Re-energizing while the others wear out

Yesterday I posted a quick blurb about the Cavaliers and their fresh legs, but I think I need to go into a little bit more detail now.

A lot has been made about the Cavs potential for being “rusty” going into the next round of the playoffs, especially since they so quickly dispatched the Atlanta Hawks.  I’m not buying it for a second.

These same people (Jon Barry, Charles Barkley, anonymous Cavs-haters online) told us that Atlanta would bite us hard in Game 1 because the Hawks had momentum, and the Cavaliers had been sitting around doing nothing for 9 days.  I thought it was a bullshit argument then, and it’s a bullshit argument now.

For starters, it’s insulting to believe that the Cavs are “doing nothing” right now.  Do you honestly think that the players are feasting on potato chips on the couch, watching Dr. Phil reruns?  No, they’re practicing, watching game film on both Orlando and Boston, and fine-tuning their game (and dammit, they’d better be shooting free throws a LOT).

But the exercise they are completing today is enough to keep the body and mind motivated, but not to exhaust it.  The same cannot be said about our next opponent, whoever it may be.

Tomorrow night, the Celtics and Magic will take the floor in Orlando for Game 6.  Both teams are battered by a consistent string of long, intense games and they’ll have at least one more to endure before the Eastern Conference Finals begins.  The Celtics, short-handed already, had to maneuver a minefield against Chicago (which included 7 overtimes), and the Magic, despite what their fans will tell you, had a rough go against Philadelphia until the Sixers realized they suck in Game 6.

This has led to a massive overage in minutes played.

Here’s the total number of minutes played by the starting fives for Orlando and Boston;

And meanwhile, how many minutes have the Cavaliers’ logged in the playoffs?

The three top Celtic players will be over 500 minutes by the end of Game 6, and if Orlando somehow pulls out a series win, they’ll have their three best players with at least 400-450 minutes.

As for Pierce and Allen…..these are guys in their 30s, and they’ll have posted over 500 minutes each.  That is GOING to hurt them by the time they have to visit Cleveland.

Which leads me to my next point – mileage.  These teams have been on the road a LOT and that too wears a team out.  The Cavs have had it easy in that category too;

• The Cavaliers began the playoffs at home, went to Detroit for Games 3 and 4, then returned home after the series.  They stayed at home for Games 1 and 2, traveled to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4, then came home after the series.
• The Celtics started off at home, went to Chicago for Games 3 and 4, went home for Game 5, to Chicago for Game 6, then back home for Game 7.  They stayed home for Games 1 and 2, then traveled to Orlando for Games 3 and 4.  they came home for Game 5 and then went to Orlando for Game 6.
• The Magic started off at home, then went to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4, back to Orlando for Game 5, then on to Philly for Game 6.  They returned home after their Game 6 win.  They then traveled to Boston for Games 1 and 2, back to Orlando for 3 and 4, on to Boston for Game 5, and have come home for Game 6.

Using Google Directions for mileage stats, I came up with the following numbers

• 167 miles from Cleveland to Detroit
• 708 miles from Cleveland to Atlanta
• 982 miles from Boston to Chicago
• 1,294 miles from Boston to Orlando
• 992 miles from Orlando to Philadelphia

Adding up the number of trips each team has had to take, here’s the total mileage that everybody has had to log;

• Cleveland Cavaliers – 1,750 total miles
• Boston Celtics – 7,810 total miles
• Orlando Magic – 9,144 total miles

Those are NOT small differences.  If you’ve ever traveled long distance, you know like I do that it does not shake off easily.  These teams have put in a LOT of traveling and that too will wear on them as the playoffs expand.

Yes, it’s true that these stats might not matter in the end, because for 48 minutes players can shake off anything.  But it’s yet another example in a long laundry list that points towards the Cleveland Cavaliers becoming the 2009 Eastern Conference Champions.

The first point in that list being, of course, that the Cavs are a superior team.