The Boston Celtics cannot pay attention the the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers right now
The Boston Celtics currently sit 7.5 games above a Cleveland Cavaliers team that looks to be in turmoil. There is all kinds of talk around the media about players calling each other out. Who knows how much of this can be trusted, but the Cavaliers clearly are not playing their best, and the number one seed looks like a distant hope at this point.
The defense of the Cavaliers is clearly a problem that is not going away, and there have been a lot more chemistry issues than expected on the offensive end. Jae Crowder has not quite worked out as well as many expected, and Isaiah Thomas still needs more time before he can get back to his All-Star form.
It no longer feels like they can just flip a switch and will automatically become a different beast in the playoffs, because it has been a long time since any LeBron James team has struggled like this. When you take into account that James has been in MVP form and playing one of the best seasons of his career, and it the Cavaliers look more vulnerable than ever.
Taking that all into account, the Celtics cannot treat the Cavaliers as if they are some struggling team. Firstly, this is not the first time the Cavaliers have struggled this season. When the Celtics went on their 16 game winning streak, they went on a stretch where they lost six out of eight game. This recent stretch is more concerning and has been going on for a longer time, but this is not the Cavaliers we will be seeing all season long.
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Keep in mind, this is a team that has all kinds of new faces, and potentially the second biggest piece just returned. It is no secret that you need to figure out a few more things on defense with a player as undersized as Thomas, and they clearly have not figured everything out.
It is difficult to have much confidence in Tyronn Lue’s ability to get all these pieces to work together, but it is not as hard to expect James to figure out what he needs to do to get everything working properly. There is still too much time for a team this talented to figure things out, to just disregard them at this point.
It is hard to imagine James being an underdog in any situation, and you are just hurting yourself if you treat him that way. The Celtics have won the regular season battle before, and even if they are a lot more talented now, and the Cavaliers have not been nearly as good, James has been there too many times before to take anything for granted.
You cannot expect the Cavaliers to continue to be this bad all season long, and you still cannot underestimate how much James can make up for in the playoffs. A lot of what is happening now can be figuring things out. When playoff time comes around, you have to expect the most difficult matchup possible any time you are going against James.
The Celtics also know they need to be focused on themselves. It might be a lot of fun to think about the Celtics’ chances of beating this version of the Cavaliers come playoff time, but that could just get in the way of developing the way they need to.
The Celtics cannot be thinking about how good the Cavaliers are going to be when they play them, because they really will not know how good this team will be. At this point, the Celtics need to get more out of their regular season than just the number one seed.
Even if the Cavaliers are struggling, the Celtics need to get better in a lot of ways to be confident in their ability to get to the Finals. They need to be more consistent, and they still need to get everyone functioning properly on offense.
It is impossible not to notice what is happening to the Cavaliers, but all that can be is a distraction. The Celtics should not be comparing themselves to every version of the Cavaliers we see, because they are going to go through a lot more ups and downs before the regular season is over.
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The Celtics need to ficus on getting their eight straight win, and taking every advantage from the fact that they are at full health, and have the freshest legs in the NBA.