The Cavaliers Are Sabotaging The Eastern Conference Finals With Their Overwhelming Incompetence5/16/2018 Let's give credit where credit is due. The Boston Celtics, down their two most prominent offseason pickups, have looked great in taking commanding 2-0 lead over a team that rosters a multi-generational player who has maintained ownership of the Eastern Conference for so long that the damn trophy should be in his likeness. Between Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart, they have no shortage of dynamic young talent that is both coming of age on the biggest stage they've seen in their careers, as well as allowing an under-appreciated veteran like Al Horford to shine as the versatile leader he was brought in to be. There is undeniably a lot to like about the job that Brad Stevens has done in molding a depleted roster whose future, even outside of their top-tier talent, looks insanely bright. So why, exactly, did it feel as though I wasted my time as I gladly changed the channel as Game 2 reached its inevitable and long overdue conclusion? Well, let's put it this way, if I could mold my own apathy into a turd-shaped trophy, I would deliver that son of a bitch right to the doorstep of Tyronn Lue and a Cavaliers' team that is so hard to watch that their incompetence somehow overshadowed - with ease, mind you - a 42 point triple-double from the most entertaining athlete on the planet. If I had to offer a comparison, trying to enjoy the rivalry that exists between the Celtics and LeBron James was like trying to take in a beautiful sunset...as it shines a glow over the fumes emanating from the 11-player pileup (I'll spare Kevin Love, since no one else ever does) that the latter was towing along with him. For every praiseworthy offensive possession, the putrid defensive effort of a over-40 pick-up game that enabled it was equal but opposite in its effect on the game's watchability. Boston's comeback was cool, but whatever it was that Cleveland was doing in the second half was so indiscernible as professional basketball that you would have thought their head coach just got clunked in the head by a coconut before trying, and failing, to explain it...
If we are being totally honest with ourselves, Toronto deserves to have a finger pointed in their direction for hardly raising one in defense of a player that willed a team that has no business sweeping anyone to four straight victories. The recency bias of the Raptors' extinction somehow clouded our memories of the Cavaliers puttering past the Pacers, but boy is that rearview vision vivid with how awful they have been against the Celtics. So vivid, in fact, that it almost impossible to shift the gaze away from the obvious divide that exists between a collective that, somewhat predictably given their short tenure as such, is a "team" in uniform only. Cleveland doesn't even look like they care, and it's ruining what should be a solid showcase of the best player in the world versus the upstart team that's trying to take his conference crown.
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