During the preseason, the league announced the regular season schedule for the new season.
For the Cavaliers, they need to pay special attention to three of the games and two seemingly difficult schedules.
In the three games, the first is the home opener against the Celtics. Lin Yu will meet his old team again, and the Cavaliers, who no longer have the Big Three, will encounter the Big Three of the Celtics who have strengthened their role lineup in the new season. Whether they can win or not will be decided.
How eager are the Cavaliers to win the championship in the new season?
Then there is the NBA's latest proposed and hotly-hyped Halloween game. The game will be held on November 1st. The opponent is the Lakers and the venue is the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
In other words, after the Celtics play the opening game, the Cavaliers will have to rush to Los Angeles as soon as possible to stage a 23vs24 battle at the star-studded Staples Center.
After the opening game and the Halloween game, one of the two difficult schedules has appeared. The Cavaliers will start with the Lakers and embark on their first road trip in the Western Conference.
After playing the Lakers, they will have a day off and then face the Clippers.
Then take another day off and challenge the Warriors and the King back to back.
Then another day off, another back-to-back challenge to the Jazz and Nuggets...
The rather devilish schedule at the beginning of this season is a big test for the Cavaliers.
"If we encounter Kobe in full form in the first game, and then get completely beaten by the Celtics' Big Three in the second game... then we will most likely be greeted by a double-header... followed by a series of back-to-back games.
And the road schedule, we're probably going to lose most of those games, and then... early in the season, we're probably going to be in the lottery..."
After receiving the schedule, there was some discussion within the Cavaliers team. Anderson Varejao raised the worst possibility: a Cavaliers that has lost consecutive games at the beginning of the season may lose its reputation as the favorite to compete for the championship.
LeBron James shook his head immediately: "No, that's absolutely impossible, Anderson, don't think about things that are impossible."
Although LeBron James bluntly stated that it was impossible, after the regular season schedule was released, media reporters still believed that the Cavaliers' schedule at the beginning of the season was too devilish, and they were likely to suffer a serious blow.
Zach Lowe wrote in his preseason preview column -
"In the first game of the regular season, the Cavaliers without the Big Three will face the Celtics, who have continued to strengthen during the summer. Danny Ainge has been asked to step down by various Boston fan groups all summer, but in the end, this guy still helped the Celtics.
People have completed the reinforcement."
"The additions of Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown may strengthen the Celtics' weakest link, and the progress of young players such as Rondo and Tony Allen will also help.
The Big Three will reduce the pressure in some aspects, and the Celtics' defensive system will even become more mature. You know, defense always takes a long time to develop."
"What is certain is that the Celtics have become stronger in the new season, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, although everyone is saying that the Cavaliers in the preseason are very strong, but the preseason is just a preseason after all...honestly
It can be said that the Cavaliers' strength has obviously declined compared to last season, so in the first game of the season, the Cavaliers will face a difficult challenge, and they are likely to lose to the Celtics."
"Then comes the Halloween game. The Cavaliers are going to the road again to challenge the Lakers. In this game, they have to face only the Lakers led by Kobe Bryant and only Kobe Bryant. Their pressure will be much less. Maybe
We can win, but in competitive sports, who can be sure?"
"After that, their pressure will be extremely high, because they will face a devilish schedule that includes the Lakers and six consecutive games in the Western Conference. Their opponents include the Clippers led by Elton Brand, and they retain the core of the eight main players.
The Warriors in the lineup, the Kings led by Ron Artest, Mike Bibby and Brad Miller, the Nuggets with a golden pair of guns, and Deron Williams plus Carlos Boozer.
A new duo of jazz…”
"The strength of the opponents in this devilish schedule is very balanced, neither strong nor weak. Coupled with the impact of back-to-back devilish schedules, the Cavaliers may face a situation where they lose some games that they should not lose..."
As for the predictions in ESPN's preseason special, Mark Stein and Chris Carter expressed their views.
"If the Cavaliers are in good form, they may get a record with a winning rate of more than 50%. If the Cavaliers are in bad form, it is not impossible to briefly enter the lottery zone at the beginning of the season. In short, they will not be like last year.
Like this season, we started leading the league."
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After two games at the beginning of the season and a devilish schedule, the only important game left in terms of game significance was the Christmas Day game.
The league obviously won't let the Cavaliers, the defending champion and home to two hot-talking stars, miss the most important game in the middle of every season.
This year, they arranged for the Cavaliers to face the San Antonio Spurs at home. This game is also called: a repeat of last season's finals.
The importance of this game is not only that it is the much-anticipated Christmas game, but also more important: after nearly two months of running-in, the Cavaliers will face a strong opponent from last season's finals. This game will further
It proves how strong the Cavaliers are in competing for the championship.
However, the Cavaliers will not pay attention to such a distant game for the time being.
In addition to the devilish schedule at the beginning of the season, the Cavaliers also have to face another devilish schedule, which is the so-called trip to the top three in Texas.
"This is a consecutive away schedule after the New Year. Starting from January 15th, we will first face the Memphis Grizzlies, then the Spurs, then the Mavericks, and finally the Rockets. Of course, the Rockets are not part of this consecutive away schedule.
In the last game, we will have to fight against the Hornets, SuperSonics and Trail Blazers, a wave of seven consecutive games in the Western Conference!"
Anderson Varejao cursed: "Mother-Fxxk! Does the guy in the league who arranges the schedule have a grudge against us? A string of away games at the beginning of the season, and another one at the beginning of the new year? Is this not giving us a way to survive?"
This time it was Lin Yu who stood up. Lin Yu in the locker room of the training hall smiled and shook his head. He stood up and patted Varejao: "Okay, Anderson, let's talk about the schedule after the New Year after the New Year. Don't worry."
We have considered it so far, now, what we have to do is to train hard, speed up the pace of running-in, and then use the best condition to get through this magical schedule before us."
He had been paying attention to LeBron James's expression, but James' face was expressionless, which made Lin Yu unable to judge whether "the smelly sneakers played a role."
But one thing is for sure. James has the same idea as Lin Yu. They both believe that the Cavaliers at this time need further adjustment to adapt to the high confrontation and fast pace after the start of the new season.