Cleveland Cavaliers: Don’t worry, playoff seeding won’t matter for the struggling Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers dropped two back-to-back games in Los Angeles to both LA teams. Now, they’re the fourth seed in the East. Will it matter?

If you’ve just been watching and talking about March Madness for the past few days, you probably missed yet another midseason slump for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This time, they’ve currently riding a two-game losing streak, tallying up six losses in their last ten games. If the current standing holds up, this will be the first time since the 2007-2008 season that a LeBron James-led Cavaliers does not finish first in their division.

In years past, the Cavaliers have dropped out of the East’s top spot just to finish No. 2. However, this season, after their last loss to the LA Lakers, they dropped out of the top three, currently No. 4 in the East. The Cavs are 0.5 games behind the Pacers now.

To LeBron James, the seeding won’t matter wherever the Cavs land in the standing. Per Sport’s Illustrated, LeBron James said: “It doesn’t matter to me if I’m a 6th seed, 3 seed, 2 seed, 8 seed…If I come into your building for a Game 1, it will be very challenging.”

Although James said that in full confidence, should the seeding matter to the Cleveland Cavaliers?

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The resounding answer is a no. There aren’t many things that dropping to the four seed or even the fifth seed would mean for the Cavaliers. At the four seed, the Cavs still get home court in the first round, and they’ll most likely have to still go through both Boston and Toronto to reach their fourth consecutive Finals.

However, the Cavaliers, backed by LeBron James, should still be the favorite to come out of the East regardless of where they finish. The favorite, even in the East, isn’t supposed to be dropping midseason games like Cleveland is.

While the seeding might not matter, the chemistry and lack of defensive effort shown by the Cavaliers at times is discouraging and ulimately will play a large role in their postseason success. The Cavs made their four pre-trade deadline deals in order to become younger, quicker, and better defensively.

While they did the first two, the Cavs, as a whole, have continued to struggle defensively. Since the all-star break, they have the league’s 22nd worst defensive rating of just 109.3. The Cavaliers are the only current playoff team in the bottom third of the league in defensive rating. That should be concerning.

Over the course of NBA history, one consistent is that teams that get to and win the Finals are at least average defensively. This season is a bust for the Cavaliers if they aren’t raising the Larry O’ Brien trophy at the end of it.

While I’ll reiterate it again, the seed the Cavaliers end with will not matter. However, what will matter is just how these last 18 games play out.

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Will the Cavs be able to lock it down, focus, and start to win games to end the season, or will they continue to drop, potentially sinking to as low as the sixth seed?

Will it even matter though? Let us know what you think!