Playoff Time Is Approaching

This year, late April is going to be very strange. Why is that you ask? I’ll tell you: The Cavs are going to the playoffs. The last time the Cavs were there was 1998. I was still in college at Hiram, I was still playing baseball, I was still dating my sexy ex-girlfriend who was also a major league pain in the ass (nice trade-off there), I still kept in touch with my old High School buddies, and I drank and partied every other day. Those were the days.

Now times have changed. I’m out of college, married to a good woman, getting way out of shape, and I’m writing on blog sites. Aside from all of that, the Cavs are finally returning to the grand stage of the playoffs. In NBA years, 8 years is a looong time to not be in the playoffs. Teams like the Clippers, and Warriors can share in our pain. The Warriors, especially, have to suffer through it another year so my heart goes out to them.

This Saturday, it will be exciting to finally see us back in the dance as we get set to square off (most likely) with the dangerous Washington Wizards. After getting tomorrow’s final game of the season out of the way (NO MORE INJURIES DAMNIT!), we can place our main focus on that first round match-up to see if the Cavs can get into the second round.

So what’s the state of the team going in?

1) We’re much better off than we were a month ago in the clutch. This team is playing tougher and playing better in tight moments late in games (throw out that Detroit game….please!). That is huge going into the playoffs since Mike Brown has described the playoffs as one big ball of stress. Flip Murray has been unbelievable here as he helped lead this team down the stretch of some of those tight games. We bitch slapped the Sonics in that trade. LeBron James has begun to play well in tight moments as well, which has been his one of his few weaknesses as a young superstar. Everything seems to be coming together in that aspect.
2) Injury concerns have been popping up in the late of the season. LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Drew Gooden have had some scares recently. This has hurt our great stretch run a bit due to the fact that these guys have been thrown off a bit from their groove. Starters have been in and out of the lineup because of this, but I see this as a forced opportunity to get the bench players more minutes. Everyone should be rearing to go in the playoff opener on Saturday. The return of Larry Hughes a few weeks ago proved to be great timing as Hughes has had enough time to shed the rust of the 45 games he has missed as he has taken center stage for the Cavs after LeBron James missed two games with his sprained ankle.
3) LeBron James has a legit shot at winning the league’s MVP award. While I could make a better case for Steve Nash considering the cards the Suns have been dealt this year, James could still come away with it and that would be amazing. Like mentioned above, James has blossomed into a true leader this year on the court and it enhances the chances of the Cavs doing some damage in the playoffs.
4) Team defense still remains as a question mark. While LeBron James is starting to become a better clutch shooter, his defense still needs to develop more. There are plenty of other players on the team who need to provide better team defense as well. I’m very concerned with the 3-headed scoring attack of the Wiz. Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas, and Caron Butler need to be kept at bay, if the Cavs want to advance. If the Cavs let any of the 3 go off (like they usually do against us), we’re going to have some major problems putting them away.
5) Scoring threats beyond LeBron need to step up. Donyell Marshall, Damon Jones, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Flip Murray, and Larry Hughes, need to step up in the big games. More specifically, the Cavs need points from their backcourt. This falls squarely on Flip, Larry, and Jones. Eric Snow is such a liability back there when it comes to scoring, that the other guys need to make sure they can put points on the board.

After the Cavs close the season tomorrow night against Atlanta, it’s time to buckle down and get ready Cleveland fans. It’s been a long time coming and let’s hope the Cavs can get it going early and often in the playoffs. Before the playoffs start Saturday, I’ll try to throw out some first round predictions for all opening playoff series and when they end in June (how many off days do teams need?), we’ll see how I did. Tomorrow starts the defensive analysis of the Cleveland Browns.