The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, as the stretch run approaches, are racing for command of the Eastern Conference
The Cleveland Cavaliers (39-16) and Boston Celtics (37-20) hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the East, respectively. The Celtics are only three games back, which probably isn’t what everyone was expecting to start this season.
Last season, the Celtics showed us how scrappy they could be, while the Cavaliers went on to win the NBA Championship.
It’s convincing that the Celtics could grab that No. 1 spot in the standings in the East when the playoffs roll around. The Cavaliers are overplaying LeBron, which isn’t all that surprising. Boston has a lot to work with as the trade deadline approaches. They have plenty of assets and already hold a spot in the playoffs as things stand. They could use some help in the rebounding area and one trade could provide a fix for that.
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For the Cavaliers, Kevin Love is now out for six weeks and will be having a knee procedure. As anyone who has ever played basketball well knows, your knees are slightly important to playing well. Obviously with the NBA, these guys can afford the best of the best when it comes to having surgeries. But you also don’t know how a player will recover until they get into the full swing of things, which could take Love longer than those six weeks. You just never know.
So should Boston even worry about grabbing that No. 1 spot? Or should they just focus on playing the same basketball they’ve been playing and take the playoffs as they come? They should definitely do the latter.
The Celtics don’t just have an obstacle in the Cavaliers. Even if they were to beat them, there still lies the Golden State Warriors on the other side of a championship round (unless there’s something insane that happens between now and then). The chances of the Celtics defeating the Warriors if they were to get past the Cavaliers seems very slim.
It’s possible that the Celtics might take the one spot in the playoffs anyway. It really will all be determined by how many unnecessary minutes LeBron plays during the remainder of the regular season. And let’s be honest, the Cavaliers do not need to get the No. 1 seed to survive in the playoffs. Sure, homecourt advantage is nice and all, but the Cavaliers aren’t exactly a team that needs it.
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Boston’s best option is to continue to look ahead for the team instead of focusing solely on defeating the Cavaliers. They’ll be in the playoffs and if they continue to play consistently, they’ll do just fine without having to compromise the future of the team just to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.