Anybody watched the Cavs beat down of the Raptors yesterday? Cavs trailed by 10 or so points for most of the 1st half, keeping it close. Starting the 3rd quarter, LeBron with help from the corpse of K. Love, started to show who was boss and true superstar. By the beginning of the 4th quarter, you could see most of the Raptors players were dead men walking. Lebron kept on taking rainbow off balanced jumpers, unafraid on whether they were going in or not. In short, he imposed his will on the Raptors and stole their soul, ON THE ROAD, AGAINST THE TEAM WITH THE BEST HOME RECORD THIS YEAR! Harden and CP3 have proven they are superstars capable of the same. They must do the same and impose their will against the j*zz. Steel determination in the face of adversity and break their spirit, one bucket at a time. Sound like a cliche, but in the NBA, stars really do rule. It is high time for Harden to show why he is deserving of the MVP trophy this year, and CP3 to show the reasons he is historically one of the best pgs in the history of the NBA. It is put up or shut time, and I think we will see the team bounce in a major way.
CP especially needs to be a lot more aggressive on the attack. He seems tentative to shoot the 3 when open and when he gets past his man in the paint he seems to shy away from driving to the rim (on most occassions, not all) and instead settles for that FT line fadeaway jumper. These Jazz are more athletic then they seem, so every time they get a mismatch (with any player at any position) we need to immediately attack whether it be a quick open 3 or drive and dish / drive and score play. The more we keep them on their heels and running around chasing us the better off we are. We've seen it happen from game 1.
CP3 short gimme range hasn’t been money this series. He’s looked way too in his own head this whole playoffs. Needs to settle down.
Figuratively speaking, CP3 needs a slap in the face to snap out of it. He can and should takeover the game when Harden sits. Get the bounce back in your feet CP3, and show them who is the ****ing boss!
Couldn't agree more. Those two being more aggressive will hopefully shake EG and Ryno out of their funks as well.
Playoff Chris Paul has been a mythical figure thus far. Disappointed, but I hope maybe last game wakes him up.
Good thread. I know there are technical adjustments that will be made. I'm not too worried about the X's and O's. Our team will have that on lock. It's the mental aspect that we have to work on, and tonight is a major test. Harden and CP3 are clearly talented enough to succeed against any game plan written against them......now they just have to go out there and do it.
Concerning strategy, as someone pointed it out, watch for the fake pick setting by Rudy and Favors. It is giving them easy points. Also, six of their players scored in double figures, which translates to either a historical shooting night for them or a poor defensive strategy. I say a combination of both. Let Mitchell get his, but do not give open looks on those 3 pointers to Ingles and the rest of their shooters. I doubt very much Mitchell scoring 35 beat us if everybody else is under control (i.e. Ingles scoring 27 points on us is way too much).
Couldn't agree more. If they don't beat the Jazz in this round, I fear the narrative will never escape both of their legacies. They are both too good to not impose their will in these next 3 or 4 games.
That's not a problem for Harden. He'll take those step back 3s whether or not were up or down or if he's on fire or shooting 3-20. A miss and he's not imposing his will. A make, and he's imposing his will? LeBron's not making those types of shots again. It was just one of those games. All of his teammates were hitting their shots too. Harden and CP3 have those types of games too. They're not the problem. We need our role players to hit their shots like they have all season long. That's it.
This panic that we will shoot 10-30 from 3 or whatever it was and lose to Ingles and Crowder while Mitchell scores only 17 is ridiculous. I do think we naturally drop one in Utah because that's a very hostile place and they've historically been a good home team due to that home crowd, but ultimately this is the same panic we saw when Minnesota gave us a beat down in 1 game too. Relax. We'll win in 6. That doesn't make us pretenders who will get swept by GS. Just makes Utah a better team than anyone wanted to give credit to. They're a 48 win team with the 2nd best defense and no all-stars. They beat Westbrook/PG13/Melo/Adams in 6. They'd give GS a loss or 2 all the same IMO. I mean, didn't they beat the Warriors 3 times this season including a 30pt win and a 21 pt win and a 19pt win? Lol. They're a good team with a really good coach. You can't sweep everyone. We played as bad as we could play and still put ourselves in position to win it from way behind. It's unfortunate we didn't finish it off with the momentum we had, but it's all good. It happens. It's the playoffs. Teams are giving their maximum effort. We can't play like were just waiting for the Warriors.
The x’s and o’s are actually what cost us last game. Ariza and Capela got burned by Gobert slipping screens for most of the first half. That’s what led to the huge lead.
Couldn't agree with Harden needing to bring more. He has been great so far with 1 bad game (1st Round Game 2) but still contributed on the defensive end and assists. Paul on the other hand has been inconsistent on his end and needs to pace the game with the second unit. They lost the game with that unit along with defense. It wasn't until Harden came back and got things rolling again.
No, I completely acknowledge that. What I'm saying is that we are too good to allow X's and O's determine whether we win this series or not. The X's and O's side of the equation is something I trust MDA/Morey/Harden/CP3 with. They're all highly intelligent individuals who understand the game at a deep level. Assuming they've figured out the X's and O's side of it, I want them to come out with a killer mentality. I want them angry that people are doubting them, angry that Donovan Mitchell was talking **** after Game 2, personally insulted that Utah thinks they have a chance in this series. I want to see some fire.
