Playing without the first four small forwards on the depth chart, the Cleveland Cavaliers went into TD Garden in Boston and lost to the Celtics by just three points in a hard-fought battle.
10 days later, the Cavaliers played a matinee game at State Farm Arena in Atlanta and went down to the Hawks due to an ice-cold shooting night.
Those two games account for half of the Cavaliers' four losses on the season, as they are off to a blistering and unexpected 23-4 start, the best mark in the league. In the grand scheme, those losses are nothing more than individual data points woven into a larger tapestry of winning the Cavs have accomplished this season. Every team loses games, and the Cavs have moved on from each loss.
What was unique about those games, however, is that both were played on a colorful court: bright green for the Celtics, red for the Hawks. Those two games were two of the four "NBA Cup" games the Cavaliers played in the Group Stage this year, and those losses were why the Cavs did not advance to the Knockout Stage despite holding the best point differential in the group.
Yet while the Hawks got a crack at winning the Cup from their group, and their Central Division foes the Milwaukee Bucks ultimately made a run to the Final and blasted the Oklahoma City Thunder to take the Cup, the Cavaliers actually should be counted among the big winners of the NBA Cup this year.
The Cavaliers are big NBA Cup Winners
When the schedules for NBA teams are revealed by the league in August, they historically have included all 82 games for each team. The past two seasons, however, have been different. With the introduction of the NBA Cup, each team only has 80 games scheduled. The final two are set by the league depending on who does and doesn't advance in the NBA Cup.
The Cavaliers failed to advance, so they needed two games added to their schedule. The two teams they had the privilege of facing? The Washington Wizards and the Brooklyn Nets.
Those games appeared to be extremely favorable when the schedule was first announced, and they turned out to be just that. The Cavs took down a live Washington Wizards team 115-105 even without Evan Mobley, with the other three stars all chipping in at least 20-plus points.
Then, the day before they took on the Brooklyn Nets, Dennis Schroder was traded to the Golden State Warriors. That left the Nets entirely without a perimeter creator and the Cavs became the first beneficiaries of their tankathon. They blew out the Nets 130-101 in a game that wasn't even as close as that 29-point final margin.
Another benefit of the schedule is that the Cavaliers have only had to play those two games in a span of 12 days, otherwise getting multiple days off to rest and recuperate. The Cavs stayed in Miami to start their mini-break, a vacation from the rigors of the NBA schedule and from the icy environs of Cleveland, Ohio.
That time off also gave the Cavs time to have practices and actually drill down on their play and introduce new concepts, something that is very difficult to do when playing basketball games every-other night. The Cavaliers should exit this NBA Cup stretch of the schedule with new energy and new tactics to deploy.
One final boon was handed to the Cavaliers from the NBA Cup Final, as well. The next opponent for Cleveland are the Milwaukee Bucks, who are coming off of an emotional NBA Cup Championship. They had to play an extra, high-intensity game that resulted in victory. Any other team the Cavs would have played would have been experiencing similar rest to them, and even the Thunder might be fueled by the bitter loss.
The Bucks, however, are feeling good about themselves and coming off of an intense week of basketball. They do look really good right now and are playing as well as they have all season, but the Cavaliers already notched two wins when they were still struggling. This game will be a good test, but it's undeniable that the Cavs have a rest advantage.
Could Cleveland have liked to advance in and even win the NBA Cup? Sure they would have, but the silver lining sewn into their NBA Cup experience was as nice as it gets. As the Cavaliers fight to stay ahead of the Boston Celtics in the standings, these extra wins and rest they accumulated over the past two weeks will be a major help.
They didn't win the Cup, but it's without a doubt that they were among its biggest winners.