Hes very easy to defend and hes a liability on defense; If you dont leave him then hes useless; so thats why he hasnt done it; its funny that the media and fans are like well if Cavs do this or that they will be alright; well theres a reason why they havent done it yet; theres a reason why they havent done it in 4 games now; but again I think he can be effective in spurts and maybe against a team that doesnt play good defense; by as you see, GS is dialed in on the defensive end; but we shall see how they play tomorrow night...I knew he wasn't either but to go against GS is the only reason they signed him. They know GS relies on the 3 so to try and match them they went and got one of the top 3pt shooters in the NBA today. Doesn't he have the record for most consecutive games with a 3 pointer or something like that? He has had chances to do what he was brought there to do to, the cac just hasn't done it
NBA Finals 2016-2017 - Golden State wins NBA title 4-1 vs Cleveland Cavaliers...great series!!!
Ha...
Golden State let the black coach get em to the Finals then made him hand the shit back to Kerr so he get the glory.
Cleveland fired him TWICE despite him having a pretty damn good record.... And they still paying him.
How LeBron, Cavs can sharpen attack versus Warriors' dazzling D
play
Kevin Durant has been dominant on both ends of the floor during the NBA Finals, and in Game 2 he led all players with five blocks and 33 points. (0:33)
11:00 AM ET
The Cavs have managed just 97.4 points per 100 possessions, a mark that would have ranked dead stinking last in the regular season. They entered the Finals having scored 120 points per 100 possessions against two average defenses and one very good one this postseason -- a number so far above the all-time record, held by these Warriors, as to look implausible when you actually type it out.
2017 Finals »
• Schedule | ESPN Forecast | Picks
• Curry, Durant push Warriors up 2-0
• Lowe: How Cavs can sharpen attack
• Steph and KD are wearing out the nets
• Cavaliers need more from Kyrie Irving
• LeBron's triple-double not enough
• Draymond focused on keeping his cool
• Steve Kerr celebrates return with a win
• Healthy Steph Curry means happy GSW
• Durant laughs off Rihanna questions
• Viewer's guide to the 2017 NBA Finals
• Pelton: Best Finals matchup ever?
• How these Finals can shape 10 legacies
• Adams: Most star-studded Finals ever?
We knew the Warriors would score. Cleveland's hope was to score with them, pray the Warriors suffered a couple of cold shooting games, and ride LeBron's greatness. Those of us who thought Cleveland would at least be competitive -- guilty, having picked Warriors in six -- were optimistic about the Cavs sustaining top-level offense against Golden State. They wouldn't hit that 120 number. Maybe 110 would put them in it late.
Golden State has obliterated everything beyond LeBron's Game 2 transition attacks -- his gorgeous combinations of bulldozing force and tap-dancing, side-stepping footwork. The individual efforts have been outstanding: Green, a snarling, long-armed apparition, when not in foul trouble; Klay Thompson, hounding Kyrie Irving at every turn; and most of all, Kevin Durant, wrapping his best defensive season with two masterpiece performances. (Even so: Can we slow down on the "Durant is the best player in the world" talk? That came in record time.)
The collective is even stronger. Golden State has yielded only 98.8 points per 100 possessions through the playoffs, a full 9.2 points stingier than the league average over the postseason, per research from our crack staff at ESPN Stats & Information. That is the largest such gap ever, by a big margin, among teams that have made the Finals under the current playoff format (dating back to the 1983-84 season). The 1987-88 Bad Boy Pistons come second, having allowed 7.8 fewer points per 100 possessions than the league average. In other words: Adjusted for competition, Golden State might be the best defensive team ever to advance this far.
The Warriors are moving in sync, downloading every Cavalier movement, appearing in all the right places at all the right times. If the Cavs can't score, they can't set their defense, and their transition defense isn't coherent enough to withstand Golden State's fast-break attack amid matchup chaos.
I mean, look at this:
Kevin Love) ambles up to set what appears to be a run-of-the-mill ball screen before veering sideways to spring Kyle Korver on a pindown.
This version introduces new wrinkles, including LeBron James acting as a second screener for Korver. Golden State sniffs it out from the beginning. Green, tracking Love, does not overreact to the initial decoy action. Stephen Curry, defending as well so far as the Warriors could have hoped, slithers through both screens almost untouched. Durant digests that, and provides only a flash of help before descending back over LeBron.
Good defense isn't always spectacular. It resides in the absence of spectacle -- mistakes that don't happen, needless help avoided. Golden State is locked in.
The Cavs have Love at center there. Golden State's defense has played Tristan Thompson out of the series. The Warriors are not guarding him away from the ball. Golden State strangles lineups with five shooters. Give them one non-shooter, and the floor looks really small.
