Quote from: King Agamemnon on November 04, 2014, 01:21:31 AM

Everybody thought Cleveland will win their first game of the season Cheesy

. LOL

Yeah NYC 12.5 was a steal, as well as ML. Considering NYC is one of the best teams in the east this year. They're chemistry is getting better and they are strong at every position except the PG. But they make up for that at WF and PF... and they have some very tough wing players in Shumpert, Tim Hardaway Jr, Melo, obv. One of their most valuable assets is having goto players in Melo and JR Smith, as well as shumpert and Tim Jr, who can create on their own.

Furthermore, they have Phil Jackson now. It isn't so much his triangle offense that is an asset, but the fact that he is very respected and that is part of what puts a team together. The pieces of the 90's Bulls fit together so well because it had very respected people a part of that team: MJ, Phil, Tex, Pip, and support role players.

CLE on the other hand has no chemistry at all. I've yet to see a well run play put together in the half court by them, besides feeding the post or a nice kick out for a 3. Everything has been clear outs. Sure they have the best clear out players in the league in Kyrie, Lebron, and Waiters is up there. But what it takes for them to be a well run team is for everyone to fill a role. And that is tough for a team with as much one on one power as they do.

It is also very possible that the Cavs can steam roll the entire NBA without too much chemistry... just by sheer fire power and talent. But then again, that doesn't seem to work too well in the playoffs, when everyone is playing all out. It's kind of like a serious team playing against an all star team. The all star team usually don't look like an all star team, because serious team is on lock down mode and the basket will seem a lot smaller vs those kinds of teams.

And one of the faults of San Antonio this year is they have no go to players that can get a critical basket with time winding down. Ginobili is getting old, and Parker is undersized and unreliable to be a go to player. I don't see Kawhi being that person either. I definitely don't see San Antonio making it out the west again. Tim Duncan in the post will not work as a go to play. Post players are tough go-to players because refs tend to lose their whistles in clutch situations. It's something that has happened since the beginning of time and it will continue to happen. Why? Because in the post there is a lot of contact throughout the game and the refs don't know where to even start. Only way for refs to start using the whistle for fouls/contact in the lane is if they start setting that precedent early in the game (ie not let it get out of hand). But in crucial / playoff games, refs tend to let them play a bit, and the fans want them to play. Refs are influenced by the fans and the atmosphere for sure. It's human nature.