Everything ECF 2016

[golden]

Atlanta tried to play pretty basketball against the Cavs but that doesn't work against Lebron. Detroit tried to muck it up but they didn't have the horses to close games. Raps will drag it deep into the mud against Cleveland and make it ugly, smash mouth ball - try to grind out wins. If this series goes deep, I can see it getting dirty and that will suit Toronto just fine.

Absolutely. Raps need to make it a war. Cavs are softer than runny poop and Lebron is well-known to be a front-runner. And don't even talk about Kyrie "DNP - Bedbugs" Irving. The other great thing about this series is that Cleveland is close enough for droves of Raptor fans to make the road trip.

You can't make this stuff up....

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14...-blame-absence

CLEVELAND -- Kyrie Irving said it wasn't a stomach bug that caused him to miss most of the Cleveland Cavaliers' win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

It was actually a bout with bedbugs from the night before.

"Our team said I was out with flu-like symptoms," Irving said after the Cavs' 96-88 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Monday. "It was honestly from the bedbugs from the frickin' Hilton that we stayed at."

[rocwell]

Dwane Casey says he does not foresee having JV available in first two games, but not committing to that.

— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) May 16, 2016

Casey says won't rule out Valanciunas for series but can't see Game 1 or likely Game 2 either.

— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) May 16, 2016

[Apollo]

They probably weren't going to win the first two with or without him. The next two after that though? Different story.

[Barolt]

I think we lose any game in this series where DeMar is in Empty the Clip mode. Cleveland is a good rebounding team with a great offense. We won't dominate them on the offensive boards like we did to Miami and Indiana to make up for players chucking.

[planetmars]

[3inthekeon]

Besides being without JV, the other huge issue will be our 3 pt defense, which was pretty bad, at least % wise, this year.

Smith, Irving, Love, Frye, Jefferson and Shumpert have each played 100+ minutes in the playoffs and are a combined 113 of 225 from 3. Love Irving and Smith have made 87 total, almost 11/game.

[Machine]

In 2009, the first LJ era, the Cavs had a 66 win season and swept through the first two rounds beating Detroit and Atlanta just like this year.

They had 9 days off before the next round.

Orlando beat them in the Conference Finals in 6 games.

[Barolt]

Besides being without JV, the other huge issue will be our 3 pt defense, which was pretty bad, at least % wise, this year.

Smith, Irving, Love, Frye, Jefferson and Shumpert have each played 100+ minutes in the playoffs and are a combined 113 of 225 from 3. Love Irving and Smith have made 87 total, almost 11/game.

I keep going back to the early January loss, when DeMar kept leaving JR Smith and he went 8/14 from 3. That scares me.

[rocwell]

Casey doesn't see JV playing in the first couple of games, has to be 100% first ... I think chances of him playing at all are remote, FWIW

— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) May 16, 2016

[Apollo]

.

[Barolt]

People posted going into the Miami series how good DeMar was against Miami during the season...

DeMar against Cleveland during the season:

15/3.7/3.3 on 38.1% from the field. His lowest points/game out of any team in the league this year, and the only Eastern Conference teams he shot worse against are Indiana(37.7%) and Orlando(34%).

[Mess]

Absolutely. Raps need to make it a war.

War?

Is that you Rod Black?

[jimmie]

People posted going into the Miami series how good DeMar was against Miami during the season...

DeMar against Cleveland during the season:

15/3.7/3.3 on 38.1% from the field. His lowest points/game out of any team in the league this year, and the only Eastern Conference teams he shot worse against are Indiana(37.7%) and Orlando(34%).

Better bench him, then. He's so awful, we'd be better off with him not playing.

[DanH]

Besides being without JV, the other huge issue will be our 3 pt defense, which was pretty bad, at least % wise, this year.

Smith, Irving, Love, Frye, Jefferson and Shumpert have each played 100+ minutes in the playoffs and are a combined 113 of 225 from 3. Love Irving and Smith have made 87 total, almost 11/game.

I think our 3 PT defence struggles are exaggerated.

Scola on court: 40.4% opponent 3 PT %.

Scola off court: 35.3 opponent 3 PT %.

Pretty much league average.

[LJ2]

People posted going into the Miami series how good DeMar was against Miami during the season...

DeMar against Cleveland during the season:

15/3.7/3.3 on 38.1% from the field. His lowest points/game out of any team in the league this year, and the only Eastern Conference teams he shot worse against are Indiana(37.7%) and Orlando(34%).

3 posts on this page alone with just random notes on how bad DeMar is. I'm not even a fan of his and it's getting annoying.