The NBA Playoffs are about to kick off. Is a 1st Round Sweep a Bold Prediction? Yes!
For basketball fans, this Saturday marks the best time of the year in the NBA. Kobe Bryant has said his goodbyes, and the Golden State Warriors made history.
That’s all behind us now though. Nothing matters except each game from here on out. And of course, there’s no better place to come for NBA Playoff advice then my very own Bold Predictions.
The Cleveland Cavaliers head into the Playoffs facing the Detroit Pistons. Of course, First Round matchups are always supposed to heavily favor the No. 1 seeds, but not in this case. The Pistons outshined the Cavaliers 2-1 this season (the last encounter didn’t count considering only one Cavaliers starter was dressed) and in many people’s opinions is the most intimidating matchup for the Cavaliers in the First Round.
It isn’t significant losses by the Cavaliers, or even poor play, it’s simply Piston’s center, Andre Drummond. This 6’11” big man has averaged nearly 15 rebounds per game this season and has shown all year that big scoring nights are a common thing for him.
The obvious problem with Drummond facing the Cavaliers is that the Cavs are very undersized in reliable post players. Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson are their go to post players when it comes to rebounding and guarding the block, especially with the fall off of Timofey Mozgov. While Channing Frye is being considered a “low-post” player, that doesn’t really fit his game. So, the Cavs are stuck with Love and Thompson to provide the post power they’ll need to beat the Pistons.
At 6’10”, at the most, neither has the size or girth to deal with Drummond.
Obviously, there’s much more to the series than Andre Drummond. When you look at overall team, the Cavaliers are leaps and bounds ahead of the Pistons. Kyrie Irving has been playing much better than he did before the All-Star break, Channing Frye has stepped up big for the Cavs, and players like J.R. Smith and Kevin Love have actually been decently reliable lately. Plus, the Cavaliers have LeBron James, who has already looked like playoff LeBron and that’s plain scary.
For the Pistons, the speedy Reggie Jackson could cause headaches for Irving on defense but not enough to really tip the balance in anyway for Detroit.
When you have a team that is performing as well as they have all season and a guy like LeBron playing the best basketball in the NBA right now, it’s hard to deny they’ll win. Fortunately, that will be exactly what they do. You can look at the season series all you want, and argue that the Pistons out performed them during the regular season. It doesn’t matter though, because there are few teams that can stop the Cavaliers when they play like this. People tend to forget that Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving are former All-Stars.
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This isn’t the LeBron Cavaliers teams of the past, and it isn’t even the same team as last season. This team has matured and come together. It’s taken almost two years, but it finally looks like it’s happening.
They aren’t the Spurs or the Warriors. And it’s hard to say that the Cavaliers are as talented as them. But there is no denying that LeBron, Irving, and Love are far better than Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, and Andre Drummond.
Because of this, it’s easy to see that the Cavaliers take this series 4-0. Be as scared of Andre Drummond as you want, playoff ready Cleveland is a much scarier element.
Do you think the Pistons get even one game in the NBA Playoffs?