previous cleveland cavaliers veteran Richard Jefferson The team didn’t go all out during the 2016-17 regular season.
On a recent episode of the “Road Trippin'” podcast, Jefferson (at the 45:13 mark) talked about the difficulty of winning during the regular season and referenced an unexplained issue with the 2016-17 Cavaliers.
“What I mean is, we barely won 50 games. We were probably the best team in the league just because we were bullish,” Jefferson said. “That’s why I’m saying it’s hard to win games. It’s hard to win games. We had the best players in the world on our team, but without the cohesion, it’s one of the worst experiences you can have in sports.” It’s one.”
The Cavaliers finished that particular season with a 51-31 regular season record and were clearly focused on the postseason ahead. Proof of that can be seen in the fact that the Cavaliers are just 4-7 in his last 11 regular season contests.
But once the 2017 postseason began, the Cavaliers quickly flipped the switch and were able to sweep the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors respectively in the first two playoff series.
Game 3 of that Pacers series showed a Jekyll and Hyde-type performance that was arguably worse for some Cavaliers fans. In that contest, the Cavaliers trailed him 74-49 at halftime before waking him up to a 119-114 comeback victory.
That spectacular collapse by the Pacers blew a golden opportunity to halve the Cavaliers’ 2-0 advantage in the series. Instead, three days later, the Cavaliers defeated the Pacers.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics in five games, but lost to the Golden State Warriors in five games in the 2017 NBA Finals.
Jefferson offered no further insight into the issues plaguing the Cavaliers, but their status as defending NBA champions likely played a role.
That particular Cavaliers roster member was certainly well aware of his abilities and felt that coasting down the stretch when the postseason began wouldn’t hurt the team.
Possibility of former Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving It could be related to whatever problem exists. That’s because Jefferson’s comments led to the current debate. chaos Irving’s current team, the Brooklyn Nets, is involved.
Additionally, it was after the 2017 NBA Finals that Irving surprised the Cavaliers and fans. ask be traded. That request was granted when Irving was sent to the Celtics in August 2017 and later joined the Nets as a free agent.
What exactly happened may never be known to those unrelated to that Cavaliers team. After all, that memorable era resulted in the franchise’s only NBA title, so that might not matter.
