The Cavs don't look so hot now. Is the struggle reflective of a larger problem or are they like past defending champs who will turn it on during the playoffs?
The still need to lose crucial reserves at the start of the playoffs like Carl Herrera and Vernon Maxwell before we they reach the Rockets level of underestimation.
They can afford to stroll through the reg season in the east, lucky buggers, save it all for the playoffs. They'll probably make the finals again.
They need to show up for just one series and hope for the Warriors to be injured/depleted/suspended like last year, to have a chance to win it all. So, with or without their current problems, they will still make the finals. And with or without their current problems, they will still lose to the Warriors, if the Warriors are healthy.
No they can't, they lost enough this month Making them worse than Brooklyn nets and Lost the top seed to the Celtics with one last match up with the Celtics at home. They even lost home court advantage to top 3 west teams by having a worst record. I think there's a good chance they might end up second by the end of the regular season.
It's Lebron James... He could literally not play one minute in the regular season & it would still be foolish to underestimate him.
I don't think LeBron minds being 1 or 2 seed. Of course home court would be great. But I'd put money on LeBron away in game 7 before I would put it on the Celtics to win game 7 at home against LeBron. (don't get it twisted.. I would LOVE the Celtics to make it to the Finals)
Lebron is the greatest bball player of his era but at the same time right now he's also the only superstar left of his era, I mean you look at his generation of players and who is still considered a superstar? Me-lo, Wade, Bosh none of these guys are considered superstars anymore, and if you look back at Lebron's draft history he came into the league just one year later than Yao Ming, that's how long Lebron has been playing in the NBA. He's already an old man by NBA standards, and its exacerbated by his consecutive finals runs, I think only Bill Russell and his team has had a longer streak of consecutive finals appearances that's basically taken a huge toll on his health. As such, it's not surprising to see the Cavs flame out in the regular season because Lebron can't be god mode every game anymore. Ideally the Cavs have 2 other stars they shouldn't be this dependent on James but Love is always injured and neither of those guys are good defenders and I don't even know if Tyronn Lue is a good coach or not since he's basically Lebron's yes man at this point. We'll see if he has just been saving it up for the playoffs or Lebron is really finally starting to decline.
They got to the Finals because the slumping Pacers were their biggest obstacle. Just like the Heat, the Pacers played .500 ball the final 3rd of the season. The road is much tougher this time if they have to beat both the Wizards and Celts. I still believe the Cavs will survive.
They are playing possum and when they make it to the finals again espn will run all these stories about there comeback yada
