The Cavs will will win in 6 for a few reasons. First, the NBA is a Business 1st and foremost, Sport is light years away 2nd, Who makes the most $$$ for the NBA, answer, LeBron James, so they will give him and the Cavs every chance it can for them to win. Now that's out of the way, basketball reasons, The Cavs are a deeper and more talented team than the Warriors, some are gonna hate to hear this but, a HEALTHY Kyrie and Steph will cancel each other out, the duo of J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert and Klay Thompson will cancel each other out, LeBron will heavily overmatch Green and Iguodala, Tristan's energy will be a thorn in the Warriors side because of his hustle, and do I really need to mention both teams centers, I think not, but either way, by my calculation, advantage Cavs, and no I'm not a Cavs or LeBron fan, used to root for the Warriors until what they did to Mark Jackson.
The Western Conference is such a tough conference, and I think we see that show up in this series. Both teams are great, but one team is much better in my opinion. There is no comparison between Irving and Curry, even when Irving is healthy. Curry is MVP caliber, much like LeBron. Irving is a top talent when healthy, but he won't be at that level in the series. I like Draymond Green to slow down LeBron James just enough to give them the edge. I think next year will be the Cavs year. A full season playing at their second half level will help them secure the top seed for the playoffs and home court advantage. This is Steph's year.
Prediction: Warriors in 5 What I want to see: Warriors in 7. A 7 game series would be unreal between these two great teams!
Kyrie is the better athelete in terms of quickness, speed, size, and strength, just look at their pre-draft stats. Steph is great, no question about, but let's not be a prisoner of the moment. What we have in these finals is the last 2 years three point champions in Kyrie and Steph. One the former Rookie of the year in Kyrie, and the current MVP in Steph. But on a healthy day, give me Kyrie because he can give it to you in a multitude of ways.
I find it comical that you find it comical to think that the runner up for "Defensive Player of the Year" can't slow down LeBron even just a little bit. I didn't say stop him. That's impossible. But certainly a great defensive player can have an impact, especially on a team with the #1 defense this season. Think about the fact that Golden State had a higher defensive rating than Memphis. That's impressive, and Green is a big part of that.
Who cares if Kyrie is a better athlete than Steph? Last time I checked, "athlete" does not equate to "better at basketball". If that were true, then the San Antonio Spurs would not be the dynasty that they are. And are we comparing Kyrie and Steph on the basis of Kyrie winning a 3 point "skills competition" and "pre-draft" stats? I'll give an LMAO right back in your direction! How about we use some actual stats from real basketball games, not from before they were in the NBA and from a stand and shoot skills competition:
This season, Kyrie Irving scored 2730 points on an impressive .468 FG%, .415 3P%, .863% from the free throw line. His "true shooting percentage", which measures the impact of 2 pointers, 3 pointers, and free throws, was great at .583%. In short, Kyrie is an all-star. He shot 157-378 from three, again impressive. As a point guard, Kyrie has a very unimpressive 5.2 assists per game. He's not a distributer.
This season, Stephen Curry scored 2613 points on an amazing .487 FG%, .443 3P%, .914% from the free throw line. His true shooting percentage, was mind blowing at .638%. He shot a record breaking 286-646 from three. And he makes a decent 7.7 assists per game.
Across the board, Stephen Curry is miles ahead of Kyrie Irving. It's not even close. And we haven't even talked about defense, which by the way, I don't think Kyrie Irving has ever heard of!
Just my thoughts. I'll ride with the #1 defensive team and #2 offensive team any day of the week.
NBA Regular Season Stats Stats Per Game Points Per Game Stephen Curry 20.9 Kyrie Irving 21.0
Rebounds Per Game Stephen Curry 4.1 Kyrie Irving 3.5
Assists Per Game Stephen Curry 6.9 Kyrie Irving 5.7
Steals Per Game Stephen Curry 1.7 Kyrie Irving 1.4
Blocks Per Game Stephen Curry 0.2 Kyrie Irving 0.3
The Warriors are middle of the pack when it comes to defense, since they allowed 99.9 points per game during the regular season, No. 15 in the NBA. Cleveland is ranked 13th, giving up 98.7/gm.
Turnovers/game: Stephen Curry - 3.1 Kyrie Irving - 2.5
So you were saying exactly what about comparison and defense...
