Kyrie Irving Says Cavaliers ‘Still The Team To Beat’ In The NBA

USA Today

The Cleveland Cavaliers returned to title-contending status last season with LeBron James deciding to leave the Miami Heat in NBA free agency. Cleveland went from an underachieving bottom feeder in the Eastern Conference to the arguably one of the top two or three teams in the NBA.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, the team suffered a few injuries that the team simply couldn’t bounce back from with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving both going down. Cleveland ultimately lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals in six games.

Despite a lot of rumors and speculation in Cleveland this season, the Cavaliers are expected to be a force in the East come playoff time once again. Cleveland is on pace to clinch the top seed in the conference with Irving believing they’re still the team to beat via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

“Everything surrounding our team is just crazy to think that we’re still in first place and we’re still the team to beat, honestly,” Irving said. “Regardless of what anybody else says of what we need and what we don’t need and what we need to get better at — us, internally, we know that we have to improve on a lot of things, but we’ve just got to handle business as professionals and continue to get better.”

At this point, the Cavaliers are the favorites to come out of the East with 2/5 odds, according to Sportsbook.ag. The Toronto Raptors (6/1) and Miami Heat (10/1) could pose major threats to the Cavaliers in their attempt to return to the NBA Finals, but Cleveland remains the safe bet with LeBron James leading the way.

As for odds to win it all, the Warriors continue to be favored and for good reason as they seem destined to finish the season with the best record in NBA history. Golden State is sporting 20/27 odds (via Sportsbook) followed by the San Antonio Spurs (11/4) and Cavaliers (4/1).