How did we lose? An argument for no big changes.

David. said:

So people have been saying our core didn't lose the game, our bench did.

Isn't it more accurate to say "gsw have so many stars they were able to stagger their minutes and surprise, our bench couldn't keep up?"

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Chris Parker said:

Or would it also be accurate to say, the Cavs bench played so badly and had so little of Lue's trust that the Cavs overworked their stars and did a poor job of staggering their minutes (not just in the playoffs, lets be honest....)?

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Chris Parker said:

Or would it also be accurate to say, the Cavs bench played so badly and had so little of Lue's trust that the Cavs overworked their stars and did a poor job of staggering their minutes (not just in the playoffs, lets be honest....)?

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Chris Parker said:

here are the starters numbers
http://on.nba.com/2ud8R5B
Starters outscored Warriors starters by 3.8 pts/game

GS only averaged 1.6 mn less than #cavs, so that's 8 more bench minutes a game. That alone shouldn't account for +10 ppg more.

Over 5 games that's 40 minutes and Cavs lost to bench by 50+ points. I honestly think a big issue is the bench played horrendous defense, far far worse than the starters (sadly) making their bench guys look even better. Big part was Iggy & Livingston averaging 15 ppg between them.

Cavs bench only got 18.4 (to 29 by GSW)
http://on.nba.com/2ucViDz

now theoretically Korver & Deron Williams should be able to score around as much as Iggy and Livingston, but it didn't happen.

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Snarly said:

Is this due to bad coaching or just just our stars trying to do so much, I been trying to rap my head around this because I knew this fact already. Really can't use the old age tag to much here either.

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Chris Parker said:

I certainly don't have an "ANSWER" but what i feel is that Lue mollycoddled the bench, and never gave them his trust. Given the weakness of ECF, hard to see big fear. But that lack of trust & chemistry really showed when starters left floor.

Additionally, expecting role players to hit big 3s on the road in the playoffs is hard task. Note that Iggy & Livingston do most of their damage inside the arc. Cavs welcomed Iggy 3s. But everyone on Cavs bench is jump shooter who notoriously have more issues on road. Probably behoove Cavs to add.... a playmaker who can get to the basket and create own shot. But you probably already knew that. LeBron did.

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sleepmaster said:

If Carmelo gets bought out and signs a 2 yr MLE, would that give us his bird rights?

If so, how much of the Knicks money would Carmelo have to realistically be willing to sacrifice for the Knicks to buy him out?

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Fileman3 said:

So what are realistic expectations for this team?? make the finals again and lose again???

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Soar said:

Realistically, really hard to imagine us not getting to the Finals with ease again.

But with our current roster, GS will make quick work of us.

Really frustrating situation as of now. Which is why I'm angry about it.

Idk how many teams in history across all sports could say:

"Yeah we have the best player in the world in our sport and we will easily get to the finals, but we pretty much have no shot once we get there."

Pretty fucked up really.

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Kizzle said:

I mean realistically if we change NOTHING we still are a finals lock most likely. Also were prob one injury away from beating GS.

We aren't in a super good position standing pat but think for a second about teams like Toronto or Washington. Who also haven't done anything but weren't able to compete in the first place. I like our spot better than 29 other teams in the league

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