Lebron James has owned the Eastern Conference for the last 7 years, making 7 consecutive NBA finals and winning 3 of them. During this time the West was generally considered to be the stronger of the two conferences and a tougher road to the finals. Lebron James is the only player to reach more than 4 successive finals since Bill Russel in the 1960s. Yet a lot of people (Skip Bayliss) do not give him full credit for this as the east has been described as “weak” and a “cakewalk”. Discounting the fact Lebron had to beat the Boston Celtics with three hall of famers on the team, the Chicago Bulls with an MVP D Rose and the tough defence of Tom Thibodeau and The Indiana Pacers, who took the Heat to a close game 7 in 2013.

However, in recent years his road to the Finals has definitely become easier. Since returning to Cleveland in 2014 The Cavs had only lost 5 games on the way to making 3 consecutive finals. And at the start of the 2017 offseason this looked like it would continue as there was an exodus of All-Star players, leaving the East to join the West. Paul George and Carmelo Anthony were both traded to OKC, Jimmy Butler left Chicago to re-join former coach Thibodeau in Minesota and Paul Milsap, an All-Star with the Atlanta Hawks in each of his last 3 seasons, joined the Denver Nuggets.

The Star power was definitely out west and this was recognised by Commissioner Adam Silver when he changed the All Star format system. There would be a captain from each conference and they were allowed to pick players from the other conference. Some even called to abandon the conference system all together and just have the 16 best teams with the best records in the playoffs. With all this, it was assumed that this was going to be Lebrons easiest path to an 8^th successive NBA Finals.

Until Kyrie Irving announced he wanted to be traded. It was something the front office were not prepared for and despite Lebron James arguing against it, Kyrie got his wish. He was traded to the Boston Celtics and The Cavs have pretty much been in turmoil ever since, in what has been a season filled with drama. Injuries and trades have meant that The Cavs have never really been able to figure out there best combinations with this new group.

The East has also seen a number of young stars emerge. The 76ers have had a healthy Ben Simmons and Joel Embid for pretty much the entire season and it looks like they’re going to be huge stars in this league for the next ten years. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Milwakue Bucks to 44 wins, their best record since 2010. While Victor Oladipo is yet another player to flourish after leaving OKC and Russell Westbrook, becoming an All-Star for the first time this year.

Coming into the playoffs most experts still had The Cavs coming out of the east. However, it was no longer a forgone conclusion, especially as they finished 4^th in the Eastern Standings, their lowest standing since Lebrons return.

The murmurings of Lebrons reign in the East being over were getting louder, after The Cavs barley scraped through a tough First round match up against the Pacers. The Pacers took them 7 games and it took Lebron averaging over 40 points in their 4 narrow wins for them to advance. Not a single Cavalier other than Lebron scored more than 20 points in a single game during the series and only the Pacers inexperience and Lebrons greatness saw them through.

Now in the 2^nd round the Cavs face the 59 win Raptors, a team they swept last year. However the Raptors have a much deeper roster this year and Coach Dwayne Casey has done a great job at redefining this team’s style, to focus more on ball movement and shooting 3s. They finished top 5 in both offensive and defensive efficiency in the regular season and the Vegas bookmakers has them as favourites for the series.

Now it seems foolish to bet against Lebron especially in the East but if the Cavs play like they did in the first round then they won’t beat the Raptors. First of all The Cavs need more production from Kevin Love. The 5 time All-Star averaged 11 points during the Pacers series and did not provide Lebron with a second scoring option. I expect The Cavaliers to run plays for Love early to get him going.

 

In the first round the Pacers chose not to double Lebron and mainly used single coverage with either Thaddeus Young or Bojan Bogdanovic guarding him. It meant Lebron scored almost at will, but they didn’t allow the rest of the Cavs to get open shots. They effectively turned Lebron into a pure scorer and dared him to beat them on his own. I doubt the Raptors will try and copy this and I expect they will double him more, especially in the post. This should mean more open shots for the likes of Kyle Korver and Jr Smith which they will need to knock down for the Cavs to have any chance of progressing.

The Cavs defence will also need to step up. The last series was a definite improvement in that area from the regular season, as they held the Pacers to under 100 points in 4 of the 7 games. But a huge part of that was Pacers players just missing open shots and less the Cavs playing stellar defence. To get through this series they are going to have to step it up again, and a huge part of that will rest on the shoulders of Jr Smith. Smith has defended DeRozan well in the Cavs previous 2 playoff matchups against the Raptors and contributed to DeRozans numbers dropping considerably against the Cavs. Smith has not been at his best this year, but has been the Cavs best perimeter defender in past seasons and will need to reach this level again to slow DeRozan down.

 

And Lastly the Cavs will need their bench to step up. The Raptors had one of the best benches in the NBA this season and go 11 or 12 players deep. Dwayne Casey really trusts this group and often plays the 2^nd unit deep into the 4^th quarter. I expect Tyron Lue will go with the same experienced starting 5 that beat the Pacers in Game 7. Meaning the likes of Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood and Larry Nance Jr will be coming off the bench and they will need to improve their performances from round 1. All 3 played poorly against the Pacers and looked overwhelmed by the pressure of playing in a playoff series.