New Album & The Beginning of Basketball Season
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Steve Williams
Site Founder, Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Warriors had just enough to take the game to OT and runaway with a 124-114 win
James gets 51 points and other than a few bursts from Love, James carried the team as always
It was a good game. A lot of close but bad calls by the refs
James gets 51 points and other than a few bursts from Love, James carried the team as always
It was a good game. A lot of close but bad calls by the refs
JR thought they were up 1 and took the ball out to run down the clock. Shades of Derek Harper of Dallas twenty something years ago.
It was close I thought Warriors would lose it.
It was close I thought Warriors would lose it.
Warriors should have lost it. LeBron was spectacular and I think this loss is so bad he can’t recover. First the Warriors showed how vulnerable they were off the boards. Second they had no answer for LeBron. Third that absolutely horrible call reversing the charge was amazing. Of course JR Smith; speechless.
I thought that reversal of the charging call was the key. I didn't even know they can review fouls.
Tristan Thompson said that when your're up 10 or 11 with 20 seconds to go, you don't shoot that shot - that's it's an unspoken rule. Now, I had seen a couple of such shots in the last few years that resulted in near fracas and I have no idea how that unspoken rule originated or who made it. And that is why Thompson flung out his elbow at that shot of Livingston, which the referee saw and threw him out of the game with a flagrant 2 to boot. Should the league come out and announce that anyone can make a shot at anytime he wants regardless of the lead?
https://sports.abs-cbn.com/nba/news/2018/06/01/comm-silver-weighs-cap-system-league-parity-42360
NBA
Comm. Silver weighs in on cap system, league parity and more
By NBA.com Global on Jun 01, 2018 02:29 PM
Comm. Silver weighs in on cap system, league parity and more
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a news conference before Game 1 of basketball's NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, May 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
By Steve Aschburner, NBA.com
OAKLAND – The two teams that have pitched tents on the NBA Finals for the past four years share a bunch of attributes. Star power, three-point marksmanship, continuity at least at some minimal level, crafty and dedicated coaching staff, and a know-how that has grown with each subsequent championship showdown.
There’s one other thing, though, that should not be overlooked.
The Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers rank Nos. 1 and 2 in team payroll, each spending a few exotic motor cars north of $137 million on the players competing in the 2018 Finals.
Warriors guard Steph Curry ($34.7 million) and Cleveland forward LeBron James ($33.3 million) are the league’s two highest paid stars this season, and they have a combined total of seven teammates each being paid more than $15 million in 2017-18.
It’s no coincidence, then, that in terms of on-court success, the Golden State and Cleveland owners are getting what they paid for. Or, perhaps inversely, paying for what they get.
This bang-for-the-big-bucks aspect came up Thursday (Friday, PHL time) in NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s annual pre-Finals news conference. Silver was talking about the oddity of the same two teams meeting in the championship round for the fourth consecutive time – unprecedented across the four major U.S. pro team sports. The fact is, beyond talent and strategies, being able and willing to spend top dollar undeniably is a major factor.
That goes right to the heart of the league’s economic model.
What gives? The salary cap gives, that’s what.
Unlike the “hard” cap system used by the NFL, the NBA has a “soft” cap that makes it painful and pricey, but not impossible, for a team owner to exorbitantly overpay for success. The official cap figure this season was $99 million, with a $119.2 million luxury-tax threshold. Both the Warriors and the Cavaliers payouts dwarf those numbers.
The difference between hard and soft is one reason the NFL is known for its parity while the NBA is dealing these days with two dominant franchises and 28 wannabes.
“You still have two teams that are significantly above, not just the cap, but the tax,” Silver said. “Now [the hard cap is] something that we’ll continue to look at. There are pros and cons to doing it. Historically, one of the issues in our league was we didn’t necessarily want to break up teams. There is a different sense in the NBA than the NFL, and the chemistry and dynamic that comes together with a group of players.”
Any changes in the cap system would need to be collectively bargained, of course, with the National Basketball Players Association.
“You could do more to achieve parity, but you also don’t want parity of mediocrity either,” Silver said.
The NBA wants its Larry O’Brien Trophy to still celebrate excellence, not participation. And excellence isn’t only a function of finance.
“Not to take anything away from strong coaching and general managing and ownership,” Silver said, “but you have certain players in our league that are so transcendent that their team is always probably going to be in the hunt.”
