Why are people so confident that we can beat Cleveland?

[Diesel]

I know that we've had leads against them and many competitive games the past 2 years and that we were injured when they swept us out of the playoffs last year but we match up terribly with them and they are capable of completely locking us down defensively when they need to PLUS they get the advantage of the superstar calls and they do have the superstar to make plays. I don't think that the Cavs are unbeatable by any means but they completely shut us down in both 4th quarters this year and I'm just not confident that we have the ability to change that this year.

In case we've forgotten we are 1-9 against them the past 2 years, including the playoffs.

In MHO, I think it's because they are old, Slow, and stuck on that ISo game. I think we're better than that. BUT... I fear the refs in a Cleveland Series.

[Admin]

In MHO, I think it's because they are old, Slow, and stuck on that ISo game. I think we're better than that. BUT... I fear the refs in a Cleveland Series.

So you believe that the refs are 9-1 against the Hawks in our last 10 meetings and not the Cavs?

[Birdman316]

I really don't judge this teams success against cleveland vs last years team success vs Cleveland. This year we have imo the best 6th man in the league. This year we have a stronger bench. This year we are healthy. And what have we seen? Two close competitive games.

If the Hawks want to beat Cleveland, they have to learn how to finish games. They finally get it against Boston. Now they have to do it vs Cleveland becausw twice the Hawks had a chance to win it in the 4th. It just comes down to finishing games.

So Cleveland might be 9-1 against us in the last 10. But if we meet again, I'm confident we can beat them because THIS year we are deeper and so far healthy.

[HawkNJersey]

I'm going on record with saying this: We will be in the NBA finals, this year. I'm not convinced any of the "the top 3" are better than us. I know what the outcome of the Orlando games. But in my opinion, we have just as much of a claim to be in the NBA finals, as any of the 3. They may have all been there, in recent years. But we all have to get there, this year.

[Diesel]

So you believe that the refs are 9-1 against the Hawks in our last 10 meetings and not the Cavs?

I can only judge by what I have seen this year. Last year, we didn't have a player of Crawford's calibre coming off the bench. Nor did we have vets like Smith and Collins playing off the bench. IN the past year, I think we have gotten to the point where we are competitive with the Cavs. The problem is that in a playoff series with the Lakers awaiting in the West, I think what would be better for the NBA would be Lakers Cavs.. and the Refs would make it happen.

[BusBoyIsBack]

I know that we've had leads against them and many competitive games the past 2 years and that we were injured when they swept us out of the playoffs last year but we match up terribly with them and they are capable of completely locking us down defensively when they need to PLUS they get the advantage of the superstar calls and they do have the superstar to make plays. I don't think that the Cavs are unbeatable by any means but they completely shut us down in both 4th quarters this year and I'm just not confident that we have the ability to change that this year.

In case we've forgotten we are 1-9 against them the past 2 years, including the playoffs.

People said the same thing about us not being able to beat Boston. Funny how we conveniently forget. Why so confident? How about the fact that they had to get help from the refs and shot clock operators to beat us in Cleveland?

This is not the same team that got swept by the Cavs last year. We are a much deeper team particularly with our 6th man of the year candidate. Furthermore the Cavs are not as good as they were last year either.

Remember how they destroyed us last year in Cleveland? Again not the case this year. We got better and they got worse.

The only question is will the refs allow us to beat them

Edited January 14, 2010 by BusBoyIsBack

[Admin]

People said the same thing about us not being able to beat Boston. Funny how we conveniently forget. Why so confident? How about the fact that they had to get help from the refs and shot clock operators to beat us in Cleveland?

This is not the same team that got swept by the Cavs last year. We are a much deeper team particularly with our 6th man of the year candidate. Furthermore the Cavs are not as good as they were last year either.

Remember how they destroyed us last year in Cleveland? Again not the case this year. We got better and they got worse.

The only question is will the refs allow us to beat them

They didn't need help from the clock operators and refs to beat us, they locked down on defense and we blew a 17 point 2nd half lead and if we hadn't done that we would have never had the chance to get screwed at the end. And that was 2 games in a row against them where we were unable to score when it counted (perhaps because we don't practice offense) and I will say this until I am blue in the face that I won't have confidence in us beating the Cavs until we prove that we can score in crunch time.

I do agree that we have closed the gap on the Cavs this year though.

