Both teams are starkly inferior to Cleveland so it portends to be a deliciously lopsided affair and the perfect training exercise for the Cavs.
We did it! The regular season of the Cleveland Cavaliers has finally concluded after a journey that was both successful and seemingly endless.
Watching our dominant team overpower opponents like the Washington Wizards over the past 20 months has been satisfying, but like many other Cavs supporters, I am eagerly anticipating the NBA Playoffs.
This Sunday, downtown, the Cavaliers will kick off their highly awaited postseason adventure by playing their first round matchup against either the Atlanta Hawks or the Miami Heat. The specific opponent is still uncertain at this point.
So in order to be prepared, I thought I’d offer a brief scouting report about both of the teams the Cavs might face to give you an idea of what we’re up against.
And let me just start by saying that despite their lower seeding these are both formidable NBA squads, and under the right circumstances, in a seven game series I truly believe that either team is genuinely capable of eliminating the Cavs.
I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m kidding. That won’t happen. They’re gonna get waxed. Either team. Doesn’t matter, done deal. Both teams are starkly inferior to Cleveland so it portends to be a deliciously lopsided affair and the perfect training exercise for the Cavs to tune up for Round 2, AKA “Real Playoffs.”
I recognize that this bravado might sound a bit arrogant and to be clear, I’m not saying that the Cavs will win a championship. I’m not promising they’ll make the NBA Finals. I’m not even guaranteeing that they’ll clear the second round. Some very legit teams await them and the Cavs have yet to prove anything.
That being said, before any of that even has a chance to happen….they’re about to absolutely destroy either the Heat or the Hawks for the next week or so, and there’s just no way around that.
However, I did promise you some first round analysis on both of these “Dead Men Walkin’ ” teams, so I suppose we should at least run through the keynotes for the sake of due diligence. Here we go.
Let’s first take a look at the Heat! The Cavs beat them two out of three times this season. Miami limped into the play-in game with a 37-45 record and their best player left the team a couple months ago and is now a Warrior.
Their starting five is comprised of Tyler Herro, Bam Adebeyo, Andrew Wiggins and a couple of other guys. Cavs fans trying to talk themselves into being concerned about playing Miami out of some form of masochism cite the fact that Erik Spoelstra is a really good coach and the Heat tend to play oddly well against the Cavs. And that may be true! But Erik Spoelstra can’t box out Jarrett Allen from the bench and Tyler Herro can’t score 60 points seven games in a row, so I am declaring them…. PRE-ELIMINATED! Cavs in 5.
To be fair Atlanta did manage to win the regular season matchup with the Cavs this year, taking two out of three, which is impressive. But the Cavs didn’t like that very much, so they strategically hobbled the Hawks by trading them two “some-times-good” players (Caris Levert and Georges Niang) in exchange for one “pretty much always good” player (De’Andre Hunter). That seems to have worked out better for us than them. Other factors behind Atlanta’s recent struggles include the injury bug and the fact that their star player is an unhinged, surly little hobgoblin.
Their starting five consists of the aforementioned Trae Young, and also Dyson Daniels and uh…..some other dudes. Look, it doesn’t matter who these other guys are, Cavs fans. You really don’t even have to bother learning their names, because if we do end up facing the Hawks I feel pretty comfortable declaring them …PRE-ELIMINATED! Cavs in 4!
Well there ya have it! You’re all prepped for Round 1, now enjoy the ride! And regardless of whether it ends up being Cavs vs. Hawks or Cavs vs. Heat, may the better team win! And may we do so in as few games as possible so we get some rest before facing the Pacers. Let’s go Cavs!
