Does the Seeding Matter?

 

The Cavaliers need to win the rest of their games to finish with 50 wins and hopefully that will be enough to secure the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference and home court advantage until the conference finals should the team make it that far.  LeBron James doesn’t seem concerned where the wine and gold finish, and judging by the inconsistent play of the team recently, the rest of the players aren’t bothered by where they will finish in the standings.  Should they be concerned?

 

There is a school of thought that you play who you play and if you beat them you move on.  Those people will say eventually you will have to go up against the best teams, so what difference does it make if you play them in the first round, second round, or the conference finals.  Plus, the Cavs will have the home court advantage in the first round whether they have the #2 seed or the #5 seed since their record is better than Miami’s.

 

However, it would be in the Cavs best interest to avoid the defending champion Heat in the first round.  Simply because we don’t match up well with Pat Riley’s team.  Miami has defeated Cleveland twice this year WITHOUT Dwayne Wade.  They likely will have him for the playoff series unless he reinjures his shoulder before the post season begins.  Also, Shaquille O’Neal takes the championship run a little more seriously than the 82 game regular season.  That spells trouble for Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the Cavs’ other big men.

 

If the Cavaliers were to beat Miami in the first round, they would run smack dab into the Pistons for a seven game series.  The toll that would be taken by a six or seven game series against the Heat would make it even more difficult to defeat Detroit to get to the conference finals.  Both teams are bruising, physical squads.  At least more physical than a New Jersey, Orlando, or Washington would be, those being the possible first round opponents if the wine and gold could nab the second seed.

 

Moving ahead of Chicago for the second spot would also set up a second round series against the playoff inexperienced Toronto Raptors.  The Raptors are a good young team, but it would be the first time they have had such lofty expectations. 

 

In a different year, LeBron might be correct in saying it doesn’t matter who the Cavaliers play.  However, in 2007, who would you rather play in the first two rounds:  The Heat and The Pistons or The Nets and The Raptors?  The wine and gold’s best chance to advance further in the post season than last year would be to get the second seed.  It does matter.  Unfortunately, the team was in denial about this and now they can only hope the Bulls lose one of their last three games while the Cavs win them all.

 

JK