As the defending NBA champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers know they are going to get their opponent’s best shot every night, and over the last week, that best effort was good enough for the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls to get victories.
But after two blow-out losses and a close setback in Chicago, the Cavaliers righted the ship and fought their way to a 116-112 win over the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre, a place where Cleveland won just once during the 2015-2016 season, and that was the clinching game of the Eastern Conference Finals last May.
“Just scrapping out there, understanding that we have to play with an edge,” Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving said. “We have to compete on every possession. Nothing is going to be easy for us. We hang our hat on being a great defensive team, and us making the multiple efforts was the difference in the game.
“We came out and put the onus on competing at a higher level than even we’ve been competing at. There’s a lot of things that were fixable over the course of our three losses, and I think that we did a great job of maintaining our consistency on the defensive end, which was the difference.”
Although the Cavaliers expect every game to be a struggle because of the championship they won last season, Irving does not feel like there is “any extra pressure” on him or the team during the regular season.
“I just think it’s a new-found, familiar feeling for us,” Irving said. “Coming into the season, it’s the first time for us. A lot of the guys in the locker room are first-time champions, so coming into the regular season, understanding what we’ve been through last year and coming into this year, it’s a big difference, so it just takes a while to settle into that.
“There’s no time for lax play or lax effort on the defensive end or offensive end because guys are coming at us. Some guys in this league have had their best games against us, so you see it as a pattern. Teams come in, they beat us, and then, they go into another game and you see the difference. It’s just the level of play is a lot higher against us. If we just maintain our mental focus, we’ll be fine.”
With the win on Monday night, the Cavaliers clinched the regular-season series against the Raptors, a point that was not lost on Toronto players. However, Irving is not worried about what is said prior to or following games.
Instead, Irving is focused on doing what is necessary to win in the regular season, while at the same time, preparing for another long playoff run.
“It’s competition,” Irving said. “It’s just teams really just playing at a high level. You can see the difference between the regular season and playoffs. The disparity is unbelievable.
“You just want to have that consistent mindset and differentiate between the regular season and the playoffs.”
