Ethan Strauss: When Iguodala was in, LeBron shot 38% and the Cavs were -55. When he sat, LeBron shot 44% and the Cavs were +30 He added a boost on offense, pushed the tempo, hit open shots, some electrifying dunks, distributed where it needed to go. Just great work in so many areas of the game and on both ends. Also, I take extra pleasure in the fact that this is two years straight that LeBron's matchup has won Finals MVP.
Dont forget he had already planned to leave weeks before he opted out. He also had been secretly meetig with Dan Gilbert the past few years plotting his return. Dion Waiters made it clear during a summer league game that Lebron had told him weeks before free agency that he is going to Cleveland and "to be ready". All this while bsing Riley, Lebron should have been honest from the start instead of making a gigantic event like he does everything. If he had said weeks before leaving okay Im leaving for Cleveland, i wouldnt care. But he took Riley and the Heat for a ride, knowing he was leaving.
I don't hate Lebron. I hate Cleveland. If Lebron left there I wouldn't root against him. When he left Miami the worst I said about him was that he had made a poor basketball decision. And I said I was grateful for what he helped bring to Miami. In fact, when he played that first game back in Miami the fans here gave him a standing ovation. Contrast that to when he played that first game in Cleveland while a member of the Heat. They booed him and put urinal cakes with his face out. And it wasn't just a few like you'd expect in any city. That whole arena was booing. Of course they were arguably just following the classless example set by the Cavs owner. On top of that I have to here ignorant rants about how loyal Cleveland fans are and how Miami fans are just bandwagon jumpers. It doesn't matter that it's complete B.S. Here's the Forbes NBA fan rankings for loyalty: Top-5 2014 2013 1. San Antonio Spurs (#2) 2. Oklahoma City Thunder (#5) 3. Miami Heat (#1) 4. Chicago Bulls (#7) http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpassikoff/2014/05/01/the-most-loyal-fans-in-basketball/ If you want the Cavs fan base ranking you'll have to click on the next page b/c they're down in the 20s. Of course that's not the media's take. The Cav's fan somehow deserve to win and Miami fans don't. I didn't always hate Cleveland. They were mostly irrelevant to me. But I did root for the Browns when they had Brian Sipe and in those AFCC games against the Broncos. However, now I hope Cleveland never wins.
That was the opposite of when he left Cleveland. Then he was obviously unsure until the end and never worked to sabotage the Cavs. Yet somehow he left Miami the "right way"? What a crock
Cavs got a 22 to 4 FT disparity in a game they were getting out paced and out shot int eh first half. Game "should" have been over by halftime. But..SOMETHING happened.
Hey Fin-O, your boy (John Zander) is MIA all of a sudden when he has to put the cherry ($500) on top of my MONSTROUS finals HAUL. Boy did I kill.... Damn near a good used car. Instead...I'll just take a week in the Keys and drink like hell.
Why? He hand picked his situation, his teammates, and support staff. Is anybody responsible for their choices anymore?
Obviously LeBron was the real MVP, but Iggy was the best choice for Golden State. And a likable guy at that. Kerr becomes the first rookie since Riles to win a title. Another omelette on the face of James Dolan.
Lol ****ing Lebron that press conference was the most I've ever seen a top guy throw teammates under the bus. His trash teammates played amazing defense they just didnt have enough offense no need to throw them under the bus.
Why are you passing along all this "kill" after the fact? And side note? Ole Fin-O called this series right to the tee.....frankly when it comes to being right in this thread??? IM PAT RILEY.
Isn't it ironic that you claim the Heat were just unlucky with injuries this season, but then change gears and say Lebron should've known it would happen?? It's funny for 4 years you called everyone and their momma a hater, now? You seem to be the biggest one of them all. Why?
http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/13096380/las-vegas-likes-cleveland-cavaliers-winner-2016-finals No shocker that Cavs are favored to win the NBA title next year (9-4) Side note: Heat (30-1) Knicks (80-1) By the way, best bet in Vegas right now? Miami Dolphins -2.5 over Skins week 1. Get it before it goes to 3
So he pulled Love's arm out of its socket and cracked Irving's knee? People forget that these two guys are missing, with them I think the Cavs win the series. All he really needed this year was Ray Allen....lol.
Wow. What a series. Lebron is a god among men and put up quite a fight. that being said.... soooo happy the Cavs lost. . Whoop whoop.
I mean to even pull out 2 games is insane. That team by the end was LBJ and a bunch of hacks.... It will be interesting to see what happens this offseason....
As a heat fan the narrative I was told (by many) was that the only reason we won anything was because of Lebron, and that everyone else on the team was a bunch of 'hacks' as well. Heh.
I didn't interpret it that way. He said the fact that they got that far after losing those two was an accomplishment. That's what the 'I'm a basketball historian. I can't remember a team ever doing it without having at least two All Stars' was prefacing. - posted via Tapatalk -
It's actually been a lot of fun to assume the role you played the past 4 years to be perfectly honest. Winning two straight titles was fun too, but this here is the ****. #together
GTFOHWTBS. He should have known that Love and Irving were injury prone. I PREDICTED IT ON HERE. The Heat had no history of injury till everybody got injured this past year. Even Wade had missed 1 playoff game in 4 years.
If you had paid attention...I passed all of this along as I made the bets. BTW, Hey Fin-O, your boy John Zander @zander1979 (on twitter) made a Bet with me and it seems that he is now going to dis-honor that Bet. I guess that says a lot about Cavs fans huh? Do I rest my case?
BTW guys, you do realize that if Kyrie and Love were out there, their defense would have been exposed against the #2 ranked offense in basketball right?
ESPN's full-blown pity party is getting vomit-inducing. Mike Golic donning a fresh Cavs jersey and everything. Kinda sad. Thankfully, Zazlow & Joy doing a hilarious tribute/wake.
Had Love and Irving been healthy, the Cavs would have lost in 6 playing shootouts instead of 90's style grinders. Love couldn't have guarded anyone on GS and would have been unplayable for large chunks of the series. i guarantee Thompson would have played more than him in the Finals. Irving would have been a sieve on defense but at least he could create his own shot and make Curry work on defense unlike the grit master himself, Delly. Whatever. I'm glad GS won but I'm more glad this season is over. Let's move on, hopefully get this Wade situation resolved early, one way or another, so we know what we need to do.
