Have the Cavs been able to use homecourt advantage against contenders?

At 21-6, the Cleveland Cavaliers have the second-best home record in the Eastern Conference. Furthermore, they have the fourth-best home record in the NBA. Only the Denver Nuggets (23-4), Memphis Grizzlies (21-4), and Milwaukee Bucks (21-5) have better home records than the Cavs. The Cavaliers hoped to utilize the advantage at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (RMFH) in downtown Cleveland as two Western Conference powerhouses, the LA Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies, plus an Eastern Conference contender, the Miami Heat, paid a visit to the FieldHouse this week.

These games against potential postseason opponents, either this season or in the future, gave the Cavaliers the chance to prove to themselves that they can keep pace with the other contenders.

The Cavs will have other chances to utilize homecourt advantage against contenders, starting again on Thursday.

This was the second meeting of the season between LA and Cleveland. Thanks to Paul George’s tie-breaking three-point play with approximately 40 seconds remaining, the Clippers narrowly escaped the first meeting in Hollywood on Nov. 7 with a 119-117 win, ending the Cavs’ eight-game winning streak. Going into their second meeting, LA was looking to join the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors in sweeping the Cavs this season. The Cavs swept the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

Sunday night was supposed to be Round 1 of what should’ve been a two-round battle between dynamic duos. In this first duel, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard were set to face Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. Both tandems consist of the primary playmakers for their respective teams, and they’re both leading teams who aspire to do serious damage in the playoffs.

Since the Clips were facing  the Cavs on the second night of a back-to-back, Kawhi and George did not suit up along with John Wall, Marcus Morris Sr, Robert Covington, and Moses Brown. The Warriors utilized a similar strategy when they played the Cavaliers on the second night of a back-to-back following a 2022 NBA Finals rematch against the Celtics in Boston. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and others were all in street clothes. Despite that, Golden State came away with the 120-114 victory in large part because they were 23-43 from three-point range.

Cleveland did not fall victim to the “Golden State Effect” this time around. They defeated the Clippers 122-99, strengthening their home record at that point to 21-5. Additionally, the Cavaliers didn’t allow a third team from the Pacific Division to sweep them.

In between two Western Conference showdowns, the Cavaliers had a key Eastern Conference matchup as they played host to the Heat on Tuesday night. The Cavs currently hold the No.5 seed in the Eastern Conference, which means they’d be facing the No.4 seed Brooklyn Nets if the playoffs began today. The Heat are the No.6 seed, which means they’d be facing the No.3 seed Philadelphia 76ers if the playoffs began today.

Miami came into Cleveland and grinded out a 100-97 win. The Heat moved a game closer to the Cavaliers in the race for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference standings. Miami improved their record to 29-23, while Cleveland’s record dropped to 31-22.

On Wednesday night, the Brooklyn Nets got shellacked by the Celtics 139-96 in Boston, The loss dropped Brooklyn’s record to 31-20, allowing the Cavaliers to creep a little bit closer to the No.4 seed, despite the outcome of Tuesday’s game against the Heat.

Tuesday night’s game against the Heat, a possible first-round preview, had playoff energy. The Cavs should be frustrated with the outcome, especially because they had an 11-point lead in the game, and they need to channel that frustration and anger into Thursday’s game against one of the top teams in the NBA.

The team in second place in the Western Conference, the Grizzlies, invade Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in downtown Cleveland on Thursday night.

This showdown against Memphis is the second home game on TNT for the Cavaliers thus far this season. In the previous TNT game, they defeated LeBron James and the Lakers 116-102 on Dec. 6. Mitchell went off for 43 points, Garland added 21 points, and Jarrett Allen contributed 24 points in the victory.

The Grizzlies will be in a similar situation the Clippers were in on Sunday. Prior to visiting the Cavs, Ja and the Grizzlies hosted Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Lillard and the Blazers defeated Ja and the Grizzlies 122-112. That makes Thursday’s game in Cleveland between the Grizz and Cavs much more interesting. Both teams will have bad tastes in their mouth following gut-wrenching losses at home, so they’ll each have vengeance on their minds. It would not be surprising in the least if this game plays out in an almost identical fashion to their first meeting of the season.

Memphis will be seeking to sweep Cleveland this season. The Grizzlies needed a putback from Steven Adams on a Ja Morant miss, plus a defensive stop from Desmond Bane against Garland in the closing seconds, to defeat the Cavaliers 115-114 at FedEx Forum on Jan. 18. “Spida” was unable to play in that game due to an injury. The Cavaliers could very well have won that game had Donovan been able to play.

Thursday’s game between Memphis and Cleveland marks Round 2 of the two-round battle between dynamic duos (which should take place barring any setbacks). In this second matchup, Ja Morant and Desmond Bane are set to square off with Garland and Mitchell.

Both backcourts have the capability to take over a game and combine for 50+ points on any given night. Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins and Cleveland head coach J. B. Bickerstaff have asked their stars to put on those types of performances throughout the season.

Morant is averaging 27 points per game and Bane is averaging 22. Meanwhile, Mitchell is averaging 28 ppg and Garland is averaging 22.

Along with the backcourt showdown, Thursday’s game will also feature a matchup of young and potent power forwards, Jaren Jackson Jr. for Memphis and Evan Mobley for Cleveland. Jackson and Mobley both have the ability to play with their backs to the basket, and they can step out and make jump shots.

January was a Western Conference-centric month for the Cavaliers, with 12 of their 16 games against Western Conference foes. The Cavs played nine consecutive games against the West from Jan. 4 against Phoenix to Jan. 20 against Golden State, and they went 4-5 in that stretch. Eight of the games against the West sent the Cavs on the road, and their overall record against the West in January was 6-6.

It’s been a mixed bag for the Cavaliers against the other contenders across the league. Having dropped a key game against the Heat in the playoff race, the Cavs need to prove to themselves that they can get the big win on a consistent basis. They have the opportunity to right the ship against Memphis, a team in a similar position.