Entering this NBA season, it was thought that the defending champions the Cleveland Cavaliers would likely run away with the Eastern Conference. That’s certainly not the case as the Boston Celtics are now trending towards the elite form showcased in years past. The extremely storied and glorious franchise is back on the upswing, thanks to the leadership of Head Coach Brad Stevens, and superstar Isiah Thomas having a NBA MVP type of the season.
The Celtics, not the Toronto Raptors as most preseason prognosticators thought, are the biggest threat to the Cavaliers, and they’re currently nipping at Cleveland’s heels in the standings.
Should Cleveland fans be legitimately worried? Are Lebron James and company in real trouble of not grabbing #1 seed in the East and thus losing home court advantage throughout?
Probably not, as most of the current sentiment is still very high on the Cavaliers prospects. CrownBet has the Cleveland Cavaliers pegged as the season runners up (at the moment) behind the Golden State Warriors.
“When you have a championship team, you can hold each other accountable, you can police each other and you can make adjustments together,” said NBA on TNT Analyst Grant Hill following the Cavaliers 140-135 OT win at the Washington Wizards Monday night.
“That’s when you have something special and that’s what Cleveland has.”
While the Cavs’ recent issues coming into that victory at the Verizon Center have been duly noted, and extensively discussed, Hill acknowledged the team’s issues, but did not come off as thoroughly bearish in their outlook for the rest of the season.
“It doesn’t look like the playoffs, that’s for sure,” he said.
“They’ve had long seasons the last two years and obviously, they’re good enough to win games and win the Eastern Conference. They’re just trying to get through the All-Star break, then you can really focus in and fine-tune things to be at your best going into the postseason.”
Monday night, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers second banana, Kyrie Irving, who was proverbially breaking Twitter with his heroics. Cavs fans on social media went into a frenzy as “Uncle Drew” was in Game 7 style at times.
It was the team’s third main piece though, which drew the attention of Hill.
“He is so comfortable out there,” the NBA pundit said of Kevin Love’s continued comfort in Cleveland.
“He’s shooting more three-pointers, a lot of catch-and-shoot. He’s also more than capable of posting up and his rebounding numbers are great this season.”