Cleveland Cavaliers: Why They’re Not A Lock To Make The NBA Finals

There Are Other Beasts In The East

The Eastern Conference has long been viewed as the “weaker conference”. While that still may be the general consensus among the NBA community, some teams in the East are trying to change that narrative.

If the season ended today, the playoff matchups would be as follows:

(1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (8) Detroit Pistons

(2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Chicago Bulls

(3) Washington Wizards vs. (6) Indiana Pacers

(4) Toronto Raptors vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks

By the time you read this, there will be roughly 20 games left in the regular season. Teams like the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks are only a few games out of the 8th seed spot. Seeds 2-5 are only separated by four games; which essentially means one winning streak (like the 4-game winning streak Toronto is currently on) for one team and a rough stretch from another (Chicago’s next 12 are against Golden State, LAC, Detroit, Orlando, Houston, Boston, Charlotte, Memphis, Washington, Utah, Toronto, and Detroit again) could lead to a massive shakeup for the projected playoff matchups.

Now, regardless of whatever the matchups shake out to be, we are in store for some great ones with some much-improved squads. While I could break down each project matchup, I’m just going to break down a few of the teams that I believe have a legitimate shot of taking down the Cleveland Cavaliers.