Kyrie Irving believes that the Cleveland Cavaliers are not only the team to beat in the Eastern Conference, but in the entire NBA.
The point guard revealed his confidence after Cleveland’s latest win – a 107-87 victory over the lowly Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, which pushed the leaders of the East to a 53-22 record.
Irving, who scored a modest 10 points in the contest, said afterwards: “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.
“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.”
Though the Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals last year, they lost in six games to the Golden State Warriors, who have been even better this season and are on pace to break the Chicago Bulls’ all-time win total of 72 in a season.
While the defending champions are undoubtedly considered the biggest contenders in the league, Irving said otherwise when asked whether Cleveland are the team to beat regardless of conference.
“I feel like we’re the team to beat,” he said. “I mean, honestly, it’s open season until we get into the playoffs, so I have a lot more confidence than I think anyone realises in our team and what’s going on in our locker room.”
LeBron James didn’t go out on a limb and make the same statement his team-mate did, but reiterated Irving’s confidence and said it aligns with the rest of the team.
“I think we’re all confident in our ability when we’re playing at a high level,” James said. “We want to continue to use the games to continue to get better as the postseason starts if we can and make a run at it.”
One thing the Cavaliers have going for them at the moment is their relatively good health, which wasn’t the case in the Finals against Golden State last season when both Irving and Kevin Love were out to injuries.