And athletically speaking, I thought we were comparing players, not teams. And athleticism does matter and usually will win over if withstanding similar skill set. If Athleticism didn't matter, Larry Bird or Jerry West would be considered the greatest to ever play the game, but they are NOT, Michael Jordan is, who was the Greatest ATHLETE in the game as well, that was no coincidence. Larry and Jerry were better shooters and distributors than MJ, but MJ's ATHLETICISM covered all of that up. San Antonio is a dynasty because Basketball is 1st and foremost a team game, and they are usually one of the best TEAMS in the league, capped off with the BEST Coach and the BEST SYSTEM, I.E., The NE Patriots. But again we're speaking of PLAYERS NOT TEAMS, LMAO!!!!
Ah, I see. I should clarify the defense. You're looking at points allowed per game. I'm looking at defensive rating, which is point allowed per 100 possessions. A team like Golden State plays at a high pace, so naturally they also allow more points, where Cleveland plays at a slower pace. Let's look at offensive and defensive rating:
Golden State: Off Rate = 109.7 (2nd), Def Rate = 98.2 (1st) Cleveland: Off Rate = 107.7 (4th), Def Rate - 104.1 (20th)
I'm more of an advanced stats guy, so that's where I look for offensive and defensive ability. To Cleveland's defense, they are a much different team now than they were at the start of the season, but still Golden State's numbers are sparkling.
Also, every stat you gave are far too traditional for my liking. Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, etc., only tell part of a story. They make Dion Waiters look good, where efficiency stats prove that he shoots way too high of a volume and makes far too few of his shots.
Didn't say athleticism doesn't matter, it's just my opinion that I'd take a legendary scorer and efficient 3 point shooter over an up-and-coming athlete any day of the week when you look closely at those two in particular. It's just that athletics isn't the only important factor. Your Jordan comparison doesn't match, because along with athleticism, he was also the best all across the board. Irving doesn't have those numbers. Not yet. Curry isn't Jordan, but he just broke Reggie Miller's record for 3's in a playoffs, in a little over the half the amount of games. Unbelievable!
Good point about the team game. I agree. That's why I like Golden State. It's not just Curry, the whole team, from Thompson and Green as lock-down defenders, to Bogut on the glass, to the two-way underrated-ness of Barnes, to a quality bench. The Cavs are close, don't get me wrong, they as well are a quality team. I think the Thompson-Mozgov interior is highly underrated.
Re: Jordan vs. Bird: Bird had a FG% of .496 for his career. Amazing! Jordan had a FG% of .497 for his career. Even better! So yes, athleticism is important, but it should make enough of an impact to show up on the scoring and efficiency levels. Jordan scored a ton, but he did such an amazing job with both volume AND efficiency. Irving doesn't have the efficiency right now, especially in comparison to Curry.
I agree, Golden State is better by the numbers in terms of efficiency defensively per 100 possessions. Good points by us both, this will be an exciting series in my estimation, they will settle all this on the court, and I FINALLY get my DTTF back in my Life:).
Adds to their depth on the bench, but if you look at the advanced stats, he appears to hurt his team defensively when on the floor. He was really good in the regular season but has been -16 in his net rating in the playoffs. That might be a small sample size though, so I'm not sure what to think about Speights. He is an improvement over David Lee though. I'd rather play the bench players they've been rolling with recently, especially Ezili.
Ah, from a DTTF perspective! We'd been talking so much about the actual game, I didn't even think of the question about Speights in terms of DTTF. He's a desperation last ditch resort if all other options are gone. Since most people have the majority of their Cavs and Warriors, he figures to be a non-factor. He might have one big game, but who knows when that will be. I have him as a Game 7 option, as he's clearly behind LeBron, Irving, Thompson, JR Smith, Shumpert, Mozgov, and Iguodala, and I could use him if one of the lower options is either unavailable or proving to not be worth it.
Well, he shot 38 shots in the game. 18-38 and only 10 free throw attempts. That's actually a decent job by the Warriors D. I would hope a player who shoots 38 times makes at least that many point.
Of course. Why wouldn't Klay be trying to shut down Kyrie? Klay is a great defender. Curry is a good defender, but not at Klay's level. Steph is better suited to focus on offense and play defense on JR Smith instead. And the Irving block was amazing. I'll give you that. I'm sad he might not play again. It was shaping up to be quite the battle!
Even though I wish Cavs can do it in 6, I think Wariors have this in 7.
ReplyDeleteFor DTTF sake, shorter series is better. My top 4 left are LBJ, Irving, Klay, Barnes.
