Good news: the Cleveland Cavaliers have one of the top-five easiest remaining schedules in the NBA. Bad news: the Cleveland Cavaliers have one of the top-five easiest remaining schedules in the NBA. Confused? You shouldn't be.
The double-edged sword the Cavaliers face down the stretch is simple. On one hand, the Cavaliers will get to comfortably coast to the finish line of this season. That should allow their team a chance to get healthy and not overly push themselves to secure wins down the stretch.
On the other hand, that is exactly where bad habits start to take shape. Stating the obvious, but the same things a team can get away with against a lottery team is not what will be acceptable come postseason time.
Plus, despite all the efforts to downplay the Eastern Conference, there are several teams that can play spoiler as early as the first round of the NBA Playoffs. If the Cavaliers are planning to lean on talent alone, and not winning habits, they will be in for a rude awakening.
Cavaliers must keep their foot on the pedal to close out the season
The Cavaliers are riding a brief three-game winning streak after wins over the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, and New Orleans Pelicans. Some will argue a victory is just that at the end of the day. Here, it was even three-straight results on the road. However, the quality of this streak is ugly.
Brian Windhorst called their most recent 111-106 victory over the Pelicans a 'low-key good win for the Cavs' during a recent episode of The Hoop Collective. It is difficult to get behind that idea completely.
Cleveland turned it on in with a 35-18 fourth quarter and rescued the ball game. Kenny Atkinson was joking about his stars finally deciding to show up in the last frame there. It gets less funny the further one takes a step back from the situation.
The Cavaliers were also forced to squeeze out a tight 115-110 win over the Bulls. It was the type of result that had Harden immediately calling for the team to be better during the next time a situation like this emerges. Cleveland invited Chicago back into the contest completely.
"It's not good enough," Harden said. "We gotta be more professional, do a better job of closing that game out a lot earlier."
The NBA Playoffs will be far less forgiving of those moments than these bottom-dwelling competitors. Even with some of the absences, the Cavaliers should be routing teams of this caliber, not playing down to their level.
Sure, not every win is going to be pretty. Some are going to turn out ugly but still count all the same. Staying disciplined does matter, though, despite who the quality of opponent. If the Cavaliers relax now, they threaten to give themselves much more time to do so with an early trip to Cancun.