Before the NBA season started, we felt a reasonable goal for the Cleveland Cavaliers was to get into the real NBA playoffs, meaning finishing in the top six of the Eastern Conference and avoiding the play in tournament.
As of today, the Cavs sit in the #4 spot, five games ahead of Miami, who currently sit in the seventh spot. The Heat have 19 games remaining, while the Cavs have 17.
The two teams play a back-to-back in Miami next week, so the Cavaliers have a chance to solidify their position.
Now that the season has about six weeks left, we are sure the Cleveland organization would love to stay no lower than they currently are, which would mean home court advantage in the first round.
After last night’s loss to Boston, the Cavs come home to face the Celtics next week before the trip to South Beach. Then the schedule eases up a bit.
The notable games remaining are a date with the Sixers at home on March 15th, another back-to-back against the Nets, currently the 6th seed, the following week and a home date with the Knicks, 5th in the East on the last day of the month.
We would guess going 11-6 the rest of the way should get the 4th spot. That’s a 50 win season.
We do hope the last 17 games allows J.B. Bickerstaff to settle his bench heading into the playoffs.
With Isaac Okoro seemingly a fixture in the starting lineup, the sixth man is Caris LeVert, who has done a solid job despite his detractors, averaging 11.6 points, and four rebounds and four assists per game. He’s knocking down 36% of his three-point shots as well, and as we noted around the trading deadline, he’s one of the few Cavaliers who can go out and get his own shot.
We loved Kevin Love as a big man reserve, particularly his rebounding, but the organization didn’t and we still feel the wine and gold is a big man short.
Ricky Rubio would also figure to get regular time from here on out, except of course for back-to-back games, as the Cavs are bringing him back slowly because of the knee injury. In just under 17 minutes per appearance, he’s dishing out 3.5 assists. He’s shooting just 30%, but that will come with more floor time and his legs getting stronger.
We have wondered if Bickerstaff trusts Cedi Osman, and recent games haven’t changed that opinion. He didn’t get in the game last Sunday against Toronto and played just five minutes last night.
He is getting his lowest number of minutes since his rookie year, and really, his shooting numbers aren’t all that different. We like him at the three because other teams have to guard him. He’s a threat to score.
It has been reported that newcomer Danny Green will start getting regular minutes, but he is also recovering from a knee injury, and he’s also a wing, the same as Okoro and LeVert. He is a 40% career shooter from behind the arc.
Dean Wade is the only player over 6’8″ getting time with the second unit, but we feel he’s more of a wing as well. We think Wade is a very good defender outside, but on offensive, he still seems reticent to shoot the ball.
It scares us that there is no one currently on the roster who can fill in if Jarrett Allen and/or Evan Mobley are out of the lineup.
Robin Lopez is limited because he really has a problem with quicker players, more so than Love did. So, hopefully, that’s an area Koby Altman and Mike Gansey are looking at as the season winds down.
We would like to see some kind of consistency in how the bench is used as the Cavs head into the playoffs. We would guess the players would too.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 