Damien Barling: This Blowout Was Needed

No one wants to watch a blowout. Game 7 between the Penguins and Senators is on. Impractical Jokers reruns are always on. Anything would be better then watching another blowout.

But Thursday nights blowout, game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, was everything I wanted to see from the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's a blowout I thought needed to happen.

The Golden St Warriors are 12-0 and sitting at home waiting for the third round of this NBA Finals Trilogy. The Cavs are 12-1 after a game 3 slip up at home against a Boston Celtics team that was playing there first game without their team MVP Isaiah Thomas. A flat start to game 4 had many, including myself, wondering if something was off with The King and the Cavs. It wasn't. Our expectations are high. We watched dominance through 10 games in the East and 12 games in the West. We didn't want close calls or a close series. We knew were this was going. We knew we would be here.

Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson were great against Boston and that should very much have been expected with the Celtics weak front court. Love has averaged 17 and 10, both career highs.

So far this playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers have averaged 116 points per game.

The last champagne bottle hadn't been popped last year before the Cavs and Warriors were picked by odds makers to return for a third straight match up with the Warriors pegged as the early favorites. That was before they signed Kevin Durant.

So far this playoffs, the Golden State Warriors have averaged 118 points per game.

The collision course was apparent all year. We're finally here. Sort of…

The Finals don't start until June 1st.