Welcome to the newest weekly installment of NEO Sports Insiders, “Medley Asks the Masses.”
Every week, I’ll be posing questions to our readers, to gauge their opinions on various topics in Cleveland Sports.
It’s only fitting that our first edition is the playoff preview.
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Cavs this season, but are the fans still optimistic their team can bring a title to Cleveland?
The first question I posed had to do with their immediate adversary, the Detroit Pistons:
How many games will it take the Cavs to eliminate the Pistons?
— NEO Sports Insiders (@NEOSportsInside) April 15, 2016
Detroit won three out of four regular season meetings, but Kyrie Irving did not play in two of those games, LeBron James and Kevin Love rested in the fourth meeting, and there’s only so much that can be taken away from regular season games.
The masses overwhelmingly believe the Cavs will sweep or win the series in 5 games. 51 percent say sweep, 40 percent say five games, I’m not sure what state of mind the other nine percent of fans were in when they made their picks.
My pick: 5 games.
The next question this week was looking a little further down the road in the playoff picture.
“What Eastern Conference Team Should Give the Cavs the Most Concern?”
What Eastern Conference Team Should Give the Cavs the Most Concern in a 7-Game Series?
— NEO Sports Insiders (@NEOSportsInside) April 16, 2016
This was a bit more even. 34 percent say the Cavs will dominate the East and have nothing to be concerned about whatsoever. I can appreciate that type of confidence.
However, roughly one-third of people polled say that the Miami Heat are the team the Cavs should be most concerned about.
The Heat have the mental factor of LeBron returning to South Beach for a series, so I can understand where some of those fans are coming from.
I was surprised that only 20 percent of fans chose the Toronto Raptors and the Celtics only received 14 percent of the vote.
Personally, the team I think should give the Cavs the best fight is the Toronto Raptors. They were right on Cleveland’s heels for much of the season, and won two of three head-to-head meetings, in games that went down to the wire and had playoff-like atmospheres.
The Heat had the Cavs’ number in the regular season, too. And it will likely come down to the winner of the Heat vs. Raptors 2nd Round series, to determine who will face the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, the Indiana Pacers showed the Raptors they aren’t going down easily, and Toronto finds themselves down 1-0 in the series. We’ll see if Charlotte has a similar message to send the Heat.
Our final question for this week’s edition of “Medley Asks the Masses” has to do with the big picture. The ultimate goal. “Do you believe the Cavs will win the 2016 NBA Finals?”
As of April 16, 2016, Do you believe the Cleveland Cavaliers Will Win the 2016 NBA Finals?
— NEO Sports Insiders (@NEOSportsInside) April 16, 2016
Once again, the Cavalier fan base is optimistic.
65 percent of fans say yes. 35 percent say no.
Keep in mind, of course our results are going to be somewhat skewed because most of our readers are diehard Cleveland sports fans.
If you asked the same poll in Oakland, 99 percent of their fans would say the Warriors will win the Finals.
But I believe that the fact that 35 percent of the fans here voted no, tells us that not everybody is as optimistic as other cities, like San Francisco and San Antonio are for their teams.
35 percent of the fans who voted in our poll are looking at it, (I hate to say it, but)
Realistically.
If I’m taking off my Cavs hat and just looking at it objectively, I don’t believe the Cavs will win it all.
Can they do it? It’s entirely possible.
Let’s see how the Cavs live up to these predictions of their fans.
Thanks to all who voted and be sure to follow @NEOSportsInside on Twitter to see what the questions will be for next week’s edition!
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