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Mauro Pedrosa

2018 Watch the Playoffs thread

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3 hours ago, Odin said:

There absolutely is shame when this is the weakest the Cavs have been in years and the Pacers took them to 7 while outplaying the Cavs much of the first round. The Raptors couldn't take one single game in the last 8 played in the finals against the Cavs. That is pathetic.

The Cavs may be weak as a team but Lebron is as good as he’s ever been. And Kevin Love showed up this series (which he didn’t last series). The Cavs team as a whole played much much better than the previous round. You can say because Pacers were a better team, but the chemistry on the court looks much much better out there. And I mean defensively. 

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I know everyone is down on Vuch and I agree his defense leaves a lot to be desired, however, he is the only center we have that spreads the floor and he is on a cheap deal. We don’t have a lot of options at the moment folks. Biz/EF is killing our ability to make meaningful upgrades at the moment and is probably going to be our 3rd string center. I think Burch will surpass Biz this summer.  We have a mess right now! Biz could go down as one of the worse Magic signings ever. I just hope our front office doesn’t play Biz because of his contract when many feel Burch is better. Thanks Rob and perhaps Alex. 

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10 minutes ago, Ibn Battuta said:

The Cavs may be weak as a team but Lebron is as good as he’s ever been. And Kevin Love showed up this series (which he didn’t last series). The Cavs team as a whole played much much better than the previous round. You can say because Pacers were a better team, but the chemistry on the court looks much much better out there. And I mean defensively. 

Sure, but doesn't mean that it isn't a bit pathetic that the top seed got swept, especially after getting swept (by the same team) last year as the 2nd seed. And this still is the weakest the Cavs have been since Lebron returned- they are barely getting production out of non-Lebron players, which is pretty sad in its own right with how good Lebron has been.

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44 minutes ago, Odin said:

Sure, but doesn't mean that it isn't a bit pathetic that the top seed got swept, especially after getting swept (by the same team) last year as the 2nd seed. And this still is the weakest the Cavs have been since Lebron returned- they are barely getting production out of non-Lebron players, which is pretty sad in its own right with how good Lebron has been.

they should've mustered up one win, that was sad. but what can you say, that game 3 shot was unreal. and even game 1 Lebron didn't play the best but JR and Korver and TT made contributions. 

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3 hours ago, Odin said:

There absolutely is shame when this is the weakest the Cavs have been in years and the Pacers took them to 7 while outplaying the Cavs much of the first round. The Raptors couldn't take one single game in the last 8 played in the finals against the Cavs. That is pathetic.

First thing to consider here is the difference Kevin Love made in the Toronto series. In four games he scored 7, 31, 21, and 23 points which is an average of 20.5 per game. In the series against Indiana he scored 9 (L), 15 (W), 19 (L), 5 (W), 11 (W), 7 (L), 14 (W) which is an average of 11.4 per game. He scored 82 points in four games against Toronto compared to 80 points in seven games against Indiana. Now perhaps that backs your point up that the Toronto Raptors were pathetic in this series, however the flip side of that argument is that Kevin Love was not very good against Indiana and perhaps the Pacers were better suited to shutting him down. Had Kevin Love turned up against Indiana then I don't think the series would have gone to seven games, the Cavaliers would arguably have won it in less. 

Second thing to consider here is that the Cavaliers are still led by two all star caliber players, one of whom is still playing like the best player in the league. People call the guy but LeBron is still the best in the league as far as I'm concerned. LeBron averaged 34 per game against the Raptors. You can see what Love scored above, add LeBron's 26, 43, 38, and 29 points, and that means those two players put up 33, 74, 59, and 52 points combined in that series against Toronto. That duo would cause problems for the majority of teams in this league. The only reason the Warriors would probably sweep them or win in five games is because they have Curry, Thompson, Durrant, and Green in their line up. The Cavaliers don't have that quartet they have a star duo. The other thing to consider here is that I don't think anyone would legitimately take Lowry and DeRozan over LeBron and Love. 

With that said this is still a talented Cavaliers team. Kyle Korver and JR Smith are knocking down over 40% of their three point attempts. George Hill and Jeff Green are playing decent all round basketball for them, much to the chagrin of Kings and Magic supporters after witnessing what those two did for them. Their bench unit has some athleticism and energy when they come onto the court via Larry Nance Jr, Tristan Thompson, Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson. Now I won't dispute they are weaker after losing Kyrie Irving, but he's realistically the only loss from this year's team from previous years. Who else have they lost that would make them stronger? No one really. Iman Shumpert (average bench player), Deron Williams (past it), Richard Jefferson (past it), Derrick Williams (never really had it), and James Jones (barely played and picked a salary due to being close to LeBron). I suppose an argument could be made about Channing Frye because he was a useful stretch four off the bench, but if his subtraction makes this the worst Cavaliers team in years then boy did they underplay him!

