The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Cavs will be Eastern Conference champs
Las Vegas isn’t worried about the Cavaliers winning a fourth straight Eastern Conference championship, and you shouldn’t worry, either.
In odds released by oddsshark.com on April 13, the Cavaliers are listed as plus 125 to win the East, meaning a person betting $100 on the Cavs to win the conference would win $125 if they do. The Raptors are second at plus 155.
The fact the Cavaliers are favored to win the East is only half the story, though. They were minus 182 to start the season, meaning a person would have to wager $182 to win $100.
No matter the shifting landscape in the Vegas betting houses — or in the Eastern Conference where the Cavs finished fourth — as long as the Cavaliers have LeBron James, they are going to be the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Early in the season, James announced he hadn’t played his best basketball yet. Then he went out and proved it, having arguably the best season in his brilliant 15-year career.
Watch and enjoy the next two months, because we won’t know until July whether James will be back with the Cavaliers next fall. If this is indeed the end, he is giving the Cavalier fans a season they will never forget.
“We’re going to be a tough team to beat in four games and we have the best player in the world,” Cavs center Kevin Love said. “A lot of guys are hungry to go out and prove what they can do.”
The change is betting odds reflects the Cavaliers are not regarded as being as invincible as they once were, and if this was a one-and-done tournament or even best-of-three they could come up short, but no team in the East is good enough to beat the Cavaliers four times.
The way the bracket is set, the Cavaliers should face the Toronto Raptors in the conference semifinals and the 76ers or Celtics for the conference championship.
The Raptors start sucking their collective thumbs when they see the Cavaliers. The Celtics are a hollow threat without Kyrie Irving, who’s done for the season with a knee injury.
The 76ers won their last 16 regular season games to surge to the third seed in the conference. The Cavaliers will have experience on their side if they meet the Sixers in the Eastern Conference finals. That and James is all they’ll need to face the survivor of the Western Conference slugfest.
The prediction here is the Cavaliers will eliminate Indiana in five games. The Pacers won three of four regular season meetings, but that isn’t important.
The Cavaliers spent practice refining their defense, particularly on ways to minimize Pacers guard Victor Oladipo. Oladipo, in his first season with the Pacers, is a candidate for the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award. He is averaging 23.1 points a game and is a pest defensively.
“We thrive on trying to take away what a team does best and try to make them do something different that they’re not used to doing,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “So it’s not like we were doing something special or so creative or we got some brand new defense. We’ve done these things before, but, each series is going to be different.”
Some teams wear down as the playoffs progress. That happened to the Cavaliers in the 2015 playoffs when Love and Irving were injured. Still, they fought the Golden State Warriors to the sixth game of the Finals. The Cavaliers’ starting lineup isn’t as good as it was with Irving, but it is deeper. James and that depth are going to take them to another conference championship. Check back later to learn what happens next.
Contact Schudel at JSchudel@ News-Herald.com; On Twitter: @jsproinsider