Cleveland Cavaliers’ Matthew Dellavedova (8), from Australia, loses control of the ball against Detroit Pistons’ Steve Blake (22) in the first half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Sunday, April 17, 2016, …
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The core of last year’s Warriors team remains intact, led by the league’s leading scorer and reigning Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andrew Bogut.
Well, it’s time. Playoff time.
For now, James’ target is a sixth straight trip to the NBA Finals, this time ending with a championship party in Cleveland.
“My mentality was to be aggressive all night”, said Love, who added 13 rebounds. “I’m where I want to be”.
Luckily for James, the Cavs held off the Pistons, winning the game 106-101. He can’t settle for less. Their big free agent acquisition, Demare Carroll, missed a huge chunk of the season due to injury, and their other frontcourt players, mainly Luis Scola, Jonas Valanciunas, and Patrick Patterson, have all underachieved this year due to their own inability to stay in the lineup on a nightly basis. “Every team and every year is different when you go to the playoffs, so you don’t have any of those answers until the playoffs”. James is on the down slope of his career and knows Father Time is the only one who doesn’t get posterized at the rim.
“We’re going to find out, but he’s our coach and we love him”, James said.
“Their two-man game is one of the most prolific weapons in the league when you talk about their pick-and-roll”. The Cavaliers resume competitive acquaintances with Detroit for game two of their best-of-seven series Wednesday April 20. As his teammates warmed up during halftime that night, James spent several minutes chatting with former teammate and dear friend Dwyane Wade. That leaves the Pistons as the best team for the Cavs in the 1st Round. Justin Bieber fans in Cleveland will be rooting for them to do the same to the Detroit Pistons, because otherwise, Beliebers will need to wait a few months longer to see the young man artist perform in the concert stage.
Something was going on, and both Lue and general manager David Griffin met with James to sort it out. Being injured and going into the playoffs injured, I got a chance to play 53 games, which I’m grateful for and thankful that we have a good medical staff. They did an unbelievable job getting me prepared to come into the postseason healthy, and I just feel like I’m in a good place.
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Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy reacts in overtime against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Van Gundy out coached Mike Brown in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals and pulled off the upset against a much better team. “What you’re really doing is throwing stuff at the wall and hoping something sticks”. Making his first playoff appearance last season, he was averaging 14.3 points and 7.0 rebounds against Boston in the first round before his season ended with a separated shoulder in Game 4 of the series sweep. Detroit’s future is bright, but it’s hard to imagine a team with little postseason experience taking down James. They are favored to win the Eastern Conference again but got all they could handle from the Pistons.