The Warriors have tossed the Cavs into a vicious cycle: Lineups with their best defensive players can't score enough, so Lue is turning to all-offense groups, only those have zero chance at stopping the Warriors.
The Love-at-center groups have been fine; Cleveland is plus-8 in 28 such minutes, per NBA.com. Golden State has destroyed every other lineup type -- including the all-scoring groups featuring both Love and Channing Frye, plus the super-small lineups with LeBron at center.
Cleveland probably can't win on those terms. Shifting big-to-small is a talent upgrade for Golden State, and a downgrade for the Cavs. Cleveland needs all sorts of combinations to work, but it really need its best players to play better in heavy minutes. That means more of Love and Thompson together, even against Death Lineup variants with Green at center -- a fun big-versus-small clash we've seen for only a few minutes.
Love has not been the problem, on either end. He has held up reasonably well in Golden State's pick-and-roll torture chamber. He can (barely) slide along with Curry, and recover just in time to disrupt Zaza Pachulia around the basket. Things get tougher against Green. Golden State pokes at Love over and over, and breakdowns are inevitable. Curry drilled a 3 right in Love's face during that third quarter eruption in Game 2. There was nothing Love could do about it, and that's the point: He can't jump, he's not long, and he doesn't worry Curry even when they are almost chest-to-chest.
But overall, Love has been good enough given what he provides on offense. The Cavs need him.
They need badly J.R. Smith, their best and perhaps only chance at two-way play on the wing beside LeBron. Our Dave McMenamin reported Sunday night that Cleveland might start Iman Shumpert over Smith in Game 3. That makes some sense. Shumpert can hit open 3s, and he can defend Curry, Klay Thompson, or Durant -- though Durant would exploit him over time.
The Lowe Post[/paste:font]
Zach talks to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst about the Finals, the future of Golden State and Cleveland, Paul George, and more.
But the Warriors will hide Curry on Shumpert, and otherwise ignore him. He is not a threat on Smith's level screening for LeBron in those pick-and-rolls targeting Curry -- plays that weirdly vanished in Game 2. Curry guarded the screener on only five pick-and-rolls in Game 2, down from 13 in the opener, when the Cavs largely aped the game plan that won them the title last season, per STATS SportVU data provided to ESPN.
Those plays didn't work as well as they had a year ago. Curry flashed in and out of LeBron's way, and deflected some passes.
The help behind him was impeccable; the combined speed and length of Green, Andre Iguodala, and Durant roaming the back line is almost unfair. Durant has been more brazen than most dare in abandoning LeBron and Love to swarm the ball, and he's so long and fast, he can recover in time. (Boston also took an extra step away from James over the last three games of the conference finals, and James responded with some well-timed cuts. He needs to do that again.)
The bet here is Smith starts Game 3, and we see more of LeBron hunting Curry. The Warriors feared LeBron would accelerate right into Curry on those plays, engineering a switch, but Curry made it difficult by fleeing the scene fast:
Deron Williams) or stout enough defensively (Richard Jefferson, Korver, Williams again) to survive heavy minutes against Golden State.
The NBA's new isolation is finding the worst defender on the other team, and having his guy screen for your best ball handler. That is what the Warriors do to Korver and Love, and what Cleveland has done to Pachulia, JaVale McGee, Curry, Ian Clark, and others. The Cavs tried targeting two such players at once -- Curry and whichever Golden State center is on the floor -- by bracketing Irving and James with screens from their guys:
NBA
It worked on this play! Irving noticed his man (Iguodala, looking healthy again in what counts as a huge development) shading toward Curry, bolted the other way, and crossed up poor McGee. Playing McGee is an invitation for Cleveland to play Frye, and Steve Kerr was smart to give his second-half minutes to Durant in super-small alignments.
Pachulia is a solid defender, and he's been quite good in this series. He just can't stay in front of Irving or James. Going at him represents a way to make Tristan Thompson useful, and if Thompson isn't useful on Wednesday, the series might be over.
The Warriors will trap Irving and James, and dare Thompson to make plays in space. He's not the most fluid at that, but he has generated some nice looks:
The Warriors will live with that, of course. You can't milk Thompson for offense. But you have to involve him, and hope his monster screening can produce better things -- like switches.
If the Warriors switch Pachulia onto Irving or James -- or more precisely, if Cleveland forces them to -- the Cavs are in business. They tried to do that in Game 2 by leveling Pachulia with a separate pick on his way toward the real action -- a method of shoving him so far behind, he almost has to switch instead of trapping. It just hasn't worked; the Warriors have anticipated it, brought the right level of help from each guy, and snuffed it out:
Even when the gambit punctured the first layer on defense, Green was lurking below to cinch things up:
That is tasty. Pachulia has been smart about trapping when the situation calls for it, and backpedaling when Klay Thompson can hang alone. Thompson has been quick on his feet, arms spread wide to prevent that pocket pass to Tristan Thompson.
