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*Photo via AJC
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks faced off in the Eastern Conference Finals. It was not much of a series as the Cavs took care of business in a sweep of the Hawks. Here are five things we can take from the Eastern Conference Finals moving forward.
1) The Cavs can still compete without Kyrie and Love.
The Cavs played all four games without Kevin Love and they also played two games without point guard Kyrie Irving. Despite missing these two dynamic All-Stars, the Cavs were still able to sweep the number one seed in the East. The Cavs had their way with the Hawks winning two games by double-digits. Love also missed the whole series against the Bulls and Irving went out in Game 6 with an injured ankle and the Cavs still beat the Bulls in six.
2) LeBron is still the best player in the world.
LeBron nearly averaged a triple-double in all four games against the Hawks. LeBron averaged 30.25 points, 11 rebounds and 9.25 assists a game in this series. LeBron put up these numbers without Love and a hurt Irving. Lebron was the facilitator on offense and had his way with the Hawks. Game 3 was the defining moment for LeBron as he put up 37 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists in an overtime win to virtually put the series away. What LeBron did in the Eastern Conference Finals was amazing, the question is, can he continue this type of success against the Golden State Warriors?
3) The Cavs are a much deeper team than we think.
The Cavs swept the best team in the East without their second and third best players on the team. Irving played some, but he was clearly not the Irving we all know. In Game 1, J.R. Smith scored 28 points and accounted for all the Cavs bench points. The Cavs have key role players such as Tristan Thompson now starting for them with all the injuries the Cavs have sustained. The Cavs bench players are making the most of their opportunities and they are not disappointing, as the Cavs have only lost two games so far this entire postseason.
The Cavs had gotten hit by the injury bug, but they still have guys like Smith and Delevadova coming off the bench, showing just how deep this team really is.
4) The Eastern Conference is weaker than we thought.
The Eastern Conference has not produced contending teams the past few years like the West has and a complete sweep of the number one seed, shows that there was only one real team in the East. The Cavs were clearly the dominant team this season even though the Hawks won an Eastern Conference best 60 regular season games. The Cavs made the number one seed look like an eight seed in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs only threat was the Chicago Bulls and many people knew that the Bulls or Cavs would come out of the East. Whereas the Western Conference had seven teams that could have easily made the NBA Finals.
The defending Champion San Antonio Spurs would be licking their chops if they got to play a team such as the Brooklyn Nets or the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
5) All of the minutes are starting to catch up with LeBron.
In the past five years, no one has played more overall minutes than LeBron James. Last year he had to sit down for cramps against the Spurs in the finals and this year he missed over two weeks in the regular season. James is also dealing with an ankle injury down the stretch and he is starting to get fatigued at the end of games as we saw in Game 3 against the Hawks when James collapsed after the overtime win against the Hawks.
The biggest test is now in front of the Cavs. They will face the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals and the Warriors had the best record in the NBA this season. This is not the Celtics, Bulls or Hawks that the Cavs will be facing. It will be interesting to see is the Cavs can continue their dominating playoff run against the NBA’s best this season. If the Cavs can get Irving back to full health, that will be a huge help to the Cavs team. The NBA Finals tips off next Thursday, June 4th at 9:00 P.M. EST on ABC. We as sports fans, cannot wait for this matchup.