Would the Cavs Beat Anyone from the West?

by Fantasy Junkie on Jun 13, 2007 10:10 AM PDT in Links

Here's a question that a few of my friends have been throwing around. If the Cavs played a 7 game playoff series against any of the Western Conference teams, could they beat anybody? If so, who would they beat? The East Valley Tribune in Phoenix posed the same question, Who could Cavaliers beat in West?

How deep into the Western Conference playoff field would you have to dig to find a team the Cleveland Cavaliers would beat in a seven-game series?

We have the Mavericks, Suns and Spurs. Um, nope.

Then we have the Jazz, Rockets and Nuggets. Hmm.

The Cavs had better beat the seventh-seeded Lakers (even ABC could sell Kobe vs. LeBron, especially now that "The Sopranos" have been whacked), because I think No. 8 Golden State would have run them off the court. Even the Clippers -- who missed the postseason completely -- aren't a great matchup for King James and his court.

I have to agree with this writer, the only team the Cavs have a chance against are the Lakers, but I still think the Lakers could take them simply because Kobe would not let them get beat. The Mavs, Suns, Spurs (obviously), Rockets, Jazz, Nuggets, and Warriors would all beat them in a 7 game series. I would go as far as this writer says in that the Clippers could also beat the Cavs in a 7 game series.

All day baby, all day!

The Warriors would easily run past these Cavs. The Warriors match up well against them because the Cavs are a big team, not a quick and big team like Utah was. At every position (except whereever LeBron decides to play), the Warriors have the faster, quicker player. Who's going to guard Baron Davis? Nobody. Who's going to stop Stephen Jackson? LeBron would guard him but his defense is not stellar. Additionally, the Warriors would absolutely abuse Big Z because he's too slow to guard Al Harrington in a half court set or Andris Biedrins in an up and down game. Okay, so who's going to guard LeBron? It would start with Jax and everyone would get their chance. And lastly, is there any question about who is the better coach? Nellie or Mike Brown?

To the Cavs fans who will point to the Cavs two regular season wins against the Warriors, January 20 - Cavs 106-104 and January 30 - Cavs 124-97, let me tell you that the Warriors team you beat back then was a completely different team than the one that beat the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs. So, I'd say Warriors would win in 6. We don't even need to break out the We Believe shirts.

It's a sad state of affairs for the NBA where the Eastern Conference Finals representative is possibly the 10th best team in the league. I'd be happy if they were at least a top 5 team, but they aren't. Furthermore, it's a sad state for the fans because the Finals are supposed to be the biggest and most exciting stage for them to watch two of the best teams. As a Warriors fan, it's disgusting to see a team that I know the Warriors can beat still playing. This is a far cry from some of the greatest finals in NBA history. In fact, this is probably one of the worst NBA Finals ever not just because of the potential sweep, but because the all but one of the best teams are not playing anymore.

Something needs to be fixed especially with Oden and Durant heading out West. It will only get worse for the East. Miami's championship last year was big for the East but covered up the imbalance of talent in the NBA. I don't have any answers right now, but the NBA should recognize the problem and figure out a way to deal with it unless they feel that in the next 3-4 years things will rebalance. If they don't fix it, they'll probably continue to get poor ratings in the NBA finals.

Do you think the Cavs could beat any of the Western Conference playoff teams? If so, which teams?

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I think the cavs would have beat us...

the same way the Jazz did, on the boards and with good D. We cant match their fron line, and we would get killed on the backboards.

by dallaswarrior on Jun 13, 2007 10:33 AM PDT reply actions

Rebounding

The reason the Warriors lost to the Jazz wasn't simply because the Jazz were bigger and controlled the boards, it was because they had athletic big men (Boozer and AK) to challenge shots, rebound, and score in the post (Boozer) as well as a strong PG who could match BD in Deron Williams. The Cavs have neither.

by Fantasy Junkie on Jun 13, 2007 11:42 AM PDT up reply actions

Agreed

Plus all those missed free throws and open shots killed the Warriors.

I do think Drew Gooden is a nice rebounder and defender though. He has a pretty jumper too.

by Atma Brother ONE on Jun 13, 2007 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions

The biggest reason we lost to the Jazz

was rebounding. They slowed our game down because of rebounding, the cavs would do the same thing and who need deron williams when you have LEBRON?