Irving might do better zipping right into Pachulia on that first screen instead of pondering. He does that the second time around, only Green ditches Love to cut him off. Love should be open, but Green appears there, like a damned ghost, before Love can fire. Green is already on his way back to Love before the pass is out of Irving's hands. That sounds simple. It's not. Green is a genius, and Golden State has the highest team defensive IQ in the sport.
Two more emphatic wins, and they will stamp themselves as perhaps the greatest team of all time.
A few other nuggets ahead of Game 3:
• Tristan Thompson can't float in space far from the rim when the Warriors ignore him away from the ball. He needs to set more flare screens for Cleveland's shooters, and prep himself for offensive rebounds. The Cavs might also be able to find him flashing for lobs.
• The Cavs hear the noise about experimenting with Tristan Thompson on Durant so that LeBron can defend Green and play more as a free safety. They might even try it. But they don't appear to view it as a realistic heavy-minutes option.
• Food for thought: Did the Warriors, a team generally disinterested in offensive rebounding, see something on film that made them think they could sneak some second chances against Cleveland?
• We saw one or two Curry-Thompson pick-and-rolls in Game 2. Those plays flummoxed the Cavs -- Irving and Smith specifically -- in Golden State's Game 4 comeback last season.
• The Warriors have also used more Curry-Durant two-man action than they did in the regular season, per SportVU data. Durant in this series, and for most of the season, has been exactly what the Warriors thought he'd be: a star willing to blend into Kerr's motion offense, and a mismatch destroyer one-on-one when the shot clock winds down.
• The Cavs tried that bracketing action with LeBron, and it produced one of my favorite plays of the series -- a window into the high-level chess match going on, and the Warriors' incredible defensive intellect:
LeBron calls up two screeners, including Curry's man, Korver. Livingston reads that, and switches onto Korver -- the more dangerous option for LeBron. LeBron decides to use Korver anyway. Why? Because Livingston has his back to James, and appears pinned to Korver's chest. There's no way he can dislodge himself and meet James on the other side, right?
But Livingston is primed to do just that, and contests James at the rim.
Great, great stuff. Let's hope for more in Game 3 -- and some crunch time.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ominating-cleveland-cavaliers-2017-nba-finals
play
Kevin Durant has been dominant on both ends of the floor during the NBA Finals, and in Game 2 he led all players with five blocks and 33 points. (0:33)
11:00 AM ET
-
Zach LoweESPN Senior Writer
The Cavs have managed just 97.4 points per 100 possessions, a mark that would have ranked dead stinking last in the regular season. They entered the Finals having scored 120 points per 100 possessions against two average defenses and one very good one this postseason -- a number so far above the all-time record, held by these Warriors, as to look implausible when you actually type it out.
2017 Finals »
• Schedule | ESPN Forecast | Picks
• Curry, Durant push Warriors up 2-0
• Lowe: How Cavs can sharpen attack
• Steph and KD are wearing out the nets
• Cavaliers need more from Kyrie Irving
• LeBron's triple-double not enough
• Draymond focused on keeping his cool
• Steve Kerr celebrates return with a win
• Healthy Steph Curry means happy GSW
• Durant laughs off Rihanna questions
• Viewer's guide to the 2017 NBA Finals
• Pelton: Best Finals matchup ever?
• How these Finals can shape 10 legacies
• Adams: Most star-studded Finals ever?
We knew the Warriors would score. Cleveland's hope was to score with them, pray the Warriors suffered a couple of cold shooting games, and ride LeBron's greatness. Those of us who thought Cleveland would at least be competitive -- guilty, having picked Warriors in six -- were optimistic about the Cavs sustaining top-level offense against Golden State. They wouldn't hit that 120 number. Maybe 110 would put them in it late.
Golden State has obliterated everything beyond LeBron's Game 2 transition attacks -- his gorgeous combinations of bulldozing force and tap-dancing, side-stepping footwork. The individual efforts have been outstanding: Green, a snarling, long-armed apparition, when not in foul trouble; Klay Thompson, hounding Kyrie Irving at every turn; and most of all, Kevin Durant, wrapping his best defensive season with two masterpiece performances. (Even so: Can we slow down on the "Durant is the best player in the world" talk? That came in record time.)
