For the fourth time in eight years, the Golden State Warriors (the four-year adversaries of the Cleveland Cavaliers) celebrated an NBA championship. This brought the curtain down on the 2021-22 NBA season, which means it’s time to look ahead to the 2022-23 season. For now, the Cavs upcoming preseason schedule has been released, but the regular season schedule hasn’t been unveiled just yet.
Typically, the NBA releases its regular season schedule in August. That way, fans and media members alike can start getting excited about matchups throughout the season. The Cavaliers overachieved this past season as they were able to technically reach the postseason, but not playoffs. The play-in tournament happens after the regular season has concluded and it is essentially a qualifying round to see which team ends up as the No. 7 seed and which team ends up as the No. 8 seed in the first round of the playoffs.
When the 2022-23 schedule gets unveiled, which will be soon, we’ll have a pretty good idea of how the league views the Cavs and whether or not they can build upon what they did last season. However, there are several questions that need to be answered.
How does the league view the Cavs? We’ll find out after the 2022-23 schedule release.
Will the Cavaliers begin the season at home (Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse) or on the road? If they do start the season on the road, will it be one game or will it be a road trip? Who will they open the season against? Will they have any games on national television (ESPN, ABC, TNT, NBA TV)? When and how many times do the Cavaliers play the Philadelphia 76ers (their biggest and newest rival)? When and how many times will the Cavaliers play the Atlanta Hawks (the team who knocked them out in the play-in tournament)?
Last season, Darius Garland and the Cavs began their season at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee against Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies on Oct. 20. Their home opener was two days later against LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets. In 2019-20, the Cavaliers began their season down in Disney World against the Orlando Magic at Amway Center on Oct. 23. Their home opener was three days later on Oct. 26 against the Central Division rival Indiana Pacers.
Being that the Cavs started the season on the road in 2021-22 and 2019-20, it seems likely they’ll open the season off the shores of Lake Erie at RMFH. However, the schedule makers have a way of surprising us. So instead of opening the season at home, my prediction is that the Cavs will open their season with a five-game Southwest road trip.
Game 1: at the retooling San Antonio Spurs, Game 2: at the upstart Houston Rockets (on ESPN), Game 3: at Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, the team who knocked out the Phoenix Suns in the second round (this game will be on the second night of a back-to-back after playing Houston the night before). Game 4: at the young and exciting Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 5: at Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, and the pesky New Orleans Pelicans (on TNT).
Throughout the season, the Cavs go on road trips of different lengths. They also have to play every team in the league. So, why not open the season by getting the Texas three-step, Oklahoma, and Louisiana portion of the schedule out of the way in one fell swoop?
After their five-game road trip, the Cavaliers will return home to host Cade Cunnigham and the Detroit Pistons. In my most recent article, the Pistons were listed as one of the teams who should get The “Red Pen Treatment” (RPT). Given their offseason moves, the Pistons are going to be a pain in the neck for not only the Cavaliers, but also the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs came up just short of making the playoffs. Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, another RPT team, were responsible for that as they defeated the Cavs in the second play-in tournament game. As a result, I think the NBA will want to do what they did last season. Since the Hawks eliminated the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the two teams played each other at Madison Square Garden on Christmas.
Being that Young and the Hawks eliminated the Cavs in Cleveland, the two teams will match up with each other at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Christmas. The Hawks and Cavaliers will see each other two more times during the season, a second time in Cleveland and once in Atlanta.
As I mentioned previously, I believe the Sixers as the Cavaliers’ newest and biggest rival. Had the two teams met in the first round of the NBA Playoffs last season, my bold predictions are that every game would’ve been decided by less than 12 points, the series would’ve gone the full seven games, AND Game 7 would’ve come down to the final buzzer.
The Cavs and Sixers saw each other four times last season, with the margin of victory getting smaller each time. This season, they’ll see each other four times again. Two of those games, one in Philly and one in the CLE, will be nationally televised on TNT and ESPN. The other two games will be on regular television, however, that doesn’t diminish their importance.
The Chicago Bulls took three out of four games against the Cavaliers with the proverbial dagger being a 98-94 loss on March 26 in Cleveland. Although one of the four games this coming season between the Bulls and Cavs should be in the spotlight, all four games will likely be on local television/NBA League Pass, so normal programming in that sense.
Cleveland took three out of four against the 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks last season, including the last game of the season which solidified the Cavs’ spot in the play-in tournament, albeit in a game where Milwaukee was not playing rotation guys. How much stock will the NBA put into that when it comes to scheduling the four-game season series between the Central Division rivals?
It’s an interesting question that depends on how much better the NBA thinks the Cavs will be this season. If the schedule makers are high on the potential of the Cavaliers, then maybe we see a battle between Garland, Evan Mobley and company and Giannis Antetokounmpo on TNT.
In 2021, the Grizzlies made it out of the play-in tournament and reached Round 1 of the playoffs where they promptly got eliminated by the Utah Jazz. In 2022, the Grizzlies jumped up to the No.2 seed in the Western Conference. Had it not been for some tough luck, Memphis could’ve won their second-round series against the eventual NBA champion Warriors. Last season, meanwhile, the Cavaliers qualified for the play-in tournament (where they lost to the Brooklyn Nets and then the Hawks).
Could they be on a similar trajectory to the Grizzlies (as one example) this season? Typically, the Grizzlies host a game on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This coming season, the Cavs should be the opponent for the Griz on MLK Day.
The Minnesota Timberwolves were able to get out of the play-in tournament and push the above-mentioned Grizzlies to six games in Round 1 of the playoffs. This offseason, Minnesota went out and made major changes. The most notable move was that they traded for All-Star center Rudy Gobert. Since they already had another All-Star big man in Karl Anthony-Towns, it appears that the T-Wolves are playing copycat to the Cavs as both teams are going with the “Twin Tower” approach at the center and power forward positions.
Most likely, neither game in Minneapolis or in Cleveland will be on national television. Small market teams like the Cavaliers and Timberwolves don’t typically get placed in the primetime spotlight. Usually, it’s teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Knicks since they’re in major markets or it’s star players like Steph Curry (the reigning Finals MVP), LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid.
When it comes to the various aspects of the sports world, analyzing team schedules is one of the most fascinating parts. When the 2022-23 Cavs schedule gets released, it’s going to tell us how highly the NBA thinks of this team.