Cleveland Cavaliers Seem Destined for East's No. 2 Seed
It wasn't long ago that the Cleveland Cavaliers' season was lurching toward emphatic disappointment. Their roster was uneven, their record unsightly, their championship hopes fading, their Big Three experiment failing.
Oh, how quickly things have changed.
What once seemed infinitely out of Cleveland's reach is now well within grasp and, with each passing win, swiftly becoming a fated formality: The Eastern Conference's No. 2 playoff seed, that space behind the Atlanta Hawks once up for grabs, is now the Cavaliers' to snatch.
Gushing Greatness
Technically, second place isn't in the Cavaliers' possession. Not yet.
One game separates them from its current owner, the Toronto Raptors. But with everything that's happened, it's difficult, nigh impossible, to imagine them not erasing that negligible gap and forging a more significant one of their own.
Resting LeBron James for a career-high eight games and acquiring Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith has changed everything. That 19-20 start and all the on- and off-court theatrics that preceded its existence are distant memories. The Cavaliers are a different team now.
In the 20 games since then, they've put together the league's best offense and totally reinvented their defense, allowing 100.3 points per 100 possessions, tying them with the Golden State Warriors—yes, them—for the NBA's sixth-best mark.
No team has a better record during that time. Not the Memphis Grizzlies, not the Hawks, not the league-lording Warriors themselves. In fact, no squad even comes close to matching the Cavaliers' 18-2 showing over this span:
Not even James himself has been able to restrain optimism during this collective about-face. He returned to Cleveland and began the season preaching patience and process, talking about all the work that needed to be done, lamenting losses and downplaying wins, as if every game, no matter the outcome, was further proof the Cavaliers just weren't ready.
Practical though that approach may have been, the most recent returns following James' brief sabbatical and Cleveland's midseason roster shakeup are becoming too obvious, too incredible, for even the most cautious to ignore.
Said James after the Cavaliers' victory over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night, per Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick: "This roster can challenge any team out there."
Any team?
Any team.
Even the Warriors?
Especially the Warriors.
If there were any lingering doubts as to whether Cleveland qualified as a legitimate powerhouse, they were annihilated during Thursday night's win against Golden State. The Cavaliers dismantled the NBA's best team, grinding their way to a perception-altering victory.
They couldn't stop the Warriors' ball movement, but they harassed Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, content to test everyone else's mettle. James himself went at Draymond Green early and often, frequenting the free-throw line en route to tallying a season-high 42 points.
More so than wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers, this was the Cavaliers' coming out party. Just six of their previous 17 victories came over winning teams before Thursday, so for all the star power they employ, there was still something to prove.
And they proved it against the league's ultimate giant, strengthening their pursuit of Toronto in the process.
If Not the Cavs, Then Who?
While the Cavaliers have been busy ladder-leaping, their most direct threats have started ebbing in the wrong direction.
Three other teams are in contention for the East's No. 2 slot—the Washington Wizards (fifth place), Chicago Bulls (fourth) and Raptors (second)—and not a single one poses an imminent threat anymore.
Derrick Rose's body has thrown a wrench in the Bulls' plans. He suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee yet again, and no one is quite sure if he'll return this season—though vice general manager Gar Forman is hopeful he will, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
Remaining within the East's top four is a distinct possibility with or without Rose. The Bulls' net rating doesn't suffer all that much when he's off the floor, while Pau Gasol and contract-year Jimmy Butler are two weapons they didn't enjoy in seasons past, when the offense stagnated in Rose's absence.
But the race for second place, in all likelihood, doesn't include them anymore. Although they're just 1.5 games behind Toronto, they already own a 4-6 record against the East's top five outfits. Keeping pace with Washington, Cleveland and Toronto becomes exponentially harder when depending on backup point guards to fill the void Rose leaves behind.
The Wizards are laboring through something similar. Their offense has ranked among the association's seven worst since Bradley Beal went down, a regression that's merely compounded a demise already underway.
After beginning the season 22-8, the Wizards have gone 11-17 and been even worse of late. Since Jan. 15, when the Cavaliers began their meteoric rise through the ranks, the Wizards have secured six wins in 19 tries, one more than either of the tanking Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks.
Three games now separate them and fourth place, a deficit that projects as insurmountable considering their recent downswing and 3-9 record against Toronto, Cleveland and Chicago.
That leaves the Raptors.
Healthy and already in second place, they have the best chance at fending off Cleveland. But that chance is slimming by the game. The Raptors have struggled to play .500 basketball since Cleveland burst onto the scene, and their defensive limitations have been accentuated during a stretch in which the offense has gone from elite to average.
Rather than elevate the Raptors' ceiling, DeMar DeRozan's return has instead coincided with the team hitting a wall. Toronto ranks 12th in offensive efficiency since getting him back, a far cry from its top-four rating overall and further indicative of a descent that has the typically self-assured Kyle Lowry waxing dejection, per Eric Koreen of the National Post:
Recent losses to the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Anthony Davis-less New Orleans have been particularly troubling and seen the Raptors completely disappear down the stretch, blowing leads and opportunities to complete comebacks as they inch closer to pretender territory.
"Big picture, the Raptors are the best team in the Atlantic and among the top five teams in the East," writes Sportsnet's Eric Smith. "They’re good but certainly not great."
As in not a threat to the actually great Cavaliers.
Position of Power
Everything favors the Cavaliers now.
Between their rapid rise and the surrounding competition wilting when it matters most, their path to second place is basically clear. The only thing standing in their way is Kyrie Irving's shoulder, which will keep him sidelined for at least one game, per Skolnick:
But that's it.
All other remaining concerns are inconsequential. The Cavaliers aren't coming together; they are together. James is taking over. Irving is the league's most dangerous second option. The defense is stauncher; the second unit is deeper. Even the offense has been refitted to include additional touches in the post for the once-slumping, now-recovering Kevin Love.
Early season unrest has, in turn, become a thing of the past. The Cavaliers have rebounded in fantastic fashion, transitioning from primary punchline to foremost powerhouse. No, they won't catch that No. 1 seed. Atlanta's nine-game lead on the Cavaliers isn't going anywhere.
What's in front of Cleveland now, though, is the next best thing—a second-place finish that, frankly, is no longer up for grabs.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com and are accurate leading into games for Feb. 27.
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