Cleveland Cavaliers: Why History Suggests They’ll Win The East

The NBA playoffs have been a tale of two conferences for the better part of a decade now. LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers have no problem with it.

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Listen, as a basketball fan, I know you want so desperately to think your sport at the professional level showcases a postseason product that allows success to be thrown up for grabs.

I know you try to convince yourself all 16 playoff teams have that small chance (as minute as it might be), to steal the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2015.

Trust me, I understand. I try to convince myself too.

You start off with a team that deserved nothing. Let’s call them the Brooklyn Nets for example.

You then decide to come up with deep-seeded theories and “what if’s.” With Brook Lopez finishing the season strong, your mind runs even wilder.

You say: “with Lopez playing on the low block like this, complemented by the closer that is Joe Johnson, the Nets can suddenly catch fire and make that run to the NBA Finals.”

But then, you realize you’re a smart basketball fan. You suddenly realize, this is the NBA.

It’s actually funny.

Because of the multitude of playoff specific questions surrounding the Atlanta Hawks, the possibility that the Pacers give them a long series is most definitely real. Nonetheless, there is no magic in the world powerful enough for the Pacers to make a run to championship glory.

This is a league that has only seen 18 champions in league history; has seen the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics win 33 championships; and the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs add another 11 on top of that.

So, the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls and Spurs have collected 44 of the 68 total titles.

That’s just plain absurd, and recent history hasn’t changed anything, which takes us to LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers.

Yeah, while the Cavs have never experienced the sweet feeling of being named champions, LeBron has. In fact, he’s now on a mission to get to his ridiculous fifth straight NBA Finals with his Cavs as the No. 2 seeded East squad.

How will he not get there based on the current state of this Eastern Conference?

There’s no question the Spurs are now creeping up as the favorites in the West. Still, at least the Western Conference playoffs will be fun. There aren’t any terrible teams out there and us saps on along the Atlantic Ocean will have some late night in the coming two months.

The East features the same sad story — one or two contenders with a bunch of pathetic losers. They are literally losers (records under .500).

Both the No. 7 seeded Celtics and No. 8 seeded Nets are heading into the tournament with losing records. To add more laughter onto the conversation is the fact that the No. 6 seeded Milwaukee Bucks are safely in with a .500 record.

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So, at this point you’re probably saying to yourself, “I get it. I understand the playoff history of the NBA isn’t kind to underwhelming favorites.”

Well, how about a little more evidence to shove in your face?

There hasn’t been a No. 3-seeded team to make the finals since the 2010-11 Mavericks. Actually, out of the past 30 NBA Finals teams (15 seasons worth dating back to the 1999-2000 season), only seven teams who weren’t seeded in the top two of their respective conference found their way to the finals.

This takes us back to the 1998-99 season that saw the No. 8 seeded New York Knicks travel on a magical run to win the East. Of course — throwing the cold water onto the party — that was the lockout-shortened season. New York was in actuality better than an eighth seed.

Let’s recap.

LeBron, the best player on the face of the Earth, has won four straight Eastern Conference championships; only seven times in the past 15 years has a No. 3 seed or worse made an NBA Finals; the East is still terrible; anybody on the Bulls can drop with an injury at any time; and to top it off, the No. 1 seeded Atlanta Hawks come with a number of playoff specific question marks such as “who will take the big shot?”

How in the world can LeBron and the Cavs lose in these Eastern playoffs?

Furthermore, until I see somebody derail LeBron and the Spurs, expect those two titans to find their way to the end yet again.

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