The collective is even stronger. Golden State has yielded only 98.8 points per 100 possessions through the playoffs, a full 9.2 points stingier than the league average over the postseason, per research from our crack staff at ESPN Stats & Information. That is the largest such gap ever, by a big margin, among teams that have made the Finals under the current playoff format (dating back to the 1983-84 season). The 1987-88 Bad Boy Pistons come second, having allowed 7.8 fewer points per 100 possessions than the league average. In other words: Adjusted for competition, Golden State might be the best defensive team ever to advance this far.
The Warriors are moving in sync, downloading every Cavalier movement, appearing in all the right places at all the right times. If the Cavs can't score, they can't set their defense, and their transition defense isn't coherent enough to withstand Golden State's fast-break attack amid matchup chaos.
I mean, look at this:
Kevin Love) ambles up to set what appears to be a run-of-the-mill ball screen before veering sideways to spring Kyle Korver on a pindown.
This version introduces new wrinkles, including LeBron James acting as a second screener for Korver. Golden State sniffs it out from the beginning. Green, tracking Love, does not overreact to the initial decoy action. Stephen Curry, defending as well so far as the Warriors could have hoped, slithers through both screens almost untouched. Durant digests that, and provides only a flash of help before descending back over LeBron.
Good defense isn't always spectacular. It resides in the absence of spectacle -- mistakes that don't happen, needless help avoided. Golden State is locked in.
The Cavs have Love at center there. Golden State's defense has played Tristan Thompson out of the series. The Warriors are not guarding him away from the ball. Golden State strangles lineups with five shooters. Give them one non-shooter, and the floor looks really small.
The Warriors have tossed the Cavs into a vicious cycle: Lineups with their best defensive players can't score enough, so Lue is turning to all-offense groups, only those have zero chance at stopping the Warriors.
The Love-at-center groups have been fine; Cleveland is plus-8 in 28 such minutes, per NBA.com. Golden State has destroyed every other lineup type -- including the all-scoring groups featuring both Love and Channing Frye, plus the super-small lineups with LeBron at center.
Cleveland probably can't win on those terms. Shifting big-to-small is a talent upgrade for Golden State, and a downgrade for the Cavs. Cleveland needs all sorts of combinations to work, but it really need its best players to play better in heavy minutes. That means more of Love and Thompson together, even against Death Lineup variants with Green at center -- a fun big-versus-small clash we've seen for only a few minutes.
Love has not been the problem, on either end. He has held up reasonably well in Golden State's pick-and-roll torture chamber. He can (barely) slide along with Curry, and recover just in time to disrupt Zaza Pachulia around the basket. Things get tougher against Green. Golden State pokes at Love over and over, and breakdowns are inevitable. Curry drilled a 3 right in Love's face during that third quarter eruption in Game 2. There was nothing Love could do about it, and that's the point: He can't jump, he's not long, and he doesn't worry Curry even when they are almost chest-to-chest.
But overall, Love has been good enough given what he provides on offense. The Cavs need him.
They need badly J.R. Smith, their best and perhaps only chance at two-way play on the wing beside LeBron. Our Dave McMenamin reported Sunday night that Cleveland might start Iman Shumpert over Smith in Game 3. That makes some sense. Shumpert can hit open 3s, and he can defend Curry, Klay Thompson, or Durant -- though Durant would exploit him over time.
The Lowe Post[/paste:font]
Zach talks to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst about the Finals, the future of Golden State and Cleveland, Paul George, and more.
-
NBA draft 2017: Key dates, news and analysis
From prospect projections to the lottery and draft night, ESPN.com has complete coverage of the 2017 NBA draft.
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2017 NBA Finals: Schedule, news, analysis and more
Read about the 2017 NBA Finals on ESPN and watch the Cavs and Warriors collide in their third straight Finals showdown.
But the Warriors will hide Curry on Shumpert, and otherwise ignore him. He is not a threat on Smith's level screening for LeBron in those pick-and-rolls targeting Curry -- plays that weirdly vanished in Game 2. Curry guarded the screener on only five pick-and-rolls in Game 2, down from 13 in the opener, when the Cavs largely aped the game plan that won them the title last season, per STATS SportVU data provided to ESPN.
Those plays didn't work as well as they had a year ago. Curry flashed in and out of LeBron's way, and deflected some passes.
The help behind him was impeccable; the combined speed and length of Green, Andre Iguodala, and Durant roaming the back line is almost unfair. Durant has been more brazen than most dare in abandoning LeBron and Love to swarm the ball, and he's so long and fast, he can recover in time. (Boston also took an extra step away from James over the last three games of the conference finals, and James responded with some well-timed cuts. He needs to do that again.)
