We said the Cleveland Cavaliers would win the NBA championship, and now we’re going to tell you how the Cavs can defeat the mighty Dallas Mavericks.
The Cleveland Cavaliers plodded into the NBA All-Star break at a pedestrian 31-22 – just 11-15 on the road.
Sure the Cavs are second in the NBA’s Eastern conference and are 20-7 at home, but Cleveland was supposed to be much better. In fact, many NBA experts picked the Cavs to play for the NBA championship this year.
After an inconsistent 53 games, though, coupled with the fact that the Dallas Mavericks appear unbeatable, one must wonder if the Cavs can win the Eastern Conference, and if so, how they could possibly defeat the remarkable Mavs, who entered the break at 44-9.
We still believe the Cleveland Cavaliers can win an NBA championship, even over Dallas, and here are four reasons we believe the Cavs can defeat Dallas in a seven-game playoff series.
- The LeBron James factor: The Cleveland Cavaliers start and end with LeBron James. King James has the ability, as he demonstrated in the 2006 NBA playoffs, to completely take over a game. LeBron has not been taking over games this year, but if he does, the Cavs will be a step closer to competing with a team like the Mavericks. When he's on top of his game, LeBron is unstoppable.
- Stopping MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki: The Cavs are one of the few NBA teams that can stop the Mavericks’ star, Dirk Nowitzki. With the ability to play fast with strong players, like Anderson Varejao and Drew Gooden, Cleveland can slow down Dallas’ sharpshooter, a major key to stopping the Mavs.
- Shutting down the Mavs’ second scoring option: Jason Terry gives Dallas a very good second scoring option, after Nowitzki. Although Cavs fans have been disappointed with Larry Hughes, since his arrival, Hughes could redeem himself if this NBA championship series came to fruition by slowing down Jason Terry. Hughes is a very good defender, who could match Terry step for step, taking away a major Dallas weapon and putting more pressure on Nowitzki.
- Intangibles: Cleveland has several intangibles that can put the over the top against Eastern Conference teams and against Dallas. These are Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic. Varejao is a 6-11 power forward, who plays like his lengthy hair is on fire. He is a fearsome rebounder, solid defender and a knee-burn waiting to happen. He’ll bring the kind of energy that Dallas doesn’t see very often. Ditto Sash Pavlovic. Mike Brown waited half a season to figure out that this athletic guard/forward is instant offense. Pavlovic can attack the basket and shoot the 3-pointer. Few teams have role players of this caliber – as evidenced before the trade deadline, when so many NBA teams inquired about trading for Pavlovic.
Okay, sure the Mavs look invincible. Consider the above recipe carefully, though, and ask yourself if the Cavs, led by LeBron James, don’t have as good a chance as anyone at defeating Dallas in seven games.
