5 Reasons The Cleveland Cavaliers Aren’t Locks To Win The East

3. A Tougher Path

Last year, the Cavaliers swept the Detroit Pistons in the first round, swept the Atlanta Hawks in the second round and downed the Toronto Raptors in six games — five of which were complete blowouts. By the time they got to the NBA Finals, they’d enjoyed plenty of time to rest their starters, and barely had to play their bench because of it.

Against a tougher Eastern Conference playoff field, the Cavs may not enjoy that same luxury on their path back to the championship round.

Assuming the Cavaliers hang on to their No. 1 seed, two of their possible first round opponents are the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks. Though neither one of those could knock off Cleveland in a seven-game series, they could at least make matters interesting, especially since both are playing better basketball than the Cavs right now.

The Bucks have won 10 of their last 12 games, and have a Giannis Antetokounmpo–Khris Middleton–Tony Snell trio to throw at LeBron. The Greek Freak could be ready for a coming-of-age moment in a head-to-head series with LeBron, and though he’d probably lose, he could at least make the opening series more competitive than last year’s sweep of Detroit.

As for the Heat, they’re one of the hottest teams in basketball, and probably the one first round opponent Cleveland would like to avoid. Miami has won 24 of its last 31 games since starting the season 11-30, coming together under Erik Spoelstra as a complete team that’s firing on all cylinders.

Star players win playoff series, but the Heat have multiple players who can beat opponents on any given night, from a resurgent Goran Dragic to a dominant Hassan Whiteside to Tyler Johnson and James Johnson off the bench. Though Dion Waiters‘ potential absence might deprive us of a revenge game or two, Miami has found a sustainable and potentially dangerous groove that the Cavaliers would rather not face that early in the playoffs.

Again, neither one of these teams would knock the Cavs out of the first round, but if the current seeding holds, Cleveland would face one of the NBA’s hottest teams out of the gate. Their reward in the second round? A potential semifinal series against the revamped Toronto Raptors.

There’s no question the Raptors need Kyle Lowry to quickly shake off the rust of his current wrist injury to truly contend, but their trade deadline moves to acquire Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker bolstered a defense that was already in the top 10.

DeMar DeRozan has upgraded his game like never before to make up for Lowry’s absence, Toronto’s role players have stepped up as well and assuming the current seeding holds, the Raptors at full strength would present a formidable challenge as early as the semis.

If the Raptors surpass the Washington Wizards for the No. 3 seed, Cleveland still isn’t off the hook, since John Wall‘s squad has been another one of the East’s hottest teams, winning 27 of their 39 games since the calendar flipped to 2017.

Wall is the kind of defensive-minded point guard who could hinder Kyrie Irving in a playoff series, Bradley Beal is playing the best basketball of his career, Otto Porter Jr. has become a three-point sniper and the Wizards’ starting five is one of the best in the league.

LeBron’s teams haven’t faced a potential second round matchup this harrowing in quite some time, and even if they’d be favored in a series against Toronto or Washington, the path back to the conference finals won’t be as cut and dry as it’s been in years past.