Plus Drew Gooden and Z can spot up and shoot while they both can outboard our whole team.

by dallaswarrior on Jun 13, 2007 1:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Also

due to lack of experience and clutch shooting. Missing critical free throws didnt help our situation out and they didnt know how to effectively burn the clock down to close out games, they had!

"Intensity, Integrity, Intelligence" - Kurt Angle

by ballin on Jun 13, 2007 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions

The Reason

The Warriors lost to the Jazz because they did not match up well with their big men were too athletic and too strong. The Cavs big men are clearly inferior to the Jazz big men and cannot dominate a game like Boozer and AK-47 did.

the cavs would do the same thing and who need deron williams when you have LEBRON?

The reason I brought up Deron Williams is not to say that he's better than LeBron, it was to say that he matched up extremely well with Baron. Nobody on the Cavs matches up well with Baron. Eric Snow? No. Boobie? No. Larry Hughes? No. Baron would dominate like he did against the Mavs who had even bigger and better perimeter defenders. In facing Stephen Jackson, LeBron would have an equally tough time as he is having against Bruce Bowen.

by Fantasy Junkie on Jun 13, 2007 5:34 PM PDT up reply actions

we would have beaten the jazz...

if i played, and especially if i would have started.

by Aluminum Foyle on Jun 13, 2007 8:34 PM PDT up reply actions

Rockets perhaps?

Agree wholeheartedly. However, I'd have to think the Cavs would have somewhat of a chance in a 7-game series against a similar slow and plodding team like the Rockets. Cavs vs Rockets in the Finals. How exciting would that have been? Despite T-Mac vs Lebron, it would've been a snoozefest for the ages.

by sleepys29againstshowtime on Jun 13, 2007 10:48 AM PDT reply actions

After the Jazz series

you cannot dismiss the Cavs when comparing them to the warriors. Just like Dallaswarriors said, the cavs' frontline would dominate rebounding.

However, the Cavs do not have two things that the Jazz did: a weakside shotblocker taller than all of the dubs (except Biedrins) in AK and an all-star post-up PF. I don't think you can assume the warriors would win, but it would be very close.

I see LA and Houston as the two teams that would most-likely lose to the Cavs in seven games.

by BingBluNT on Jun 13, 2007 11:27 AM PDT reply actions

agree

The Dubs could win in 6, but a couple of games would be close. You also have to throw in at least one game where Lebron explodes for 30+.

As for the East-West disparity, someone email Fitz's new schedule/playoff format to Stern. They added another division on his suggestion, so hopefully they'll take a look at this one.

by Caught Backcourt on Jun 13, 2007 11:47 AM PDT reply actions

The rockets

are the only team the Cavs have a shot at beating since they are incredibly slow and Tmac and Yao never stepped up when it was needed for them to win. Kobe would not even allow his team to lose, he took over when it was close in the suns series.

For three games now, Bowen and the spurs dared LeBron to shoot midranger shots and he totally bricking them. He hasn't hit anything beyond 2 feet from the basket. I want to see what espn's Chris Broussard has to say now. He claimed Lebron is even better than kobe after that comeback win against the pistons.

Can anyone seriously believe kobe would miss that many open midrange jumpers.

It pains me to have to hear the the annoucers hype Bruce Bowen as a great defender. When Lebron just isn't there yet. Few more years, better free throw shooting and midranger jumpers and we'll talk. They've crown him since high school as the heir to jordan when the real heir is still Kobe. Kobe just needs to pick up gambling and he's just like mike.

by ufwa on Jun 13, 2007 12:47 PM PDT reply actions

Lakers and Rockets

would be the only two Western Conference teams from this year's playoffs to lose to the Cavs. If the Cavs faced the Lakers, the match-up will definitely be 8 to 1. 1 being Kobe. If the Cavs faced the Rockets, it'll be a close match, but LeBron will prevail due to T-Mac's "disappearing act" in the playoffs.

by Phil T28 on Jun 13, 2007 1:44 PM PDT reply actions

i dont know about this man...

for one i hardly doubt stephen jackson could stop lebron. Bruce Bowen is gaurding him right now who is a much better defender and theres also a huge difference between what happens if lebron gets by bowen and goes to the rim against duncan and company or gets by jackson(much easier) and goes into the warriors front line. the spurs defense is the only reason why the cavs are getting whipped. no other team in the league can even get close to shutting down lebron like the spurs are.

