Talking Cavs with Mark Neal
2017-05-26https://soundcloud.com/dayton-radio/tom-pestak-cavstheblogcom-joins-mark-neal-on-dss-1?in=dayton-radio/sets/dayton-sports-scene
I got in studio with Mark on Thursday evening just before the Cavs put the Celtics to bed. We spent a lot of time talking about the likely Cavs/Warriors matchup, how well Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving are fitting in with LeBron James, and a whole lot more how the rest of the NBA might respond to the Cavs and Warriors dominance.
I feel like this series is beyond analysis — so many things can break in so many different ways with all of the role players, different lineups, 3-point barrages from both sides, Mike Freakin’ Brown, etc.. I just can’t wait for them to play the games. All I know is we will have the best player on the court for 42-44 minutes a game. That gives us a real chance.
Last years’ finals didn’t make a lot of sense based on analysis of everything that came before it.
Agree. These two teams are so stacked. It’s hard to figure things out. Ws deserve to be favorites, but Bron and Kyrie and not people I would bet against with the pressure on.
The Cavs in 6. This will be a series of adjustments – both in going small or big and match-ups. The Cavs have a secret weapon that makes me very confident- Mike Brown. He coaches not to lose and can’t hold a candle to Steve Kerr’s ability to adjust on the fly. He will depend too much on Durant and Curry and make the others on the Warriors less significant than they will need to be. All that and LeBron and Kyrie. I agree with Jeff Van Gundy. I wished they had just canceled the playoffs and made this series… Read more »
Steve Kerr sucked last finals
Seriously Cols714 – you are turning into the Donald Trump of forums.
He did though. He played freaking varajaoe in game 7!! And gave way too many minutes to other sucky players. Meanwhile the Cavs knew not to play their scrubs.
He had to play Festus a lot after Bogut went down. Cavs destroyed him any time he was on the court, especially in game 7.
Which is what’s going to happen if they actually believe that McGee is useful. He sucks.
Like Mo Williams?
Cavs in 6. I’m basing this off the amount of people pissing me off before the Finals get a chance to start lol.
Love that first caller
Amazingly LeBrons teams have only been favored in two of his eight Finals. The mavericks one and the first Spirs heat one.
To me one thing that should be clear for the Cavs on offense is that they can’t hold the ball too much against this team, they need to attack all the time and make quick decisions on offense. They need to use their depth and play with great pace all series.
It’s nice we have a backup PG we can actually play this year in the Finals.
Agreed, I hope he doesn’t get caught up in the moment. He and Kyle Korver should help the Cavs a lot.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the Cavs pull a 2014 Spurs and just come out and dominate the series and completely ruin a super-hyped Finals? I kind of feel like the build up is to the point where we could very easily be let down either way… Obviously I’m hoping it’s in the Cavs’ favor.
The Spurs were favored in that series though.
I see warriors fans are already gloating that McGee is going to be the X factor. I can’t wait for the first time they switch him onto Kyrie out at the three point line.
McGee sucks. He’s so bad.
McGee won’t be a factor. If he gets in a roll and has a few stoppages at the rim, Lue will bring in Frye or play Love at the five and get him away from the basket. On the offensive side, if McGee is the deciding factor, we really don’t stand a chance. I say go at them early. LeBron and Ky need to attack and get them in foul trouble from the go. Klay has been shooting in the .38% range, so his shot has been missing. If any one of the big four is to take shots, let… Read more »
Lol. Kyrie, Lebron K-Love, and TT will destroy McGee. He’ll be unplayable.
LeBron is right though. We really should just soak t all in.
Lol
Let’s not forget these lessons
Well ESPN Gives the Cavs a stunning 7% chance of winning the championship. ???Thoughts?!
Seems a bit low. However, I get it. Durant, not by himself, but added to the warriors presents a huge problem for everyone including the Cavs for the foreseeable future.