Now perhaps you meant that this is the worst Cavaliers team because they finished fourth in the eastern standings, but here's something to remember they have only finished top of the eastern conference in one of their four seasons (15-16 when they won the title). In 14-15 and 16-17 they finished second. This year they finished fourth. You might argue that makes them the weakest Cavaliers team yet, but they have faced more competition in this year's eastern conference than in previous years because the 76ers have arrived on the scene, the Celtics have played brilliantly without Hayward and Irving leading the way, and the Raptors to their credit played really well in the regular season. So call the Cavaliers out if you want to, but the Cavaliers are still a very good basketball team that managed to reinvent themselves mid season and now look on course for a fourth finals appearance unless the Cetlics/76ers can stop them. So it really doesn't matter how well they compare to previous Cavaliers teams because they are still a very good team led by one of the greatest players of all time still playing like the best player in the league, supported by a proven all star in Kevin Love.

Again, I'd say there's no shame in losing to the Cavaliers because no one would take the Raptors team on paper over the Cavaliers team. Sure you can be angry and embarrassed that you didn't take a game off them, but they nearly did in game one and three that they lost at the death. Had they won those games the series could have looked very different. They didn't and they got swept. Fine. It happens. However, I would caution them blowing that team up in pursuit of building something better because if you aren't lucky you get stuck like we have and the Kings have in the lottery for many, many years, with no sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it is better to appreciate what you have and enjoy it, then blow it up in the pursuit of a fantasy that doesn't happen for the majority of teams. I wish we could turn back the clock to before the Dwight Howard trade happened. Granted that split was for different reasons but had they been able to patch things up and move forwards together, I would happily take more seasons of competing in the east even if we didn't win a title over starting a rebuild in the pursuit of building something better on a whim. Now I guess you don't know unless you try, but if rebuilding was easy we would have done it by now, instead we haven't and we are arguably looking at a reboot this off season (we are now 6 seasons without play off basketball). Other teams haven't managed to rebuild successfully either, so there is no easy way to do it, and most of time it takes a bit of luck. If you aren't lucky, you end up stuck. So if the Raptors blow it up and decide to gamble, that's up to them, but there is no guarantee that they will rebuild successfully or rebuild anything better. 

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59 minutes ago, Magicpassion said:

I know everyone is down on Vuch and I agree his defense leaves a lot to be desired, however, he is the only center we have that spreads the floor and he is on a cheap deal. We don’t have a lot of options at the moment folks. Biz/EF is killing our ability to make meaningful upgrades at the moment and is probably going to be our 3rd string center. I think Burch will surpass Biz this summer.  We have a mess right now! Biz could go down as one of the worse Magic signings ever. I just hope our front office doesn’t play Biz because of his contract when many feel Burch is better. Thanks Rob and perhaps Alex. 

There is no scenario where Vuch should be starting on this team next year. Hell we should probably find a way to move him on draft night.

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17 minutes ago, Mauro Pedrosa said:

Dumb move by Rodney Hood

Not really, he was terrible the whole series, it is a smart move by Rodney not to enter the game and play like **** again

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8 hours ago, Justin Jaudon said:

You only disagree because you're not woken like O is. You see, he perceives on a plane that we simple people cannot. To the unwoken eye, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan seem like perennial All-Stars, who have repeatedly failed against an all-time great player. But to those who have had the scales of this material world stripped from their eyes, they are clearly fringe NBA players, 3rd stringers who shouldn't get any time on any decent team; and that so-called all time great is merely a prop set up buy a corrupt NBA to lead you astray.

Sigh.  Ill break down this overbearing mispresentation later when im not on my phone.  

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2 hours ago, Mike1989 said:

First thing to consider here is the difference Kevin Love made in the Toronto series. In four games he scored 7, 31, 21, and 23 points which is an average of 20.5 per game. In the series against Indiana he scored 9 (L), 15 (W), 19 (L), 5 (W), 11 (W), 7 (L), 14 (W) which is an average of 11.4 per game. He scored 82 points in four games against Toronto compared to 80 points in seven games against Indiana. Now perhaps that backs your point up that the Toronto Raptors were pathetic in this series, however the flip side of that argument is that Kevin Love was not very good against Indiana and perhaps the Pacers were better suited to shutting him down. Had Kevin Love turned up against Indiana then I don't think the series would have gone to seven games, the Cavaliers would arguably have won it in less. 

