No team in the Eastern Conference or even the entire NBA for that matter has been as dominant as the Cleveland Cavaliers over the last two years.

This season LeBron James and the Cavs came into the year with a chip on their shoulder after Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic just dominated Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals last season. It wasn’t even a competition for Dwight Howard and company as they just dominated LeBron’s Cavs in every aspect of the game. The series was more like a first round matchup as the Magic routed the Cavs with a 4-1 series victory. Even the one win the Cavs got over the Magic was due to LeBron James’ game-winning three at the buzzer. If LeBron hadn’t hit that shot, the Magic would have swept the Cavs much like the San Antonio Spurs didn’t in the NBA Finals a few years back.

With the Orlando Magic embarrassing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs last season, the Cavs decided something had to be done to stop Dwight Howard dominating in the paint if they met in the playoffs once again. As a result, Cavs GM Danny Ferry make a trade to acquire Shaquille O’Neal from the Phoenix Suns.

So far, the trade has worked out for the Cavs, but Shaq will miss the rest of the regular season for Cleveland as he suffered a finger injury that required surgery. It remains to be seen how Shaq will be able to play in the playoffs, but if anyone can rattle Dwight Howard’s cage it is the Big Aristotle.

Along with acquiring Shaq in the offseason, which seemed to be enough to make the Cavs the top team in the East, Cleveland made a trade before the NBA trade deadline on February 18th to acquire versatile All-Star caliber forward Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards.

Many people compared this trade to the blockbuster trade the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers to acquire Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies, which turned the Lakers into a legitimate title contender, as the Cavs gave up almost nothing for an All-Star caliber player in Jamison.

Needless to say, the Cleveland Cavaliers have basically cruised to another Central division title this season and will be a force to be reckoned in the East with come playoff time. The Cleveland Cavaliers (54-15) are also competing with the Los Angeles Lakers (50-18) for the best record in the league heading into the postseason. As of right now, the Cavs have a 3 and a half game lead over the Lakers and look like they will own the best record when their season ends on April 14th.