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Wake Me Up When..CLE plays their first playoff game. Their still mopping up on B Sided teams. I'm sure you guys welcome a challenge as well. That DET squad was one of the worst playoff teams ever. Prince was hurt, they were at odds with their coach, they were already on vacation. Geez now ATL is all hurt and broken, even worse. Is anyone outside of CLE watching these games?

I'd also like to hear who you guys think is your bigger foe ORL/BOS. Personally I'd think it would be the depleted BOS team...winners, experience, toughness, execution, great coach. They'd take 2 games from CLE I'd think, where ORL might take 1 maybe.

I watched that first CLE game I was shocked in a half court set LBJ was going 1 on 5 and the Hawks looked like mere cardboard cutouts. LBJ is the best athlete I've ever seen.

THX.

I think the bigger threat to the Cavs is Orlando. If their shooters are on, then it will be tough to stop them. We also don't have anyone who can matchup to Howard. I still think we would win, but it would be tougher than beating the Celtics IMO, especially without KG.

Orlando I guess..

Boston is cake now.. But, even if Boston was healthy, I think we would take them anyways.

Orlando would be much tougher IMO.

orlando would be tougher and if we meet up with the magic, i think we'll see a lot of stretches with lebron at the 4 and a combo of sasha/walter at the three...that would give us 5 guys (z, andy, dblock, ben and joe) to throw at howard

Orlando is obviously tougher....no one can take on Howard if he decides to start beasting.

We can sweep Boston. Too bad they have no chance against Orlando.

I don't really get why everyone thinks Orlando will be such a problem. Not saying they're not a good team or a much bigger challenge than DET or ATL, but they don't scare me. Here's why:
--they too often forget about Dwight Howard in crunch time. The Philly series is a great example. He became a rebounder, nothing more, while they passed the ball around the perimeter and shot 3s.
--their perimeter defense is inconsistent at best, leaky most of the time. They allow penetration readily, seemingly encouraging opponents to drive right to Howard. That's okay when the opponent doesn't have baseline shooters or bigs that can't catch and finish well. But the Cavs have both with Z, Varejao, Joe Smith, plus Lebron swooping in, Wally camped in the corner, Mo pulling up at the FT line and nailing jumpers all year.
--Cavs defense switches and pressures off the ball better than anyone has in a long time, esp. when West and Varejao are in the game. Boston plays pretty decent team defense, but the Cavs are a huge step up in quickness (save Rondo) and hands. All those kick-out 3s that have been undefended by BOS will have someone in their face against Cleveland. ORL will still make some to be sure, but I tihnk everyone is vastly underestimating the Cavs defensive intensity and prowess.
--we make our FTs and we know how to finish quarters.

I can't wait to see everyone jump on the Magic bandwagon and predict the Cavs demise, then we win in 6 as the Magic shoot under 35% on 3s and can't stop Mo Williams.

Actually I don't care what happened in the reg. season. Magic don't scare me at all but Boston is terrible. We can seriously sweep them, it'll be hilarious.

prekazi wrote:Actually I don't care what happened in the reg. season. Magic don't scare me at all but Boston is terrible. We can seriously sweep them, it'll be hilarious.

yeah i agree...orlando would be tougher because i dont think we would sweep them like we would with boston

BOS as has been said would be cupcake city.

ORL will be tough, I think we'd win our home games against them and pick up 1 in ORL - so prob 6 games. They are better than people give them credit for though.

I still rather play the celtics then the magic....

kenneth9265 wrote:I still rather play the celtics then the magic....

...and you just might still get that. Orlando's baseline defense, or lack thereof, kills them yet again.

Cleveland would probably sweep a depleted Boston club.

But as we saw in the playoffs last year, Boston probably beats Cleveland if healthy.

^^^-- I doubt that. Anyhow if Garnett would come back for our series I would rather play Orlando. Iceness brings up good points.

Cleveland sure is rolling right now. 8 double digit victories and no losses? That sure is something.

Gotta say though, I'd be a little concerned that your team has yet to be tested. The role players haven't had their confidence shook yet in a tough playoff loss. Haven't had to look themselves in the mirror yet. It'll be interesting to see how they react when they finally lose one in the ECF, especially with inexperienced guys like Mo and West playing vital roles.

No matter how good you are, that pendulum will always swing back eventually. What seperates the Men from the boys is how you react to the adversity.

Careful what you wish for, it may just come true...

Not worried... Especially with anyone left in the east...

We are going to sweep boston first and win the 1st 2 games @ the Q in the finals then well talk

ddubb wrote:Cleveland sure is rolling right now. 8 double digit victories and no losses? That sure is something.

Gotta say though, I'd be a little concerned that your team has yet to be tested. The role players haven't had their confidence shook yet in a tough playoff loss. Haven't had to look themselves in the mirror yet. It'll be interesting to see how they react when they finally lose one in the ECF, especially with inexperienced guys like Mo and West playing vital roles.

No matter how good you are, that pendulum will always swing back eventually. What seperates the Men from the boys is how you react to the adversity.

Careful what you wish for, it may just come true...

Not worried. The Cavs don't rely on offense, they are built to win on defense in the playoffs, that carries through in tight games even when you're offense falters. Assuming BOS advances, CLE will take them very seriously. There is no guarantee they drop a game in the ECF at all.

The Finals will come down to whether we can get our first 2 home games. If we can win BOTH of those games we have a shot against LA.

Boston will take a game, likely two, Orl be lucky if they took one from the Cavs, ORL is imploding. SVG is an idiot, and the players have lost faith in him, and they have no go to guy.