3 reasons the Cavs are going to make the playoffs

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Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Ron Schwane/Getty Images /

The Cleveland Cavaliers came into the season with low expectations, at least on a national level. They were almost universally picked to come in 13th in the Eastern Conference, ahead of only the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic. FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR projection preseason gave them a one percent chance of making the playoffs.

From that moribund starting point, the Cavs had to face an early-season schedule where eight of their first eleven games were on the road. That first eleven games included matchups against three of the four Conference Finalists from last year. A slow start could doom the Cavs.

Then inject some injury misfortune. Across their first 20 games the Cavs lost Collin Sexton for the season, and saw every starter miss multiple games. Of their preferred rotation, only Ricky Rubio has missed fewer than two games. The picture I just painted should be of a team scouting the top prospects in next year’s draft as it looks down the barrel of a lost season.

The Cavs survived an injury wave and are mostly healthy and regaining their chemistry. Why should fans expect this team to make the playoffs?

Instead, the Cavaliers are now 12-10, fresh off two dominant road wins against the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. They are sixth in the East, two games out of second. The Cavs are, simply put, where no one expected them to be 22 games into the season.

The question becomes whether it will last. The aforementioned RAPTOR has seen the Cavs increase their playoffs odds by 1,800 percent…which still just means an 18 percent chance of making the playoffs. They’re still projected to finish tied for 12th in the East.

Looking at the Cavs’ performance thus far and what awaits them, a case can and should be made for a much stronger finish, and significantly higher playoff odds. Sometime soon we will break down the on-court reasons why the Cavs are playing better than expected, but for now we will simply look at a big-picture level. Here are three reasons why the Cavs will make the playoffs.