Cleveland Cavaliers Complete Sweep Of Pistons, What’s Next?

The Cleveland Cavaliers got the sweep of the Detroit Pistons on Sunday. What will they have to look forward to in the next round?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have swept the Detroit Pistons for the second time in seven years.

It was a fight until the final seconds. After a Kyrie Irving missed three-point shot, Reggie Jackson dribbled the ball down the court to an open lane in which he settled for a three-point attempt that was short. According to CBSSports.com, Jackson believed that he was fouled on the play by Irving and that the refs should be fined and suspended.

This is ironic since Jackson clearly leaned in on Irving and the foul calls seemed to favor the Pistons more than the Cavaliers for a majority of the game. Countless times, LeBron James got belted in the shoulder or face and nothing was called.

In Game 3, Andre Drummond hit James with a blatant elbow to the head, and according to Cavalier.247sports.com, the NBA won’t take any action against it. It was a bad decision by the NBA and an overall abysmal job done by the referees in the series.

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The best thing about this victory is the redemption the Cavaliers get against coach Stan Van Gundy. We all remember the

Orlando Magic

ruining the chance for a championship in 2009 at the hands of

,

and

. It still gives some fans nightmares seeing

matched up against Turkoglu.

But now that the series is over, what is next for the Cavaliers?

They will either face the Boston Celtics or Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Hawks currently lead the series 3-2 after winning 110-83 on Tuesday night. In the regular season, the Cavaliers were 3-0 against the Hawks and 2-1 against the Celtics.

Besides the last game, every matchup against the Celtics was close. Isaiah Thomas, who has been averaging 28 points per game this postseason, was big for Boston. He uses his size and quickness to get past opposing players, and isn’t afraid of contact in the lane.

Thomas shot the ball at .428 percent during the regular season. Even though it seems like he is shooting better, he is shooting .422 in the playoffs.

He single-handedly won the game for Boston last Friday, scoring a playoff career-high 42 points in the contest.

With Avery Bradley missing the last three games with a strained hamstring, most of the offensive output and dependency has came from Thomas.

Jonas Jerebko and Marcus Smart have contributed in some of the games, but they aren’t  consistent defensively or offensively to be relied upon.

I originally thought this would be the worst matchup for the Cavaliers if they were to meet, but with the injury to Bradley and the Celtics struggling to find scoring elsewhere consistently, it would be equal. James and Matthew Dellavedova would likely be on Thomas for most of the game and the potential matchup between J.R. Smith and Jae Crowder would be interesting.

In Game 4 of last year’s first-round series, Bradley missed a three-point attempt. As Smith and Crowder were battling for position to get the rebound, Smith backhand-punched Crowder, knocking him down. It also led to him suffering a leg injury which took him out of the game.

They met during the regular season, but it would mean more with a championship on the line. Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Love would also be an interesting story. I don’t think fans will ever forgive Olynyk for Love’s season-ending shoulder injury in last year’s playoffs and they shouldn’t. I don’t believe the Cavaliers would sweep them, but they would win the series in five games.

The Celtics could be one Carmelo Anthony or DeMarcus Cousins away from being a serious threat.

The Hawks are in prime position to win the series on Thursday.  They are the team that matches up the best with the Cavaliers. However, defensively they could cause an issue. According to NBA.com, the Hawks are ranked sixth in the postseason in total defense.

The Celtics are only making 39 percent of their shots against them when they are defended. The Cavaliers are currently ranked last in that category. Detroit made 48 percent of their shots when they were defended, and on some of them, they were wide open attempts.

Offensively, Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap have carried a majority of the load.  Teague is averaging 18 points per game, but has struggled from three-point range. He shot 40 percent from the perimeter during the regular season and is currently shooting 25 percent (5-for-20).

Millsap is averaging 18 points per game and is shooting better from three-point range than Teague at .286 percent.

He is also averaging 2.8 blocks per game, which isn’t bad for an undersized power forward at 6-foot-8. Kyle Korver has also contributed on the offensive side.

He’s averaging 11.5 points per game, and is shooting .406 from three-point range. With Bradley missing to help out on double-teams or switches, Korver has had an easier time getting open.

In Game 1, he only scored two points and went 0-for-7 from the perimeter.

Al Horford had two good performances in Game 1 and 2. Since then he has struggled. He is averaging 13.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game–2.5 more than what he averaged during the season at 7.3 rebounds per game. He is also averaging 3.0 blocks per game.

The Hawks are more of a complete team to me than the Celtics.

They rely on ball movement to get the easy shot. It’s basically a replica of what the San Antonio Spurs do since Mike Budenholzer was assistant coach there for 17 years. Everybody on the team is a three-point threat and with Millsap and Horford being two-dimensional players, it would be challenging for Tristan Thompson and Love to guard them.

Coach Tyronn Lue would likely go with his small lineups, which was successful against the Pistons. We could see James at center and Richard Jefferson at power forward just to be able to guard their bigs on the perimeter. Irving against Teague would be potentially the best matchup of Eastern Conference offensive point guards, but I think Irving would win the final battle.

That would leave Smith covering Korver which could be negative or positive. It all depends on if the shots are going down.

The Cavaliers swept the Hawks last postseason, but I think this would go six or seven games. Atlanta will want redemption for getting embarrassed, and show that the Demarre Carroll injury wasn’t the issue. The Cavaliers would win it in six.

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The Cavaliers will have their hands full with either team, but if they stick to their style, get rid of the tumultuous slow starts and keep up their defensive intensity, they should be just fine and one step closer to the NBA Finals.