Cleveland Cavaliers Clinch Playoff Spot

After defeating the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center Friday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched their second straight playoff berth.

After LeBron James announced his departure from The Land to South Beach, reaching the playoffs was a feat the Cavaliers could not handle. Four years of playoff-less basketball had gone by, and it started to take a toll on Cavs fans throughout Northeast Ohio.

During those four years, the Cavaliers did manage to get some of the pieces necessary to build a championship contender, Kyrie Irving being at the forefront of those players. Irving was the heart and soul of the Cavaliers during his first three seasons with the team; the 2010-11 rookie of the year averaged 20.6 points from 2010 to 2014.

When it seemed the Cleveland basketball recession was coming to an end, after the Cavs drafted Andrew Wiggins with the first pick in the 2014 NBA draft, LeBron announced his return to Cleveland, making sure winning basketball would return to Quicken Loans arena.

James had only missed out on the playoffs two times in his career prior to his return, both coming in his first two seasons in the association. Since then, James had made five finals appearances, winning two with the Miami Heat.

His first season back in Cleveland didn’t start out as many had hoped. The team started slow but ended up making it into the playoffs on the second seed and going all the way to the NBA finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors.

Fast forward 68 games into the 2015-16 campaign and the Cavaliers have officially clinched a playoff spot for the second year in a row. It hasn’t been pretty, but the Cavs have managed to maintain a 49-19 record, holding down to top spot in the Eastern conference.

Now that the team is officially in the playoffs, look for players to start getting some rest and rotations to become more consistent. The former has already started with James, who sat out of the Cavaliers down-to-the-wire win against the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night to get some rest.

On the other hand, however, rotations have been all over the place as of late. One night, Timofey Mozgov logs zero minutes, then in the next game he starts at center. With 13 games remaining in the regular season, it is time to start seeing a consistent rotation on a nightly basis.

If the season ended today, the Cavaliers would be matched up against the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, a team they played in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals a year ago. Injuries have played a big role in the Bulls season, and is a reason they are just one game over .500 this season after finishing the 2014-15 campaign 50-32 as the third seed in the Eastern conference.

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At this point, the eighth seed is up for grabs. The Bulls, Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers are all fighting for the last two playoff spots during the final stretch of the season.

Although the bottom half of the conference has yet to be decided, one thing is certain: the Cleveland Cavaliers are headed to the playoffs! Playoff basketball is one of the best times of the year, and this year should be no different.

Even with the expectations, do you celebrate the Cavs making the NBA Playoffs?