The bet here is Smith starts Game 3, and we see more of LeBron hunting Curry. The Warriors feared LeBron would accelerate right into Curry on those plays, engineering a switch, but Curry made it difficult by fleeing the scene fast:
Deron Williams) or stout enough defensively (Richard Jefferson, Korver, Williams again) to survive heavy minutes against Golden State.
The NBA's new isolation is finding the worst defender on the other team, and having his guy screen for your best ball handler. That is what the Warriors do to Korver and Love, and what Cleveland has done to Pachulia, JaVale McGee, Curry, Ian Clark, and others. The Cavs tried targeting two such players at once -- Curry and whichever Golden State center is on the floor -- by bracketing Irving and James with screens from their guys:
NBA
It worked on this play! Irving noticed his man (Iguodala, looking healthy again in what counts as a huge development) shading toward Curry, bolted the other way, and crossed up poor McGee. Playing McGee is an invitation for Cleveland to play Frye, and Steve Kerr was smart to give his second-half minutes to Durant in super-small alignments.
Pachulia is a solid defender, and he's been quite good in this series. He just can't stay in front of Irving or James. Going at him represents a way to make Tristan Thompson useful, and if Thompson isn't useful on Wednesday, the series might be over.
The Warriors will trap Irving and James, and dare Thompson to make plays in space. He's not the most fluid at that, but he has generated some nice looks:
The Warriors will live with that, of course. You can't milk Thompson for offense. But you have to involve him, and hope his monster screening can produce better things -- like switches.
If the Warriors switch Pachulia onto Irving or James -- or more precisely, if Cleveland forces them to -- the Cavs are in business. They tried to do that in Game 2 by leveling Pachulia with a separate pick on his way toward the real action -- a method of shoving him so far behind, he almost has to switch instead of trapping. It just hasn't worked; the Warriors have anticipated it, brought the right level of help from each guy, and snuffed it out:
Even when the gambit punctured the first layer on defense, Green was lurking below to cinch things up:
That is tasty. Pachulia has been smart about trapping when the situation calls for it, and backpedaling when Klay Thompson can hang alone. Thompson has been quick on his feet, arms spread wide to prevent that pocket pass to Tristan Thompson.
Irving might do better zipping right into Pachulia on that first screen instead of pondering. He does that the second time around, only Green ditches Love to cut him off. Love should be open, but Green appears there, like a damned ghost, before Love can fire. Green is already on his way back to Love before the pass is out of Irving's hands. That sounds simple. It's not. Green is a genius, and Golden State has the highest team defensive IQ in the sport.
Two more emphatic wins, and they will stamp themselves as perhaps the greatest team of all time.
A few other nuggets ahead of Game 3:
• Tristan Thompson can't float in space far from the rim when the Warriors ignore him away from the ball. He needs to set more flare screens for Cleveland's shooters, and prep himself for offensive rebounds. The Cavs might also be able to find him flashing for lobs.
• The Cavs hear the noise about experimenting with Tristan Thompson on Durant so that LeBron can defend Green and play more as a free safety. They might even try it. But they don't appear to view it as a realistic heavy-minutes option.
• Food for thought: Did the Warriors, a team generally disinterested in offensive rebounding, see something on film that made them think they could sneak some second chances against Cleveland?
• We saw one or two Curry-Thompson pick-and-rolls in Game 2. Those plays flummoxed the Cavs -- Irving and Smith specifically -- in Golden State's Game 4 comeback last season.
• The Warriors have also used more Curry-Durant two-man action than they did in the regular season, per SportVU data. Durant in this series, and for most of the season, has been exactly what the Warriors thought he'd be: a star willing to blend into Kerr's motion offense, and a mismatch destroyer one-on-one when the shot clock winds down.
• The Cavs tried that bracketing action with LeBron, and it produced one of my favorite plays of the series -- a window into the high-level chess match going on, and the Warriors' incredible defensive intellect:
LeBron calls up two screeners, including Curry's man, Korver. Livingston reads that, and switches onto Korver -- the more dangerous option for LeBron. LeBron decides to use Korver anyway. Why? Because Livingston has his back to James, and appears pinned to Korver's chest. There's no way he can dislodge himself and meet James on the other side, right?
But Livingston is primed to do just that, and contests James at the rim.
Great, great stuff. Let's hope for more in Game 3 -- and some crunch time.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ominating-cleveland-cavaliers-2017-nba-finals
2017 Finals Ratings Beating Last Year Through Two Games
JUN 5, 2017 10:33 AM
Game 2 of The Finals in 2017 received a 12.7 rating, which is up from 11.9 for Game 2 last season.
Sunday’s Game 2 broadcast averaged a 32.4 rating in the Cleveland market and a 31.1 in the San Francisco-Oakland market. The rest of the top ten local markets include Columbus (19.5), Miami (17.7), Memphis (17.5), Atlanta (17.0), Sacramento (15.5), Richmond (15.3), San Antonio (14.6) and Birmingham (14.0).