The spurs are so much better defensively than the warriors, suns, lakers, rockets, mavericks, and even the jazz.

your not giving the cavs enough credit. you think detroit could do any better? the cavs destroyed the pistons. I believe that lebron can really take over whenever he wants against any team in the league except the spurs, plus the cavs are an underrated team defensively themselves.

overall, a week ago, it looked like the cavs could beat anybody. Now we know that the cavs can play with anybody except the spurs.

The suns and maybe the mavericks would probably beat the cavs, but it would definately be closer then you think. All the other teams the cavs could definately beat and probably would.

by travisl212 on Jun 13, 2007 6:07 PM PDT reply actions

what?

forget if the warriors can be them.

Lebron hasn't even tried to take over games versus the spurs. the guy got scared and passed the ball away. When it should've been his time.

The spurs have done absolutely nothing special against lebron and the cavs. The guy simply is not that great. As I said before, they are daring him to shoot mid range jumpers and he clanks them. The Spurs have always had Duncan and Uberto/oberto waiting in the lane all season. Pop didn't change anything.

Honestly other than game 6 of the eastern finals. the Cavs didn't do any destorying of the pistons. Hell in Game 6, Lebron didn't do crap in that game either. scored 20 points, off 3/11 shooting and 14/19 fts, at one point he had more free throw attempts than the pistons combined. The hero was daniel gibson who has since come down to earth.

Even the crappy Wizards made Lebron struggle. in two of games in the series Lebron was 8/22. His points came from the free throw line. The for series he shot 5% worst than in the regular season.

In the nets series he only posted 50% shooting twice. The other 4 games. he shot a combined 36.6%.

Still want claim that no other team can contain the supposed King?

by ufwa on Jun 13, 2007 8:09 PM PDT up reply actions

okay...

i never said no other team can beat him. all i said is that its not like they suck. they would be a top team in the west. probably the 4th or 5th best team, but they would be competitive with probably every team besides the spurs.

they are forcing him to shoot because they aren't letting him get to the lane or to the rim. they are arguably the best defensive team in the league! what don't you understand about that? plus the cavs have matchup problems all over.

Lebron has off days yeah, but he still dominates in other categories. how do you think they got to the finals with a bunch of decent role players around him. once they get a better bigman and another scoring option they will be legit.

by travisl212 on Jun 13, 2007 10:54 PM PDT up reply actions

the jazz could

probably beat them because they are more balanced and they are tougher, but still it would be very close and the cavs could win

by travisl212 on Jun 13, 2007 6:09 PM PDT reply actions

The minority opinion

I doubt many of you will agree with me, but I believe that if the Warriors didn't shock the Mavs, they would've won it all this season.

Cavs = Craps

They would've been an easy first round exit in the mighty West. They might've had the easiest path to the NBA Finals in league history- a banged up Wizards' squad, a frontline-less Nets, and an overrated, complacent, and unfocused Pistons team. EASY.

If only the front offices in the Leastern Conference weren't so dumb, the disparity between the 2 conferences wouldn't be as great.

by Atma Brother ONE on Jun 13, 2007 6:28 PM PDT reply actions

i think that the mavericks weaknesses would have

been exploited later in the playoffs by the spurs and or the suns. and that isnt if Utah didn't beat them up. i just don't see dirk capable of carrying that team. i know im a bit biased because half the time i watched them it was against the warriors.

by travisl212 on Jun 13, 2007 10:57 PM PDT up reply actions

What about last season?

Dirk and the Mavs beat the Suns (although without Amare) and the Spurs in the playoffs last season. The Mavs were/ are a good team. They would have destroyed the Jazz in 5 or 6 with their depth. Diop and even Damp would've played a big role in that series.

The Mavs just can't hang with the Dubs. I loved every minute of that 1st round series.

by Atma Brother ONE on Jun 13, 2007 11:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Yup

Mark Cuban spends all that money to build this Dallas team to beat the Spurs, the Suns, and the Jazz of the league; and then lose to the 8th seeded Warriors. what a great story

by jlagace on Jun 14, 2007 9:58 AM PDT up reply actions