2010 NBA Playoffs: Can the Cleveland Cavaliers Vanquish Last Season's Demons?

The Cleveland Cavaliers will finish this NBA regular season in the same manner as 2009, but I'm sure the Cleveland faithful are expecting a different postseason ending than the one they experienced last year.

The Cavaliers' conquest in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals was a forgettable ending to what was one of the better regular seasons in Cavaliers' history, and that defeat helped set the stage for this year.

Cleveland learned their lessons from that loss to the Orlando Magic, and in the offseason they began to re-shape their roster in order to return to that same stage with success.

The Cavaliers signed Shaquille O'Neal to act as a deterrent to Dwight Howard, and they added athleticism and energy with players like Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon.

Cleveland may have scored a coup when they were able to steal Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards for absolutely nothing, and he gives the Cavaliers an accomplished scoring threat to play alongside LeBron James.

The Cavaliers have size, speed, athleticism, depth, and the league's most complete player in James, plus they excel on the defensive end which is a must in the physical Eastern Conference.

All signs point to the Cavaliers as the favorites to win their first NBA championship, but even though Cleveland fans have faith in this year's version of the team, the specter of last season's collapse still hangs over the franchise.

As I noted, the Cavaliers have addressed the issues which doomed them in last season's playoffs, but you never will know how the team will respond until the games actually start.

There is more pressure surrounding the Cavaliers than any other contending team in the NBA, and how Cleveland fares this postseason could very well determine the course of their future.

The fate of the franchise rests in the free agency decision of James, and anything short of a championship may compel him to seek his fortune in other pastures besides Cleveland.

It's no secret that James' teammates let him down in last season's playoffs by failing to show up at the most crucial time, and a repeat performance this year could be the difference between James staying in Cleveland.

Remember, James had a spectacular series against the Magic where he averaged 38 points per game to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists, but his teammates failed to reciprocate.

Delonte West was the only Cavalier who made contributions which could be deemed significant, while James' side-kick Mo Williams spent much of his postseason fading into obscurity.

With the arrival of Jamison less emphasis is placed on Williams to share the scoring load, and after gaining a year of experience he should be more settled once the postseason begins.

On paper the Cavaliers have the league's most complete team, and in real life they backed that up by storming to the NBA's best regular season record for a second consecutive year.

But championships are not won in the regular season, and if anyone understands that concept, it's the Cavaliers who were forced to watch the Magic lose in the Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers and dream of what could have been.

The only good thing about losing in the postseason is the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and use that knowledge in preparation for the next season's challenge.

The Cavaliers have been afforded that opportunity and they appear to have learned from their mistakes, and they get a chance to prove how far they have come beginning this weekend in the playoffs.