Opinion: Should Cavs Care About Playoff Seed?

The Cleveland Cavaliers currently have their third seed in the NBA's Eastern Conference.

Mar 20, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J. B. Bickerstaff reacts in the second quarter against the Miami Heat at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

After a long, grueling six-month NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have just seven regular season games left before the Playoffs officially get started. Now is the time for fans to start schedule watching to see who the Wine and Gold may get paired up with in the postseason.

All of the injuries and underperformances for the Cavs do raise a valid question. Does Cleveland’s spot in the Eastern Conference matter? Should the team be concerned with climbing as high as they can get in the standings? Or, should the team hope to just stay where they're at?

Yes. But also no.

Let’s start here.

No,  the Cavs are not catching the Boston Celtics as the number-one seed, and at this point, even the Milwaukee Bucks  (who are just two games up on the Cavs for the second seed) feel out of reach with the way they've have been playing.

In that respect, the team shouldn’t be focused on trying to overtake two teams who have a clear advantage over Cleveland while the Wine and Gold try to stay healthy.

Mar 20, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J. B. Bickerstaff reacts in the second quarter against the Miami Heat at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

This doesn’t mean the Cavs shouldn’t be checking the standings from time to time to see where they sit. Seeding will still be an important storyline as the regular season comes to a close. 

As of Monday morning April, 1, the Cavs are between the third seed in the Eastern Conference competing with the New York Knicks (44-30), Orlando Magic (43-31), and Indiana Pacers (42-33) for this third-sixth seed territory. 

This is the area Cleveland should be focused on and care about.

First, securing home-court advantage in a seven-game series is crucial no matter what Cleveland’s away record may say. History has always been on the side of those who open up the series on their own floor. Also, staying in this three-four range gives the Cavs a better chance to be paired up with the Pacers or Magic whom Cleveland matches up with very well. It also hopefully prevents the Cavs from seeing the Knicks in the first round for the second straight year. 

Dropping to the fifth or even sixth seed would mean no home-court advantage and an unfavorable opponent in round one. Making sure that doesn’t happen needs to be a priority for Cleveland.

Right now, it’s about treading water, getting healthy, and hoping the team can get into some sort of groove for the Playoffs. Even if that means Donovan Mitchell and Isaac Okoro need to sit a few more games to make sure they are fully healthy.

A fully healthy Cavs team that's the fourth or even fifth seed is much more dangerous then a Cleveland team that gave it their all to be the second or third seed but end up without exhaustin their top players to get there.