2010 NBA Playoffs: Do the Cavaliers Have Enough Focus to Win It All?

Maybe it's just the Clevelander in me, but there is something eerily similar about the Playoff Cavaliers this year and the Playoff Cavaliers from last year.

The Cavaliers are the No. 1 seed in all of the playoffs, yet they are allowing the lowly Chicago Bulls to hang around in this series.

Yes, I understand that they are up 2-0 heading into game three tomorrow night in Chicago. 

I also realize that we have one of the best players in the game, LeBron James, who will not allow the Bulls to beat the Cavaliers.

My questions and concerns do not have anything to do with whether or not the Cavaliers will beat the Bulls, but rather how many rounds they can survive playing 1 on 5?

If LeBron James does not have an unconscious night shooting in game two, the Cleveland Cavaliers LOSE to Chicago at home.

And the reason they almost lost at home starts with a lack of focus that the team is currently experiencing.

Take a look at the video from games one and two, you will see a common theme in the play of the Cavaliers.  They look bored.

Maybe they are bored because they know that they can get by the Chicago Bulls without playing their A game, or maybe it's because after Derrick Rose the only threat on offense is "Wa-keem" Noah (have to give the Wa-keem credit to Mike Golic).

Regardless of what their reason is for being bored or not focused, the Cavaliers need to get their act together.

They should not be playing close games in round one.

The No. 1 team in the playoffs should be deflating the No. 8 seed (No. 16 overall), and squeezing the will out of them like a python.

The Bulls should not have hope, there should not be any opportunity for a second rate power forward, like Noah, to get under the Cavaliers' skin and put in a performance like he did on Monday night.

There are a multitude of people that you can put the blame on when it comes to a lack of focus right now.

The first person is the coach of the Cavaliers, Mike Brown.

He viewed the last two weeks of basketball as a "High-Level" practice, and has continued to rotate the hot players out of the Cavaliers line-up in order to "mesh" guys like Shaq and Jamison together.

With all due respect to Mike Brown, the playoffs are not a time for meshing.  And if he wants to get his players some rest, come at teams like the Chicago Bulls with the best line-up possible for the first three quarters of the game.  Because 36 minutes of having to match-up against the best the Cavaliers have to offer, and the Chicago Bulls will be gasping for air in the fourth.

The second person I would like to blame is LeBron James.

All season long the King has been about getting his teammates shots and developing guys like J.J Hickson.  And now the King is jacking up 19 footers because the Bulls "dared" him to.

Congratulations LeBron, you shot near 70% from the field in game two...It WON'T happen again.

History has proved this, so I hope that he does not fall in love with that jumper for the sake of the team.  LeBron needs to get back into the mode of attacking the basket and distributing the ball to his teammates when the Bulls go 5 on 1 against him.

Without confidence in his teammates, they will get cold come Boston, Orlando, or Atlanta.

The final person I would like to blame is Shaq.

I understand that he was hurt for the last two months of the season, and he has looked like a rejuvenated man in the beginning of games one and two, but his presence has ruined the "gel" that the Cavaliers had.

The line-up that featured Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, and J.J. Hickson was much more dynamic than the current one.

And not only is J.J. not starting, but he is not playing anything but garbage time in the playoffs, and you can thank Shaq's return for that one.

The team got a taste of what it was like to be dynamic and run the ball, now it has returned to the slow, rely on LeBron version of itself.

If the Cavaliers want to win an NBA championship this season they need to get focused as soon as possible.

Their lack of focus is not only creating defensive problems, as you could see in game two, but it is also creating unnecessary turnovers that were one of the big problems in game one of the series.

Teams like the Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic will not be able to be beaten if the Cavaliers do not play the team basketball that was at the center of their second consecutive 60 win season.

And if the Cavaliers cannot find a way to revert back to their regular season ways, they may not get the opportunity to game plan for the Western Conference champion.