The playoffs are starting — finally.
Haven’t Cavaliers fans been waiting for this since May 30, 2009, when the Cavs were booted out of the Eastern Conference finals in Orlando?
Yes, the NBA’s best regular-season record (61-21) is nice, but its only significance is ensuring home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
More than a few Northeast Ohio sports fans are afraid that although this Cavs team seems better equipped to win a title than any other in the 40-year history of the franchise — well, something could go wrong.
This is Cleveland sports. Something always goes wrong.
Shaquille O’Neal will hurt his thumb … again.
Mo Williams will lose his shooting touch … again.
Coach Mike Brown will have some strange strategy in which LeBron James isn’t defending the other team’s top scorer … again.
Name your poison. There’s a reason no major Cleveland franchise has won a title since the 1964 Browns, and it’s not just talent.
That’s why some fans love and hate the playoffs at the same time. It’s almost as if they want to sit in front of their TVs with eyes closed, fingers in their ears — not wanting to know what happens but unwilling to ignore it.
The Cavs have the best team in the Eastern Conference, if not the NBA. They have James, who should win his second Most Valuable Player award. A superstar doesn’t guarantee a championship, but virtually every NBA champion has a superstar.
Remember when the fine Cavs teams of the late 1980s and early ’90s continually were frustrated in the playoffs by Michael Jordan and the Bulls? Remember the terror felt by Cavs fans at the end of those games when Jordan had the ball? Remember when you hated No. 23?
That’s how fans in other cities feel when their team faces the Cavs and James.
The national spotlight is on the Cavs because of James and O’Neal. Network TV believes this team is ready for prime time, and Cavs fans should be ready to embrace every game.
Odds are, Northeast Ohio never has seen a postseason like what begins Saturday when the Cavs face the Bulls. Only this time, it’s the Cavs with a superstar wearing No. 23.
Terry Pluto is a columnist for the Plain Dealer.
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