The Cleveland Cavaliers have 17 games left in the regular season before the NBA postseason starts. Currently, the team sits in the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference Standings with a 39-26 record after losing to the Boston Celtics last night. They have a 1.5-game lead on the New York Knicks. If the Cavs can continue to play well, they should stay close to that current seeding and have a chance at hosting a playoff series to start the postseason.
Unlike a year ago, I believe the Cavaliers can continue to win down the line more than they did before when they faded away badly. This season they have a new, stud player and veteran Donovan Mitchell playing for them and they have a more confident big man in Evan Mobley in his second season learning how to be an even more dominating presence on the court. All this will hopefully spell victories down the stretch.
With that let’s take a look at the rest of the Wine and Gold’s schedule and make some predictions. Last season they finished with a record of 44-38 and just missed making the postseason. They will be better than that in a big way.
Also, when you walk through these predictions, you’ll note that the Cavaliers have four teams that they play back-to-back games with on the away courts of the Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic. Why the NBA scheduling gurus planned this for Cleveland to have four mini-series on the road just seems a bit strange.