Cavs Title Hopes

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the best record in the NBA. LeBron James is lights out and arguably the best player in the league. The Cavs have been mentioned as the presumptive world champs. I had agreed with that statement. Until right now…
Sorry for the dramatics but I wanted to feel all journalistic-ie. Seriously though, I really thought the Mistake by the Lake might be home to the O’Brien trophy this June but the stats might indicate otherwise.
I can hear the counterarguments right now. They’ve only lost two in a row twice all year, including 15 total losses. They’re 36-1 at home, meaning they’ve done most of their losing away from the Q and they’ll have home court throughout. The telling stat is that the Cavs are 2-6 against the C’s, Lake Show and Magic Combined. The two wins coming at home and their first (and only) home loss this season against Kobe and Co.
That gives them ten losses away from home to non ‘upper echelon’ teams. I could live with that because even a broken clock is right two times a day. Digging deeper shows away losses to a new-look Detroit Pistons in November, a tough L in South Beach on New Years Eve Eve, double OT against Chicago, a one-pointer in Indiana and a pair of L’s to the Wiz – WITHOUT the Hibachi.
Add that all up. Losing record versus main competition for the ‘chip. Losing at home to Kobe and the Show. Inability to go into some of the more vociferous gyms in the league and come out unscathed. That doesn’t sound like a champ, does it? I recognize that the C’s didn’t win a road playoff game until game 4 of the finals last year. That C’s team still needed to put it all together. The big three were extra medium at the beginning of May and their hearts grew three sizes by the time they got to LA. (C’mon that rhymed and the meter matches almost perfectly. What’s not to love about a Seussian reference?) Yes, it’s also true that this Cavs team has to put it all together like that Celtics squad last year. Mo Williams is new to the unit. Ditto Joe Smith, a trade deadline acquisition. Delonte is still recovering from the wrist and working himself back into his role.
That’s not what’s at stake here though. This Cavs team seems to have a legitimately tough time with their fiercest competition. Sure, Chicago doesn’t seem like much of a threat but they currently sit eighth with Detroit only half a game up in 7th. Granted, Detroit has almost totally bottomed out right down to AI shutting it down for the year as of last night. The argument that Detroit can beat them in a best of 7 is fairly ludicrous. (Note: I definitely just spelled Ludacris and had to be corrected to get the proper spelling of that word. Hip hop – ruining the written English language since 1982.)
The second round opponent, if the playoffs started today, would be Atlanta or Philly. The Cavs are undefeated against Illy including a sweep of a home and home in three days. Yet, good things just seem to be happening for these young Hawks. Last year they took the eventual champs to a 7th game. This year, they’re a 4 and boast a home W versus their likeliest of second round opponents, the Cleveland Cavaliers. It seems like Joe Johnson had the right idea, for all the wrong reasons, when he spurned the Suns for the greener pastures of basketball purgatory that is the Atlanta Hawks.
Granted, a number 6 seed won the Super Bowl three years ago. That was followed up two years later by a 5 seed downing the football winning machine. A number 12 seed went to the Final Four. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays had not just playoff games last year, they were in the World Series…So it’s not highly unlikely that the Cavs will win their first NBA chip and overall city championship since Jesse Chris walked the earth. The circumstances are there however which may preclude them from ‘cutting down the nets’ in June. (Note: if the Cavs withstand all those road games and emerge as the Champs because they have home court throughout, I want all of you to throw these 700 words right in my face. I totally deserve it…)