Wow 7% is pretty low. I would say it’s a 60/40 in favor of the Warriors. I hate to say it but they are really good. The Cavs will need to play at their absolute best to have a shot at them. Now, if Kwahi had not gotten hurt in game one and instead it happened in game two, and the Spurs had won game one, as it looked like it was going to happen, do you guys think the percentages would be different? I think Golden State, the same as the Cavs to be honest, were given an easy… Read more »
I actually think the Spurs being injured benefitted the Cavs. GSW was tested for 2.5 quarters… that’s it. Had they faced a full Spurs team, they would’ve gotten a lot better getting pushed by Pop and Co…. they would’ve gotten some battle scars with KD for the first time. As it stands now, the first adversity they’ll face all playoffs will be the Cavs. How is a head-case like JaVale McGee going to handle the pressure for the first time??? How is KD going to handle the pressure being with this group for the first time??? At least with Deron… Read more »
All I have to say about the Odds is that if they come through and all of the sudden the Cavs get swept then the league will have a really bad situation IMO. So the league will go back to teams like the Old Celtics that won all those titles in a row? In other words, ratings could be really affected.
I agree with you, it’s obvious that if you keep the core of a 73-9 team and then add a 2 time MVP to it well it’s kind of obvious that they will be the favorites. I just keep wondering how the NBA fans will react if the all sudden the Warriors beat the Cavs in 5 or less games after sweeping all the Western conference opponents?.
To me it’s kind of lame watching a league in which you already now who’s going to win it all.
That’s about what I would give them. Doesn’t mean the Cavs suck, the Warriors are just that loaded. I think they have the best 1-6 in NBA history. I had the Cavs with about a 15% chance last year, and that was looking pretty accurate until Bray became Bray and got suspended. I think the Cavs would need something similar to happen to have a legit shot this year. Adding Durant to that team without killing their bench in the process is just stupid.
On paper the Warriors should win it you are right about that but I believe the Cavs have a decent chance to beat if LeBron keeps playing at the same level he is been playing so far. The Cavs would need to play at a great level defensively.
What is this ESPN bull***t? Man, ESPN can irritate the heck out of me. This is bulletin board material for the Cavs. Disrespectful as hell. Lebron will shock the world.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarank_finalsstars/is-cavaliers-warriors-round-3-most-star-studded-nba-finals-ever-nbarank
Ah, never mind. They fixed it.
I’m picking th Cavs. But I don’t see LeBron and Kyrie getting much help. Role player three point shooters never seem to show up for the Cavs deep in the playoffs. So I’m counting out JR and Korver contributing much on the offensive end. But if they can keep hustling on defense, they can play meaningful minutes.
????? JRs run in the 2nd half of game 7 saved us.
Yep. It did. Where was he the rest of the series? Or in 2015 when the Cavs desperately needed someone to put up points?
He was bad in 2015. But that’s when he had to be the #2 option due to inured. He’s the 4th option now. There’s no reason to think he will disappear.
Also. For as bad as JR was in 2015. He still shot a higher percentage than Delly who everyone thinks was awesome in that Finals.
I don’t care about Delly and never have. JR is immensely more talented and needs to be held accountable for rising to the occasion.
JR is not a second option. The pressure gets to him in those type of situations. He was the best 6th man of the year for a reason.
Will he step up in the finals? Who knows. But to say, without a doubt that he won’t, that’s a little far fetched.
I think if he’ll come through when needed, just like KK. Well… I hope so lol
Long session! Love the first caller’s optimism & he’s convinced me. Cavs FTW.
Tom you’re analysis always puts me ahead of the water cooler conversation on basketball (although I run my business from home so maybe I’m not a great example). But one thing that guy who asked about how Lebron and kawhi are similar had going for him is that the Spurs also play scheme defense. They also have a lot of older guys and they also aren’t the greatest one on one defenders outside their best player. I am legitimately worried about injuries…but we have enough hustle and enough motivation to put the warriors in their place, I think. We are… Read more »
Thanks for these; they always seem to help increase my b-ball IQ no matter how much I think I know.
I will listen to this