Cleveland Cavaliers are on the wildest 28-year playoff seeding streak originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have officially extended one of the weirdest streaks in sports.

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For each of the last 28 years, the Cavs have either been a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference, or they’ve missed the playoffs.

They haven’t been a No. 5, 6, 7 or 8 seed in more than a quarter-century.

They clinched a top-four seed this year by beating the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night. They’re at 50-29, with a five-game edge on the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the win column with fewer games than that for both teams still to play in the regular season.

It’s hard to reference whether anything like this has ever happened before, but when you actually think about the Cavs’ history, it sort of makes sense.

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They were really bad, which allowed them to win the lottery and get LeBron James.

With LeBron, once he reached his full powers, the Cavs were always going to be near the top of the Eastern Conference.

Once he left for Miami, there was a quick downturn again, but then he came back, and back up to the top of the East went the Cavs.

This latest era is the most fascinating, because it wouldn’t have been impossible for a Donovan Mitchell-led team to finish in the second tier of the East instead of right near the top. But this group has been potent in the regular season and just not yet cashed in during the playoffs.

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Cleveland would certainly like to take that next postseason step, and they’ve at least given themselves a chance with another strong regular season.

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