What can be more exciting then watching a superstar play his former team? Watching him play his former team in a whole playoff series. As of today, the Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Miami Heat in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. If that remains, LeBron James will play his first playoff series as a Cavalier, against the team he won his only two championships with, and two former star teammates, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.
Although the Cavaliers are only 1-2 against the Heat this season, the Cavaliers haven’t played as well as they are currently, all season. That being said, the Heat are playing some of their best basketball recently as well. Also, no player plays better in the postseason than LeBron James and no team has played better in the playoffs over the last four years than the Heat.
This playoff series would feature two of the best statistical teams in the league. The Cavaliers are currently ranked 6th in points per game, averaging 103 ppg. The Heat, on the other hand, are ranked 5th in points allowed, averaging 97 ppg allowed. The way both teams have currently been playing, it may be the battle of the best offensive team against the best defensive team.
The biggest part of this series may not be the obvious. Although all eyes will be on LeBron James, the battle between Kyrie Irving and Dwayne Wade may be the biggest show. Wade has been known for his fierce defender his entire career and since the All-Star break, Kyrie Irving has been a scoring machine averaging 21 ppg on the season.
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LeBron James and Chris Bosh will also be a big part of this significant series. Both players average over 20 ppg and have had significant parts of their teams success this season. These two can never be taken lightly, especially in the playoffs. Both LeBron and Bosh should have tremendous impacts in the possible series.
Other than the superstars in this series, the big men can’t be forgotten about. The Heat’s Hassan Whiteside and Cavaliers’ Timofey Mozgov have become prominent factors in their teams success. Both players average over 9 points and seven rebounds per game. Neither the Heat or Cavaliers have had a dominant big men in years until these two established their roles.
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The potential of this playoff series would draw almost all media and fan attention. These two teams have shown all season that they can put on a show and still have one more regular to prove it again. Although their records do match up, these teams play evenly matched. Watch for this possible series to be one that makes a lot of noise.