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Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 Reasons They’re The Current Title Favorites

By Gerald Bourguet

Feb 27, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) goes to the basket during the second half against the Milwaukee Bucks at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 27, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) goes to the basket during the second half against the Milwaukee Bucks at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Cleveland Cavaliers
Mar 1, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas (4) reacts during the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Boston Stood Pat

Standing pat at the 2017 NBA Trade Deadline was not the end of the world for Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics. They’ll get more chances to trade for Jimmy Butler or Paul George, possibly as soon as the 2017 NBA Draft when everyone knows where that valuable Brooklyn Nets pick will end up.

However, if the Celtics were planning on contending for another championship this season, their inability to land a game-changing superstar who would’ve bumped them into the upper echelon in the East limits their ceiling.

That might seem like a premature verdict since Boston got its best win of the season against the Cavs this past Wednesday, but that game was played with Kevin Love and J.R. Smith sidelined and Deron Williams and Derrick Williams playing crunch-time minutes. That probably won’t be the case in the playoffs.

Isaiah Thomas has been a fringe MVP candidate this year, averaging a career-best 29.4 points and 6.2 assists per game on .460/.380/.908 shooting splits. That gives Boston the league’s leading scorer in the fourth quarter, a perfect two-way fit in Al Horford, a 3-and-D wing in Jae Crowder, a defensive stud to slow down Kyrie Irving in Avery Bradley and a jack-of-all-trades gamer in Marcus Smart.

But without landing PG-13 or Butler, this team is still not good enough to top a fully healthy, fully engaged Cleveland Cavaliers side. The Cavs will have home-court advantage in a playoff series unless the Celtics can make up the three games that separate them from the No. 1 seed, and you can be guaranteed IT will have to play the best series of his life when the Cavs start sticking LeBron or Iman Shumpert on him to slow him down.

The Celtics didn’t need to make a hasty move and put all their assets to use at this year’s trade deadline, since they can sustain their success and maybe even build on it for the long-term with all those valuable draft picks and flexible contracts. But for the 2016-17 NBA season, being unable to make a blockbuster move limits their ceiling to No. 2 in the East.

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