Cleveland Cavaliers Lead Eastern Conference at 44-10

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00:00JYU highlighted the Cleveland Cavaliers, a 9-1 price, a 44-10 record for Cleveland this year,

00:06a 5.5 game advantage over the Celtics, the reigning champs, to be that one seed in the

00:13Eastern Conference. And as we have shared, there's only about 25 games left this season.

00:17It's hard to make up that much ground, a 5.5 game lead, even though we are just at the All-Star

00:24break. So the Cavaliers could be a test for Boston. Is Cleveland the best challenger for

00:30the Seeds, who are a minus-150 favorite to win the Eastern Conference crown again?

00:35Or could it be somebody else, maybe even your New York Knicks?

00:40Well, I'm going to preface it by saying this. If the Knicks can get healthy, right, OG and

00:45Nobby had the toe injury, looks like he's back. To me, guys, it's Mitchell Robinson.

00:50Now, people are going to be saying, Mitchell Robinson is a big difference-maker?

00:54Absolutely. You're talking about the premier offensive rebounder league member. In his first

00:5915 games last year, him and Dennis Rodman were the only two guys to get 3-plus-0 boards a game.

01:04He gives you extra possessions. He's also a great rim protector and shot blocker,

01:09and we've seen Cat be a better defender, ready, lined up with a shot-blocking 5.

01:16Think of Rudy Gobert. If you think about the Western Conference, that's why a guy like

01:20Jared Jackson Jr. is better defensively next to a Zach Eaddy, or back in the day,

01:24next to a Stephen Adams. So if Mitchell Robinson is healthy and they get OG back,

01:30I think the Knicks could become the biggest contenders to Cleveland because when Cleveland

01:36sees Mitchell Robinson, that kid beats up those two bigs inside. I think the Knicks, if healthy,

01:42stand-alone is their biggest contender. But the problem with the Knicks, Ben, you know this,

01:46they have to show up, a typical team, think about this, on the defensive end of the floor,

01:52and I think that's where Mitchell Robinson can kind of catch up with a lot of your mistakes

01:56because if you funnel teams to the rim, you've got a really big, dumb shot-blocker or rebounder

02:00to protect you down low. Coach, talk to me here about the Milwaukee Bucks at this point. Giannis

02:05obviously banged up a little bit coming back. Still have Damian Lillard. Could they be a

02:08factor in the Eastern Conference playoffs, maybe even making an Eastern Conference Finals run for

02:12you? I don't think so because my concern with them is the defensive side of the ball and the

02:18ability to stop players. I know Andre Jackson has become their de facto defender, and to me,

02:24the Kyle Kuzma trade was like the Bucks trying to win now, win later. And I'm concerned about

02:33their age there. If you were to tell me a team in the East to watch out for, I know they have been

02:40really bad, but they've battled injuries. If Orlando can get it right and they struggle to

02:46shoot the ball, that is a team that will get you in an absolute dogfight defensively. And they

02:53played Jamal Mosley's team as hard as anybody in the league. Bankera, Wagner, they can stay healthy

02:59and they can shoot the ball a little bit better. That team's as good as they are defensively in

03:03the Eastern Conference, and they could give teams fits in the playoffs, including the Knicks,

03:09if they get to the sixth seed.