Cavs’ struggles open door for C’s
Boston, Washington, Toronto all have hope to reach Finals
Over the past six years, it has become blasphemous to suggest any mortal Eastern Conference foe could prevent the domination of LeBron James. Many have tried; all have felt the sting of misguided hope. The list of victims include the Chicago Bulls during Derrick Rose's MVP season, the Boston Celtics at the end of the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett/Ray Allen era and a rare, 60-win Atlanta Hawks species.
The Indiana Pacers tried twice and couldn't do it, even with Lance Stephenson blowing in James' ear. The Toronto Raptors pushed Cleveland last year, but James still prevailed in the Eastern Conference finals. Whether in Cleveland or Miami, whether given injured or lethargic teammates, whether pitted against upstarts or established forces, James has handled every challenge, becoming the only player in NBA history not associated with Bill Russell's Celtics to lead a team to six straight Finals appearances.
His towering presence in the East has acquired mythic powers, with stars reportedly factoring James' dominance into their free agency decisions. Although the Western Conference remains more formidable, James is the game's greatest player. The East's path to the NBAFinals might involve fewer serious contenders, but at the final exit stands a 6-foot-8, 250-pound roadblock who makes you entertain the thought of just turning around and starting over.
And so, as the Cleveland Cavaliers stagger about and their superstar's concern grows, you see the sun rising in the East but anticipate hope with appropriate caution. Is this finally the year James stops channeling the Connecticut women's basketball team on the East?
This might be the best chance the also-rans have had since 2011. It means you can add timing to the growing list of things the Washington Wizards have gotten right this season.
It's a good time to be a top-four seed in the East. The Cavaliers have an 8-10 record since the all-star break, and after a lifeless 103-74 loss to San Antonio on Tuesday, they lost their No. 1 spot in the East to Boston. They still might reclaim the top seed, but with the Cavs stumbling and focused on entering the playoffs healthy after an injury-plagued season, seeding doesn't appear to be their priority. Home-court advantage isn't essential to them anyway.
The defending champions overcame a three games-to-one deficit against the 73-win Golden State Warriors during last year's Finals and won two games in the Bay Area to do so.
But if you're an East contender, you'll take any opening that Cleveland allows. Boston, Toronto and the Wizards have a chance. Six weeks ago, that chance was slim. Now, it's sizable enough to dream.
The Wizards went to Cleveland last week and scored 71 points in the first half of a 127-115 victory over the Cavaliers. Cleveland isn't playing championship defense, and it hasn't done so for most of the season. And while the Cavs have dealt with significant injuries to starters to J.R. Smith and Kevin Love and lost late-season acquisition Andrew Bogut to a broken leg during his first game, there's still a troublesome complacency about them that will be hard to snap out of when the playoffs start. Smith has been back for almost three weeks, Love for almost two, but the Cavaliers are still missing something.
They don't have good depth in the frontcourt, especially when it comes to defensive-minded bigs, and they aren't guarding on the perimeter. John Wall and the Wizards exploited everything the Cavs aren't right now.
Championship teams have a special knack for recovering, especially with a legend the caliber of James, a three-time champion, leading the way. But here's another problem: For most of this stretch, James has been playing his best basketball, and Cleveland still can't find itself. Since the all-star break, James is averaging 26.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.6 assists in 37.2 minutes. The Cavs are 8-7 in those games. James has sat out three games to rest, and Cleveland lost all of them.
For the season, the 32-year-old has averaged 37.5 minutes per game, which would be the most he has logged since entering his 30s. This comes during his 14th season, 1,054 regular-season games into his career. And that doesn't even count his 199 playoff games, nearly 2 1/2 more seasons of mileage.
Magic Johnson played 12 seasons and had a little mini-comeback during the 1995-96 season. He played 906 regular season games and 190 playoff games. Jordan? He retired playing 1,072 and 179. Kobe Bryant left at 1,346 and 220. The point is that James has already had a long NBA career, and despite his amazing durability (no major injury to date while in the NBA), he's pushing it being forced to average nearly a triple double just to keep a team supposedly with three all-stars afloat late in the season.
In the locker room after the loss in San Antonio, James admitted to reporters, “It's a delicate time for our team right now.”
If you're the Wizards, Celtics or Raptors, you still fear LeBron. It's one thing to push a LeBron James-led team; East teams have been able to do that in the playoffs. But to win four games and close him out? Over the past decade, James has built an impressive history of postseason resistance. After the incredible comeback over Golden State a year ago, there's no playoff deficit that James will consider insurmountable.
But what if the Cavs are forced to do that multiple times during their run through the conference? That's when another contender might have a chance. Of course, such a team would have to avoid enduring its own taxing run.
If the playoffs reflect the regular season, then Boston, Cleveland, Toronto and Washington should prove superior to lower seeds currently fighting to stay at .500. Then, starting with the conference semifinals, you'll see compelling basketball. There's a chance that the East will feature four 50-win teams for the first time since the 2010-11 season, which was the start of LeBron's run. The Celtics, Cavs and Wizards are all on a 50-win pace. The Raptors are right on the bubble.