If you were to tell either one of these teams’ general managers that the first round of the playoffs would feature the Cavaliers as the number one seed and the Pistons as the eighth, they would’ve laughed. There is a laughing matter in this series though, because the Cavaliers are too good and are going to bounce the Pistons from the playoffs, easily.
The Cavaliers have a lot of firepower that the Pistons cannot handle. For starters, LeBron James is a beast and can lead a team on his own and showed that in 2007 when he single handedly led the Cavs to the Finals. This team compared to the one in 2007 is playing at whole other level, and it is very tough to face the Cavaliers.
Another glaring difference is the talent that now surrounds LeBron James. Point guard Mo Williams was brought in to run the offense and provide consistent secondary scoring, and has done that beautifully. Zydrunas Ilgauskas has improved his game, but needs to be a bit tougher and not let players walk around him. Delonte West has thrived and excelled while playing alongside LeBron James.
The one final killer is the Cavaliers’ home record, which was 39-2, just one short of tying the NBA record of 40-1. The only two losses came against the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers, a game in which LeBron wasn’t dressed, and was meaningless.
The Cavaliers should easily open this series up 2-0 and promptly sweep the Pistons, or at least finish this series in 5 games. In basketball, the more rest you can get in the playoffs, the better, because a team can always practice, shoot around and stay loose, compared to other sports.
For the Pistons, if they could squeak out one game in this series, that should be considered an accomplishment and happily be eliminated. The only way the Pistons could even win this series is if they could somehow stop LeBron James, which at this point is humanly impossible.
The Pistons could somewhat match-up five on five versus the Cavaliers, but there is no stability to Detroit’s offense, and they dearly miss Chauncey Billups. Defensively the Pistons can hold their own, but as the series goes on, the Cavaliers will get tougher and finish the series as quickly as possible.
SERIES PREDICTION --> THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN THIS SERIES IN 4 OR 5 GAMES.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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