Should Cavaliers fans be worried about their team?

At the end of a horrific March laced with mediocre defense and a bit of panic, the Cleveland Cavaliers, have fallen out of the No. 1 seed. The two-time defending Eastern Conference champions now face something rarely seen by LeBron James teams: uncertainty.

It’s no longer obvious that the Cavaliers will be back in the NBA Finals.

LeBron has represented the East in the NBA Finals in each of the past six seasons, so this would be quite a change if the Cavaliers were to fall short. As Kristian Winfield reminds us, however, LeBron’s teams have only been the No. 1 seed in two of those six seasons. When LeBron’s teams have had the opportunity to face the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, they have dominated.

But the past cannot always predict the future. So we are left with the question: Should the Cavaliers be worried? As you will find, there are reasons to panic and reasons to relax.

There’s no getting around this: Cleveland’s defense is straight up bad. It’s the worst defense a LeBron James team has had in more than a decade. Even when it seems as though the Cavaliers are set up for a narrative-changing course correction, they give up 100 points.

In March, the Cavs have given up at least 120 points five times (2-3 record) and have held opponents to fewer than 100 points twice (2-0). Cleveland wins when it defends well, but it is rare these days when Cleveland can defend well! They are ranked No. 22 in the league in defensive rating, worse than in 2014-15 (No. 20), when defense was a huge concern until the playoffs actually began.

That is the macro view. The micro view is just as ugly. Consider the guards Kyrie Irving might have to defend just to get the Cavaliers back to the NBA Finals: DeMar DeRozan or Kyle Lowry, Bradley Beal or John Wall, Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic or DION WAITERS. It’s a nightmare spring.

We all celebrated the Cavaliers landing Kyle Korver, Deron Williams, and Andrew Bogut for scraps at midseason. Meanwhile ...

Korver has shot the lights out, which is what he does, but is unviable as a starter next to Irving due to his defense. Korver can’t be asked to guard anyone with a modicum of scoring prowess. Williams is also a good shooter who doesn’t defend well anymore. Bogut lasted the amount of time it takes to heat up a frozen burrito before going down with an injury.

What Cleveland actually did with these moves is bolster its offensive depth and shooting. That isn’t actually the Cavaliers’ problem, though. They have plenty of shooting already!

Love has battled back issues and missed more than a month with a knee injury. While he’s playing regular minutes, he is getting trounced on defense, even more so than usual. Back injuries are problematic for big men, so it’s not Love’s fault he can’t guard anyone or show fight inside right now.

But the legitimate excuse for his struggles on that end doesn’t change the fact that his defense is a real problem. That problem isn’t going to disappear in the playoffs when the action gets rougher.

LeBron is approaching 50,000 career NBA minutes (regular season and playoffs combined). Despite several rest games, LeBron will get close to last season’s 2,700 regular-season minutes. He’s had six straight long playoff runs (with one Olympics thrown in there in 2012).

LeBron manages his health impeccably, but sheesh. The wear is piling up.

The good news for the Cavaliers is that the East isn’t full of juggernauts, no offense to those teams intended. The current Celtics haven’t won a playoff series together. They got knocked out 4-2 by the Atlanta Hawks last year. (The Cavaliers swept those Hawks in the second round.)

Isaiah Thomas is having one of the more spectacular scoring seasons on record (this in a season replete with spectacular performances), but he’s a defensive liability. While his playmaking has improved, he still has to prove he can flourish in the playoffs when defenses collapse on him.

The Cavaliers have not had any problem whatsoever with Al Horford in the past, and Boston lacks a wing who can force LeBron to compete on every possession defensively. Guarding Jae Crowder isn’t going to wear LeBron out. The Cavs would also be able to cross-match Kyrie off Isaiah and hide Love a little bit. The personnel matchups don’t work out for the Celtics on paper.

This doesn’t mean Boston can’t win: They have a good offense, and Cleveland has a bad defense. But the Cavaliers have some serious head-to-head advantages.

The Raptors aren’t the Raptors without Kyle Lowry. He’s out after wrist surgery in late February. Toronto expects him back in time for the playoffs, but in what condition?

Recent winning streak aside, the Raptors simply aren’t a challenge to the Cavaliers without Lowry at 100 percent. Lowry forces Kyrie into an impossible defensive role and makes the Toronto pick-and-roll deadly. Is it reasonable to expect Lowry to be 100 percent after six weeks off?

Of the Eastern upper crust, the Wizards have the best shot to exploit the Cavs’ defensive weaknesses. With Wall and Beal, Washington is deadly in transition and the halfcourt.

That said, Washington missed the playoffs last season with essentially this same roster a year ago. From the lottery to the NBA Finals without a major talent upgrade (no offense to Bojan Bogdanovic) is an unheard of jump.

There’s also the matter of the Wizards lacking someone to punish Love inside. Marcin Gortat does his job well, but you aren’t dumping it to him regularly or pulling him into pick-and-rolls every time down. Love will be able to sit back on a lot of that, assuming the versatile Tristan Thompson focuses his efforts on Markieff Morris.

Let me also say delicately that despite having an awesome season at the helm, Scott Brooks’ crunchtime playoff offensive play calling will be under scrutiny after OKC’s well-publicized troubles with that in the past.

Do you really want to bet against LeBron? I didn’t think so.

The Cavaliers have LeBron James. It’s fine.