2024 NBA Playoffs: First Round

[JMoneyYourHoney]

Laker hater(“stuck” in Southern California for 20 years now) so it’s an odd place for me as I have always maintained extreme Cavs fandom while never holding a grudge against LeBron after maybe the first 1-2 years in MIA and in fact actively liking appreciating all phases of LeBrons career. But my fandom started well before LeBron and has always been vast and addictive, since the first time I heard Joe Tait on the radio calling games(pre Nance trade, Harper was still on the team, maybe even Bagley’s last year so I’m thinking maybe 86)

Your post answered some questions/illuminated my understanding and apologies for going to the nuclear. I wasn’t saying that your style of fandom was invalid or lesser, I was literally wondering/questioning if you were a Cavs fan vs say a Heat fan that followed LeBron when he came back here.

Either way, it’s a big tent, we all don’t have the same approach/opinuons, but anyone who is a Cavs fan is a friend in my book.

Well just to be clear, I'm aware that rooting for LeBron technically means footing for the team he's currently playing for...and yeah, fuck the Lakers. Just like you, I also vociferously rooted against LeBron the first couple years in Miami then just tuned them out (didn't have a problem with him leaving, it was how he made his exit.) And I've gone on record here several times that despite supporting LeBron and understanding why he left, I wouldn't build him a statue here on the premises of him leaving twice.

Sooooo....I've always tried to maintain consistency here. And that includes agreeing with the scathing critiques of the Lakers these past two games. The Nuggets currently are to the Lakers what GSW was to the Lob City Clippers...lost to them in the playoffs and then proceeded to own their souls for years afterwards.

 

[cavsfever]

Laker hater(“stuck” in Southern California for 20 years now) so it’s an odd place for me as I have always maintained extreme Cavs fandom while never holding a grudge against LeBron after maybe the first 1-2 years in MIA and in fact actively liking appreciating all phases of LeBrons career. But my fandom started well before LeBron and has always been vast and addictive, since the first time I heard Joe Tait on the radio calling games(pre Nance trade, Harper was still on the team, maybe even Bagley’s last year so I’m thinking maybe 86)

Your post answered some questions/illuminated my understanding and apologies for going to the nuclear. I wasn’t saying that your style of fandom was invalid or lesser, I was literally wondering/questioning if you were a Cavs fan vs say a Heat fan that followed LeBron when he came back here.

Either way, it’s a big tent, we all don’t have the same approach/opinuons, but anyone who is a Cavs fan is a friend in my book.

Why would a Heat fan continue to follow the team closely and post here over the now six years since Lebron left, including a difficult rebuilding period?

I count myself both a Cavs and a Lebron fan personally, don’t see a contradiction.

 

[KevinLoveFan]

My history with LeBron is kind of unusual. I admittedly didn't pay much attention to the Cavs until he came. Fun fact: he and I are almost the same age, and I was very excited to see how his career would work out; I even had a web page with a bunch of LeBron photos for awhile in the mid 2000s. I became especially interested in the Cavs when he came back, in large part because I was so curious to see how the trio of him with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love would work out. I will always remember that group fondly, of course especially for the championship, which remains my favorite moment in my 30+ year NBA fandom.

But I also grew up liking MJ, and I have little patience for people under the age of 35 who literally can't remember MJ well due to being too young at the time, and are so quick to dismiss what he did without having the lived experience of seeing his ruthless incomparable dominance in the 1990s. It's not actually LeBron's fault that the younger Millennials and Zoomers have grown up without this context; all they see are some advanced stats and YouTube clips that support their confirmation biases. But I seem to like LeBron less than I really do because I won't budge on MJ being the GOAT.

Interestingly, I still love to follow the Cavs now even with both LeBron AND Love gone. That entire 2016 title team is gone (except Tristan), but I've grown to really like players like JA and Mobley and Donovan. I also still like Garland; I grew up in middle TN (he played at Vandy) and have lived in SW MO since the 2000s (his dad played at the local college), so I will always root for him, but my goodness he needs to suck less, lol. And finally, RCF is THE most fun basketball fan forum I've EVER been on, and I was a mod at the cool FanHome back in the early 2000s. How could I abandon the Cavs after all that?

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

Oh I know they were. Difference is they were smart enough to realize it would have gutted the roster and all their assets. That is one of the reasons the Knicks were such a clown show for 20 years is because they kept chasing those types of players and never had draft picks left to build a team properly. Thank God Leon Rose had the self restraint to not make the move. And I guess thank Danny Ainge for being such a douche and trying to fleece every last drop out of NY.

And as I have stated more than once, I get it it's cool to hate the Knicks.

No one's hating on the Knicks team. It's their fanbase that sucks.

I personally don't dislike the Knicks team. A lot of Cavs fans here at various points have wanted Donte, OG, Bogdo, and Hart for a long time. Hartenstein was with the Cavs and played his ass off, and many here thought we never should've let him go. Brunson's a baller. They play with an edge and do so consistently.