The Cavs will will win in 6 for a few reasons. First, the NBA is a Business 1st and foremost, Sport is light years away 2nd, Who makes the most $$$ for the NBA, answer, LeBron James, so they will give him and the Cavs every chance it can for them to win. Now that's out of the way, basketball reasons, The Cavs are a deeper and more talented team than the Warriors, some are gonna hate to hear this but, a HEALTHY Kyrie and Steph will cancel each other out, the duo of J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert and Klay Thompson will cancel each other out, LeBron will heavily overmatch Green and Iguodala, Tristan's energy will be a thorn in the Warriors side because of his hustle, and do I really need to mention both teams centers, I think not, but either way, by my calculation, advantage Cavs, and no I'm not a Cavs or LeBron fan, used to root for the Warriors until what they did to Mark Jackson.
ReplyDeleteThe Western Conference is such a tough conference, and I think we see that show up in this series. Both teams are great, but one team is much better in my opinion. There is no comparison between Irving and Curry, even when Irving is healthy. Curry is MVP caliber, much like LeBron. Irving is a top talent when healthy, but he won't be at that level in the series. I like Draymond Green to slow down LeBron James just enough to give them the edge. I think next year will be the Cavs year. A full season playing at their second half level will help them secure the top seed for the playoffs and home court advantage. This is Steph's year.
ReplyDeletePrediction: Warriors in 5
What I want to see: Warriors in 7. A 7 game series would be unreal between these two great teams!
Kyrie is the better athelete in terms of quickness, speed, size, and strength, just look at their pre-draft stats. Steph is great, no question about, but let's not be a prisoner of the moment. What we have in these finals is the last 2 years three point champions in Kyrie and Steph. One the former Rookie of the year in Kyrie, and the current MVP in Steph. But on a healthy day, give me Kyrie because he can give it to you in a multitude of ways.
DeleteAnd Draymond slowing down LeBron, LMAO!!!!
DeleteI find it comical that you find it comical to think that the runner up for "Defensive Player of the Year" can't slow down LeBron even just a little bit. I didn't say stop him. That's impossible. But certainly a great defensive player can have an impact, especially on a team with the #1 defense this season. Think about the fact that Golden State had a higher defensive rating than Memphis. That's impressive, and Green is a big part of that.
DeleteWho cares if Kyrie is a better athlete than Steph? Last time I checked, "athlete" does not equate to "better at basketball". If that were true, then the San Antonio Spurs would not be the dynasty that they are. And are we comparing Kyrie and Steph on the basis of Kyrie winning a 3 point "skills competition" and "pre-draft" stats? I'll give an LMAO right back in your direction! How about we use some actual stats from real basketball games, not from before they were in the NBA and from a stand and shoot skills competition:
This season, Kyrie Irving scored 2730 points on an impressive .468 FG%, .415 3P%, .863% from the free throw line. His "true shooting percentage", which measures the impact of 2 pointers, 3 pointers, and free throws, was great at .583%. In short, Kyrie is an all-star. He shot 157-378 from three, again impressive. As a point guard, Kyrie has a very unimpressive 5.2 assists per game. He's not a distributer.
This season, Stephen Curry scored 2613 points on an amazing .487 FG%, .443 3P%, .914% from the free throw line. His true shooting percentage, was mind blowing at .638%. He shot a record breaking 286-646 from three. And he makes a decent 7.7 assists per game.
Across the board, Stephen Curry is miles ahead of Kyrie Irving. It's not even close. And we haven't even talked about defense, which by the way, I don't think Kyrie Irving has ever heard of!
Just my thoughts. I'll ride with the #1 defensive team and #2 offensive team any day of the week.
NBA Regular Season Stats
DeleteStats Per Game
Points Per Game
Stephen Curry 20.9
Kyrie Irving 21.0
Rebounds Per Game
Stephen Curry 4.1
Kyrie Irving 3.5
Assists Per Game
Stephen Curry 6.9
Kyrie Irving 5.7
Steals Per Game
Stephen Curry 1.7
Kyrie Irving 1.4
Blocks Per Game
Stephen Curry 0.2
Kyrie Irving 0.3
The Warriors are middle of the pack when it comes to defense, since they allowed 99.9 points per game during the regular season, No. 15 in the NBA. Cleveland is ranked 13th, giving up 98.7/gm.
Turnovers/game: Stephen Curry - 3.1
Kyrie Irving - 2.5
So you were saying exactly what about comparison and defense...
And athletically speaking, I thought we were comparing players, not teams. And athleticism does matter and usually will win over if withstanding similar skill set. If Athleticism didn't matter, Larry Bird or Jerry West would be considered the greatest to ever play the game, but they are NOT, Michael Jordan is, who was the Greatest ATHLETE in the game as well, that was no coincidence. Larry and Jerry were better shooters and distributors than MJ, but MJ's ATHLETICISM covered all of that up. San Antonio is a dynasty because Basketball is 1st and foremost a team game, and they are usually one of the best TEAMS in the league, capped off with the BEST Coach and the BEST SYSTEM, I.E., The NE Patriots. But again we're speaking of PLAYERS NOT TEAMS, LMAO!!!!
