Cleveland Cavaliers Need To Be On Upset Alert Vs. Trail Blazers

By Josh Hill | Nov 4, 2014

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in Portland to take on the Trail Blazers this evening, but they need to be sure they don’t fall into the trap of not taking the game as serious as it is.

Through the first two games of the NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 1-1 and starting to look like the team we all thought they’d be when they made all the offseason moves they did. From bringing back LeBron James to trading for Kevin Love and everything else, the Cavaliers struggled against the Knicks but looked sharp against the Bulls.

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One good game does not give this team the right to slack off against a Portland Trail Blazers team ready to knock them off. Portland is trying to make their mark in an incredibly hard to win Western Conference, and notching a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight would go a long way in boosting team confidence.

Last year, the Blazers finally came into their own but fell off a bit towards the end of the season. They made it out of the first round in the West but not much further — something they’ll look to change this year. It’ll be wins over contenders like the Cavaliers that the team uses as reminders that they’re one of the best teams in the NBA and it’s why they’re so dangerous.

Damien Lillard and Kyrie Irving matchup well, Kevin Love and LaMarcus Aldridge are chocolate and vanilla versions of one another while the Blazers front court seems to boast more talent and height than the Cavaliers.

That will be a weakness Cleveland cannot let get exposed. They did a fine job against the Chicago bigs on Friday night, but that’s a small sample size when pondering the question of how good Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson can hold it down at center.

Portland isn’t a game Cleveland needs to be afraid of, but the trap game feeling is there, and no one should be surprised if Cleveland goes down out West.

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