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Round 1 Game 1 | Cavs vs Pacers | April 15, 2017 | 3:00 PM EST

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While we are talking about adjustments, I'd like to see us play Deron more in game 2. I thought he looked good on both ends for the most part, and played with energy.

I think he can use his size/strength to keep Stevenson out of the lane decently well, and give us something on offense. His passing and penetration was good today, and he made the only three he took.
yeah he did play well, although i remember laughing when on one offensive possession he didnt get over half court until 18 sec left on the clock
 
Guys stop freaking out please.

We won. Emphasis on "won".

We missed nearly half of our free throws and George/Stephenson were phenomenal. That's about all they have..... Last years game 1 against Detroit was close as well. Just relax and let these guys fine tune their games and we should be done with this series in 3 to 4 more games.
Yeah, I'd hate to see this board after a loss
 
I agree, and Korver as well. Both need more minutes IMO. Less for JR at this point.

Agreed with Korver as well. Though he had a negative +/- I would have never guessed that. Thought our offense played really well with him out there.
 
Shooting 50% from the FT line is not ordinary for this team.

Ugh, missing a bunch of FTs is well within this teams identity.

I mean if you just go back to the last two games both LeBron and Tristan played (our two worst FT shooters) we missed 10 FTs going 22-32 and missed 7 going 9-16. Actually we went 9-16 right before that, too, against Chicago.

So, ok, maybe shooting exactly 50% isn't "normal," but it's not some huge outlier lately either.
 
But missing FTs and being a not so good rebounding team has been common the entire second half of the season. this wansn't out of the ordinary here.

I'd agree on the free throw thing if Kyrie hadn't missed one and Love hadn't missed three. And Jefferson missed two. Those are three good free throw shooters.
 
My favorite stat of the day:

I. Shumpert SG DNP-COACH'S DECISION

This shocked me. I thought we were going to see Shump playing 40 minutes per game this post-season... I thought Lue was obessed with him. Turns out that's not the case.
 
Dude was 8-13 and +7 in 27 minutes - one of their more effective players.

Exactly lol, he kept the pacers in the game when PG sat and when he came back. Without that 7-0 run it would have been a double digit win. Cavs helped them out by a few ISO possesion here and there during the run.
 
Yeah you did but that's fine. You have the right to think differently and criticize me for it. I just see so many alarming signs that weren't there even against Detroit. I dunno, I thought I would see a much better team in the opening game and I came away disappointed and concerned about everything from the coaching to the general play and current shape of certain players.

Biggest thing is to me is JR's current play(He was a huge part of our success last season) and the set rotation that imo isn't optimal at all among other things.

Do you agree that this isn't going to cut it against whomever comes out of the west?

I'd be more concerned if the uptick in effort and energy weren't there. I believe what LeBron said in the on court postgame interview. The defensive corrections they need to do are if an X and O variety not the effort and energy variety. So coming off how we played the past month, I see that uptick as a positive.

I liked the return of playoff Kyrie. The loose ball effort and defensive effort was a noticeable step up from the regular season.

Love missed 13 games. But JR missed half the season. So my expectation was always that he would take longer mentally and physically to approach his effort and impact from last years playoffs. So as I project forward, it does include a sharper JR the deeper we go. Obviously, if that doesn't occur, then that would be a big concern.

I think we sometimes forget just how long the playoffs are. If we reach the Finals, we won't be matching up with GS in two or three weeks. It will literally be 6 weeks from now. I believe this team has the ability to build and crescendo towards that time.

So ultimately I just don't have concern about projecting game one of round one, or frankly even all of game one into the ECF or Finals.
 
Team would have no issues with Miami. Paul George is just that good.

It'll be interesting to see what the Pacers do defensively in game 2. Can't just keep switching Teague onto James and Love.
Yea no. Miami had the best 3pt defense in league, the best rebounder in the league, and actual team and ball movement. So virtually they null all our advantages to an extent. Would much rather play Pacers.


One thing for sure we're getting raped by the Warriors if we get that far if we don't buck up.
 
Guys stop freaking out please.

We won. Emphasis on "won".

We missed nearly half of our free throws and George/Stephenson were phenomenal. That's about all they have..... Last years game 1 against Detroit was close as well. Just relax and let these guys fine tune their games and we should be done with this series in 3 to 4 more games.

Last year's game one was in the exact same situation late (one minute, up 4 with the ball). James got the post up bunny last year to go up 6. This year, it was a turnover.
 
Yea no. Miami had the best 3pt defense in league, the best rebounder in the league, and actual team and ball movement. So virtually they null all our advantages to an extent. Would much rather play Pacers.


One thing for sure we're getting raped by the Warriors if we get that far if we don't buck up.

In the regular season, all those things are true. The playoffs are different. The Heat would be last year's Pistons.
 

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