The Cleveland Cavaliers have a strong case as the best team in the NBA.
Despite that, they aren’t the most covered team in the national media, probably not even close. That’s just how media markets work, but those in the know around the NBA are taking notice.
One of those who is paying attention is Nuggets and Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony. In a recent podcast appearance, ‘Melo broke it all down.
“People don’t want to believe in them because it’s Cleveland,” Anthony said. “If that exact f—ing team was in New York, it would be pandemonium.”
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Anthony’s fellow podcasters pushed back a bit, sticking with the narrative that the Cavs would have to show it in the playoffs for everyone to be true believers.
‘Melo didn’t like that, though. He relayed the mindset of a player in the Cavs’ situation.
“I am better than I was last year,” Anthony explained as to how the Cavs are thinking. “From that experience of us losing last year, I’ve gotten better. Mentally, physically, my game got better, I got smarter.
“I’m coming into this situation having learned from all the s— that we didn’t do. They exposed Cleveland last year. All the s— that they got exposed for, they worked on the whole offseason and in this season.
“This whole season, we’re preparing for Boston. Because of that, you see how locked in they are.”
Tough to sum it up better than that.
The Cavs are 2-2 against the Celtics this season and on a collision course for an epic Eastern Conference Finals showdown. In their final meeting of the regular season, the Cavs stormed back from 25-3 down to win.
Cleveland, through Friday night’s win over Memphis, is on a 16-game winning streak. They also started the season 15-0 and had a 12-game win streak in there, too.
Anthony, for one, is paying full attention.
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