The Cleveland Cavaliers lost just two playoff games against Eastern Conference teams in 2014-15 before falling to the Golden State Warriors. They figure to follow the same path this season en route to the NBA Finals. Realistically, there are only three or four teams that can win the championship and the Cavs are one of them.
Cleveland was one of the NBA’s most complete teams, proficient on both sides of the court. They finished third in offensive rating with help from the big three of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, and third in effective field goal percentage due to their group of sharpshooters like J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova.
The Cavs were 10th in defensive rating, with James the driving force behind their elite defense. Despite a tremendous decline in his offensive stats, Timofey Mozgov remained one of the top rim protectors in the game.
The Cavs have what it takes to steamroll through any team in the East, but as with all teams, it comes down to this one question: Can they beat the Warriors?
A short-handed Cleveland team pushed Golden State to the brink in last season’s Finals, but pushing these record-breaking Warriors will be a much tougher task. They will have to do two things very well, guard the three-point shot and take care of the ball.
The Cavs are 12th in opponent’s three-point percentage and 13th in turnover percentage. Both of those numbers are near the league average, so Cleveland will have to play even better basketball than normal. It’s not impossible, but the Cavs will certainly benefit from not facing any stiff competition before reaching the finals.
LeBron and his Cavaliers will dominate the playoffs. The only question is for how long.
