November brings the first set of challenges for the Cavaliers

Since dropping the season opener against the Toronto Raptors north of the border at Scotiabank Arena, 108-105, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been on an absolute tear. They’ve won seven consecutive games, including two hard-fought overtime victories against the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics, with the second one on Wednesday.

Entering Sunday afternoon’s game in Hollywood against Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavaliers are one game behind the Central Division rival Milwaukee Bucks, for the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks are the lone unbeaten team at 9-0 and the Cavs are 7-1 despite having their All-Star backcourt together for six quarters. Darius Garland suffered an eye injury in the first quarter against the Raptors. Even with the early season success they’re experiencing, the Cavs should not be celebrating anything. November is calling and it’s giving Cleveland their most challenging litmus test to date.

November brings the first set of challenges for the Cavaliers.

Except for two matchups against another Central Division rival, the Detroit Pistons in the “Motor City” and one in Sacramento against the Kings, November will pit the Cavs against teams who fit into one of three categories: Play-In Tournament contenders, playoff contenders, and championship contenders. The Cavs, even without Garland and Donovan Mitchell on Friday, who were questionable, destroyed the Pistons, as an aside.

In any case, for a young team like the Cavaliers, who were major overachievers last season, that are projected to do damage in the playoffs this season, facing teams in those three categories will provide multiple measuring stick games for them. It will also test the strength of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell as a backcourt, when those guys are back and ready to roll.

A major component of the November gauntlet will be the eight remaining road games the Cavs have to endure. Those eight road games consist of now four more games on this road trip, a three-game road trip, and a single road game in Wisconsin against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.

The rest of their current road trip consists of a Sunday-Monday Hollywood back-to-back against the sluggish Lakers and the championship-seeking LA Clippers, the rebuilding Kings in California’s capital, and finally the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. On the three-game road trip, the Cavs will face Giannis and the Bucks followed by a Sunday-Monday back-to-back against the Pistons and the headache-inducing Raptors.

On the other side of the coin, in November, the Cavs will play a grand total of seven games inside the friendly confines of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, which includes the 114-113 overtime victory over the Celtics Wednesday night on ESPN which felt like a UFC Heavyweight championship fight. The Celtics and Cavaliers won’t link up again until early March. On March 1 in Boston and March 6 in Cleveland, the two teams will revisit their heavyweight bout.

From there, the six remaining home games are made up of three single games and a four-game homestand which will feature the likes of the Charlotte Hornets, the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks on a Sunday-Monday back-to-back, and the Portland Trail Blazers.

This means the Cavs will likely have to deal with Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball (assuming he’s back then), Miami’s Jimmy Butler, Atlanta’s dynamic duo of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, and finally “Dame Time” with the Blazers. The three individual games include the win over the Celtics, and upcoming games against the Minnesota Timberwolves who have their own version of the Twin Towers as well the Cavs’ biggest growing rivals,  Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.

The game against the T-Wolves will come on the heels of the five-game Detroit-California road trip. The first game home after a long road trip is usually a trap game. Meanwhile, the game against the Sixers comes on the heels of the three-game road trip in Milwaukee, Detroit, and Toronto. Having to come home after a grueling road trip in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada to play Philadelphia is absurd.

Cleveland will endure three sets of back-to-backs in November. The first one we alluded to in LA, the second is Nov. 20 vs. the Heat and Nov. 21 vs. the Hawks. The last one is Nov. 27 at the Pistons and Nov. 28 at the Raptors.

Playing the Raptors in Toronto is challenging as the Cavaliers found out on opening night. Having to play in Toronto on the second night of a back-to-back after facing a Pistons squad who could be a thorn in the Cavs’ side is utterly ridiculous, too! Still, Detroit and Toronto aren’t the most daunting back-to-back on the 2022-23 schedule.

Usually, the pendulum-swinging games come toward the end of the season, though.

While this is mostly the case for the Cavaliers, March will provide its own unique set of challenges such as a back-to-back in Charlotte and home against Philadelphia (on ESPN) on March 14 and March 15, Cleveland will be getting a taste of what it’s like to play in high-profile games which could make or break their playoff chances come crunch time.