Second thing to consider here is that the Cavaliers are still led by two all star caliber players, one of whom is still playing like the best player in the league. People call the guy but LeBron is still the best in the league as far as I'm concerned. LeBron averaged 34 per game against the Raptors. You can see what Love scored above, add LeBron's 26, 43, 38, and 29 points, and that means those two players put up 33, 74, 59, and 52 points combined in that series against Toronto. That duo would cause problems for the majority of teams in this league. The only reason the Warriors would probably sweep them or win in five games is because they have Curry, Thompson, Durrant, and Green in their line up. The Cavaliers don't have that quartet they have a star duo. The other thing to consider here is that I don't think anyone would legitimately take Lowry and DeRozan over LeBron and Love. 

With that said this is still a talented Cavaliers team. Kyle Korver and JR Smith are knocking down over 40% of their three point attempts. George Hill and Jeff Green are playing decent all round basketball for them, much to the chagrin of Kings and Magic supporters after witnessing what those two did for them. Their bench unit has some athleticism and energy when they come onto the court via Larry Nance Jr, Tristan Thompson, Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson. Now I won't dispute they are weaker after losing Kyrie Irving, but he's realistically the only loss from this year's team from previous years. Who else have they lost that would make them stronger? No one really. Iman Shumpert (average bench player), Deron Williams (past it), Richard Jefferson (past it), Derrick Williams (never really had it), and James Jones (barely played and picked a salary due to being close to LeBron). I suppose an argument could be made about Channing Frye because he was a useful stretch four off the bench, but if his subtraction makes this the worst Cavaliers team in years then boy did they underplay him!

Now perhaps you meant that this is the worst Cavaliers team because they finished fourth in the eastern standings, but here's something to remember they have only finished top of the eastern conference in one of their four seasons (15-16 when they won the title). In 14-15 and 16-17 they finished second. This year they finished fourth. You might argue that makes them the weakest Cavaliers team yet, but they have faced more competition in this year's eastern conference than in previous years because the 76ers have arrived on the scene, the Celtics have played brilliantly without Hayward and Irving leading the way, and the Raptors to their credit played really well in the regular season. So call the Cavaliers out if you want to, but the Cavaliers are still a very good basketball team that managed to reinvent themselves mid season and now look on course for a fourth finals appearance unless the Cetlics/76ers can stop them. So it really doesn't matter how well they compare to previous Cavaliers teams because they are still a very good team led by one of the greatest players of all time still playing like the best player in the league, supported by a proven all star in Kevin Love.

Again, I'd say there's no shame in losing to the Cavaliers because no one would take the Raptors team on paper over the Cavaliers team. Sure you can be angry and embarrassed that you didn't take a game off them, but they nearly did in game one and three that they lost at the death. Had they won those games the series could have looked very different. They didn't and they got swept. Fine. It happens. However, I would caution them blowing that team up in pursuit of building something better because if you aren't lucky you get stuck like we have and the Kings have in the lottery for many, many years, with no sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it is better to appreciate what you have and enjoy it, then blow it up in the pursuit of a fantasy that doesn't happen for the majority of teams. I wish we could turn back the clock to before the Dwight Howard trade happened. Granted that split was for different reasons but had they been able to patch things up and move forwards together, I would happily take more seasons of competing in the east even if we didn't win a title over starting a rebuild in the pursuit of building something better on a whim. Now I guess you don't know unless you try, but if rebuilding was easy we would have done it by now, instead we haven't and we are arguably looking at a reboot this off season (we are now 6 seasons without play off basketball). Other teams haven't managed to rebuild successfully either, so there is no easy way to do it, and most of time it takes a bit of luck. If you aren't lucky, you end up stuck. So if the Raptors blow it up and decide to gamble, that's up to them, but there is no guarantee that they will rebuild successfully or rebuild anything better. 

I liked this without even reading just because you said so much stuff

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1 hour ago, Mauro Pedrosa said:

Dumb move by Rodney Hood

that's like clocking in at work, staying on the clock, watching your co-workers unload trucks and stock shelves while sitting in the break room,  your boss tells you to go stock cans of soup and you're like "nah, I'm good."

taps watch, jingles change, and rubs fingers together. 

unbelievable 

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