The Cleveland Cavaliers had the best record in the Eastern Conference from start to finish this season.
They dominated coast-to-coast, beating both good and bad teams and even some of the best in the game.
However, even in spite of their stats-backed success, some still doubt they’re as good as the numbers suggest.
Perhaps more specifically, they don’t think they have what it takes to get the job done when it matters most.
That’s why coach Kenny Atkinson believes that their level of belief will be the most crucial thing and question to answer ahead of the playoffs:
“The question that needs to be answered with this team is if they have a belief level that’s at a championship level. Do you really believe you can beat Boston? Do you really believe you can beat Indiana? Do you really believe you can be a conference finalist? That’s the first step. Only going to answer that when we are faced with it. That’s probably the lingering question,” Atkinson said.
This same core has struggled against physical teams in the past.
They’ve also fallen short in the playoffs, and the narrative surrounding some of their players is that they’re not mentally tough enough.
Nevertheless, this is also something that small-market teams tend to deal with.
The media and the fans often overhype big-market teams and look down on those without a top-ten player.
We’ve seen multiple championship-winning teams go through growing pains and heartbreak before going all the way.
That might be the case with this group.
People used to talk the same way about the Golden State Warriors before they hired Steve Kerr, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean things will be just like that with Kenny Atkinson replacing J.B. Bickerstaff, it wouldn’t be unprecedented.
The talent is there, and they’ve shown that they can beat anybody.
Now, they just have to believe they can do it.
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