Take this for data, from the commissioner via a story on TheRinger.com.
“I looked this up: LeBron, now over the course of the last eight Finals, has played with 59 different players,” Silver said. “It means that presumably the team LeBron is on is going to be a dominant team.”
So to get back to the original question: Is it a good thing for the NBA to have the same two teams in the Finals four years in a row?
“The greater the competition you can create, the greater their interests will be,” Silver said at one point. “At the same time, I don’t think it’s inconsistent to celebrate greatness and to say, my God, look what these two teams are doing.”
NBA
Comm. Silver weighs in on cap system, league parity and more
By NBA.com Global on Jun 01, 2018 02:29 PM
Comm. Silver weighs in on cap system, league parity and more
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a news conference before Game 1 of basketball's NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, May 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
By Steve Aschburner, NBA.com
OAKLAND – The two teams that have pitched tents on the NBA Finals for the past four years share a bunch of attributes. Star power, three-point marksmanship, continuity at least at some minimal level, crafty and dedicated coaching staff, and a know-how that has grown with each subsequent championship showdown.
There’s one other thing, though, that should not be overlooked.
The Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers rank Nos. 1 and 2 in team payroll, each spending a few exotic motor cars north of $137 million on the players competing in the 2018 Finals.
Warriors guard Steph Curry ($34.7 million) and Cleveland forward LeBron James ($33.3 million) are the league’s two highest paid stars this season, and they have a combined total of seven teammates each being paid more than $15 million in 2017-18.
It’s no coincidence, then, that in terms of on-court success, the Golden State and Cleveland owners are getting what they paid for. Or, perhaps inversely, paying for what they get.
This bang-for-the-big-bucks aspect came up Thursday (Friday, PHL time) in NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s annual pre-Finals news conference. Silver was talking about the oddity of the same two teams meeting in the championship round for the fourth consecutive time – unprecedented across the four major U.S. pro team sports. The fact is, beyond talent and strategies, being able and willing to spend top dollar undeniably is a major factor.
That goes right to the heart of the league’s economic model.
What gives? The salary cap gives, that’s what.
Unlike the “hard” cap system used by the NFL, the NBA has a “soft” cap that makes it painful and pricey, but not impossible, for a team owner to exorbitantly overpay for success. The official cap figure this season was $99 million, with a $119.2 million luxury-tax threshold. Both the Warriors and the Cavaliers payouts dwarf those numbers.
The difference between hard and soft is one reason the NFL is known for its parity while the NBA is dealing these days with two dominant franchises and 28 wannabes.
“You still have two teams that are significantly above, not just the cap, but the tax,” Silver said. “Now [the hard cap is] something that we’ll continue to look at. There are pros and cons to doing it. Historically, one of the issues in our league was we didn’t necessarily want to break up teams. There is a different sense in the NBA than the NFL, and the chemistry and dynamic that comes together with a group of players.”
Any changes in the cap system would need to be collectively bargained, of course, with the National Basketball Players Association.
“You could do more to achieve parity, but you also don’t want parity of mediocrity either,” Silver said.
The NBA wants its Larry O’Brien Trophy to still celebrate excellence, not participation. And excellence isn’t only a function of finance.
“Not to take anything away from strong coaching and general managing and ownership,” Silver said, “but you have certain players in our league that are so transcendent that their team is always probably going to be in the hunt.”
Take this for data, from the commissioner via a story on TheRinger.com.
“I looked this up: LeBron, now over the course of the last eight Finals, has played with 59 different players,” Silver said. “It means that presumably the team LeBron is on is going to be a dominant team.”
So to get back to the original question: Is it a good thing for the NBA to have the same two teams in the Finals four years in a row?
“The greater the competition you can create, the greater their interests will be,” Silver said at one point. “At the same time, I don’t think it’s inconsistent to celebrate greatness and to say, my God, look what these two teams are doing.”
Thompson is full of it. It's not like he shot it with less time between the 24 second clock and the game clock. Livingston was hardly trying to stick it in their face as he was making no move or anything else showing he was doing such. He shot it at the very end of the 24 second clock with time still remaining. Yeah if he was trying to pad the score even more and the 24 second clock had more time than the game clock his rationalization would have had some legitimacy but that wasn't the case.
