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NBA Standings Watch: Cleveland Cavaliers Playoff Positioning A Priority

By Evan Light

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As the All-Star Game draws near, it’s becoming more important to pay attention to the NBA standings for playoff positioning purposes, and the Cavaliers did themselves some huge favors with their recent 12-game winning streak. But as we Cleveland fans always do, we take losses personally and Friday’s loss to the Indian Pacers was no different. 

On Sunday, September 24, the Green Bay Packers fell to 1-2 on the new NFL season. After the game, their MVP quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, had one message for Packer fans; relax: “Five letters here just for everybody out there in Packer-land: R-E-L-A-X”. After that message, the Packers won 10 of their next 11 games, and finished the season 12-4, ending with a trip to the NFC Championship game.

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Cavalier fans, I am here to give you the same message. The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Indiana Pacers 103-99, Friday night, ending their 12-game winning streak. After the loss, social media exploded with frustration from Cavs fans everywhere. Some of the frustration was warranted, as fans had to watch the Cavs give up a 13 point third-quarter lead. The team settled for jumpers and made several careless turnovers. Tristan Thompson missed an easy dunk, and Matthew Dellavedova had a critical charge call overturned, resulting in a 3 point play for Indiana. CJ Miles torched his former team for 26 points, and George Hill managed to destroy any momentum Cleveland thought they had in the fourth quarter with his circus style 4-point play with 1:26 left that would easily win anyone a game of HORSE.

Yes, it was a discouraging loss. After all, we had just witnessed the longest winning streak since 2009 come to an end. But what we need to remember is that we are only four years removed from the longest losing streak in NBA history. Our first post-LeBron team lost 26 straight games. We saw our teams go 97-and-215 in the years that LeBron was partying in South Beach. We cheered for guys like Christian Eyenga, Manny Harris, Earl Clark and Samardo Samuels do everything they could to just remain in the league. Opposing teams treated games against the Cavs like a scrimmage. As much as we would like to forget about the past 4 years, we need to remember them. We need to remind ourselves that the guys coming out of our tunnel have a championship on their minds, not whether they will be on a roster at the end of the season.

While we will deal with frustrating losses every now and then, know that in just about three months, this loss will be forgotten. In the past 10 games, we gained five games on Chicago and six games on current No. 3 seed Washington. This puts us ½ game out of first in the division, and 3 and ½ games behind the No. 2 seed Toronto Raptors. As we have now had time to forget about last night’s frustrations, let’s keep our eyes on the big picture.

Standings as of 2/6/2015

There are 30 games remaining in the regular season. Catching Atlanta may be out of the picture, but the No. 2 seed and home court advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs is easily in reach. Our head to head matchups with the teams ahead of us are in our favor. We are 5-and-2 against the Bulls, Wizards, and Raptors. We play Washington and Chicago two more times each, and Toronto once more. There is a long way to go, and one loss shouldn’t put us down.

Kyrie Irving is looking like a top point guard in this league. He is looking for his teammates instead of looking to improve his “brand”, like he referred to in the past. Yes, Kevin Love is still adjusting and needs time to get comfortable. Whether that refers to his role on the court or his health, we aren’t sure. The trades we have made are looking like they are paying off. We have a center that alters shots and stands down from no one in Timofey Mozgov. Iman Shumpert is proving that he is a top perimeter defender in this league, and JR Smith is shooting close to 40 percent from 3-point range since the streak began. David Blatt, while still showing signs of being a rookie NBA head coach, appears to have full support from the front office and his team.

On top of all of that, we have the one thing nobody else has, No. 23. LeBron James is looking like new LeBron, not the worn down, fatigued LeBron we saw in the first part of the season. As long as everyone stays healthy, we will be watching summer basketball again, and we can all, collectively relax.

Next: Do The Cavs Have Enough Ammo To Pull Off Another Trade?

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