The Cleveland Cavaliers Accomplish A Feat That Hasn’t Been Done In 67 Years
The Cleveland Cavaliers just accomplished a feat that hasn’t been done in 67 years.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, who have started the postseason 6-0, are just the second team in NBA history to start consecutive postseasons by going undefeated through their first six games.
A big thanks to ESPN anchor Adrienne Lawrence for digging up the stat.
Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers went 10-0 to start the postseason and head coach Tyronn Lue broke the record for the most consecutive playoff wins by a first-time head coach, a record previously held by Miami Heat czar Pat Riley.
The Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Detroit Pistons and then Atlanta Hawks before winning their first two contests against the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals. A day after defeating the Toronto Raptors to go 6-0 in the NBA playoffs, after sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the first round, the Cavs made history that ties into their last series against The North.
The world is interesting that way isn’t it?
This is a stat that Lue and small forward LeBron James would love as fans of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise.
Lue played for the Lakers for his first three seasons after being drafted by the Denver Nuggets late in the first round and being traded by the Nuggets on draft night (the Nuggets would receive Nick Van Exel). In 2001, Lue won a championship with the Lakers, averaging 1.4 steals in 14.6 minutes per game in the team’s Finals series against Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers.
James grew up watching Magic Johnson and the “Showtime Lakers”. You can’t tell me you don’t see magic Magic in him when you watch him play. He also looked up to Los Angels Lakers legend Kobe Bryant in high school, according to Brett Davis Roberts (formerly a featured columnist for Bleacher Report).
That Lue would achieve this feat on his 40th birthday, and on the same day James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for sole possession of 2nd-place spot in career playoff points while passing Bryant for sole possession of 2nd-place in career 30-point playoff games, is ironic and interesting.
Related Story: LeBron passes Kareem, Kobe as Cavs rout Raptors
That James and his team would join the company of the Lakers franchise as he passed Abdul-Jabbar and Bryant by as all-time playoff scorers is ironic, and interesting, as well.
It’s also an ode to both of their achievements over the past two seasons. James is currently at the pinnacle of his powers, so far anyways. He’s been as dominant as ever in the last two postseasons, despite being on what people deem to be the “wrong side of 30 [years old]”.
Last year, James averaged 26.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game in the playoffs, ramping up his game and scoring effort after they reached the Eastern Conference Finals. James famously brought the Cleveland Cavaliers their first NBA championship in franchise history last season as the Cavs completed a historic comeback down 3-1 in the NBA Finals. I have no doubt you’ve heard all of that before, it’s simply how amazing the feat was.
This season, James is averaging 34.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game in the playoffs. He’s unstoppable, destroying opponents with his play on both ends of the court, and has outplayed young elite wings in Paul George and DeMar Derozan along the way.
After shooting 52.5 percent from the field in last year’s playoffs, he’s shooting 56.6 percent from the field this year. After shooting 34.0 percent from three-point range in last year’s playoffs, he’s shooting 48.4 percent from three-point range this season.
He averaged 2.3 steals (career-high) and 1.3 blocks per game in the 2015-2016 postseason. He’s averaging 2.7 steals and 1.8 blocks per game in this year’s postseason.
Lue has transformed the offense of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s versatile, dynamic, fast-paced and with all of the shooters on the roster, explosive. The defense, which struggled during the regular season, was decent in last year’s playoffs but didn’t have nearly the amount of aggression of the Cleveland Cavaliers current defensive scheme. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d think that this was the year 2012 and James was still in South Beach.
Except for the fact that James looks even better than he did then. He’s more lithe, more springy, more confident and has mastered the art of picking apart the defense as a point-forward.
However, it’s not all about Lue and James. It’s about owner Dan Gilbert and general manager David Griffin. Gilbert swallowed his pride and then later opened up his checkbook to first get and then put the best team around James. Griffin has made countless moves that have brought the Cavs notable core pieces.
Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Kyle Korver and Channing Frye are all players that Griffin traded for in his tenure that still are core players for the Cavs right now. Timofey Mozgov, who transformed the Cleveland Cavaliers defense in his first season there, is another.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are two other players who are extremely important to the Cavs success, particularly in the postseason. While both players have always been dynamic offensive players, they’ve taken steps to be all-around players this season.
Irving is always focused on ball-movement now and has made quite a few impact plays on defense. Love has also made impact plays on defense thanks to his improved conditioning but now, instead of simply shooting from the hip as he spots-up from three, he consistently takes the ball inside for a dribble-drive or calls for the ball for a post-up.
Irving is most likely the heir to the King’s throne in Cleveland and has been the most talented teammate James has had not named Dwyane Wade without question.
His ability to handle the ball, shoot with range and touch, his post-up ability and footwork and his desire to learn have made him one of the top eight point guards in the NBA (Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, James Harden, Isaiah Thomas and John Wall are the others).
Irving’s ability to dominate as a scorer, due to a special ability to get anywhere he wants on the court and put the ball in the hoop in a variety of ways, is not to be understated. As a scorer, he’s put up more regular season points than Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas and Russell Westbrook did before they turned 24-years-old. He currently has 76 more points than Thomas did in 12 fewer games.
He has 400 more points than Westbrook did in 14 fewer games.
That’s special.
That’s why it’s not surprising that the Cavs, who had their highest point total in a playoff game in franchise history (125) last night, just matched this Lakers record.
Now when she says Lakers, Ms. Lawrence is talking about the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers of the BAA (Basketball Association of America) who would eventually become the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, relocating after the 1959-1960 season.
In 1948-1949, they won six straight before losing to the Washington Capitols in Game 3 of the 1949 BAA Finals. They would eventually win the championship.
In 1949-1950, their first year in the NBA, the Lakers went 8-0 before losing to the Syracuse Nationals in Game 2 of the 1950 NBA Finals.
They won it all then too.
These Lakers played in a different era, where there were only 12 teams, there was no Eastern and Western conference and instead of three best-of-7 playoff rounds leading to the championship series there were multiple best-of-three divisional rounds leading to a championship series.
That should give you a good idea of how long it’s been since a team started off 6-0 in multiple postseasons.
Related Story: Cavs-Raptors: What we learned from Game 2
What do you think of the Cleveland Cavaliers matching this Lakers record? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.
*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com