Don't Let Cleveland Fool You
We get a new media story about the Cleveland Cavaliers every day. Most days it will be members of the media bowing down and kissing the rings of the King (except for Skip Bayless of course). Other days it feels like the panic button is prematurely pushed. The Cavs lose to the Denver Nuggets and everyone loses their minds. LeBron calls out his teammates for a lack of toughness and it’s pandemonium. Allow me to give you a piece of advice: don’t be fooled.
This is simply how things go for teams that feature LeBron James. Drama follows the King much like his devoted fans and haters. The problem is we’ve seen this all before. The drama, a bad loss, the media hypes a team that can beat the Cavs/Heat and then June rolls around and there’s LeBron with a Finals patch on his jersey. It never fails. Don’t believe me? Allow me to give you some examples.
2011: LeBron’s first season in South Beach was full of drama for sure. On top of that, the Heat went 1-6 versus the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics. Once the playoffs came around, the Heat beat both of them in five games and made it to the NBA Finals.
2014: The Heat went 2-6 against the Indiana Pacers and the Brooklyn Nets. There were doubts about Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh’s ability to provide adequate help for LeBron. Once again, the Heat beat their media created ‘rivals’ and advanced to the Finals.
2015: Now back in Cleveland, the Cavs went 4-4 against the Atlanta Hawks and the Bulls. LeBron took a sabbatical in the middle of the season and lost Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the playoffs. The results? The Cavs cruised through the East en route to the Finals.
2016: The Cavs went 2-7 against the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons and Golden State Warriors. While the Warriors were enjoying a historic season, the Cavs seemed to be imploding thanks to LeBron’s cryptic tweets and rumors. We all know how this ended.
During the dog days of the NBA regular season it seems the media just needs something to report on. But don’t let the Cavs struggles and talks of their toughness (or lack thereof) fool you. This is just the same old thing when it comes to LeBron teams. Yeah Boston and Washington have a chance, but not as much as the media will lead you to believe. Rest assured that Cleveland will be in the NBA Finals as long as LeBron is in uniform.
