The Cleveland Cavaliers still have a path to the playoffs

Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Last Thursday and Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers had to endure an extremely important two-game stretch.In fact, this two-game stretch was so important that it was make-or-break. The Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, and Cavaliers are in a virtual tie for 5th-7th place in the Eastern Conference. It seems like the three teams are playing musical chairs in the standings.

During the LeBron James era, Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals was the biggest home game in Cavs history. Of course, Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals is the biggest game in the Cavaliers franchise history, period. Given the enormity of Saturday’s game against the Bulls, it was the biggest home game in Cavs franchise history in the post-LeBron James era, or at least the second stint. I felt so strongly about this, that I recorded an episode of The SportsRoom TalkShow on my YouTube channel, UngarToTheMax.

Unfortunately, the Cavs lost both games against Toronto and Chicago. On Thursday, the Cavs fell in Toronto 117-10. Thankfully, Cleveland won the first three games of the season series so they were able to stay ahead of the Raptors in the standings at the time.

But the more excruciating loss was on Saturday, March 26, when they narrowly lost to the Bulls 98-94 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Cavaliers loss against the Bulls combined with a Raptors win over the Indiana Pacers meant that the Cavs are no longer in the actual playoffs. They’re now in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, which means that they would not be in the playoffs right away. Instead, they would be in the play-in tournament, which I believe would be a failure for the Cavs.

All is not lost: Cleveland can still get back into 6th place and the actual playoffs.

The Cavs still have a path to the postseason, fortunately.

On Monday, March 28, the Cavs hosted the Orlando Magic, while the Raptors played host to the Boston Celtics. Cleveland was able to hold off a scrappy Orlando team by a score of 107-101. The game between the Celtics and Raptors went into overtime, but the Raptors got the 3-point win 115-112. Boston entered the game against Toronto in first place in the conference, while Orlando came into Cleveland in last place in the East. The Celtics were without their starting frontcourt, yet they were the more challenging opponent than the Magic.

So, who do you think had the easier matchup? I understand that in the NBA, there’s no such thing as an “easy win”. Despite this, I would still say that facing Orlando is a far easier matchup than facing Boston. Cleveland took care of business, but so did the Raptors, making the path forward even tricker for the Cavs.

The Bulls’ remaining schedule looks like this: at the Washington Wizards (March 29), home vs LA Clippers (March 31), home vs Miami Heat (April 2), home vs Milwaukee Bucks (April 5), home vs Boston (April 6), home vs Charlotte Hornets (April 8), and finally at Minnesota Timberwolves (April 10).

The Raptors’ remaining schedule looks like this: home vs Minnesota (March 30), at Orlando (April 1), home vs Miami (April 3), home vs Atlanta Hawks (April 5), home vs Philadelphia 76ers (April 7), home vs Houston Rockets (April 8), at New York Knicks (April 10).

The Cavaliers’ remaining schedule looks like this: home vs. Dallas Mavericks (March 30), at Atlanta (March 31), at New York (April 2), home vs Philadelphia (April 3), at Orlando (April 5), at Brooklyn Nets (April 8), and finally, home vs Milwaukee (April 10).

All three teams have to play a number of games against the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. They also have to play against teams who are fighting for their playoff lives. Even the games against the teams near the bottom of the East and West are going to be tricky. For example, all three teams play the New York Knicks. The Knicks are essentially out of the race for the play-in. However, they can still play spoiler and ruin somebody’s season.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers are dealing with a multitude of injuries. Their usual starting center, Jarrett Allen, is out due to a fractured finger. Backup point guard Rajon Rondo is out with a sprained toe. Forward Dean Wade is out following knee surgery due to a torn meniscus, and guard Collin Sexton has been out for most of the season because of a torn meniscus. In Monday night’s game against the Magic, Rookie of the Year favorite Evan Mobley (the starting power forward) sprained his left ankle. Guys are dropping like flies and it’s creating major problems.

Due to the number of injuries, players are having to play in different roles than they’re used to. Additionally, head coach J. B. Bickerstaff is having to use players like Darius Garland and Kevin Love more in games. This creates fatigue, which means that down the stretch of crucial games (like Saturday’s against Chicago), they don’t have the energy they need if they’re trying to make a comeback or if they’re in a really close ballgame.

If the season were to end today, the Cavs would be the seven seed. That means they would host Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and the Nets in the 7 vs. 8 matchup of the play-in tournament. Given the number of injuries we’ve got as well as not having a superstar dynamic duo, that’s a really terrifying matchup. Lose that game, and it’s one last win-or-go home game against the Hornets or Hawks.

As it stands right now, the Cavaliers don’t control their own destiny for the sixth seed. They need to do better than Toronto or Chicago, realistically, and be feasibly tied with Toronto in the win column. Due to the Bulls winning the season series 3-1 over the Cavs, they would have the tiebreaker over Cleveland. The Cavs won the season series 3-1 over the Raptors, so they would have the tiebreaker in that scenario.

As you can see, there are a lot of factors that will go into determining whether the Cavaliers go straight to the playoffs or if they’ll have to qualify by going through the play-in.