The Playoffs Are Here

CLEVELAND — The time has finally come. The rumors, the twitter scandals, the highs and lows of the Cavs regular season is now irrelevant.

If the Cavs can win 16 more games without losing four in a seven game span, everything that was said, done and dwell’d upon during another successful regular season just does not matter.

Is it going to be easy? Of course not. Are the Cavs in a great position to exercise the demons of last season’s finals loss? You better believe it.

Cleveland goes into their first round series against Detroit about as healthy as you can hope for. Yes, Mo Williams is still having knee issues and Iman Shumpert may not be 100 percent.
That’s okay.

The Cavs should be able to get through the East without too much need for those two players.
Yes, Shumpert is definitely a valuable piece of the rotation and could be a key to a potential finals match up against either of the West’s powers.

Williams too, could have his big moments throughout a long playoff run.

Cleveland can survive without them though and give the pair adamant time to get fully healthy.

As for the other issues the Cavs are facing, they are, at best, first world problems.

Kevin Love isn’t averaging 20 and 10 right now, though he did finish the season very strong.
Kyrie Irving took 28 shots to score 35 points in his final game against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, though he did shoot 50% from the field.

Lebron James, well not much you can say there.

James has been on a tear of late, taking home yet another player of the month award to close the season.

He shot 82% from the field over his final ten games while average 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Lebron has also talked extensively about how he is feeling the best he has felt going into the playoffs in years.

That is a scary though for the opposing teams left in the playoffs.
The one problem I do believe can be a huge factor for the Cavs is the play of center Timofey Mozgov.
Mozgov never seemed to recover from off season surgery and he has looked uncomfortable on the court most of the season.
He was a key to the Cavs success last year and if he can regain some confidence and give the Cavs some quality minutes, his presence could be vital.

You know what you’re going to get from Tristan Thompson and Delly.

Another key factor for the Cavs is J.R. Smith.

When on, Smith is a weapon unmatched by pretty much any other shooting guard in the association.

The 30 year old sharp shooter can literally win your team a playoff game as he did against the Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

He can also be a huge part of losing a game, however, which he did in the finals.

If Smith keeps his head and contributes both when he shot is falling and when it is not, he very well could be the difference in how the Cavs season ends.

Starting with Detroit today, the Cavs will begin a journey to prove that a healthy Kyrie-James-Love big three can win on the biggest stage.

If health stays on their side, I for one say the long-standing and very, very well chronicled Cleveland sports championship drought will end about two months from now.

My prediction: Cavs beat Pistons in four, Hawks (would’ve been Celtics if not for Avery Bradley injury) in five, Heat in five and Spurs in seven.
Let the games begin.