The real story is probably Thompson lost his mind and thought Livingston was JR Smith.
The best part of the game was watching Lebron's face and actions as Smith was running towards half court thinking he had just grabbed the rebound to win the game. I give Lebron credit for not going "medieval on his ass". The look on his face was priceless.
More news to up the TV ratings. 
Love will not be suspended for leaving the bench in the Thompson/Livingston affair.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-kevin-love-won-apos-182826788.html
Tyronn Lue says Cavaliers were ‘robbed’ after late call on LeBron James
https://www.foxsports.com.au/basket...s/news-story/f8a7b6d71d83d2fbc88bfc969cf1c3e9
If that is not called 'criticizing the officials' to merit a fine, I don't know what it. Maybe 'accusing the officials of robbery'?
Love will not be suspended for leaving the bench in the Thompson/Livingston affair.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-kevin-love-won-apos-182826788.html
Tyronn Lue says Cavaliers were ‘robbed’ after late call on LeBron James
https://www.foxsports.com.au/basket...s/news-story/f8a7b6d71d83d2fbc88bfc969cf1c3e9
If that is not called 'criticizing the officials' to merit a fine, I don't know what it. Maybe 'accusing the officials of robbery'?
Steve Williams
Site Founder, Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Good game by Warriors on both ends. Big 3 played very well early on and bonus to have McGee score some points inside.
And Curry went unconscious in the 3 point zone, setting a new Finals record of 9 3s.
And Curry went unconscious in the 3 point zone, setting a new Finals record of 9 3s.
Last edited:
Steve Williams
Site Founder, Site Co-Owner, Administrator
I thought McGee played so much better than Looney plush was huge on the boards and he could score
Durant surprised me with his defensive boards.
I thought the Warriors were firing on all cylinders whereas the Cavs were firing on LeBron
Durant surprised me with his defensive boards.
I thought the Warriors were firing on all cylinders whereas the Cavs were firing on LeBron
Chris Paul reportedly won't take a pay cut on new contract to stay with the Rockets
https://sports.yahoo.com/chris-paul...-cut-new-contract-stay-rockets-002904725.html
"And based on his history — one where he, as the president of the NBA Players’ Union, has often pushed other players to take nothing less than the max deal — Paul isn’t likely to take a pay cut, even if that means signing LeBron James this summer.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski brought that up on his latest edition of The Woj Pod.
“When the Rockets made that deal for Chris Paul, knowing they would re-sign him (Paul opted into the last year of his contract to make the trade happen), they made a conscious decision that they were gonna have to live with $46, $47 million-a-year salary when he’s not nearly the player anymore in his late 30s, but, ‘We’re gonna make a run at it now; we wanna win a championship now. We’ll deal with it [Paul’s contract] later.’
“We’ll see how that plays out in their contract talks here in free agency. Chris Paul didn’t turn down $200 million from the Clippers because he thought that somehow the Rockets were gonna talk him into saving them luxury-tax money. I don’t imagine it playing out that way.”
Wow, going from age 33 to 38, CP3 can net $40m a year.
https://sports.yahoo.com/chris-paul...-cut-new-contract-stay-rockets-002904725.html
"And based on his history — one where he, as the president of the NBA Players’ Union, has often pushed other players to take nothing less than the max deal — Paul isn’t likely to take a pay cut, even if that means signing LeBron James this summer.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski brought that up on his latest edition of The Woj Pod.
“When the Rockets made that deal for Chris Paul, knowing they would re-sign him (Paul opted into the last year of his contract to make the trade happen), they made a conscious decision that they were gonna have to live with $46, $47 million-a-year salary when he’s not nearly the player anymore in his late 30s, but, ‘We’re gonna make a run at it now; we wanna win a championship now. We’ll deal with it [Paul’s contract] later.’
“We’ll see how that plays out in their contract talks here in free agency. Chris Paul didn’t turn down $200 million from the Clippers because he thought that somehow the Rockets were gonna talk him into saving them luxury-tax money. I don’t imagine it playing out that way.”
Wow, going from age 33 to 38, CP3 can net $40m a year.
CP3's age and injury history were the reason Steve Ballmer and the Clippers hesitated to offer him a 5 year max deal.
