Are the Cleveland Cavaliers This Good or Is the East That Bad?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have begun the postseason a perfect 10-0, just one win away from tying the NBA record of most consecutive wins to begin a postseason—an impressive accomplishment no matter how you frame it.

Still, critics have already pointed to the relatively low talent level of their Eastern Conference foes. The Cavs swept the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks rather easily, while Western Conference powerhouses like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs beat up on each other in the second round.

The Eastern Conference was praised for being much-improved this season. Are the Cavaliers disproving that theory, or is their unblemished start something to marvel at?

The East Improved, Right?

That was the narrative coming into the regular season.

The Cavs were once again going to be the cream of the crop, but teams all around them were supposedly getting better. The Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers and Pistons all made significant jumps in the standings, while assumed playoff-bound franchises like the Chicago Bulls (42-40) and Washington Wizards (41-41) couldn't even crack the top eight.

This was a stark contrast to the West, where the Dallas Mavericks (-0.3) and Memphis Grizzlies (-2.2) reached the postseason with a negative point differential. The West possessed the top three teams in plus/minus, but seven of the following nine teams hailed from the Eastern Conference.

"For the first time in many years, Eastern teams are piling up wins against the West. It is possible that a gradual conference shift has begun, or, at the very least, that the gap between the conferences is shrinking," wrote Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe earlier this year.

Traditionally, the West has clobbered the East in head-to-head matchups. Not this season.

"In 14 of the last 15 seasons, Western teams won the head-to-head series between the two," Himmelsbach wrote. "... Last season the West went 263-187 against the East, for a .584 winning percentage. The year before that, the tally was even more lopsided at 284-166 (.631)."

This season, the gap narrowed.

The East went 218-232 against the West, an especially impressive mark considering the Golden State Warriors' record-setting 73 wins and the NBA-worst 10-72 Philadelphia 76ers dragging down the East.

Six Eastern Conference teams totaled 48 or more wins, compared to four in the West. The West featured a pair of elite teams in Golden State and the 67-win San Antonio Spurs, but the East was the deeper and more balanced conference this season.

Nowhere was this more evident than the playoffs' opening round. The Nos. 6-8 seeds in the East (Hornets, Pacers, Pistons) managed six combined wins against the top three teams, while the West's counterparts (Mavericks, Grizzlies and Houston Rockets) pulled off just two.

So the Cavs Are Actually Good?

Yes, yes and more yes.

Cleveland is not only beating its solid competition; it's also doing so at historic levels. The Cavs set the record for most three-pointers in a game against the NBA's second-ranked defense (25 on May 5 vs. Atlanta), and they suddenly feature a downhill attack that's up 2-0 on the Raptors.

The Cavaliers hold a playoffs-best 116.9 offensive rating, more than 10 points higher than the one the Warriors posted in their championship run last year. As Neil Paine and Andrew Flowers of FiveThirtyEight.com wrote, Cleveland shouldn't be penalized for destroying its competition:

"But you can only beat the teams you play, and the Cavs haven’t just beaten them 10 straight times—they’ve made the Eastern Conference look like a high school tournament, embarrassing opponents in huge blowouts."

Only the Los Angeles Lakers of 1989 and 2001 won more games to open the playoffs (11) without suffering a loss than this Cavaliers crew. Even Michael Jordan's Bulls never began a postseason with such dominance.

Still, criticism lingers. Toronto, the No. 2 seed in the East that finished just a game behind Cleveland, has struggled all postseason. It went the maximum seven games in the first two rounds, and by now, the Raptors appear fatigued while facing a rested Cavaliers squad. If the Cavs were squeaking by, it would be right to question their accomplishments to this point. But a plus-13.4 net postseason rating and a combined 50-point advantage over the Raptors after two games are enough to give Cleveland its due.

92.3 The Fan radio host Ken Carman said the following in response to the Cavs' critics:

"

That's the narrative. An easy path through the East. They've won 10 games in a row. They have the No. 2 seed that does have talent. You have a max player there, DeMar DeRozan, who has no idea what he's doing, and you're beating the hell out of them every single night. I'm sick and tired of "Well, it's the East." I'm tired of it. Those are NBA teams, and you made them look like they didn't even want to be in the NIT.

"

The Cavaliers' average margin of victory of 13.4 this postseason would be impressive against any team in the league, much less the Nos. 8, 4 and 2 seeds in the conference. They haven't just been good; they've been historically great.

Given the scores, situations and much-improved East competition, this is the best we've seen an NBA team play in the postseason in over 30 years, noted Paine and Flowers:

"

Because the Cavs have beaten better teams by more points in the games that have mattered most — to the extent any game can really be considered pressure-packed when you sweep every series — Cleveland’s adjusted margin of victory in these playoffs is 19.8 points, giving them the most dominant start to the playoffs since 1984.

"

Of course, all these numbers mean nothing if the Cavaliers have a poor showing in the Finals.

Regardless of who it faces, Cleveland's play will largely dictate not only its success, but also the true measure of the entire Eastern Conference.

The Cavs played well against the West in the regular season, posting a higher winning percentage and going a combined 5-3 against the top four seeds. Cleveland actually enjoyed a better record against the Nos. 2, 4 and 8 seeds in the West than it did against its East opponents this year.

If the Cavaliers go on to win the Finals, no one will dare question the validity of their hot start. Should they stumble and bow out early, though, talk of their supposed weak competition will dominate headlines all summer.

Until then, judgment of the Eastern Conference is premature.

Greg Swartz is the Cleveland Cavaliers Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @CavsGregBR. Stats via Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.