(1) Cavaliers Vs. (4) Celtics

[Valor]

Nothing going on personally like the way Jordan-Pistons and Jordan-Knicks did.
LeBron James is a douche and Garnett is a jerk so its only natural that their personalities collide when they meet.

Screw Paul Pierce, shadowgrin should be nicknamed "The Truth"

[atlwarrior]

I predicted Celtics in 6 before the series and looks like my prediction is going to be right.

Nada. Bro Cleveland will win in Boston. Why? Their home record sucks. Oddly theyre one of the better teams on the road at 26-15 but are only 24-17 at home. Keep in mind Cleveland also has one of the best records on the road at 26-15. They just need to stop letting the Celtics control the tempo.

[Dee.]

They have to keep Allen under control,they never do that.

[atlwarrior]

They have to keep Allen under control,they never do that.

Agreed but other than denying him the ball you cant. Chances are you wont even be able to deny him the ball because once they set a screen for him hes gone. You just would have to hope he has an off night or cool down at some point. Its one thing allow a player to constantly score in the paint but I feel at times Ray Allen is the most dangerous player on any given night. His stats from this year may not reflect that but when hes hot thats when the Cetics are really dangerous.

[benji]

Celtics are too good for them.

You know how the Celtics got good? You noted it below:

making as many trades as possible and signing everybody they can.

Anyway.

Lakers will be contenders for next 3-4 seasons. But Cavs?

Have been contenders for 3-4 seasons already? Went to the Finals in 2007, East Conf. Finals last year, back to back 60+ win teams now. All while overhauling the team to the point of near wretched excess.

In the same time they developed younger players like Farmar and Brown.

Except they didn't. Brown they acquired halfway through last season and Farmar hasn't really developed despite four years in the league.

That's what I call great way to build a team. Not by just making as many trades as possible and signing everybody they can.

So the great way to build a team is:
1. Have a superstar. (Kobe)
2. Add players through the draft. (Bynum, Farmar)
3. Trade junk for better players. (Out goes Kwame Brown, Maurice Evans, Brian Cook and in comes Gasol, Shannon Brown)
4. Maybe sign some players. (Ron Artest, Derek Fisher)

Well, yeah.

The problem is there's only so many stars, and you only have so many chances to acquire them. And it's not like the Lakers haven't traded a bunch. Only five players on their playoff roster were here in 2006-07, and three of those are Kobe, Odom and Bynum. That's one more player than the Cavs have from the 2007 Finals team on their playoff roster.

So what have the Cavs done to get here?
1. Have a superstar: LeBron James.
2. Add players through the draft: J.J. Hickson, Daniel Gibson.
3. Trade junk for better players: Out goes Larry Hughes, Gooden, Marshall, Damon Jones, Joe Smith, Eric Snow, Sasha Pavlovic, and in comes Shaq, West, Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison.
4. Maybe sign some players: Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon.

And the team they're facing?
1. Have a superstar: Let's count Paul Pierce for fun.
2. Add players through the draft: Rondo, Glen Davis. (Leon Powe)
3. Trade junk for better players: Out goes 80% of the team for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Eddie House for Nate Robinson.
4. Maybe sign some players: Rasheed Wallace, Michael Finley, Marquis Daniels, Shelden Williams. (Eddie House, James Posey, P.J. Brown, Sam Cassell, etc. in the past.)

Want to look at the other playoff teams?

Basically your complaint about how the Cavs are "building their team" is that they haven't been lucky like the Lakers and Celtics and been able to nab another superstar level player through trades. Even though the Cavs have more useful players on the front-side of their prime than either the Lakers or Celtics have. And even though the Cavs have the best player in the NBA and will be contenders as long as he stays around, necessitating the active trades in order to show him that they want to bring in the talent to help him win a title rather than sticking him with Eric Snow, Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden as his running mates.

Had the Lakers not lucked into Gasol and the Celtics not lucked into KG and Allen, do you really think they wouldn't have continued the same furious trade rates and roster shuffling they had been doing from 2004-2007? Lakers would've had Bynum and Bryant, Celtics had Pierce, Rondo and Perkins, but they'd still have to be shuffling the rest of the deck chairs ala the Cavs to put those teams into contention. The difference is that the Cavaliers have LeBron James so they can keep contending even as they swap out half the team every year in the quest to get better. (Something that is likely to come to an end if LeBron stays as everyone but him, Shaq and Ilgauskas are under contract for next season. And I'm not sure the rest of the team has the trade value to bring in another superstar unless it's a Pau Gasol style dump by someone.)

[Rip32]

Nada. Bro Cleveland will win in Boston. Why? Their home record sucks.

and what about the fact that Cleveland has the best home record in the NBA... buuuuut Boston won convincingly there?

