I’ll be the first person to admit the Cleveland Cavaliers are not the favorite to win the NBA Finals in June. I’ll also be the first to admit that they have been my favorite team, growing up as a life-long Clevelander, a fan of the team from as long as I was able to grip a toy basketball, and having the privilege of covering the team since March of 2015 has given me a whole new view on the team that I will always root for in my heart of hearts.
In the last year that I have covered the team, I have seen two completely different teams, with many of the same faces.
I began covering the team right before the playoffs started in 2015. The Cavs had been cruising through the East from the time J.R. Smith, Timofey Mozgov, and Iman Shumpert arrived, as the trio brought life to a team that was not living up to expectations.
We all know how the 2015 Playoffs went. Kelly Olynyk became the most hated man in Cleveland next to Art Modell. Kyrie Irving’s fragiility happened to strike at the most inopportune time possible.
But the Cavs played their asses off.
When their backs were against the wall, the chips were down, and they were counted out, LeBron James willed his team to one of the most impressive playoff runs in Cleveland sports history.
LeBron was a freak of nature, even compared to his normal freakish standards.
Then you had underdog stories like Matthew Dellavedova, an undrafted guard from Australia, who many people questioned whether or not he belonged in the NBA at the start of the 2014-2015 season.
Delly became an overnight folk hero.
Tristan Thompson outrebounded gangs of Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, and made the #1 Seed Atlanta Hawks look more like parakeets.
This team had no business leading 2-1 by the end of Game 3 in the Finals.
Golden State made adjustments, like inserting David Lee and Andre Iguodala, and the Cavs didn’t have the chess pieces to counter.
They only had about seven pieces total. But the King went down fighting.
Basketball fans from every nook and cranny had to respect that effort.
They exceeded expectations given the circumstances.
It was hard not to be optimistic after that. All summer Cavs fans knew “We’re gonna get them back. They haven’t even seen what we’re capable of with a healthy roster.”
The bar was set pretty high coming into the 2015-2016 season.
It was already known that Irving was going to miss a couple months to start the season, so there was even a reasonable amount of acceptance that “Maybe the Cavs will get out to a slow start, but wait til Kyrie is back! Then they’re gonna kick it into another gear!”
Well, to everyone’s surprise, the Cavs won eight straight games after losing the season opener in Chicago.
The Cavs were 8-1 without Irving and Shumpert, who injured his wrist in training camp.
“If the Cavs are 8-1 without those guys, just imagine how awesome this team will be when they’re back!”
Or so we thought.
The Cavs would never have as long of a win streak as those first three weeks of the season the rest of the way.
Even after their star point guard and lockdown defender were back.
However, the Cavs maintained the number one seed in the East virtually every day of the season.
That’s a great accomplishment, considering they were short-handed for much of the season.
But the story of the 2015-2016 regular season is one of dysfunction, rumors, lack of chemistry, lack of camaraderie, chaos within the organization (if firing a coach mid-season is not chaos, then I don’t know what is) and a general feeling that “This team is not playing up to its potential.”
The losses to bad teams. The shellacking they took at home to the Warriors. The stretches where they win five in a row and then come out flat and get embarrassed on their home court.
None of this seemed to match the “championship habits” that LeBron told fans his team would strive to build and come to work with on a daily basis.
It’s not the end of the world that the Cavs didn’t have a phenomenal regular season. It might not even matter when it’s all said and done.
But if anyone is completely satisfied with the Cavs’ effort and overall regular season, then they must have lowered their expectations mid-season.
This team was supposed to be on par with the Warriors. This team was supposed to be far and away better than every team in their conference.
Now that the playoffs are starting, some just expect that team to show up out of nowhere.
Personally, I have a hard time believing a magical new team is going to appear out of thin air and all of their woes of lack of chemistry and lack of consistency will be erased by the magic change in the calendar that tells them it’s the playoffs.
The same way that playing with good habits is contagious and is a matter of repetition, some of the bad habits this teams falls into can be contagious, as well. Don’t be surprised if we see them show up in the playoffs.