[Admin]

I can only judge by what I have seen this year. Last year, we didn't have a player of Crawford's calibre coming off the bench. Nor did we have vets like Smith and Collins playing off the bench. IN the past year, I think we have gotten to the point where we are competitive with the Cavs. The problem is that in a playoff series with the Lakers awaiting in the West, I think what would be better for the NBA would be Lakers Cavs.. and the Refs would make it happen.

While Crawford has been an upgrade to Flip let's not forget that Flip was huge for us last year off the bench so it's not like we didn't have a strong 6th man. Smith and Collins are definitely huge pieces that we didn't have last year though that's for sure.

Didn't you say last year that the league wouldn't let Orlando get to the finals against the Lakers?

[BusBoyIsBack]

People said the same thing about us not being able to beat Boston. Funny how we conveniently forget. Why so confident? How about the fact that they had to get help from the refs and shot clock operators to beat us in Cleveland?

This is not the same team that got swept by the Cavs last year. We are a much deeper team particularly with our 6th man of the year candidate. Furthermore the Cavs are not as good as they were last year either.

Remember how they destroyed us last year in Cleveland? Again not the case this year. We got better and they got worse.

The only question is will the refs allow us to beat them

Did you watch the same game I watched? Lebron James in the 4th quarter had about as many FTs as the Hawks had the entire 2nd half. A huge reason why that lead was blown was because we couldn't get a whistle. An obvious foul that was a no call led to at least 8 Cavs fast break points to really cut into the lead. Not to mention that horrific offensive foul called on Marvin Williams to start the quarter. We would have been up double digits in the 4th quarter if it weren't for that.

They weren't going to let Lebron lose at home on his Birthday that particular night and hte fact of the matter is it took a desperation 3 pointer from Anderson Varajeo for them to win that game.

You don't think a team that needed that much fortune to beat the Hawks is beatable?

[tonegully]

Im not impressed with the Cavs. They are a one trick pony. We just had a break down back to back games. It will not happen again..now the Magic is a different story

[spotatl]

People need to remember that the Cavs have far more ability to add to their roster than the Hawks do. The Hawks already did their "deadline" trade when they acquired Crawford. The Cavs are still likely to add someone like Jamison or Murphy.

[Diesel]

While Crawford has been an upgrade to Flip let's not forget that Flip was huge for us last year off the bench so it's not like we didn't have a strong 6th man. Smith and Collins are definitely huge pieces that we didn't have last year though that's for sure.

Didn't you say last year that the league wouldn't let Orlando get to the finals against the Lakers?

Crawford is far far better than Flip. Flip was just a player who could score. Craw can score and he can set up others. It's like comparing Lue to Deron. Sure they do the same thing but one does his thing far better than the other.

The league did all it could to get the Lakers vs. Cavs series.

Game 1, Lebron gets to the foul line 10 times.

Game 2 Lebron gets to the foul line 12 times.

Game 3, Lebron gets to the foul line 24 times.

Game 4, Lebron gets to the foul line 18 times.

Game 5, Lebron gets tot he foul line 19 times.

Game 6, Lebron gets to the foul line 11 times.

The league did all that they could.

[Crank]

Crawford is far far better than Flip. Flip was just a player who could score. Craw can score and he can set up others. It's like comparing Lue to Deron. Sure they do the same thing but one does his thing far better than the other.

The league did all it could to get the Lakers vs. Cavs series.

Game 1, Lebron gets to the foul line 10 times.

Game 2 Lebron gets to the foul line 12 times.

Game 3, Lebron gets to the foul line 24 times.

Game 4, Lebron gets to the foul line 18 times.

Game 5, Lebron gets tot he foul line 19 times.

Game 6, Lebron gets to the foul line 11 times.

The league did all that they could.

Flip scored 20 or more points 10 times last year in 80 games

Crawford has scored 20 or more points 15 times in 38 games

Crawford is just not playing good for a 6th man he is playing we well as any sg in the league this year

Kobe

Wade

JJ

Roy

Crawford

Ray Allen

Jrich

Iggy

Mayo

Hes really being shortchanged this year because of his past rep .

and of course the league wanted to see Kobe vs Lebron after the start the Cavs got off to . Its hard to break a rep in the nba good or bad . Once they say you are good then you are good even when you are actually bad and once you are bad you have to go above and beyond to prove you are good as they wait for you to fail at every turn .