The Cavs last trip of the season didn’t get off to a good start as they were hammered by the defending champion Denver Nuggets. The rest of the week have them playing Utah, Phoenix, and both Los Angeles teams, and only the first of those opponents will not be playing when the regular season ends.
On February 10th, the wine and gold won their ninth consecutive game, raising their record to 35-16 when they beat Toronto by 20 points.
Since then, they have a 10-14 record, which should be concerning for a team that hopes to advance in the playoffs. True, they have had a bunch of injuries, most notably to the team’s best player, Donovan Mitchell, who missed 15 of those games with a variety of issues: illness, knee problems, and a broken nose.
In the games Mitchell has played, the Cavs are only 5-4, well off their previous pace.
We understand that evaluating a team when they are in a downturn is dangerous. The same is true when a team is on a hot streak, which Cleveland was when the trading deadline arrived.
Koby Altman looked at a red hot team and stood pat, which we said at the time was the wrong move. The Celtics had the best record in the NBA and went out and got Xavier Tillman from Memphis in a deal.
They added another big, Tillman is 6’8″ and he’s played in 13 games for the Celtics, getting 3.3 points and 3.1 boards in almost 15 minutes of playing time nightly.
To be fair, Altman did sign Marcus Morris, a 6’8″ wing for the rest of the season and certainly the Cavs can use a wing with that kind of size.
Right now if the season ended, the Cavs would take on Indiana in the first round of the playoffs. Cleveland would have the experience factor, making the post-season the past two years (if you count the “play-in” round), while the Pacers haven’t made it the 2019-20 season.
Indiana is long and athletic, which has given the Cavs problems.
The other teams which could be first round opponents are Miami, currently 7th and Philadelphia (8th, but probably with Joel Embiid back).
In the 4th and 5th spots are New York, just a half game behind the Cavaliers and Orlando, just 1.5 games behind Cleveland.
Quite frankly, we don’t feel good about either of those matchups right now. New York because of their physicality and Orlando is very similar to the Pacers in terms of size, but also inexperience.
For Bickerstaff’s squad, it’s not just a matter of wins and losses either. They simply aren’t playing well. Darius Garland is supposed to be one of the team’s foundation pieces, but he hasn’t played well since he returned from his broken jaw.
The Cavs have also missed versatile offensive threat Max Strus, who besides averaging in double figures also is four on the team in assists and rebounding. Strus hasn’t shot the three as well as he has in the past, but no doubt the team missed him while he was out.
Mitchell himself said it after Sunday’s loss. It’s April and the Cavs have to get things figured out soon, because the playoffs are about three weeks away.
Another first round loss could mean a lot of things for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 