Finals Preview

Tonight is the first game of the NBA finals and it should be a good one.  These teams faced off just 5 years ago (seems like much longer) so there is some history between these teams.  They are both great all-around teams to get to here, but someone has to win.  Prediction?  I will take Dallas in 7.

The Daily Take: Indians struggle, NBA Finals Finalized

Since the last post covering the Indians, they have lost 3 out of 4 and have overall lost 4 out of the last 5.  Granted, some of this was due to stellar starting pitching, but it was much more than that.

Enes Kanter

Enes Kanter is the highest rated big man on most big boards.  In fact, I have heard a couple people say they have him 1 or 2, above Kyrie or D-Will.  Kanter is definitely an intriguing player, but what is his upside and how does he fit the Cavs?

Kyrie Irving vs. Derrick Williams/Brandon Knight

The Cavs are considered by most to be going after Kyrie Irving, however some believe they should rather get Derrick Williams and then Brandon Knight with the 4th pick.  So who is the best player for the Cavs and what are the reasons they should go after each one?

The Daily Take: Indians vs. Red Sox, Big men performance

I feel like the Daily Take does not work as well if it is truly a "daily take".  It seems like an overload of analysis, so I'll try every few days (with other posts in between)

A few things I came away with in the last couple days are that the trade with Boston has seriously hurt the Thunder, Chris Bosh is the Heat linchpin, and the Indians look more legitimate every day.

The daily Take: Ugliness Abound.

I said previously that the Mavericks supporting cast needed to step it up.  They did.  Shawn Marion had been in a slump all playoffs but finally came out of it.  Dallas was able to get 30+ points combined from Marion and Jason Kidd.  This has only happened twice in the 39 previous games the Mavericks played.  During the regular season, the scoring of Jason Terry was generally enough, but in the playoffs, you need a lot of options.  The Thunder were double-teaming Dirk for most of the game.  While he shot poorly, the double-team gave open looks to his teammates.  What was the most surprising was the poor shooting by the Thunder.  

Daily Take: Indians Up and down, Thunder even it up

I didn't expect the Mavericks to just get through this series by being the hottest team.  It was a close game (106-100) but the Thunder pulled it out in the end.  The key player?  It was not Westbrook or Durant, it was James Harden.

The Daily Take: Two low scoring battles

The playoff game between the Heat and the Bulls was an ugly one.  There were missed shots galore and fouls aplenty.  The Heat and the Bulls combined to commit 51 total fouls.  Unfortunately for the Heat, their star struggled.

The Daily Take: Indians, Playoffs, etc...

The first game to start with is the Indians game.  The Indians had a good game with all of their hitters at the top of the order hitting (except for Choo who is struggling to break this funk).  It was nice to see a homer from Santana who is showing some really solid numbers and nice to see Brantley hit and get on base. Carlos Carrasco pitched for the first time since his injury and while his stuff was there, his control wasn't.  It took him almost 100 pitches to get through 5 1/3rd innings.

NBA Lottery: Cavs get #1 and #4

I can't believe I am saying this, but I watched the draft lottery.  They make it an exciting event and for a Cleveland fan and a Cavs fan, it was fun to anticipate the future because as Cleveland fans, thats often all we can do.

Well it turned out good for the Cavs since they got the #1 and #4 picks.  Now what does this mean.

19-1

Wow, that was an epic game of baseball.  I am talking about the Indians win on Monday night.  The Indians won 19-1, the kind of score you only see once every few years.  It was almost all off of one pitcher too, Vin Mazzaro.  Since the last time the Indians won the World Series in '48, there are only two other pitchers to give up as many runs (14) as Mazzaro did, the last one in 1998.  He was also the first Relief Pitcher to give up 14 runs since 1942.  It was just an epic offensive performance by everyone.

Playoffs: Game 1 Eastern Finals

I will start off by saying I have no problem with Lebron.  Figured I'd throw it out there since I am a Clevelander. I have no ill will anymore, I have more important things to worry about.  However, I am not going to be rooting for the heat.  Not because of who they have, but how the team was built, that artificial concept of basically building a fantasy team with star-power instead of a true team with balance.  

Thats all I want to say on that issue, more importantly there was a playoff game.