Through two games, this year's Finals is averaging a 12.6 rating compared to 12.5 last year.
[Bullsfan] Even if you include the millions of online viewers (most of which just stop by to see the score), those numbers and the numbers from the last 3 finals aint even close to some of the numbers that Jordan was pulling in a lot of those 98 Finals. Game 7 last year came close (little over 31 mill) but those ratings were expected considering the comeback that the Cavs made.[/Bullsfan] Outside of MJ, the Lakers and Heat have pulled in some notable ratings. Shaq/Kobe vs Iverson pulled in nice numbers.
Once again, we cant use this as a gauge to say, "See, these super teams aint ruining the league". Even if you include the online streamers, if you look at ratings AS A WHOLE, regular season, local ratings and all,, interest in the NBA isnt growing, its either staying steady or declining. Theres a reason why the NBA is wasting time with more Global games; tryna fill voids buy fooling the foreign audience into thinking that the product worth looking at (outside of the finals).
Btw, the best teams have always brought in the highest ratings. But the best teams (not just the best players) are harder to find outside of Cleveland and Golden State.
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Damn these niggas really might sweep the Cavs
Them new currys flames...
Sneakers that look like Elevator shoes. Short niggas and Mexicans wil love these.
TV Ratings For 2017 Finals Highest Since Jordan's Last Title In 1998
JUN 5, 2017 7:32 PM
The NBA has received criticism from some circles for the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers meeting in The Finals for the third straight time, but television ratings have been excellent after the first two games of the series.
This year's Finals are the most-watched since Michael Jordan's final championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1998.
The two wins for the Warriors have averaged 19.6 million viewers, which is a five percent increase from 18.6 million in 2016.
Sunday's game drew an average of 20.1 million viewers, up 13 percent from Game 2 last year and the most for a Game 2 since Chicago and Utah met in 1998. The telecast peaked with 23.1 million viewers.
I would say thats pretty close; also there is alot more things to do and watch on tv since 98; and I dont know if those numbers include internet or not; so I would say again thats pretty close....
TV Ratings For 2017 Finals Highest Since Jordan's Last Title In 1998
JUN 5, 2017 7:32 PM
The NBA has received criticism from some circles for the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers meeting in The Finals for the third straight time, but television ratings have been excellent after the first two games of the series.
This year's Finals are the most-watched since Michael Jordan's final championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1998.
The two wins for the Warriors have averaged 19.6 million viewers, which is a five percent increase from 18.6 million in 2016.
Sunday's game drew an average of 20.1 million viewers, up 13 percent from Game 2 last year and the most for a Game 2 since Chicago and Utah met in 1998. The telecast peaked with 23.1 million viewers.
I would say thats pretty close; also there is alot more things to do and watch on tv since 98; and I dont know if those numbers include internet or not; so I would say again thats pretty close....
I am surprised it is this high. There are too many options for people these days for anything other than the Super Bowl to consistently draw high ratings.
Man that's how serious this shit is....
Lebron is a draw
Curry is a draw
KD probably is a draw
Same teams for the 3rd time in a row
We get all this shit at the same time
I thought about this:
Would it be a surprise if Cleveland got swept?
They had them down 3-1 last year, without Curry coming off of an injury, and without Durant.
You put Durant in the mix, and you got Curry at 100 ....
....maybe this shit is going how its supposed to do.
Its basically ball movement and sharp shooters against a freight train grinding out two-pointers at the rim, and really no one else contributing at a high level.
Would it be a surprise if Cleveland got swept?
They had them down 3-1 last year, without Curry coming off of an injury, and without Durant.
You put Durant in the mix, and you got Curry at 100 ....
....maybe this shit is going how its supposed to do.
Its basically ball movement and sharp shooters against a freight train grinding out two-pointers at the rim, and really no one else contributing at a high level.
More to do and watch on TV since 98? Know one knows that. Those ratings are close, but so where Lakers vs Philli, my point is none of those numbers have surpassed MJ vs Utah. Let me bask! ..lol
I replied to your ratings post a week ago with the same reply. The playoffs, one teams ticket sells, etc cant be used as a gauge. You all are basically posting ratings to discredit what folks are saying about the lack of balance in the NBA. But Cavs vs Warrios dont define the NBA as a whole.
I understand that some people enjoy seeing LBJ / GS run thru the playoffs and meet in the finals every year. They enjoy seeing the Cavs perform for 1 half and then get stomped every 2nd half... thats great bball to them...I get that. But imho, that group doesnt rep the majority. Like I stated, one of the reasons the NBA is reaching more toward the global market is so they can fill voids; voids that many refuse to see.
