Cleveland Cavaliers Playoff Schedule 2015: TV Info and Predictions for 1st Round
The Cleveland Cavaliers wanted to play the Boston Celtics in the first round. David Blatt rested his stars in back-to-back Boston victories last week that put Brad Stevens and Co. in position to capture the East's No. 7 seed.
Their plan—if it truly was one—worked. Boston locked up its first playoff berth of the Stevens era Monday and clinched the No. 7 seed a day later. Despite a roster lacking an All-Star—perhaps even lacking a future All-Star—the Celtics thrived over the second half of the season, compiling a 24-13 record since Feb. 1.
Not all of those wins were hollow triumphs over teams resting players, either. Boston has defended at a top-10 rate without a rim protector and has wins over Atlanta, Memphis and Toronto, among others. Make no mistake: Stevens has his neophyte roster feeling itself heading into this series.
"I'm ready to go to war with these guys," forward Jae Crowder said, per Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. "I'm ready to go to war. Let the rest take care of itself. I think everybody in this locker room, each man, will be ready to go to war."
Cleveland also has plenty of reasons to feel confident heading into Sunday. The near-constant turmoil that threatened to undo LeBron's homecoming has subsided as the Cavs have soared to the East's No. 2 seed, with Atlanta's second-half swoon making them look like arguably the Eastern Conference favorite.
But before we get too far, the Cavs have to prove themselves correct and take care of their Bostonian business.
Schedule
| 1 | Sunday, April 19 | Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers | 3 PM ET | ABC | TBD |
| 2 | Tuesday, April 21 | Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers | 7 PM ET | TNT | TBD |
| 3 | Thursday, April 23 | Cleveland Cavaliers at Boston Celtics | 7 PM ET | TNT | TBD |
| 4 | Sunday, April 26 | Cleveland Cavaliers at Boston Celtics | 1 PM ET | ABC | TBD |
| 5* | Tuesday, April 28 | Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 6* | Thursday, April 30 | Cleveland Cavaliers at Boston Celtics | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 7* | Saturday, May 2 | Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers | TBD | TNT | TBD |
Lingering Cavs Questions
The Kevin Love Conundrum
What we know: Kevin Love did not suddenly become bad at basketball on his flight to Cleveland for his introductory press conference. This was one of the league's 10 best players a year ago, perhaps the NBA's platonic ideal of a power forward.
What we also know: Love is not being used the way he'd prefer to be used in Cleveland. He's been openly opining for more post touches since before the season even started. The refrain hasn't changed much during the various iterations of this Cleveland roster, as Love has been confined to a Bosh-like role in the slash-and-kick style this team has settled into. Love has only completed 24.1 percent of his plays in a post-up capacity this season after being one of the most post-dominant players in the league with Minnesota.
"Obviously, I would like to average a double-double," Love told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "That's something that I've done throughout my career, but you have to understand that I'm not around the basket as much as I've been in the past. As long as we're winning, I'm fine."
Love may be putting on a publicly brave face, but the Cavs are going to need that nightly double-double to return. For all of the bluster about doing what's best for the team, Love's going to be integral to the offensive changes Cleveland needs to make during the postseason.
What it does during the regular season works. James and Kyrie Irving essentially take turns in the point guard role, running pick-and-rolls and isolations to set themselves up for others. Because they're All-Stars with varied skill sets, the whole thing works despite a high predictability factor. Over a seven-game series, though, we've seen time and again that predictable offenses fail come May and June.
Why else do you think we've had "the Scott Brooks conversation" for years now? The Cavs right now are very Oklahoma City-like in their minimal offensive variation. Blatt's going to need to use James and Love more in the post, even if it's as facilitators. LeBron has pushed out on the perimeter more in Cleveland, but there's little doubt he'll flash the Miami post game when asked.
The issue at hand is whether the Cavs will be willing to allow Love to do the same.
Can This Team Defend Well Enough to Make a Title Run?
History says no. Cleveland enters the postseason near the bottom of defensive rating among playoff teams. The popular refrain around the NBA is that it takes a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense to qualify for title-contender status. Only eight teams since 1980 have ranked outside of the 10 best defenses, per Andres Alvarez of Wages of Wins and additional research, and only two (1981 Celtics, 1998 Bulls) were worse than 15th.
Before we delve deeper, it's worth acknowledging half of those numbers came before Timofey Mozgov arrived and became a semi-stabilizing force in the middle. Opponents are shooting under 48 percent with Mozgov within five feet of the rim this season, an above-average number that's light years ahead of what Cleveland had during its early swoon.
"Boy he's big—you can't teach that," Blatt told Steve Aschburner of NBA.com in March. "Moz has been one of the key factors in us turning our season around. He fits in extremely well with the other guys—he understands what we want from him and what the other guys expect from him."
That said, Mozgov hasn't been a fix-all solution. The Cavs have moved up to a robust 17th in defensive rating since his arrival. Their starting lineup has been destroying teams on both ends, but things fall apart on bench-heavy units—even when Blatt mixes and matches starters and reserves, something we should see more of in the postseason.
Even lineups that merely swap out Love for Tristan Thompson, which, on paper, should have no bearing on defensive efficiency, have been sieve-like in limited minutes. The reality is that Cleveland has one great perimeter defender (LeBron, when he wants to be) and a bunch of inconsistent-but-talented dudes. You're going to see Blatt dust off Kendrick Perkins at some meaningful point in a series and be reminded of how thin this team is defensively.
It's not something that will bear any weight in this series, but getting into an early rhythm never hurt anyone. The Cavs will need to build their defensive foundation before it's too late.
Series Outlook
I'm not going to pretend for a second the Celtics can upset the Cavs. Frankly, it would be insulting. Cleveland has been the Eastern Conference's best team since LeBron returned from his midseason sabbatical, and there is no reason to act like this is much more than a prep series for the inevitable Cavs-Hawks conference finals.
Boston has one distinct advantage: coaching. Stevens has done an excellent job of keeping the Celts afloat amid injuries, roster turnover and general talent discrepancies, and he probably deserves more Coach of the Year consideration than he's getting. It's not unthinkable to imagine them making a home game close and pulling it out when it comes down to a Stevens vs. Blatt final two minutes.
Outside of the man calling the sets, though, Boston has zero advantages. The Cavs are more talented, somehow have better roster chemistry and can go deeper down their bench with real, live NBA players. The only real question here is whether LeBron and Co. can move on via a sweep or if it'll take a fifth game.
Let's be nice and give it to Cleveland in five. Stevens deserves a game's worth of credit for all he's done this year.
Advanced stats via NBA.com, unless otherwise noted.
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