For the past two seasons we have been watching this Cleveland Cavaliers team grow, take steps back, and take steps forward.
It’s been difficult to get a read on what the identity of this team is for the past two seasons because they were missing two of their stars for much of the 2015 postseason; they were missing two key players for the first two months of this season; they fired their coach in January; and we don’t even know how hard they are trying because it’s regular season.
Whatever there is to take away from all that mess, the Cavs have still maintained first place in the Eastern Conference, but some nights they look like a championship contender, and other nights they look like a team that can’t beat the Nets. or the Bucks. or the Wizards. or all the way down the list.
Of the 21 games they have lost, roughly half of them have come against teams that aren’t going to make the playoffs or will just sneak in as 7-8 seeds.
It happens in the regular season, there’s no doubt. But to have it happen this often is disconcerting. And couple that with the fact that the Cavs looked dominant against Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers this season.
If someone is of the mindset that these games don’t matter because it’s regular season, then there’s absolutely nothing that can be taken away from the dominant wins over LAC, OKC, or the one in Cleveland against the Spurs.
Fans can’t have it both ways. If someone is going to praise the Cavs for stomping the Thunder, they shouldn’t ignore an embarrassing loss to the Nets or any of the other inferior teams that have made the Cavs look foolish at times this season.
That’s how I see it anyway.
When Tyronn Lue took over, we hoped that it would ignite a spark in the team, give them new life.
Their new uptempo style has looked like it can be deadly at times, but the lack of defensive intensity they play with for the first three quarters of the game lets teams that have no business even making it close stay within striking distance.
For example, the Cavs go up by 15-20, let off the gas pedal, and next thing you know it’s a three-point game in the blink of an eye.
One area I’ve been impressed with all season is their fourth quarter defense. Even on nights where they don’t play their best basketball, they have the ability to clamp down and most nights they can get away with it and still get the win.
Is that style something they can get away with when they play against good to great teams in the playoffs?
Can a team just turn on a switch from playing a certain way all season and then make the jump to having to actually play hard for four quarters?
There have not been many games this season where the Cavs play all out for four quarters.
That’s understandable because they don’t want to burn themselves out in the regular season.
But I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as many fans assume that after 82 games of not playing hard, let’s say they played at 80 percent of what their playoff mode would be (which is generous in my opinion), do we really expect them to just all of a sudden become completely used to going 100 percent?
This postseason is set up to have some competitive series matchups in the Eastern Conference.
The East is significantly improved from last season.
A first-round matchup with Indiana, Chicago, or Detroit will be a bit more difficult than last season’s first-round with the Celtics, who were nowhere near as good as they are now.
The second-round matchup would most likely come against Boston, Miami, Charlotte, or Atlanta.
Aside from Atlanta, all of those teams have given the Cavs trouble this season, and all of those teams are much better than the 3-6 seeds were in the 2015 playoffs.
The Eastern Conference Finals could come against most likely either Toronto (a great team), Boston, or Miami.
None of those matchups will be as easy as the four-game sweep of 2015 against the Hawks. All of those teams have star players, something Atlanta lacked last year.
Even if the Cavs do win the East as most people already view as a forgone conclusion, I am not of the opinion that it will be a breeze.
A first-round matchup with Indy or Chicago could go six games in my opinion. A matchup with Detroit would probably go four or five.
A second-round matchup with any team other than Atlanta could go six or seven games in my opinion.
And the Eastern Conference Finals could go seven, which is especially concerning if Toronto can catch the Cavs and get the #1 seed in the East.
The reason I believe these series matchups can go from what should be four or five games to six or seven is because I forsee the Cavs having trouble getting used to playing hard for four quarters.
If they slip up and let off the gas pedal against these teams, even for half of a quarter, especially on the road, a series that should be over could end up getting pretty interesting.
There’s still ten games left in the regular season, but I’m looking at the playoff picture and aside from Detroit and Atlanta there are no matchups that I think the Cavs would have little trouble handling.
Let alone if they do end up facing the Warriors or Spurs. That’s a whole different animal.
What teams like the Pacers, Bulls, Celtics, Raptors, Heat, and Hornets have that the Cavs do not is that they are forced to play hard because their playoff seeding depends on it.
The immense talent on the Cavaliers roster is both a gift and a curse, because it allows them to fall into bad habits and get lazy.
It’s true that anyone would rather have too much talent than not enough, but could this tendency to rely more on their talent than their hard work lead to their downfall?
Last Summer, we all were enamored with the tenacity and grit the Cavs played with because they were missing two stars for much of the playoffs.
We all respected the team’s toughness.
Personally, I have not seen a single ounce of that same toughness this season.
At the start of the year, I liked the way the Cavs were able to play well without Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert, but because it was the regular season there was never a time we saw the team look hungry.
Maybe that all will change in the playoffs. But as this season progresses, I don’t see a team that has a fire in them.
They don’t take enough pride as what is supposed to be an elite team to care about losing to the Nets. Hello, if you lose to the Nets people are going to criticize you. The Nets won’t make the playoffs til the end of the next president’s first term.
There’s no excuse for that stuff with a team that has championship aspirations.
Some Cavs apologists will never see anything wrong with what the team does and they’ll keep saying wait til the playoffs. Wait til the Eastern Conference Finals, then they’ll really start trying. Wait til the Finals, then they’ll turn it up a notch.
And then they’ll be saying the same thing Cleveland fans say every single freaking year. Wait til Next Year.
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