This is what I'm predicting tonight.



...with a dash of Kyrie.

Whoops...

Kyrie was the only one on the Cavs who was aggressive. TT sat too much in the second half but I understand why they kept him out (FT). Lebron had a great statline and was all over the game in the first half without scoring, but he should have looked more to get his in the second.

Makes one wonder if Lebron is even capable of carrying a team from night-to-night. He was clearly gassed by the end of game four. Still, he should have been more assertive before the fourth quarter hit, but I was reading somewhere that he's already played as many minutes as Bird and Magic during their careers, and Micheal during his Bulls run. That's crazy. Granted, Bird's career was cut a couple years short by his back issues, Magic because of HIV, and Jordan because of a pit-stop of a retirement, but the point still stands that Lebron is only 31 years old. However, he has the minutes load of someone who is more 34 or 35. Are we just seeing the decline of Lebron as a transcendent player who can go-out and get you a win on his own? Maybe. The same happened to Kobe (he already declined and lost most of star power and efficiency by 35, and the Achilles just took him out. I wonder him Lebron has max, 35, until he can't do it anymore.). Yet that doesn't completely absolve Lebron. He still has an aura around him, and when he goes, his team follows. He just never led.

LeBron is in that class of athlete where it is so fucking hard to please the critics. Guys like ARod, Peyton, Tiger. No matter what they do, they fail to impress someone yet they are all-time greats. Wow thats weird, all 3 of the guys I named did or probably did massive amounts of steroids.

I disagree about him still being in his prime. I think he just left it but he's still arguably the best player in the league still or in the top three with Curry and KD. He just ran into an all time great team. He might have won last year if his team was healthy. I just dont see how its possible this year even if he was playing at '12 Lebron levels. GS is just an all around better team. People will bash him for his final record but I think the'11 one was the only year he should have won but didnt.
2007-Was a kid w/ scrubs vs a veteran Spurs team.
2011-Was a choke job
2014-Wades legs were gone and that Heat team ran out of gas after four straight finals. That Spurs were more focused and was looking for revenge.
2015-Lost two all stars
2016- Faced the best regular season team of all time.
Its still better to lose in the finals than never get there.

Eh kinda nitpicking with terms, but here's how I'd explain it - at least how I'm using those terms. I describe a players prime as the period where their basketball IQ and natural abilities line up. For most players its somewhere between the gap of 25-32, depending on the player's injuries and development. guards usually reaching their primes quicker and exit them quicker, but big man's decline's tend to be more dramatic once they start (think shaq). Players can have a long prime but a short peak ala Vince Carter. 00-01 is a great year peak, but the dude never reach those highs again despite being a 20 plus scorer until 2009 and an allstar until 2007. Primes tend to be a few years, where as peaks are one or two years of brilliance - kinda like what Curry has done the past two seasons, especially this one. Leborn is still in his prime - naturally in the twilight of it, but he's definitely past his Miami and later 1 stint Cav's peak. In his best season with the Heat (12-13) he put up 27, 8, and 7 on 57% shooting. Now with the Cavs he is at 25, 7, and 7, with 52% shooting. Raw numbers obviously don't tell the whole story, but that's over a 82 game season one in which for the most part barring last years finals I thought he played a little better this year than last (probably do to the team gelling).

Yeah its obvious his jumper is broken, needs a whole lot of work and he needs to discover some confidence to shot it. This finals he's strangely been lackluster finishing at the rim, but the dude can still defend at an amazing level his passing lane defense has been outstanding this finals. Yes he is older, but people so quick to define "ledecline" is troubling. The night in and out brilliance is gone, but he is a dude who can been in the league for 13 years I don't really mind him coasting a couple games from Nov. to feb. He could be totally out of his prime but next year if he doesn't make adjustments to his game like all the greats do once they reach this point, but you can't tell me that the dude who caught a shitty lob from Kyrie one handed and reached at least a 38 vert is out of his prime. I imagine he'll start to play the 4 on the reg, whether he likes it or not.

He is at the point where he needs to adjust to adapt his game to his slowly fading physical abilities its gonna be very interesting to watch and he how he manages it. I bet he has never felt this mortal physically and competition wise. Kobe kinda at this moment in 2010, he wasn't really KOBE in those finals but he managed to transform the Mamba into Vino.

Totally agree with your finals thoughts. 2011 was the one year he didn't show and he got shitted on rightfully. That Mavs team is massively underrated and was a vet group that went through the ringer in the WC that year. Those Spurs teams were too tough, too smart, too deep. The Warriors are just historic.

Sternumman and myself will be courtside tonight at the Oracle cheering on Donald Trump and the Cavs.

God bless.

The NBA has has become almost literally unwatchable. Terrible officiating, both ways. Can't wait until college basketball is back

Lebron is a beast. Just amazing to watch.

Cavs in 7. 

gonna be a great game 7 tonight. series will come down to the final play of the game, and the final score will be within 2-3 points either way. mark it down.