We discussed earlier this week how the Cleveland Cavaliers have one of the league’s easiest remaining schedules, especially in contrast to their top competition in the Eastern Conference. One thing we didn’t highlight was that in addition to an easy slate of opponents, the Cavs have easy travel ahead too.
The Cavs have 21 games remaining on their schedule. 10 of those games will be at home at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, including tonight’s game hosting the West-leading Denver Nuggets. That means 11 more away games, but the Cavs don’t have to worry about any grueling travel awaiting them.
Cleveland will play all 21 of its games post-break in the Eastern time zone, and the only time they even travel west of Cleveland is when they visit the Atlanta Hawks. Only one time will they even play a back-to-back, traveling back from Charlotte to host the 76ers on March 14th and 15th.
While other teams are still dealing with cross-country travel or a compressed schedule, the Cavs play both a variety of weaker teams and get to travel comfortably and across short distances to do so. That’s the kind of subtle advantage that can help propel them to a top seed by the end of the season.
More Cavs news
Danny Green was born on June 22, 1987. That was 10 months before Robin Lopez was born, 3.5 years before Ricky Rubio and almost exactly 14 years before Evan Mobley, the youngest player on the roster. In his first media appearance for the Cavaliers, he spoke on his role as the experienced voice on this team and the advice he is giving to the young Cavs about preparing for the home stretch and beyond:
“I looked around the locker room like, ‘Damn, I’m the oldest guy here.’”
— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) February 22, 2023
Danny Green’s first media appearance for the #Cavs in Cleveland in 13-14 years hit on what he can bring and his knowledge of this time of year and the playoffs. @basketbllnews pic.twitter.com/glOqZG85ES
Andy Bailey over at Bleacher Report ranked all 30 starting lineups in the NBA. He placed the Cleveland Cavaliers at 10th, just ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans and just behind the Dallas Mavericks (9th) and LA Clippers (8th). Bailey is giving a lot of credence to superstars in doing so, because both the Mavs and Clippers have weak links in their lineups that would give Cleveland an advantage if actually playing. The Clippers are going to start Russell Westbrook! In the year 2023!
Finally, here on the site Dan Gilinsky wrote about the increased opportunity awaiting Dean Wade coming out of the All-Star Break.
NBA news
A few injury updates bubbled up while teams prepare for the season to start back up. Stephen Curry is going to be reevaluated in a week and miss at least four more games. Kevin Durant, by contrast, is expected to make his Phoenix Suns debut in a week, on the road when the Suns play the Hornets.
Coming up: Basketball is back! The Cavaliers host the Denver Nuggets at 7:00 pm ET tonight.