In our ongoing series, CBSSports.com's Eye On Basketball will take a look at contending teams as they head into the NBA playoffs. Today we look at the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Atlanta Hawks have been one of the best NBA stories all season. Arising from a racially-charged summer, the Hawks went on a 19-game winning streak, had four All-Stars and will finish the regular season with homecourt advantage and the number one seed in the East. But despite their success, there is a large threatening cloud hanging over Atlanta and the rest of the East.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Sure the Cavs have looked beatable during the regular season (the Hawks won the season series 3-1), but remember this is LeBron James we’re talking about. The man that was vilified for leaving Cleveland is now being hailed as the city’s championship savior and he very well might be.
Of course things didn’t start off perfect in LeBron’s return.
Teaming up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, James and the Cavs looked out of sorts at the start of the season. James seemed sluggish and disinterested causing the Cavs to struggle. But after taking some time off in January for his body to recuperate, Cleveland has now emerged as a true championship contender. The type of contender that many feared they would be at the start of the season.
After his “vacation,” James joined a revamped Cavs team with Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov and since then, Cleveland has gone 31-7. While the team’s offense has been clicking as of late, averaging 103.4 points per game (seventh in the league), it has been their defense that has helped them to win games. Since January, they have held opponent’s field goal percentage to 43% and have allowed 98.3 points per game.
Although the Cavs are looking like a team that will just steamroll opponents in the postseason, James is being cautious as he recently told Cleveland.com:
"We're a championship contender, but we're not there yet. We have the talent, we've had the process so far, but we still have some time left. We won't take those days for granted."
This isn’t another drama-inducing quote from James. He is just aware of the team’s inexperience when it comes to the postseason.
While Mike Miller, Shawn Marion and James Jones have all won in the Finals, LeBron is the only NBA champion that actually plays major minutes for Cleveland. Smith is the next player on the Cavs with the most playoff experience at 51 games. Shumpert has 13 playoff games under his belt and Mozgov has only been to the postseason once, playing seven games.
Also of note, is the fact that Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and Kyrie Irving have never been to the playoffs. Irving has played in big game situations before, like helping Team USA win gold in the FIBA World Cup this past summer but he is still so new to the playoffs that at the beginning of the season he wondered what a playoff environment actually feels like.
Even head coach David Blatt has never been to the playoffs as he is a rookie NBA coach. But he has performed admirably adjusting to the team’s dramas and knowing when to take a step back so Irving and James can just go to work. His prior relationship with Mozgov, Blatt coached him in Russia, has also solidified the team’s dynamic, as the center is becoming the defensive stopper Cleveland has never had.
The good news for the Cavs is that their first round matchup against either the Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics or Miami Heat shouldn’t be too much of a test. All three teams haven’t had much success against Cleveland and in all likelihood this would be a short four to five game series for the Cavs.
The second round is where the Cavs may run into some trouble as they could potentially face the Chicago Bulls. With the recent return of Derrick Rose, the rise of Jimmy Butler this season and the big frontcourt of the Bulls, the Cavs could find themselves in a long and physical second round series. It is a series that Joakim Noah is already looking forward to.
"I think we're a confident group," Noah said after the game. "And it would be great to play them in the playoffs. It would be very, very exciting, something that I really hope happens."
"But if the opportunity presents itself and we can play Cleveland, I would be very happy. We would be very happy as a team to be able to do that."
The comforting factor for Irving and the rest of the Cavs is that if they get nervous during the playoffs, they only have to look towards their leader - LeBron James.
This is why James came back to Cleveland in the first place. He wants to use the experience he gained from four straight NBA final appearances to lead this Cavs team to the promised land. He wants to win a championship for Cleveland and Ohio.
Now the only question that remains to be answered is if LeBron is actually able to do it.
