Cleveland Cavaliers are a breath of fresh air in the Eastern Conference
Are the Cleveland Cavaliers the NBA’s next feelgood story?
One week into the 2020-21 NBA season, there are only four NBA teams that are still sporting an undefeated record. By far, the most surprising of these four teams are the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have quickly become a breath of fresh air in the Eastern Conference.
Should they remain competitive over the course of the next few weeks, there’s a good chance that the Cavs will become a fan-favorite to surprise the masses and perhaps make a strong push for the playoffs (such as the Memphis Grizzlies did last season, before the NBA’s restart bubble).
During the first three games, the Cavs have been spearheaded by the dynamic trio of Collin Sexton, Andre Drummond, and Darius Garland. They are averaging 27, 20, and 19 points per contest respectively, and have shown great growth in each of their games since last season.
More from Sir Charles In Charge
- Dillon Brooks proved his value to Houston Rockets in the 2023 FIBA World Cup
- NBA Trade Rumors: 1 Player from each team most likely to be traded in-season
- Golden State Warriors: Buy or sell Chris Paul being a day 1 starter
- Does Christian Wood make the Los Angeles Lakers a legit contender?
- NBA Power Rankings: Tiering all 30 projected starting point guards for 2023-24
Specifically, Sexton’s growth this season should give this fan base hope for the future. It’s a shame that Kevin Love has gone down with another injury and is set to miss upwards of a month, but the hope is that this team will continue to truck along moving forward.
While many expected this season to be all about development for Cleveland, their hot start could help change some of those expectations. That said, I still don’t believe it would be prudent to pencil this team into the playoffs just yet.
If Cleveland continues to play as well as they have through the first week of the season, however, the narrative surrounding this team will quickly change. What you have to love most about this Cavs team is that they’re doing it on the defensive end of the floor first.
Cleveland has the second-best defensive rating in the league through the first week of the season and has the second-best net rating at the same time. If the Cavs were simply outscoring opponents, I’d be somewhat hesitant about whether this team would be able to keep this trend going.
However, the fact that the Cavs are actually outperforming teams on both ends of the floor adds some intrigue to this team’s potential the rest of the way.
If Collin Sexton can continue to play at this high level (which at this point might be somewhat unfair to expect), there’s no question that the Cavs (along with their impressive defensive metrics) will be able to be a threat to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference this season.
Next. NBA: 5 big takeaways from the 2020-21 opening week. dark
Question is, roughly a week into the new season, if the Cleveland Cavaliers are an actual playoff threat or if this hot start is nothing more than just that?