Add to that the NBA always does well in ratings when their is a superior dominant team; NBA is loving this right now!!
I will let you boast
and yes MJ was the heydey in terms of ratings; that was a perfect storm and MJ was the man; but again for the NBA to draw 20mill in this type of TV climate is great; MJ only did 3 mill more in 98; and yes there are a million more things to do than it was in 98; from social media to the different tv channels and shows, to the internet, etc etc there are more, way more things to do than in 98; Im not posting to discredit the lack of balance; again outside of Cleveland and GS, all other series were very competitive; people who say there is a lack of balance are only looking at GS and Cavs; And ratings are up a crossed the board in the playoffs; they are up even more when GS is playing; so that majority thing you are speaking of isnt valid; or cant be proven; if people didnt want to watch or see it, they wouldnt watch; clearly they are watching and they are watching GS more; As far as running thru the playoffs, when the Bulls were at their height there was only like 2 teams in the east, if that, that could beat them; same thing out west; difference now is there is nobody in the east; GS probably wouldnt lose either, but they would have been challenged more by the Spurs at least.......
And LeBron has 2 All Stars not 1?!?!?! 
Its not shocking for people who truly watch basketball and understand it; Cavs dont play defense, period!!!! they havent all year; so they not about to start now; but Cavs have a great player and other good players so they can win games; Only idiots didnt think or realize that KD going to GS would be a perfect fit; it was an extremely lucky situation all the way around; that GS was fortunate enough to take advantage of; I dont see it happening again any time soon; but you never know; on the flip side, where is your greatest ever pg Irving at
???????????????Rondo not really an All star; but I see what you are doingAnd LeBron has 2 All Stars not 1?!?!?!
So you gonna shit on Road Rage on the humble like that huh Bruh!?!?!?!Its not shocking for people who truly watch basketball and understand it; Cavs dont play defense, period!!!! they havent all year; so they not about to start now; but Cavs have a great player and other good players so they can win games; Only idiots didnt think or realize that KD going to GS would be a perfect fit; it was an extremely lucky situation all the way around; that GS was fortunate enough to take advantage of; I dont see it happening again any time soon; but you never know; on the flip side, where is your greatest ever pg Irving at
Kyrie out there playing like its the next edition of an Uncle Drew video while Curry is outplaying his ass... Curry >>>>>>>>> Drew
Its not shocking for people who truly watch basketball and understand it; Cavs dont play defense, period!!!! they havent all year; so they not about to start now; but Cavs have a great player and other good players so they can win games; Only idiots didnt think or realize that KD going to GS would be a perfect fit; it was an extremely lucky situation all the way around; that GS was fortunate enough to take advantage of; I dont see it happening again any time soon; but you never know; on the flip side, where is your greatest ever pg Irving at
What is a Kyrie Irving, and why would I know anything about this creature?
Rondo not really an All star; but I see what you are doing
All jokes a side Bruh.. I saw this shit and it made me thing for real. All these pleas being copped for LeBron, motherfucker has TWO All Stars on his damn team... Nobody was whining and hissing and copping please all through the Eastern Conference playoffs now, all of a sudden Niggas getting to bitchin... FOH!!!
Man fuck @RoadRage; his bitch ass was in here for like 10 pages(in the offseason) saying that slick shit about KD; I dont know how anyone can say Curry isnt the best pg in the league; its not even close...
They stay coppin pleas; look at their offense and look and how they have turned it up, blah blah blahAll jokes a side Bruh.. I saw this shit and it made me thing for real. All these pleas being copped for LeBron, motherfucker has TWO All Stars on his damn team... Nobody was whining and hissing and copping please all through the Eastern Conference playoffs now, all of a sudden Niggas getting to bitchin... FOH!!!
if they were to get swept though you would see the true plea copped like never before; but we shall see though; they still have a chance; its not over yet....
Man, look ...
...I was apparently dead wrong. I got a little cocky on my abilities to predict futures. Where I'm from, I was the only one who saw Kobe becoming what he did. Everybody else laughed, 'cause he was sitting on the bench. He fucked up a lot, but I saw what he did when he did put it all together. Eventually, he did put it all together, and the rest is history.
Similarly - and Kyrie was an All-Star by the time I paid any attention to him - I saw a special player who could attack a team from anywhere on the court offensively. And he did it with flair.
He clearly lacks something that Kobe possessed. I could take a few stab at what, but the point has been made.
Dude got game, but he's lacking that extra something.
