NBA Finals appearances have become the expectation for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are cruising to their fourth consecutive appearance and third straight under coach Tryonn Lue. Lue, who has 128-77 regular season record as a head coach, told The Undefeated that “the regular season becomes boring.”
“I don’t think people understand how hard it is, how hard it is to win. And to get back to the Finals, it’s not easy. It’s tough. It’s a grueling season. When you get to the Finals so many times, the regular season becomes boring. It’s too long.”
The Cavaliers’ run to the Finals didn’t exactly come with ease this year — Cleveland was a 4-seed in the Eastern Conference and revamped its entire roster at the trade deadline. The Cavaliers needed seven games to defeat the Pacers and Celtics in the playoffs; however, they did sweep the 1-seed Raptors in the conference semifinals. Lue made note of how his squad overcame those struggles when speaking to The Undefeated:
“Mostly, just going through the whole season, and trades, and losing guys, gaining guys. We had some rough patches, some tough times. But sometimes it made us stronger. The season is so long now, it feels like everything runs together. The trades — [Dwyane] Wade, [Derrick] Rose, Isaiah [Thomas] — felt like a year or two years ago. It just seemed like the season is so long. We played an extra two months of basketball heading to our fourth straight NBA Finals. It was just a tough, hard road. I give the guys credit for staying the course and being resilient. … We worked so hard, and the odds were stacked against us. We got back to the Finals. It speaks volumes of the culture we tried to build around here in Cleveland.”
