KYRIE-DICOULUS!!!!
Kyrieeee is playing wowww
YES! Bron in the paint
Shump took an elbow from someone, maybe Bogut, on D.
and he got another hit from Green
WTH that was leaving thompson get a easy lay in
Shump got poked in the eye by Thompson…
Lebron is 1-4 n 3 pointers, thats too much 3’s for a half.
LET’S GO CAVS!!
Wow. What a great first half to the finals. Warriors made runs, cavs were steady as she goes. We are on pace to score 100 points at least thank goodness. The Warriors are great shooters but hideous decision makers under duress. Why they kept passing up dunks for threes is beyond me. Kerr, as laid back as he is, had to either laugh or get pissed about it. But it’s a good sign that our defense in the half court was destructive. Transition will kill us…fewer dribble dribble jump shots and more shots with rebounders in position will solve the… Read more »
Rest in peace, Stuart Scott, you are dearly missed.
^^^^^ +1,000
#Booyah
After watching a half, I’d say we can win this series but we need to play really well. Small margin for error, especially as magnum KI wears down.
Warriors are deep, but a little soft.
Bogut is going to be a problem.
Swish will be locked in; his shot is pure the more tension there is. I’d run every tension play for him before LBJ or KI.
Cavs went small while dubs went big and killed Cleveland … Don’t get your logic.
I was hoping that Blatt was saving Mozzy all season just to unleash him 40 minutes a game in the finals. That hasn’t happened so far, although our rebounding and defense in general was so much better with him out there!
Using my eyetest, Cavs seem to be playing loads better with Moz on the floor than when he sits. Hope he gets more than usual burn in the 4th.
Going all the way back to 2008 I always didnt really like when LBJ made his first two or three jumpshots. Apart from the inevitable heat check, which I am somehow OK with, he always takes too many of them. He makes the game difficult for himself. Plus he doesnt make the defense work.
Other than that, lets clean up our transition D and we are OK.
Feel like Blatt needs to resist the temptation to go small. Cavs way up with Moz on the floor.
man i hope you are right. the crazy thing about mozzy against bogut is that he seems to have more leverage. when the smaller guy is on him he can play down to the competition. i havent seen him as slick on defense like this first half. space eating and intimidating on both ends. just imagine if we can get some delly lobs to him. kerr will be livid because festivus or mo speights will not be able to handle it
HOW ARE WE ALL DOING OUT THERE —CAN YOU BELIEVE WE HAVE TO MAKE A HALF TIME BEER RUN —-NEED TO JUST GET A KEG AND SAY THE HELL WITH IT—-FASTEN UP AND HOLD ON TIGHT !!
And a half-time fireworks run?
#TaketheTractor
Favorite response of the thread
Tighten up the defense and. Rebounding please!
Is really hard to defend the Warriors they really share the ball well. Let’s hope the Cavs can keep the defensive intensity
Two straight great timeout plays by both coaches.
What a shot! We are gonna need JR in the second half.
These are most definitely the two best teams in the league
Warriors outrebounding the Cavs by two.
Yikes. There’s a talking point for Blatt at halftime.
They were taking a lot of shots where we weren’t in a good rebounding position.
And Cavs missed a ton of shots early in the quarter…
When we were ahead in the first we were ahead by a mile in rebounding
I have more confidence when JR puts up any shot than when some Cavs have an open shot.
I do too, OSUBuck42.
Yeah JR! Shaking his head after the shot like, You gotta cover me! Don’t make it so easy!
Jr smith is Robert horry 2.0