NBA – The chances of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the potential of the New York Knicks: the 5 big questions of the Playoffs in the East

The riders' season gives absolutely all the reasons to think that the Ohio franchise is legitimately in a position to win, for the first time without having Lebron James in its workforce. 64 victories, two series of 15 consecutive successes, historical performances on both sides of the field … And yet, it remains difficult to imagine Donovan Mitchell and his teammates raise the trophy in June.

Already because despite all the talent of this same Mitchell, the Cavs do not have one of the five best players in the world in their ranks. This is the very first ingredient when it comes to comparing the previous winners for more than half a century: almost all were led by one of the brightest individuals in the league. Mitchell is not so far from it, and he has already proven himself in the playoffs, but he has also shown his limits to a certain stage of the competition (no qualification beyond the second round). Darius Garland and him are both a little small and likely to be targeted by opposing attacks. Their external address – in clear decline for more than a month – will be decisive to compensate for their flaws. And overall, the group still lacks a little experience.

The Massachusetts franchise did not even need to play at full power to finish sacred last year. The Celtics dominated the end -to -end season, until the title, with only 7 matches played by Kristaps Porzingis in Playoffs (including 3 on one leg in the finals). That is to say if they had room. The formula of success is still the same today and Boston is just out of a season at 61 victories, finally barely 3 less than Cleveland, without having given the impression of forcing. This team is in excellent position to become the first to succeed in double since the Warriors in 2018.

Except that the gap has probably shrunk. At least with the Massive Armadas of the West and perhaps even to the east, with the riders. The Celtics will need to stay healthy to have a chance to win again. This is true for all the other contenders, of course, but not all franchises come out of such a long season. The body of Porzingis (42 matches this season) is dropping regularly. Jrue Holiday (62) also experienced his share of seeds. Jaylen Brown (63) would regularly receive knee injections to hold the shock. Al Horford (60) celebrated its 38th birthday. They are all major players likely to accuse the blow in the coming weeks. Without one or more of them, the quest for a new ring would be very, very strongly compromised.

If the vagueness persists on the state of health of Damian Lillard after the discovery of a deep venous thrombosis at the level of the calf of the All-Star leader, it would already be acquired that the latter will miss the start of the playoffs. Maybe even the whole series against Indiana. Milwaukee evolves without him mid-March and the Bucks have also found a new balance without him. They ended up the seamless season, with 8 consecutive victories. They even have reasons to approach the duel against the Pacers in an optimistic way since they won 3 of the 4 clashes between the two teams this season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the only superstar in the roster in the absence of Lillard but it is in any case the group's locomotive. The Greek is at the top of its art and its level of play is absolutely exceptional: 30 points and 12 rebounds on average in the season or 12 assists per match on the final series of Milwaukee. Around him, 9 players shot between 35 and 55% three-point success in the last 8 games won. Including Ryan Rollins, a leader obviously much less strong than Lillard but solid in defense and capable of embarrassing Tyrese Haliburton. The Bucks will not go far without their second All-Star but they can believe in their chances at the start of the competition.

Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Og Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns played 940 minutes together this season. In just 48 games. It is more than 200 minutes more than any other five major. 7 of the 10 combinations of 3 most used players in the NBA this season concern Knicks. Tom Thibodeau has once again pulled on the rope of his frames. On the one hand, it allowed its best elements to quickly develop alchemy by creating automatisms.

On the other, this team will probably arrive more tired than all the others. For example, Brunson injured an ankle at the end of the season and it is possible that he or another New York star will end up undergoing. The other worrying point is to wonder if this team has not already reached its ceiling. What margin is she left when she focused mainly on her five best basketball players throughout the season? What secret boot? The other teams had all year round to analyze on a (very) large sample the strengths and weaknesses of the Knicks. It is certainly not in playoffs that Thibodeau will suddenly trust his men on the bench …

Detroit is the story of the season. The pistons finally took the head of the water after five years spent in the depths – the abyss itself – of the Eastern Conference. They went from 14 to 44 victories from one year to the next, qualifying at the same time for the playoffs. It's strong. And it's nice to find a cult franchise at this level of competition. The Knicks are now standing against Cade Cunningham and its partners.

The New York team attacked the season among the candidates for the title following the arrivals of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges and she held her rank by winning 51 victories. But it is not without shortcomings. She notably presents defensive weaknesses on her axis 1-5, that of her two offensive leaders Jalen Brunson and Towns. The Knicks collect for example more than 114 points out of 100 possessions with its two best players on the field. The equivalent of the 18th NBA defense. It is a flaw to exploit, mainly on Pick-And-Roll. But who to do it in Detroit beyond Cunningham? Pistons have several quality veterans to put points, but they are almost only based on their young superstar to create offsets. Either the first choice of the Draft 2021 comes out of the first incredible playoffs, or its team puts fully on the transition game, but otherwise it may be far too light for this year.