The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves in striking distance of the New York Knicks for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
With three games remaining in the regular season, the Cavs are just one game back from the Knicks, who have been the No. 3 seed in the East over the last month. The Detroit Pistons have locked up the No. 1 seed, and it feels like the Boston Celtics are all but locked into No. 2.<\/p>\n
But the Cavs must avoid supplanting the Knicks over their final five days of this regular season.<\/p>\n
If the Cavs become the third seed in the Eastern Conference, they\u2019d set themselves up for a second-round matchup against the Celtics, who recently returned Jayson Tatum from his Achilles tendon recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Staying the fourth seed would make life easier on the Cavaliers<\/a>, who are still coming together as a team during a regular season filled with injuries and trades.<\/p>\n Cavs should not want second-round matchup against Celtics<\/p>\n The Celtics have proved that Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who played at an MVP level this season, are a championship caliber duo. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard are an aggravating, defensive-minded backcourt. While Boston\u2019s frontcourt is not as deep or talented as Cleveland\u2019s after they broke up with Kristaps Porzingis, avoiding the Celtics would be in the best interest of the Cavaliers this season.<\/p>\n It\u2019s imperative that the Cavaliers make it out of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. In the Donovan Mitchell era, the Cavs have been unable to make it out of the second round. Following last year\u2019s Game 5 loss against the Indiana Pacers, many locally and nationally expected Cleveland\u2019s core four to be broken up in the offseason.<\/p>\n And it didn\u2019t make it too much longer.<\/p>\n The Cavs traded Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers for James Harden, getting 10 years older. Harden has been to the NBA Playoffs all 17 years of his legendary career. This trade signaled that the Cavaliers understand that they have a golden opportunity to make the NBA Finals this season.<\/p>\n The Pacers have been without Tyrese Haliburton all season due to his ruptured Achilles tendon. The Celtics rushed back Tatum. The Knicks have been inconsistent all year. <\/p>\n Outside of those teams? There\u2019s not anybody else on the same playing field as the Cavaliers, who have one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the NBA.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s no reason to face the Celtics until the Eastern Conference Finals. Why would the Cavaliers intentionally choose a more difficult path? The Cavaliers won\u2019t get any extra credit or bonus points for a more difficult path to the Finals.\u00a0The most strategic path would be for the Cavaliers to stay in the No. 4 seed, assuring themselves an easier route that wouldn\u2019t include the Celtics until the conference finals.<\/p>\n The Cavs have done this before<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t unfounded. <\/p>\n Even though Mitchell turned his nose up at the suggestion of intentionally tanking games for more favorable playoff seeding, the Cavs have done this before. Two years ago, they wanted a first-round matchup with the Orlando Magic. Back in 2017, LeBron James and the Cavs avoided the Washington Wizards, who were playing hot basketball with John Wall and Bradley Beal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson has acknowledged that he’s aware of their seeding dilemma<\/a>. Strategy must prevail in this situation. <\/p>\n