The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to be the best team in the Eastern Conference during the next regular season, but they need more than that.
They are aiming to go all the way in the playoffs next year, and anything short of that will be viewed as an alarming disappointment.
Speaking on ESPN, Kendrick Perkins said the Cavaliers are the favorites in the East for 2025-26, which is obviously a good thing for this team.
But he said that even if they win 70 games, people won’t care because Cleveland absolutely needs a lot of success in the postseason in order to be celebrated.
“And they should be the favorites, right?” Perkins said of the Cavaliers. “And that’s why I said, unfortunately, whatever they do in the regular season, they could win 70 games; no one’s going to give a damn. They’re going to be– we’re going to evaluate them, what they do in the postseason– because, again, a Donovan Mitchell-led team has never been to a conference finals.”
This season is going to be do-or-die for the Cavaliers.
Will they be able to secure another stunning regular-season record?
And will they be able to then convert that into something special in the postseason?
The tough truth is that no matter what happens during the regular season, people are going to question if the Cavaliers have what it takes.
Because of the last few years, there will be doubt about this team until they claim a championship.
The stakes have never been more intense, but oddly enough, the expectations are both very high and also very low.
People think this team will do great things during the regular season, but they’re not so sure about what will happen after that.
According to Perkins, it is time for the Cavaliers to finally prove themselves.
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