Lue agrees Cleveland is 'team to beat' — in East
ATLANTA — The Cleveland Cavaliers‘ point guard might consider them “the team to beat” in the NBA.
Their coach has a more modest view of Cleveland’s place among the league’s elite.
“Well, I think the team that we have, I think our team is very confident,” Tyronn Lue said Friday before the Cavs played the Atlanta Hawks after being asked about Kyrie Irving‘s recent comments. “When (Irving) says, ‘the team to beat,’ I would say, ‘the team to beat in the East.’ I wouldn’t say overall because Golden State Warriors won the championship last year.
“So they’re the team to beat and they have the best record in the NBA right now,” Lue added. “I just think we’re confident that we can get things done.”
Cleveland entered Friday’s game with a 2½-game lead over the Toronto Raptors for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
But at 53-22 the Cavs were 15 games behind the Warriors’ 68-7 mark.
After falling 4-2 to Golden State in the Finals last June, Cleveland lost both of its regular season meetings with the Warriors — falling by six at Oracle Arena on Christmas Day and later losing by 34 points at Quicken Loans Arena in January.
