Beware of the East

While the focus of attention is on the defending champion Golden State Warriors and the fierce battles in the West, a team in the East is gaining momentum as a serious title threat in the NBA this season.

After Golden State posted a league all-time mark of 73-9 in the regular season, Bay Area fans began conjuring visions of a repeat of the Warriors’ title surge capped by the 4-2 demolition of Cleveland for their first crown in 40 years last June. A lot will depend on Steph Curry’s condition. He has missed four of Golden State’s eight playoff games so far. If the Warriors don’t make it out of the West, oddsmakers are placing their bets on the San Antonio Spurs who registered a franchise record 67-15 in the regular season.

Four Western Conference teams had at least 53 wins in the regular season compared to only two from the East, indicating a tilt in the balance of power. Of the last 17 Finals, 12 were won by teams from the West, five of the last seven including the last two.

But the competitiveness in the West has a downside. The Warriors are now in a dogfight with the Portland Trail Blazers. So are the Spurs in their series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Warriors and Spurs advance to the Western Conference Finals, you can be sure there won’t be a sweep, meaning it’ll be a down-to-the-wire fight. The team to come out flying the Western flag in the Last Dance will show up bruised and exhausted, an advantage for the East.

There have been only three sweeps in the playoffs so far, two by Cleveland (over Detroit and Atlanta) and one by San Antonio (over Memphis). The Cavaliers topped the East with a 57-25 record in the regular season and are unforgiving in the playoffs, blanking both the Pistons and the Hawks by an average margin of 10.5 points. However, the clinchers in the two series were close with the Cavs edging Detroit, 100-98 and trimming Atlanta, 100-99.

Cavs fans are quick to point out that Cleveland is 12-0 in the playoffs when LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are in action. That dates back to the 4-0 romp over Boston in the first round of the playoffs last season. Love suffered a dislocated left shoulder with 5:22 of the first period in Game 4 of the Boston series and sat out the rest of the playoffs. Irving fractured his left kneecap in Game 1 of the Finals against Golden State and missed the rest of the Last Dance which the Warriors eventually won. But when the three were on the floor, they were unbeatable.

Now, the Big 3 are healthy, humming and hissing. From last season’s playoff cast, the Cavs also brought back Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, J. R. Smith, Matthew Dellavedova, James Jones and Timofey Mozgov. Gone are Mike Miller, Shawn Marion, Kendrick Perkins, Joe Harris and Brendan Haywood. New in the playoff roster are Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, Jordan McRae, Mo Williams and Dahntay Jones. Another change was replacing head coach David Blatt with Tyronn Lue but that’s not significant because everyone knows the man who really runs the Cavs show is The Chosen One. Take out Lebron from the equation and Cleveland isn’t a playoff team.

Although James is widely hailed as the best player on the planet, he’s not stepping on anyone’s toes in the Cleveland scheme of things. In the Detroit series, Irving led the Cavs in scoring in three of the four games, Love in rebounding in three of the four games and James in assists in three of the four games. In the Atlanta series, Love led the team in rebounding in three of the four games, James in assists in three of the four games and James in scoring in two of the four games with Frye and Love topping in the other two.

In eight playoff games, Irving leads Cleveland in scoring with a 24.4 clip. James is second with 23.5 but tops in assists with 7.3. Love is the No. 1 rebounder with a 12.5 norm. Four Cavs are averaging in twin digit points – Irving, James, Love (18.9) and Smith (12.3). Down the line, Frye is hitting 8.3 points, Dellavedova 5.9, starting center Thompson 5.0, McRae 5.0, Jefferson 4.5 and Shumpert 4.3.

Thompson is undersized as a 6-9 center but James is a giant at the three spot. In last season’s playoffs, 7-1 Mozgov was the Cavs’ starting center but Lue has opted for a smaller and quicker middleman. Mozgov hasn’t scored a point in four playoff appearances. The Cavs are much deeper this season with Jefferson, Shumpert, Dellavedova and Williams coming off the bench.

Cleveland’s three-point bomb squad is what’s sending shivers down every opponent’s spine. In Game 2 of the Atlanta series, the Cavs buried 25 triples – the most in any NBA contest ever. In Game 3, Cleveland rained 21 treys on the Hawks and Frye, a reserve, headed the scoring parade with 27 points. It’s clear that Cleveland isn’t a one-man army. LeBron may be the general but he knows the battle is won in the trenches with the troops.

In the Eastern Conference Finals, Cleveland will play either Miami or Toronto. The Heat and Raptors are now tied, 2-2, in their playoff series. In the regular season, Miami beat Cleveland twice in three meetings but in one Heat win, the Cavs played without Lebron and Irving. The Cavs also lost in two of three encounters with Toronto but one of the Raptors wins came with Irving sidelined.

The Sporting News has predicted a Finals duel between the Cavs and Spurs. Staff writer Michael Gentry foresaw this ending: “Judging by last year’s Finals performance (35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists), James is all-in with the Cavaliers’ championship pursuit which means the ‘All-In’ Cavaliers’ franchise will celebrate Cleveland sports’ first professional championship in 52 years.” Will a team from the East break the West stranglehold of the NBA title this season? The stars seem to be aligned in the East.