Top 5 Cavs seasons: Where does this impressive Wine and Gold season land?

The third-best Cavs season: 1988-89

We head back in time to when the Cavs had their run of great teams led by Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance Sr., Ron Harper and “Hot Rod” Williams. This 1988-89 season was something special, or so we thought.

They finished the regular season at 57-25 and had an opening round of the playoffs matched up against the Chicago Bulls. While the Bulls had a young Michael Jordan, the Cleveland squad had some solid players like Price and Daugherty. Certainly, they would be able to get by the Bulls.

However, the series was tight throughout. We didn’t know it at the time, but Jordan was becoming the greatest of all time and that got a big boost when he made “The Shot”. That was back when the first round series was a five-gamer. Cleveland lost their first home playoff game to start the series and that set the stage for the epic Game 5.

Unfortunately, that game is now labeled as “The Shot” because Jordan nailed a jumper at the buzzer to give the Bulls the upset win. That play still haunts most Cleveland fans today.

It was though the beginning of a run of really good Cavs teams that were playoff bound and ready to win a title. Unfortunately, Michael Jordan existed and that was the kryptonite to the Cavaliers.