3 Bold predictions for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2024

3) The Cavaliers will win an opening-round playoff series 

And no, I am not talking about the Play-in Tournament. A true seven-game opening-round playoff series. 

This season has had a lot of adversity in the form of injuries, inconsistent play and trying to incorporate chemistry with new additions to the squad. This adversity will become the Cavs' strength. The Cavaliers have been missing Evan Mobley and Darius Garland and they still managed to have an 8-5 record in December (plus Donovan Mitchell missing four games due to illness).

Much like how the Miami Heat use their regular season to figure out their chemistry and provide important minutes for their rotation, the Cavaliers look to be doing the same. Playing through adversity might not be ideal, but it will harden the resolve of the squad and provide confidence in their play when the games get tougher. 

In the playoffs, the pace of play gets slower, the chess match of matchups get superanalyzed and dissected and the intensity of play gets turned up to another level. Having your team, especially your rotation players play in important minutes in the regular season, will only help your team in the playoffs. Also, having a couple of starters out makes other starters like Jarrett Allen step up when they need it most.

Growing Allen’s confidence will allow the Cavs to be more versatile offensively in the playoffs. Based on how the standings are looking today, the Cavaliers are in the mix for the 4th overall seed in the Eastern Conference. The most likely scenario is a 5th-place finish for the Cavaliers to face the 4th-seeded Orlando Magic. Much like the Knicks-Cavs series in the 2022/23 playoffs, the young and inexperienced team will lose in 5 games to the savvy and playoff-experienced team.

This year the Cavs will play the experienced role while the Magic will learn the playoff lessons the hard way.  Second round of the playoffs here we come!