Ah, I see. I should clarify the defense. You're looking at points allowed per game. I'm looking at defensive rating, which is point allowed per 100 possessions. A team like Golden State plays at a high pace, so naturally they also allow more points, where Cleveland plays at a slower pace. Let's look at offensive and defensive rating:
DeleteGolden State: Off Rate = 109.7 (2nd), Def Rate = 98.2 (1st)
Cleveland: Off Rate = 107.7 (4th), Def Rate - 104.1 (20th)
I'm more of an advanced stats guy, so that's where I look for offensive and defensive ability. To Cleveland's defense, they are a much different team now than they were at the start of the season, but still Golden State's numbers are sparkling.
Also, every stat you gave are far too traditional for my liking. Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, etc., only tell part of a story. They make Dion Waiters look good, where efficiency stats prove that he shoots way too high of a volume and makes far too few of his shots.
Didn't say athleticism doesn't matter, it's just my opinion that I'd take a legendary scorer and efficient 3 point shooter over an up-and-coming athlete any day of the week when you look closely at those two in particular. It's just that athletics isn't the only important factor. Your Jordan comparison doesn't match, because along with athleticism, he was also the best all across the board. Irving doesn't have those numbers. Not yet. Curry isn't Jordan, but he just broke Reggie Miller's record for 3's in a playoffs, in a little over the half the amount of games. Unbelievable!
Good point about the team game. I agree. That's why I like Golden State. It's not just Curry, the whole team, from Thompson and Green as lock-down defenders, to Bogut on the glass, to the two-way underrated-ness of Barnes, to a quality bench. The Cavs are close, don't get me wrong, they as well are a quality team. I think the Thompson-Mozgov interior is highly underrated.
Re: Jordan vs. Bird: Bird had a FG% of .496 for his career. Amazing! Jordan had a FG% of .497 for his career. Even better! So yes, athleticism is important, but it should make enough of an impact to show up on the scoring and efficiency levels. Jordan scored a ton, but he did such an amazing job with both volume AND efficiency. Irving doesn't have the efficiency right now, especially in comparison to Curry.
DeleteI agree, Golden State is better by the numbers in terms of efficiency defensively per 100 possessions. Good points by us both, this will be an exciting series in my estimation, they will settle all this on the court, and I FINALLY get my DTTF back in my Life:).
DeleteYes. I enjoyed this debate. Irving is very good. I hope he's healthy, from a DTTF perspective, and also as a fan.
DeleteDitto.
DeleteWhat's your perspective on Speights returning?
DeleteAdds to their depth on the bench, but if you look at the advanced stats, he appears to hurt his team defensively when on the floor. He was really good in the regular season but has been -16 in his net rating in the playoffs. That might be a small sample size though, so I'm not sure what to think about Speights. He is an improvement over David Lee though. I'd rather play the bench players they've been rolling with recently, especially Ezili.
DeleteI agree, I'm taking a wait and see approach with Speights. Thank you.
DeleteAh, from a DTTF perspective! We'd been talking so much about the actual game, I didn't even think of the question about Speights in terms of DTTF. He's a desperation last ditch resort if all other options are gone. Since most people have the majority of their Cavs and Warriors, he figures to be a non-factor. He might have one big game, but who knows when that will be. I have him as a Game 7 option, as he's clearly behind LeBron, Irving, Thompson, JR Smith, Shumpert, Mozgov, and Iguodala, and I could use him if one of the lower options is either unavailable or proving to not be worth it.
DeleteDraymond slowing down who...?
DeleteWell, he shot 38 shots in the game. 18-38 and only 10 free throw attempts. That's actually a decent job by the Warriors D. I would hope a player who shoots 38 times makes at least that many point.
DeleteInterestingly enough, Thompson not Curry is attempting to guard Kyrie;).
ReplyDeleteKyrie's block with 24 seconds left on Curry, puts the emphasis on Athleticism.
DeleteOf course. Why wouldn't Klay be trying to shut down Kyrie? Klay is a great defender. Curry is a good defender, but not at Klay's level. Steph is better suited to focus on offense and play defense on JR Smith instead. And the Irving block was amazing. I'll give you that. I'm sad he might not play again. It was shaping up to be quite the battle!
DeleteThat it is my friend, it's a great watch.
DeleteSigh jr. I've been so excited to pick him all playoff, and today he goes 9/3. Green didbt do that much better, but kyrie was the guy to pick tonight
ReplyDelete