The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals about a month ago, and although it may seem like the focus is on next season, Kyrie Irving is still talking about those finals. In an interview on The Big Podcast with Shaq Irving said that the Cavs would have "definitely won" if the team didn't suffer injuries.
The injuries Irving is referring to are the ones to him and Kevin Love. Love dislocated his shoulder in the Cavaliers' first round series against the Boston Celtics, on a controversial play where he claimed Kelly Olynyk hurt him on purpose. Irving was playing banged up basically the entire postseason but was still able to go out there and produce for his team until overtime of game one in the finals. Irving later learned that he fractured his kneecap and would have to miss the rest of the series.
The Cavaliers went on to lose the series in six games, but Irving seems to think that if he and Love were both healthy and able to help out LeBron James, there would have been a different outcome.
"I feel like we definitely would have won an NBA championship if we had everyone healthy, but almost doesn't count," said Irving, according to NBC Sports.
In fairness to the Warriors, they were the best team in the league all season with 67 wins and had league MVP Stephen Curry, but you can't blame fans for wondering "what if?" in this situation.
The good news for Irving and the Cavaliers is that they should have basically their whole team back healthy next season. Irving's recovery time was said to be about four months. The team also re-signed Love and, although he hasn't re-signed yet, LeBron is a virtual lock to be back in Cleveland.
No matter what happened at the end of last season, a lot of the key guys on Cleveland got their first taste of the NBA Playoffs, which will certainly bode well for them next year. The Cavs are one of, if not the, favorites to win it all next year and, unless there are major injuries, it would be very surprising to not see them represent the east in the NBA Finals.