Don't make up a statistic that doesn't matter in the playoffs, Cleveland was unstoppable at home last year (39-2) and look at what that got them when they played a good team?

[Andrew]

Don't make up a statistic that doesn't matter in the playoffs, Cleveland was unstoppable at home last year (39-2) and look at what that got them when they played a good team?

I wouldn't go that far, it's still worth noting even if it doesn't prove that the Celtics are doomed at home.

[scubilete]

Cleveland still have the same problem they had last year, it's playoff time, let's see King James perform, Nobody wants to shoot, nobody contributes in the scoring table to get a win. LeBron shares the ball too much and those guys don't like to take the responsibility and LeBron is slow realizing that.

Besides that, Cleveland also played that last game to lose it, I see Shaq with 1 foul and still played less than 20 mins, if there's something Boston has is big muscle guys taking care of the board, Shaq is the main guy to match those Boston guys, you can count on Shaq to fight those for a rebound, so I consider playing him limited minutes without a reason (foul trouble) was stupid for them. I didn't actually watch the game, but that's the opinion I got from looking at the scoreboard.

Now, I don't see Cleveland as a team to represent the east in the finals, and Boston might be just the right team to take them out of the way, that's my overall opinion not based on one particular game.

[NovU]

LOLz!!! As I stated earlier, I'm rooting for BOS, but wtf is all these fuss about? Of course, the loss is always alarming, but some here makes the CLE sound like a terrible team. It's only 1-1 and BOS is an underrated team that surprised people. Nothing more than that. It's not CLE is a bad team, it's just that BOS is also a great team that won the championship two years ao with exact same core.

[diddy]

Celtics in 7.

second that!
with Rondo doing his thing, with KG healthy as he do, with nate and finley celts has too much power for Cavs, i hope King will be pissed of their loss to Celtics in the second roung and leave Cleveland in sumer and would sign with Miami

[atlwarrior]

Why the hell is Leon Powe on the Inactive list? I thought he was healthy again.

[Sauru]

They didn't trade Shaq because it was time, they traded him because his feud with Kobe reached the point of "It's him or me", forcing their hand. Bynum has definitely panned out, I wouldn't say they really developed Farmar and Brown all that much (they have their moments but both could be a lot more consistent) and a deal like the Gasol trade doesn't come along all that often, not for the players they had to give up to get him. To say the Lakers planned it all that way is giving them a bit too much credit; remember, the offseason before they acquired Gasol, Kobe was demanding a trade after consecutive first round exits.

There's no "normal" way of building a team, not when simple good fortune often plays such a prominent role.

this reminds me of how the celtics came to be. if we win the draft lotto a few years back we end up with greg oden and not kg or allen and the celtics are still trying to win a ring. instead of winning we dropped all the way to 6th i think which made up makes the trades that got the team back to its winning ways. still i would have been ok with the 2nd pick that year

[Andrew]

Indeed, it's a matter of good fortune and making the best of what seems like a bad situation as much as it is adhering to a sound strategy for building a team. As I said, there's no "normal" way of doing it.

[atlwarrior]

So far everything in the Cavs favor.

[scubilete]

Yeah, LeBron did it again

[shadowgrin]

According to NBA.com:

The Cavs hand the Celtics their worst home playoff loss ever (with a 29 point win)

Can't verify this atm but if that is true, what the hell did the Celtics do to piss off LeBron?

[Lamrock]

Either Blowing them out in Cleveland or having their third best player call himself the best in the NBA.

[atlwarrior]

Can't verify this atm but if that is true, what the hell did the Celtics do to piss off LeBron?

Mike Brown also looked pretty pissed after gm 2. It was pretty funny seeing him like that. Ive never seen him that upset b4. I think he finally scared them into playing their asses off.

[shadowgrin]

Mike Brown scares no one. Only LeBron can scare the Cavs.

[Andrew]

Mike Brown scares no one.

I don't know about that. That clip where he couldn't stop laughing when asked about Mo Williams' dunk was a little unsettling.

[Kinggdawg]

Dang i reckon cavs will win the series in game 5.

[adv1s5]

Rondo played his ass off. Much props to him. I loved watching him play today. Wish I taped it.
Greatest example of point guard domination in recent memory.

[Jeffx]

Rondo played his ass off. Much props to him. I loved watching him play today. Wish I taped it.
Greatest example of point guard domination in recent memory.

That dude is the truth, very underrated point guard. If he can nail that mid-range J with any consistency, forget it!

[Andrew]

And make his free throws.

[Lamrock]

With Paul's injuries, he is definitely a jump shot away from being the league's top PG. If he can get 50-35-80+, he would be there. Long way to go with free throws and threes though.