Cleveland Cavaliers: As the playoffs near, it’s important to remember who the King of the East is
By Zack Kobler
After a thrilling victory for the Cleveland Cavaliers over the top-seeded Toronto Raptors, maybe it’s time to reconsider who is the best in the Eastern Conference
To be blatant, the Cleveland Cavaliers are the best in the Eastern Conference. Despite the thrilling campaign the Toronto Raptors have put on for the majority of the season, it’s just not enough.
The offensive changes, DeMar DeRozan‘s transformation and also Toronto fans everywhere crying for national attention is not enough.
Let’s be serious about all the seeds in the Eastern Conference and not single out Toronto. The Boston Celtics have more injury problems than anybody can fathom and also are a year out of serious playoff contention. Joel Embiid needs to get healthy for any playoff success to happen for Philadelphia, but even then they might still be a year away. Indiana is confusing; there’s nothing else you can say, I’m sorry.
The Miami Heat have excellent coaching but not enough firepower to hang with the Cavs in any stratosphere. John Wall and the Wizards can’t figure it out. And for Milwaukee, well who knows what they are going to do. Maybe they figure out how to play consistent basketball and have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker play in the frontcourt, but that’s a different article to read.
In Cleveland, the anomaly presents itself in different ways every year, but the person never changes. The defensive woes and different lineups just adds to the drama that circulates throughout Cleveland like blood does through our veins. It doesn’t matter what Eastern Conference team you are, it’s never a great thing when you have to see LeBron James in a Cavs uniform in the playoffs.
The King of Cleveland
While every commentator, anchor of a sports show or even a radio show, pointing to LeBron’s historical season is annoying to everyone. The thing is, they aren’t wrong to do it. We have never seen this amount of high-level basketball come from anybody for this long.
Inside of this season, it can be described merely as a masterpiece. Averaging career highs in both assists (9.1) and rebounds (8.7) while maintaining to play in every game this season is surprising. Meanwhile, LeBron’s scoring is the highest it has been since his first campaign with the Cavs at 27.4 points per game.
He is a stat chasing monster that actually helps his team succeed unlike specific point guards in Oklahoma City. His godly passing an innate ability to sniff out rebounds his lead to 18 triple-doubles on the season, his most ever.
Even beyond the statistical category, he is still a matchup nightmare that we all know and love.
Throughout the entire game against the Raptors, a slew of defenders was thrown at LeBron endlessly. In the clip above you find Serge Ibaka, who has the unfortunate task of guarding him, easily get scored on an embarrassing three.
You then can find OG Anunoby get outmuscled by a real tank for the routine and-1 off the glass.
Yes, those are plays to marvel at, but a real problem occurs late for every team that deserves recognition. Who is guarding number LeBron?
As DeMar DeRozan is given the responsibility he, unfortunately, gives up the easy bucket that we all expect. This problem is a headache or even a migraine that will not go away for any coach in the NBA especially when his playmaking ability takes over.
The rest of the story
The rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers are a much different breed of animals on the floor. Kevin love being the second man in charge is averaging 17.6 points per game while maintaining 40 percent from behind the arc. While his defense is also recognizable down low making him more than just a shadow of LeBron.
The best point guard on the team is 23-9 when in the starting lineup, and that’s before the trade deadline in Jose Calderon. A tenacious defender and choosing when to shoot at appropriate times makes him essential on the roster.
Rodney Hood is the third scoring option on the floor late in games and a vital trade acquisition. Jeff Green is Jeff Green. He’s athletic but what else is he? Also maybe limiting Tristan Thompson‘s minutes makes more sense but I’m not Ty Lue.
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Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. are spark plugs off the bench that was so desperately needed that without them LeBron would never take a break. Kyle Korver will be mad dashing off of screens and run out to the wing to make it splash all over the floor. And finally. J.R. Smith, he is exciting, he can catch fire at any second and he doesn’t wear shirts when he wins, so that’s cool.
Mixing in this roster and a sprinkle of LeBron James makes the fourth edition of Cavs-Warriors inevitable, yet again.