How good were the 1989 Cavaliers?

[AngelEyes]

The talent on this team was awesome. The had four legit all star talents in Daugherty, Nance, Price and Harper. All under 30 years old, Nance the oldest at 29. They had good role players in Craig Ehlo, Mike Sanders and Hot Rod Williams. This has to be one of the more loaded teams of the 80's. In Price they had one of the best pure shooters in the league as well as a great point guard, in Daugherty they had one of the elite centers in the league and probably the best passing center. Harper was an uber athletic shooting guard with a body similar to Jordan. And with Nance they had an extremely athletic, versatile forward. This team could have been special.

[L.Kizzle]

They should not have traded Kevin Johnson away.

[ClipperRevival]

Another victim of MJ with "the shot." 47 win Bulls upsetting the 57 win Cavs. One of MJ's most impressive playoff series. That Cavs team was pretty good.

39.8 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 8.2 APG, 3.0 SPG, 52% FG

[sportjames23]

They should not have traded Kevin Johnson away.

Nor Ron Harper. I maintain that if they didn't trade Harp away for the rights to Danny Ferry, the Bulls might not have won as early as they did. They were right there with Detroit at the top of the Central Division--hell, the Eastern Conference, for that matter. They, along with Detroit, swept the Bulls in the regular season 6-0. It took a Herculean effort from MJ to lead that young Bulls team past them in the playoffs.

[Poetry]

This team could have been special.

Magic once called them the team of the 90s, but between MJ, the injuries, and the trades, it never happened.

[DoctorP]

Another victim of MJ with "the shot." 47 win Bulls upsetting the 57 win Cavs. One of MJ's most impressive playoff series. That Cavs team was pretty good.

39.8 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 8.2 APG, 3.0 SPG, 52% FG

Neither LeBron nor Kobe have anything like that on their resume, am I right? (didnt check)

[jlip]

Brad Daugherty spoke about that team just the other day. He said that they were somewhat like the present day Raptors, a great regular season team but just couldn't seem to put it together in the playoffs.

[Rake2204]

The 1989 Cavaliers were really, really, good for a lot of that season. They actually started off 43-12 before floundering down the stretch.

I always knew the names they had and I've obviously always known the Michael Jordan shot, but I didn't really know how good that team was until I read Cameron Stouth's The Franchise, covering the Pistons' championship run that year.

A lot of the book isn't about the Pistons beating the Bulls or vanquishing the Celtics or whatever else, it's about Detroit trying in vain to catch up to the Wayne Embry-created powerhouse that appeared to be brewing in Cleveland. The Adrian Dantley-Mark Aguirre trade, if I remember correctly, was at least partially influenced by the quandary of trying to figure out how Detroit could keep pace with the Cavs.

Forgot why they dipped late in the year, but they were still considered legitimate threats in the postseason. I think I used to just assume that Jordan took down the same ol' do-nothing Cavs. But that was a big time takedown that year and caught some folks off guard.

[Straight_Ballin]

The Price/Daugherty years were a very exciting time as a young bball fan in Cleveland. I saw about 10 games at the Richfield Coliseum in 89, including the one on May 7th when MJ hit "the shot". People in Cleveland at the time were actually bragging about how Ehlo was such a good defender and could keep MJ under 30 ppg....

[jlip]

Neither LeBron nor Kobe have anything like that on their resume, am I right? (didnt check)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...html#CLE::none

In a loss though


http://www.basketball-reference.com/...html#LAL::none

Kobe in a win

[Round Mound]

A Very Good Team. They Would Win The NBA Finals If They Would Be Playing Today.

Two Monster Games By Chuck vs The Cavs Of 1990:

Charles Barkley Greatest Games: 38 Points, 21 Rebounds vs Cavaliers (1990 ECR1 Game 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUWn3jk3Mo

Charles Barkley Greatest Games: 32/15/7 vs Cavaliers (1990)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvJpcUw0Af0

[sportjames23]

The 1989 Cavaliers were really, really, good for a lot of that season. They actually started off 43-12 before floundering down the stretch.

I always knew the names they had and I've obviously always known the Michael Jordan shot, but I didn't really know how good that team was until I read Cameron Stouth's The Franchise, covering the Pistons' championship run that year.

A lot of the book isn't about the Pistons beating the Bulls or vanquishing the Celtics or whatever else, it's about Detroit trying in vain to catch up to the Wayne Embry-created powerhouse that appeared to be brewing in Cleveland. The Adrian Dantley-Mark Aguirre trade, if I remember correctly, was at least partially influenced by the quandary of trying to figure out how Detroit could keep pace with the Cavs.

Forgot why they dipped late in the year, but they were still considered legitimate threats in the postseason. I think I used to just assume that Jordan took down the same ol' do-nothing Cavs. But that was a big time takedown that year and caught some folks off guard.

Indeed. It doesn't get talked about much, but that Cavs team had the best record in the ENTIRE league for most of the year before Detroit caught up with them. IIRC, they wound up tied with the Lakers for the second-best record after the Pistons passed them.

As a Bulls fan, I'll admit that we were lucky that injuries caught up with them by the time of the playoffs. Like I said earlier, they were 6-0 against the Bulls in the regular season, including the last game in Chicago where they rested Harper, Price, Daugherty and Nance.

Going into that series, I can say that I had no confidence we could beat them. Aside from the championship level Pistons, this series, along with the 1993 ECF vs the Knicks were the only series where I had doubts the Bulls would win. Hell, I think a big reason we won Game 1 was because Price was out with injuries.

Here Game 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoUL-19QD24

(Trivia: this was the first time the Bulls wore black shoes in the playoffs)

Seriously, though, I really believe that trading Harper (Cavs GM Wayne Embry said that Harp was hanging around unscrupulous characters was the reason they traded him) was one of the biggest factors in Chicago taking over the East. Once we got past Cleveland, Detroit was the only team standing in our way, and I felt we would eventually pass them (which we did, in two years).

[Lebron23]

Brad Daugherty spoke about that team just the other day. He said that they were somewhat like the present day Raptors, a great regular season team but just couldn't seem to put it together in the playoffs.

I Agree.

[Da_Realist]

The 1989 Cavaliers were really, really, good for a lot of that season. They actually started off 43-12 before floundering down the stretch.

I always knew the names they had and I've obviously always known the Michael Jordan shot, but I didn't really know how good that team was until I read Cameron Stouth's The Franchise, covering the Pistons' championship run that year.

A lot of the book isn't about the Pistons beating the Bulls or vanquishing the Celtics or whatever else, it's about Detroit trying in vain to catch up to the Wayne Embry-created powerhouse that appeared to be brewing in Cleveland. The Adrian Dantley-Mark Aguirre trade, if I remember correctly, was at least partially influenced by the quandary of trying to figure out how Detroit could keep pace with the Cavs.

Forgot why they dipped late in the year, but they were still considered legitimate threats in the postseason. I think I used to just assume that Jordan took down the same ol' do-nothing Cavs. But that was a big time takedown that year and caught some folks off guard.

Another surprising bit from that book was how the Pistons had real problems wirh the Knicks! They actually were hoping to avoid them and face Chicago instead. Kind of amazing looking back over the years considering how everything played out. Even the best team can have matchup problems.

[Lebron23]

2016 Toronto Raptors according to Brad Daugherty.