I feel ya; I think Kyrie is a good/great scorer and thats it; nothing really from the defensive end; and his scoring ability doesnt lend him to open things up for other teammates; I think thats why they cant win or struggle to win when LBJ doesnt play; But I give you props for admitting it; we all are off/wrong/miscalculate/etc etc etc at some point......well unless you are @RoadRage; that mofo had the nerve to say hes never wrong
Game 3:
-Cleveland SHOULD win tonight (If for no other reason I don't see a LeBron led team getting blown out 3 games in a row and they are at home)
-I seriously believe Kyrie and at least one of the role players (TT) will play better
-KD or Steph are due for a 'normal' game
-I do believe the refs are going to be a factor. Regardless of what people believe, it is NOT good business for the League to have a COMPLETELY one sided finals. Especially since GS is still so young and aren't going anywhere. This shit could become a trend and the league doesn't want that shit
-I look for one or more of the Warriors key players to be in some sort of game impacting foul trouble
-GS will be called for at least 5 more fouls (shooting fouls) than the Cavs, and the Cavs will shoot at least 8 more FTs as a result
-I see the Cavs winning by maybe 5 points or more. They also may win by double figures, again to give the impression we are in a series now (Ratings for Game 4)
-I still see GS winning this series in 5-6 games, and I don't see their wins being close
-The league cannot have LeBron beaten so thoroughly, if not for this, this would be a 4 game double digit wins sweep
-Cleveland SHOULD win tonight (If for no other reason I don't see a LeBron led team getting blown out 3 games in a row and they are at home)
-I seriously believe Kyrie and at least one of the role players (TT) will play better
-KD or Steph are due for a 'normal' game
-I do believe the refs are going to be a factor. Regardless of what people believe, it is NOT good business for the League to have a COMPLETELY one sided finals. Especially since GS is still so young and aren't going anywhere. This shit could become a trend and the league doesn't want that shit
-I look for one or more of the Warriors key players to be in some sort of game impacting foul trouble
-GS will be called for at least 5 more fouls (shooting fouls) than the Cavs, and the Cavs will shoot at least 8 more FTs as a result
-I see the Cavs winning by maybe 5 points or more. They also may win by double figures, again to give the impression we are in a series now (Ratings for Game 4)
-I still see GS winning this series in 5-6 games, and I don't see their wins being close
-The league cannot have LeBron beaten so thoroughly, if not for this, this would be a 4 game double digit wins sweep
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So you are basically saying Lebron James Team wont win 1 game against the warriors without the assistance of the Refs and the League huh? Smh. I really want to see this crystal ball some of you are looking into.
The best player of this decade cant win without the assistance of refs. I want the name of the strain of weed or crack you are smoking.
If that is what you took from my post then we really dont have anything to discuss and you can basically bounce, move on and try to find another poster with your obvious dangerously low reading comprehension levels and non existent critical thinking brain function to debate with. I hope you find a suitable counterpart lil fella.
Good luck in your search (search means to find something by looking for it)...
Let me know if you need any additional help...
They stay coppin pleas; look at their offense and look and how they have turned it up, blah blah blah
How is telling the truth coppin pleas..you've already broken down how the players like Kyrie, TT, JR Smith, Kyle Korver,etc.. aren't doing shit so if these players aren't producing then of course the Cavs have no chance of winning. TT and JR Smith are starters and combined for 6 rebounds and 8 points in Game 2
Look at the last sentence in your post you fucking dumb azz. U gave several reasons why you think the cavs will win tonight but you summarized it by saying that the league cannot allow the cavs to be thorougly beaten so they will step to make it competitive. "The league cannot have LeBron beaten so thoroughly, if not for this, this would be a 4 game double digit wins sweep".. did you not say this? Next time come back with something better you fucking dummy. Now i see why you made such stupid statements.
I said in that thread you made about Kyrie that he's more concerned with the "ooohs and ahhs" than anything. I said he'll do 3-4 flashy moves and still be in about the same spot, whereas Steph will do 1-2 of those types of moves and shoot a 3 or be at the basket for a layup. I remember Sunday night he was doing those moves, and would miss and have a turnover for 3 quarters and there would be nothing said, then in the 4th when he did a flashy play and made a layup the crowd and the sports announcers exploded yelling "HE'S THE MOST EXCITING BALLHANDLER IN THE GAME TODAY"
Like half of his stans, dude is a Kobe fluffer who jumped on the Golden State bandwagon since Kobe stopped going to Finals when LeBron went to Miami.
The way it works is if the Warriors win, it was fair and square.
If the Cavs win the refs and Adam Silver stepped in.
Even the Celtics who were totally outclassed by the Cav came back to win 1 game without their best player by playing team ball and making bettet decisions with their possessions. No one said the refs played a role in getting them that win.