NBA Playoffs 2018: 5 Reasons why the Cleveland Cavaliers will sail through the East

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the made the past 3 NBA Finals. In each of their last 3 postseason runs, they've run through the Eastern Conference Playoffs like a Ferrari racing against Toyotas, and have been way ahead of the pack on both ends of the court.

While their regular season record this season could be a lot more impressive than it currently stands, most experts have predicted the Cavaliers to make the NBA Finals once again. With some good fortune going their way late into this regular season campaign (which we will talk about a little later), the Cavaliers are now prohibitive favorites to make a 4th straight appearance in the NBA Finals.

Here are the top 5 reasons why:

#5 The Boston Celtics are hobbled by injuries

Kyrie Irving has been the Celtics' offensive hub this season

The Boston Celtics' chances of making an NBA Finals were dealt a possibly fatal blow yesterday when it was announced that Kyrie Irving would miss the rest of the season due to a surgery to remove nails from his left knee, which were placed in the summer of 2015 but are now causing him pain and soreness.

It is not a stretch to say that Kyrie is their get-out-of-jail card. Irving was excellent as ever this season for the Celtics, who led the Eastern Conference standings for most of the season with him fit and firing at a 24.6 points per game rate. Kyrie Irving is the best clutch player in the NBA: there is no one even close to matching his repertoire of moves in isolation play, and he is deadly from every range.

With Gordon Hayward also missing the entire regular season as well as the postseason in all probability, the Celtics' best player is now Al Horford, who can only do so much as a scorer to keep the Celtics apace with Cleveland in a possible second-round matchup. If at all the Celtics now make it out of the first round, they will be outmatched on the offensive end even if they keep up their defensive intensity, which has led to them leading the league in defensive efficiency.

#4 The Toronto Raptors are not a great playoff team

DeRozan reacts to the Raptors' hard-fought

first round

win over the Buck in the 2017 playoffs

While the Raptors have drastically changed their offensive schemes this season and should be a much tougher matchup for the Cavaliers this time around (if they do face each other), they have historically not been able to replicate their regular season success in the postseason.

They got beaten by the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals 4-2 in 2015-16 and swept in the Semifinals last season. DeMar DeRozan's scoring average dipped from 27.3 points per game on 46.7% shooting in the regular season to 22.4 points per game on 43.4% shooting in 10 playoff games last year. Kyle Lowry underwent a similarly underwhelming postseason, going from 22.4 points per game with a 40.1% 3-point percentage to 15.8 points per game on 34.1% from downtown.

The Cavaliers have the mental edge in this possible matchup. Based on the evidence from their last two matchups this regular season, they are favorites in any prospective series between these two teams.

#3 The Philadelphia 76ers lack playoff experience

Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid

The Philadelphia 76ers' notorious 'Process' of rebuilding through the draft has paid off dividends ahead of schedule, as they find themselves at the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference standings and could jump to 3rd with a win over the Cavaliers in their next game.

However, while this team does not lack for experience given the fact that they have the likes of Marco Belinelli, JJ Reddick, and Robert Covington, they are still young, and apart from Belinelli none of these players have been part of a team that has found great playoff success. They are definitely on the rise, but in playoff basketball, experience counts for a lot more than it does in the regular season.

In a prospective matchup with the Cavaliers, the 76ers would not be favorites going into the series given this factor.

#2 The Cleveland Cavaliers have an easy playoff bracket

Given their recent wins over the Wizards and the Raptors, and the fact that the Cavaliers face a Sixers team without Joel Embiid up next, they are prohibitive favorites to stay at the 3rd seed, which is where they've been for most of the season. If the Eastern Conference standings remain as they are today till 12th April, i.e, the end of the regular season, the Cavaliers will face the Heat in a first-round matchup.

Vaunted as the Miami Heat squad is as a potential banana skin for any playoff team given their overall excellence and roster depth, they are no match for the Cavaliers, who should take care of them in 5-6 games. Post this, the Cavs will face the victor of a Celtics-Wizards matchup, and will still be heavily favored against both.

Assuming that they reach the Conference Finals, they will be facing either a Sixers team or the Toronto Raptors in all probability, and for the reasons mentioned before this slide, they hold the edge over both opponents.

#1 LeBron James in playoff mode makes the Cavaliers the best playoff team in the East

LeBron James throws it down over a hapless Golden State interior defense

How many players in the history of basketball have been able to coast to a 2nd place finish in the MVP voting? How many players in the history of the NBA have been capable of unlocking a new gear in the playoffs and become even better their regular season selves? How many of them have been as dominant, durable and unstoppable as LeBron has been over the last 8 years?

I struggle to find answers to any of those questions, other than Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal. And that is the challenge that awaits playoff teams in the Eastern Conference.

LeBron averaged 32.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.3 blocks in the playoffs last year. This includes an unprecedented triple-double statline in the Finals. The Conference this season is no stronger than it was last year given all the aforementioned points, so there is no reason why LeBron will have a path any tougher than he did last year.

Expect the Beast in the East to go beasting on his way to the Finals.