04/20/24
May 26, 2015
LeBron Takes Cavaliers to NBA Finals in First Season Back: The Cleveland Cavaliers swept aside the Atlanta Hawks 118-88 Tuesday night to complete a 4-0 series win, advancing to the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history. LeBron James had 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. He becomes the first player to reach the Finals five times in a row since Bill Russell and three teammates in the Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1960s.
posted by rcade to basketball at 11:22 PM - 8 comments
I think Ainge would overpay for Love.
(I know that at various times in my life, I would have done so.)
posted by beaverboard at 08:27 AM on May 27, 2015
He becomes the first player to reach the Finals five times in a row since Bill Russell and three teammates in the Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1960s.
Don't forget James Jones!
posted by grum@work at 09:31 AM on May 27, 2015
Tristan Thompson's stock certainly is on the rise
With LeBron and Irving on the court hoisting 60 shots per game the Cavs need a player like Thompson who does everything else well without the ball much more than they need Love or JR Smith. Thompson is basically a more offensively talented version of what Dennis Rodman brought to the Jordan/Pippen led Bulls.
Just imagine if the Cavs hadn't traded for Love and also had Andrew Wiggins in the mix. Love is an exceptional player but his game duplicates skills the Cavs already have being essentially a 1st or 2nd offensive option player on a team that already has those roles filled for years to come. Wiggins running off the ball offensively is an ideal compliment to what the Cavs have and defensively he is far superior to Love.
posted by cixelsyd at 10:48 AM on May 27, 2015
need a player like Thompson who does everything else well without the ball much more than they need Love or JR Smith.
Am I the only person who would be willing to accept anything in the first clause given the second clause contains "more than they need . . . JR Smith"? In the abstract I see what he brings to an offense (on some nights) but the negatives seem so much more than the positives.
Just imagine if the Cavs hadn't traded for Love and also had Andrew Wiggins in the mix.
It's funny to think about that-- at the time the trade was what they "had to do" to have any chance of making a dent in the playoffs. Now they're doing fine without either, which speaks to the weakness of the East but also adds to the questions people asked of Kevin Love last offseason. He may wind up signing a short-term Prove It deal and hope the new higher cap for 2017 takes care of him.
posted by yerfatma at 10:57 AM on May 27, 2015
I think Ainge would overpay for Love.
(I know that at various times in my life, I would have done so.)
The Celtics could be a much better team with Love, but their more immediate need is a defensive rim protector. Those are few and far between.
I overpaid for love once, but that was in my misspent youth. I don't regret it, though.
posted by Howard_T at 02:02 PM on May 27, 2015
I don't think the trade was a mistake. The mistake was not figuring out how to properly utilize Love. It shouldn't have been that difficult to work in a player of Love's skill set. That said, Love was still a better player this year than Wiggins. Wiggins played a ton of minutes this year and put a lot of shots up, which won him a ROY award*, but he didn't play very well overall. Now, you put him on a team with LeBron and don't ask him to do much and he might have been playing all right by playoff time... or they might have struggled to make him fit in the same way that happened with Love. The highlights would be fun, though.
*Wiggin's numbers, while very similar to Durant's rookie season in Seattle, are pretty bad for a ROY winning season. Though, not nearly as bad as MCW's last year.
posted by tron7 at 02:25 PM on May 27, 2015
I got to see Wiggins once this year. I focused on him because my rheumatologist is a Kansas grad, and he was a one-man rooting section for Wiggins. So as I watched him against the Celtics in December, at a time when the Celtics' roster was in a state of flux, I couldn't help but think he was the invisible man. He was most unimpressive that night. Most likely it was just "one of those games". but I am still not really in the "Wiggins is wonderful" camp.
posted by Howard_T at 04:26 PM on May 27, 2015
This game was exactly what they needed - Irving comes back for a tune-up but only needs to play 22 minutes and they now get a bunch of rest before the finals.
Tristan Thompson's stock certainly is on the rise - I wonder whether a team like the Raptors will take a swing at him in the off-season with one of those front-loaded structure deals that would put the Cavs in a position to either cut bait with one or both of Kevin Love and JR Smith (who will push them deep into the luxury if Thompson gets above value in year one) or to deal them and roll with Thompson.