On Tuesday night, the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers took down a feisty Brooklyn Nets team to win their 15th-straight game. The Cavaliers are a staggering 55-10 and 30-4 at home.
Roughly an hour later, the Indiana Pacers called an inspired last-second play that not only got All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton free for a game-tying 3-pointer, he was fouled on the play as well. Instead of overtime, Hali hit the free throw and the Pacers took down their Central Division foes to tie them in the standings at 36-28.
That result meant that even if the Cavaliers lose all 17 of their remaining games they will finish with 27 losses, fewer than both Indiana and Milwaukee. In other words, Cleveland has now clinched the Central Division with a month of games left to play.
The Cavaliers are close to clinching everything in the East
In the process, they also clinched no worse than the No. 3 seed. The Bucks and Pacers are now tied at fourth in the East, percentage points ahead of the Detroit Pistons -- also in the Central Division -- so it's mathematically impossible for the Cavs to drop lower than third.
It's also mathematically improbable they will be anything but No. 1. The New York Knicks survived in Portland Wednesday night on a game-winning 3-pointer by Mikal Bridges in overtime, but they are 13 games behind Cleveland with 17 games remaining. The Knicks have a less than one percent chance of catching the Boston Celtics (4.5 games ahead) and essentially a zero percent chance of making it to No. 1.
To make things official, the Cavaliers have a Magic Number of just four to clinch a Top-2 seed. A "Magic Number" refers to the number of games a team must win to clinch a certain spot in the playoff bracket, with losses by the teams behind them subtracting from that number. So a combination of four Cleveland wins and Knicks losses will lock the Cavs into one of the top two seeds.
What about for No. 1? The Magic Number is only 9, which means the race for the top seed (all but over now) could be officially over with multiple weeks left in the season. If the Cavaliers go a modest 6-4 in their next 10 games, and the Celtics go 7-3, they will have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with seven games still to go. If Cleveland continues winning and the Celtics lose a game or two, it could all be over in two weeks.
That's a staggering accomplishment for this Cavaliers team. They essentially didn't change the roster this past offseason, merely adding rookie Jaylon Tyson, and relied on a new head coach and better health to propel them forward. It turned out to be rocket fuel laying in wait and they are rocketing toward the highest of heights.
At some point, Cleveland will need to make a decision about how aggressively they want homecourt advantage at all costs. While the Cavs have greater than a 99 percent chance of being the No. 1 seed in the East, the No. 1 overall seed is still very much up for grabs. The Oklahoma City Thunder just dispatched the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, helping the Cavs on the one hand but also keeping them just 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the league's best record.
Cleveland's top goal is taking down the defending champion Celtics, but next is taking down whoever comes out of the West to win the NBA Finals. Having homecourt for that endeavor is valuable, but it may be more valuable to give their players rest down the stretch and be fully healthy for the playoffs. If the Thunder stay right behind them, a difficult decision will need to be made.
Yet in the Eastern Conference, the work is nearly done. The Magic Numbers are low, spirits are high, and the win total is gaudy. The Cavaliers are very close to accomplishing every regular season goal to set them up for the best possible playoff success.