The dreaded “Iso-Ball” where LeBron holds the ball until there’s 6 seconds on the shot clock and heaves up a prayer with two guys in his face.
The plays where Irving runs circles around the defense dribbling through traffic while Love and Smith wave their arms up in the air with no one around them, calling for the shot.
The times where the Cavs get lazy on defense.
It may at some point show up in this postseason.
However, the desperation and hunger that this team played with in 2015, without Love and with Irving banged up for much of the postseason, still exists deep inside the core of this team.
Maybe they were just letting it linger, waiting for the right time to unleash it.
We’ve heard about “flipping a switch” all season long. LeBron flips the switch. LeBron knows when to flip the switch.
How do two guys who had never been in a postseason before 2015 know how to flip that switch?
Love has played in four total playoff games in his entire career.
Irving is still a kid compared to some of the point guards he’ll be facing this postseason.
I don’t expect this to be a smooth, seamless transition.
In fact, there could be plenty of times during this playoff run that are far from pretty.
It might be some ugly basketball.
I say let it happen.
Bring back the grit and tenacity that this team showed they can play with when they’re desperate and hungry.
It shouldn’t be an easy road to the Finals.
It’s unfair to expect the Cavs to play with the poetic motion of the Spurs. Or to make it rain with threes like Golden State.
It’s going to come down to outworking opponents and who wants it more and leaves it all on the floor in each single game.
The Cavs can’t afford to let a team like Golden State or San Antonio, who are arguably more talented, and have played better basketball for the past 82 games, also beat them in the hustle and muscle categories.
Golden State and San Antonio are experienced teams with multiple champions, who also know what it takes to win through the grind of a two-month postseason.
Cleveland has to play with that same chip on their shoulder they played with in June of 2015.
Even if they do that, it’s far from a guarantee, they’ll end up victorious, but it’s their only shot.
The playoff run for the Cavs won’t be pretty, nor should it be.
What stood out to me about the 2014-2015 Cavs postseason run was that the team was a reflection of the city of Cleveland.
Hard work. Determination. Grit. Blue Collar. Toughness.
It’s only fitting for that same mentality to be the key to bring this proud city of hard-working, blue-collar folks, who love their sports teams and have suffered a 51-year drought, the title they have long been waiting for.
If LeBron wants to be the true King of Cleveland, and put a bow on this redemption story, he has to get the crown.
If Kyrie and Love want to be recognized as superstars, they have to show it. Not just with some cool shoes, All-Star Game appearances, or Banana Republic ads.
This team is made up of different parts that all have a little bit of the pieces to the puzzle.
J.R. is a dawg. He has some bark, some bite, and will stand up for his teammates in a dark alley.
Tristan is a workhorse. He never stops. He shows up and does the dirty work.
Kyrie has swagger and the ability to catch fire at any minute.
Love is a silent, but deadly killer when he’s on.
Dellavedova plays harder than everyone because he knows he has to in order to make up for what he lacks in athletic ability.
LeBron has the drive, the laser-like focus, and the all-around abilities to be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play the game.
But does he have the leadership qualities? Was there something to the fact that he had to go play with a proven champion, Dwyane Wade, in order to get his first ring?
Is LeBron really able to lead the charge?
We get a fair shot to find out, assuming the Cavs stay healthy.
If Cleveland does win it all, it’s going to take the same type of resurgence and resilience that keeps this city going, long after the steel mills shut down.
Long after the auto industry moved out of town.
This same never quit attitude that the Northeast Ohio region has proudly moved forward with through decades of hardship and no smooth sailing.
All the while, waiting for a team that they can call Champions.
Can the Cavs do it?
If you’ve read any of my analysis of the NBA this season, you know my head and my brain have been telling me all season long that the Cavs are not the logical favorites to win it all.
But in my heart, I believe my favorite team can pull through and bring our city what it has so desperately been yearning for since decades before I was born.
It’s gonna be a fun ride.
Go Cavs.
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