CLEVELAND – Rust or rest hasn’t been a concern for the Cleveland Cavaliers in
breezing to a 10-0 record against Indiana, Toronto and now Boston in their quest
to return to the Finals and repeat as NBA champions.
Now we’ll see about their fans.
While the Cavaliers have enjoyed, and put to good use the long gaps between each
of their playoff rounds, their fans have had to wait, patiently or otherwise.
Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavs’ downtown home, has been dark way more than it’s
been lit. And the thunderous, sometimes intimidating atmosphere generated in the
building has contributed to only four of their six victories so far.
Between Game 2 against the Pacers and the opener of the conference semifinals
against the Raptors, the Q went 13 days without firing up Humongotron, the
massive video scoreboard, on the Cavs’ behalf. From their Game 2 victory over
Toronto to Sunday’s Game 3 against the Celtics, another 17 days will have
passed.
And unless Boston surprises the NBA by winning not once but twice in the next
three games to force a return to The Land for Game 6, local fans will have wait
another two weeks after Tuesday’s Game 4 in these East finals to get the Golden
State Warriors to town for the Finals’ third (June 7) and fourth (June 9) games.
It’s almost as if the defending champions are playing peekaboo with their most
ardent supporters – except that’s just how the schedule has broken this spring.
A year ago, the Cavs had gaps of 11, 12 and 10 days between home games, slightly
shorter because they held the East’s No. 1 seed and opened every conference
series at The Q.
“It is going to be fun, and the crowd is certainly going to be excited and happy
to see us back,” center Tristan Thompson said after Cleveland went up 2-0
Friday.
The Cavaliers jumped on the Celtics early at TD Garden, taking away much of what
No. 1-seeded Boston had hoped would be a home-court advantage. Now, on top of
point guard and leading scorer Isaiah Thomas’ absence due to a right hip injury,
the Celtics won’t even have that.
The Cavs went 31-10 at The Q in the regular season, compared to 20-21 on the
road. So, there is something extra going on when they’re home.
“What stands out is our fans, obviously,” LeBron James said after his team’s
Sunday morning shootaround. “Our fans give us support. They give us excitement.
When you make a big play, they get excited just as much as we do. And sometimes
they carry us.
“So we just try to do what we can do to give them something to cheer about.”
And tide them over till the next time.
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here,
find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its
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