Best and Worst Potential Eastern Conference Playoff Matchups for Cleveland Cavs
The Cleveland Cavaliers recently reached their 50th win of the season, which secured the fifth division title in franchise history and a spot in this year's postseason.
Cleveland is guaranteed to finish no lower than No. 2 in the Eastern Conference, with the third- and 10th-seeded teams separated by just 5.5 games. In this wide-open East, the Cavs could find themselves doing battle with a wide variety of teams in any of the first three rounds.
Based on individual matchups, previous history and playing style, here are the squads Cleveland should fear the most and should be happiest to see.
Best Matchup Runner-Up: Charlotte Hornets
Season Record: 2-1
Key Stat: Cavs holding Hornets to 29.6 percent three-point shooting
Every team in the East presents some form of challenge for the Cavaliers—even the pesky Hornets.
Charlotte is arguably the hottest team in the East right now, winning eight of its past 10 games. A new commitment to the outside shot this season has them in the top 10 in offensive rating, despite having no superstars to lead the attack.
Cleveland has primarily been successful against the Hornets by taking away the three-ball. Charlotte's lowly 29.6 percent success rate is a drop of 6.2 percent off their season average of 35.8—a figure that's good for eighth in the NBA.
The loss of premier wing defender Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to shoulder surgery hurts the Hornets' chances of limiting the damage LeBron James can do. Like the Cavs, Charlotte doesn't have a single player averaging even one block per game, which is bad news for a team trying to stop a driving James or Kyrie Irving.
The Cavs will need to cut off the head of the snake, Kemba Walker, to truly make this a quick series. Walker (21.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists) is enjoying a career year while trying to help Charlotte clinch just its third playoff appearance in the past 12 seasons.
This kind of inexperience will doom the Hornets the same way it did the Boston Celtics in the first round against Cleveland last year. Both employ a roster full of young, promising players who just aren't ready to hang with the Cavs' veterans (yet).
Best Matchup Winner: Indiana Pacers
Season Record: 3-0
Key Stat: James 28.7 PPG, second-most against any East team
The Pacers have been a nice surprise this season by seemingly rebranding themselves as a more uptempo team after parting ways with David West and Roy Hibbert last summer. While the roster shake-up has been a successful one (38-44 last year; 37-33 thus far in 2015-16), Indiana is still limited in overall talent.
Paul George versus James will be a delight to watch, even if LeBron is scoring more against the Pacers than any other team in the East save for the Milwaukee Bucks.
When comparing the rest of the rosters, however, the difference is clear. George's supporting cast of Monta Ellis, George Hill, Jordan Hill and rookie Myles Turner pales in comparison to that of Irving, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova in terms of overall talent.
Cleveland's perfect 3-0 record over the Pacers is its only unblemished mark against an East playoff team. The only conference franchises the Cavs have defeated more often are the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers (4-0 against each).
Perhaps Indiana's greatest strength this season has been its defense. It ranks seventh in opponent scoring (100.3) and third in rating (102.6). Led by James, Cleveland is putting up 104 points per game in their three meetings.
Now with Channing Frye on board to help pull Turner, Hill and other Pacers bigs out of the paint, the Cavs should find putting points on the board that much easier.
Worst Matchup Runner-Up: Boston Celtics
Season Record: 2-1
Key Stat: James' 1-of-12 three-point shooting vs. Celtics this season
When trying to predict teams that Cleveland will potentially struggle against, the ability to defend James is near the top of the list.
Enter Boston.
With a wing corps of Jae Crowder, Evan Turner and Jonas Jerebko, the Celtics have done an admirable job making things difficult for James this season. Crowder has the right combination of size, speed and strength and is perhaps only bested by players like Kawhi Leonard, Andre Iguodala and Jimmy Butler when it comes to guarding the four-time MVP.
Boston has essentially taken away James' perimeter game in their head-to-heads, as LeBron is at an 8.3 percent success rate from deep to show for it. This is tied for his second-worst outside shooting performance against any NBA team.
More than just their competent job of defending James, the Celtics are deep, well-coached and especially tough, according to Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue.
"They're physical at every position," Lue said after the teams met on March 5. "Isaiah [Thomas] is small, but he's tough and he's physical, he tries to be. Avery Bradley is physical. You have [Jae] Crowder, who is physical; [Jared] Sullinger, who is physical. You come off the bench with Marcus Smart, he's physical. So, with that being said, I'd have to say, yeah, that's probably the most physical team we play all year, because they're physical at every position."
The Celtics are aggressive defensively but have shown a calm, almost rhythmic side when it comes to scoring the ball. No team in the East has a better assist-to-turnover ratio (1.76) than the guys in green.
There's also a revenge factor in play here.
Cleveland swept the then-surprising Celtics out of the first round a season ago when most felt Boston was lucky to even be there. Now in serious contention for the No. 3 seed in the East, head coach Brad Stevens' team is proving it's no fluke.
If the two meet up again, don't expect another sweep.
Worst Matchup Winner: Miami Heat
Season Record: 1-2
Key Stat: Cavs scoring 95.7 PPG vs. Heat, lowest amount vs. East playoff teams
Despite possibly claiming home-court advantage over the Cavaliers, the Toronto Raptors are not the team to fear if you're Cleveland.
Pat Riley's South Beach boys are back in the playoffs after a one-year absence and would like nothing more than to stop James and the Cavs from winning a title.
As it turns out, many in the Cavaliers organization have forgotten to take their talents to Miami, as Cleveland has dropped their last 11 games in South Florida. Seven of these came before James returned to Cleveland, but even with him, the Cavs are still 0-4.
"The way they’ve beat us here is a little concerning if we face them,” James said following a 122-101 Miami blowout on March 19, per Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
The former Heat member has struggled against his old teammates, with a plus/minus rating of minus-16.8—his lowest total against any East team this season. His respective rebound and assist averages of just 4.0 and 3.5 while facing Miami rank 29th and 30th among all NBA opponents.
The Heat have three quality defenders in Luol Deng, Justise Winslow and Joe Johnson to throw at James, not to mention the league's best shot-blocker, Hassan Whiteside (3.8 swats a game), waiting in the paint.
After his buyout from the Brooklyn Nets and decision to join Miami despite a recruitment from James, Johnson has thrived on his new squad. The 34-year-old forward is putting up 15.7 points on 57.1 percent shooting from the field and a scorching 59.0 percent from deep.
Miami has climbed to No. 3 in the East behind Cleveland and Toronto, even without All-Star power forward Chris Bosh. The team is optimistic he can return following a blood clot scare that's sidelined him since mid-February, with Riley telling Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald the team is "absolutely open-minded. That’s our position.”
A healthy Bosh joining a core of Dwyane Wade, Goran Dragic, Whiteside, Deng and Winslow is an extremely dangerous matchup for the Cavaliers. Cleveland should hope Miami and Toronto have to face each other first, with the latter coming out on top.
Greg Swartz is the Cleveland Cavaliers Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @CavsGregBR.
All quotes obtained firsthand unless cited. Stats via Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise sourced and are current as of March 22 unless otherwise noted.
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