Also, the problem for the Knicks wasn't that they chased after star players. The problem was that they could never deliver on signing them, and when they did it was always their 3rd or 4th choice (sans Carmelo).

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Why would a Heat fan continue to follow the team closely and post here over the now six years since Lebron left, including a difficult rebuilding period?

I count myself both a Cavs and a Lebron fan personally, don’t see a contradiction.

I’ve been a Cavs fan since I’ve been sentient, which happened sometime during the Campy Russell Era. Yes - listening to Joe Tait on rides to and from high school sporting events. I don’t actively follow any NBA teams besides the Cavs, but I will always be grateful to LeBron for bringing us the only Cleveland pro sports championship in my lifetime (in the big four leagues) and for helping to make Akron known for something besides the decline of the manufacturing economy in America. I also think that, by virtue of winning a championship in Cleveland - the greatest of all athletic achievements - LeBron should be recognized as the GOAT. Oh, and he also has scored more points that any NBA player in history, went to 10 Finals (some without hardly any help at all) and won 4 titles, in an era with several other Super Teams (Spurs, Warriors). There. I’ve said it.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

No one's hating on the Knicks team. It's their fanbase that sucks.

I personally don't dislike the Knicks team. A lot of Cavs fans here at various points have wanted Donte, OG, Bogdo, and Hart for a long time. Hartenstein was with the Cavs and played his ass off, and many here thought we never should've let him go. Brunson's a baller. They play with an edge and do so consistently.

Also, the problem for the Knicks wasn't that they chased after star players. The problem was that they could never deliver on signing them, and when they did it was always their 3rd or 4th choice (sans Carmelo).

I don’t like that it was the Knicks and the refs vs. the Sixers. And I don’t like that I-Hart plays for them and not us.

 

[TxBuckeye]

No one's hating on the Knicks team. It's their fanbase that sucks.

I personally don't dislike the Knicks team. A lot of Cavs fans here at various points have wanted Donte, OG, Bogdo, and Hart for a long time. Hartenstein was with the Cavs and played his ass off, and many here thought we never should've let him go. Brunson's a baller. They play with an edge and do so consistently.

Also, the problem for the Knicks wasn't that they chased after star players. The problem was that they could never deliver on signing them, and when they did it was always their 3rd or 4th choice (sans Carmelo).

Let me rephrase that. Not stars, they chased "names", Marbury, Penny Hardaway, Steve Francis, Antonio McDyess, Stoudemire, Melo. Of course, the ridiculous signing of Eddy Curry. ++

The point is they were never patient enough to let anything play out and actually build a roster until now. And I hated the Melo trade.

 

[jjvors]

Laker hater(“stuck” in Southern California for 20 years now) so it’s an odd place for me as I have always maintained extreme Cavs fandom while never holding a grudge against LeBron after maybe the first 1-2 years in MIA and in fact actively liking appreciating all phases of LeBrons career. But my fandom started well before LeBron and has always been vast and addictive, since the first time I heard Joe Tait on the radio calling games(pre Nance trade, Harper was still on the team, maybe even Bagley’s last year so I’m thinking maybe 86)

Your post answered some questions/illuminated my understanding and apologies for going to the nuclear. I wasn’t saying that your style of fandom was invalid or lesser, I was literally wondering/questioning if you were a Cavs fan vs say a Heat fan that followed LeBron when he came back here.

Either way, it’s a big tent, we all don’t have the same approach/opinuons, but anyone who is a Cavs fan is a friend in my book.

Going off topic (what's new about that?) I too was a Joe Tait fan from the beginning--I started listening in 1970. No TV coverage. John Johnson and Walter Wesley, John Warren, Luther Rackley, and not much else. 0-15 start and we ended up with 15 wins that first year.

The league had greater parity in the 70s. Getting to 50 wins was a big deal. Most teams were 30s-40s. 60 wins was reserved for super teams, like the '67 Warriors.

 

[Pierre Pan]

As expected:

NBA: Maxey fouled twice during chaotic sequence

Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey was fouled multiple times during the frenetic defining sequence of Philadelphia's Game 2 loss to New York, according to the Last Two Minute Report.

www.espn.com

 

[HenryMuto]

I don't think they could call a TO since they lost their last one during that terrible challenge. Coach lost them the game (well, numerous things did, but that too).

They had 1 left and their coach was calling for it (The NBA last 2 minute report even said that was a miss by the refs).
Also the last 2 minute report said Maxey got fouled 2 different times on that inbound turnover.
Refs are a joke in the playoffs.

 

[redruM]

They say playoffs dont start until the road team wins. I guess post season hasnt start yet. Wtf have I been watching then?

 

[PIP]

They say playoffs dont start until the road team wins. I guess post season hasnt start yet. Wtf have I been watching then?

More importantly who is “they” ?

 

[Benway]

More importantly who is “they” ?

LeBron James said it, to be specific!

 

[PIP]

Frank Vogel is just as terrible as Rick Carlisle

 

[Randolphkeys]

My boy Dweeb Eubanks fighting back against the Twin Cities.