INDEPENDENCE: I see no reason the defending champion Cavaliers can’t make it back to the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year.
But I see several things that will impede their chances if not improved.
In a perfect world, the Cavs would be playing their best going into Saturday’s 3 p.m. first-round playoff opener against the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena. But as Andrew Bogut’s 58 seconds as a Cavalier proved, normal fled Northeast Ohio this fall and never returned.
Their hearts and their bodies have been challenged. Channing Frye lost both his parents in the span of a month.