Risky move for the Rockets but they may be willing to do so if they believe they have a championship caliber roster with him. One thing to remember - CP3 gets hurt every almost every year in the playoffs so that adds risk.
If LeBron goes to Houston the Rockets will have a massive over-the-cap payroll.
Compare that to the Warriors where several players took less than the max to keep the team together.
Risky move for the Rockets but they may be willing to do so if they believe they have a championship caliber roster with him. One thing to remember - CP3 gets hurt every almost every year in the playoffs so that adds risk.
If LeBron goes to Houston the Rockets will have a massive over-the-cap payroll.
Compare that to the Warriors where several players took less than the max to keep the team together.
Houston for the next season has committed salaries of 'just' $79m, with Ryan Anderson taking in $20m of that. If they are able to dump that contract of Anderson, they would have only $59m and you add $40m to CP3 and $40m to LeBron and Rockets will have a total of $140 which is near what the Warriors have this season. If they don't get rid of the Anderson contract, they will have a staggering bill of $160m.
Sports
LeBron James rumors: James will 'talk' to Celtics according to 'report'
Paul Hudrick | NBC Sports Philadelphia,NBC Sports Philadelphia 7 h
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/lebron-james-rumors-james-talk-163557024.html
What??? I would start watchng The Dawn of the Dead before this....
LeBron James rumors: James will 'talk' to Celtics according to 'report'
Paul Hudrick | NBC Sports Philadelphia,NBC Sports Philadelphia 7 h
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/lebron-james-rumors-james-talk-163557024.html
What??? I would start watchng The Dawn of the Dead before this....
Sports
LeBron James rumors: James will 'talk' to Celtics according to 'report'
Paul Hudrick | NBC Sports Philadelphia,NBC Sports Philadelphia 7 h
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/lebron-james-rumors-james-talk-163557024.html
What??? I would start watchng The Dawn of the Dead before this....
This is why Lebron will never be THE Goat. He, like the rest of the today's NBA shop for teams they can win championships with. MJ did it with one team as did Kobe and for the most part Kareem. Cowherd's idiotic rationalization is that unlike others looking to win a championship, Lebron is more interested in "collecting" championships. Gimme a break.
Watching Lebron yesterday it was clear he lacks that killer instinct and must win instinct MJ had. There is no way MJ would have lost that game.
Lastly, this nonsense that Lebron never has anyone around him is absurd. Nuf said. Let the crybaby leave and run another team. And of all teams the Celtics?? Kyrie escaped "the King". I'm assuming Kyrie would want a trade.
I just saw a Steve Harvey (Cleveland native and fan) interview wherein he says to let LeBron leave and 'chase his Goat'.
I also think LeBron is chasing his stats, well, to enhance his Goat status maybe. To me, he is far down in the so called Goat category. Real greats in the past played to win for their teams, not to have a Goat tag. Collecting championships? I don't even know what the means. His playing the Point Guard tires him out a lot, and he is certainly doing or extracting everything he's got in his body to play, if possible, the entire game in the Finals, all for his 'legacy'.If ever Danny Ainge pulls out this rabbit, many Celtics are going to give up their jerseys, me included. It's almost absurd to have James when indeed Kyrie didn't want to be with him in the first place. Well, the reports says Boston is one of the teams he would want to talk to, and not that Ainge wanted to talk to him. Either way, it's very bad news for the young and promising players in Boston.
I just saw a Steve Harvey (Cleveland native and fan) interview wherein he says to let LeBron leave and 'chase his Goat'.
If ever Danny Ainge pulls out this rabbit, many Celtics are going to give up their jerseys, me included. It's almost absurd to have James when indeed Kyrie didn't want to be with him in the first place. Well, the reports says Boston is one of the teams he would want to talk to, and not that Ainge wanted to talk to him. Either way, it's very bad news for the young and promising players in Boston.
The other thing regarding The Goat is that if MJ were on that court, he would have taken KD's performance personally, been in his shorts and either wouldn't allow him to touch the ball or wouldn't allow him to dribble the ball.
Of course Lebrons stats are going to beat all others. First he has played longer as he came out of HS. Second the game today is made for stats to be padded. With everyone at the 3 point line, guys like Curry who in the past would be lucky to get 2 rebounds often gets 10 just because of how far out the ball bounces. The same with assists and points. These games are hard to watch.
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