The Cleveland Cavaliers Need To Keep Their Composure On The Road

On the road in the playoffs, things don’t come easy. Everyone is going to take their best shot at LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they need to keep their composure if things get chippy.

When you have LeBron and Kyrie Irving in the Eastern Conference, you are going to be the prohibitive favorite. Both experts and casual fans expect the Cleveland Cavaliers to somehow navigate their way to another NBA Finals appearance, based on their wealth of talent and offensive capabilities. I don’t disagree, but not every series is going to be a cakewalk.

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The Indiana Pacers were in both of the first two games, and now things should get a bit more interesting with the Cavs attempting to close out on the road. This is where the addition of Lance Stephenson by the Pacers could add some storylines. I mean who doesn’t remember his antics back when Bron was in Miami, and he was in his first stint with Indiana?

I’m not too worried about the Cavs on paper, especially with how well the Big Three have been playing. The biggest concern right now for me is letting the Pacers get their crowd in it, and letting “Born Ready” (Stephenson) get the Cavs less focused on the scope of a basketball game. He’s a guy who is going to occasionally get under the skin of your best players, which he’s done especially well in his Superman suit (aka a Pacer uniform).

Cleveland Cavaliers

He’s made an impact in this series off the bench with averages of 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists (per nba.com). There have also been a few occasions already where things could have escalated in regards to Stephenson and the Cavs; there was some jawing between him and Kyrie Irving near the end of the third quarter of Game 2 after Uncle Drew hit a walk-in 3 in front of him.

To conclude, I’m not that concerned about this Cavs veteran squad, who has their fair share of playoff war stories. That said, I don’t want the role players or perhaps Kyrie to get involved in scuffles with Stephenson or other Pacers. The Cavs don’t want a six or seven-game series in the first round when they clearly have the x’s and o’s advantage.

In my opinion, the only way this gets to be more than five games is if they get too invested in the chirping sideshow, and if Paul George averages near 40-point triple doubles. The Cavs bench hasn’t really even lit up the scoring department yet, and I’d expect the coaching staff to get Kyle Korver more involved on the road for a spark to get the crowd out of it. Nonetheless, the Pacers have found their ways to keep games close so far in this series and with the Cavs only being 20-21 on the road in the regular season, they need to get off to a fast start to take control early on.

I personally see Indiana avoiding a sweep, but unless things really escalate in these road games, it ends in five games and no more. With leaders in Bron, Richard Jefferson, Deron Williams and now locker room presence Dahntay Jones, that shouldn’t happen.

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It is the playoffs though, so emotions do play a role at times. My money’s on the Cavs remaining focused. They were built for the playoffs anyhow, and the one-seed clearly meant nothing to them in the grand scheme (sorry Celtics).

Playoff Bron always has a master plan, doesn’t he?