The beauty of breaking the season in half at the All-Star Break is that the second half is more of a “homestretch” – the final 30 games of the regular season (in the Cavaliers’ case) heading into a return run at the NBA Finals.
The Wine and Gold wrapped up the first half in style – winning their last three games before the Break and finishing with the East’s top mark at 38-14. Tyronn Lue is 8-3 since taking over for David Blatt and – aside from Matthew Dellavedova’s sore left hamstring – the Cavaliers are as healthy as they’ve been all season.
Cleveland tips off the campaign’s second half on Thursday night at The Q – taking on a Bulls team they’ve yet to beat this season. As we get ready for the final 30 contests before the tournament tips off in late April, here’s a primer for the rest of the way …
SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Including Thursday’s nationally-televised matchup with Chicago and the final game of the season – Fan Appreciation Night at The Q against Detroit on April 13 – the Cavaliers play each of their Central Division rivals two more times. They’ve split the first two games with Detroit and Milwaukee, have beat the Pacers twice and have dropped both games to the Bulls.
The Cavs close out February with some tough matchups on the docket – starting with their first three games: taking on the Bulls, the red-hot Thunder on Sunday in Oklahoma City and a Pistons team that just took a step forward with the addition of Tobias Harris. Next Friday night, the Cavs face off against a Raptors team that won 14 of 16 heading into the Break and sits just three games behind Cleveland for the East’s top spot.
(Cleveland closes out the month of February with a back-to-back against Washington and Indy – one of eight back-to-backs the rest of the way.)
March is a busy time for the Cavaliers – taking on eight Western Conference and eight Eastern Conference foes in the month. From March 9-14, they finish off their final West Coast trip of the season – taking on the Kings, Lakers, Clippers and Jazz. Midway through the month, they do the Sunshine State back-to-back against Miami and Orlando and wrap up the Big Apple portion of the schedule in the final weekend, battling the Nets and Knicks.
It’s all business in April. All opponents are from Eastern Conference, there’s only one back-to-back – at Milwaukee and Indiana – and the Wine and Gold take on the Hawks twice.
Some of the biggest games to watch the rest of the way – based on the landscape as of February 17 – are Thursday’s home matchup with the Bulls, Sunday’s rematch with the Thunder in OKC, the Celtics return to Cleveland on March 5, the Cavaliers visit to South Beach on March 19 and a big litmus test in Atlanta on April Fool’s Day.
PLAYERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
How a player is playing in December vs. how he’s playing in April can be two totally different things. Even Tristan Thompson – the Cavaliers’ model of consistency – was a different player when he was inserted into the starting lineup during last year’s postseason.
Each of the Cavaliers are going to go through some change between now and when the playoffs tip off in April. But here are some guys whose development will be something to watch for over the final 30 contests.
J.R. Smith – No Cavalier this side of Kyrie Irving went into the All-Star Break hotter than Smith, who averaged 15.8 points per over his last 12 game – shooting 46 percent from long-range and canning at least two triples in each of those outings. Since January 1, no player in the East has better hotter from deep than Smith – who’s having a career year. Can Smith – who’s also been excellent on the defensive end – keep it up the rest of the way?
Kevin Love – The first question about Kevin Love will be how his left shoulder feels after leaving the Lakers game late in the first half. The three-time All-Star came out of the gate strong at the start of Tyronn Lue’s tenure, averaging 20.2 points and 8.4 boards over the course of Cleveland’s five-game win streak. In the final two games before the Break, Love averaged 9.5 points and 6.0 boards, shooting just 21 percent from the floor in the process. Which Love will we see over the final 30 games?
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Kyrie Irving – Kyrie went into the Break as one of the hottest players in the entire Conference – finishing with a season-high 35 points against the Lakers, his second straight game of 30-plus. He notched 20 or more points in seven of the last eight games, averaging 26.9 points and shooting over 56 percent over that stretch. After missing the season’s first 24 games, could Kyrie just be hitting his stride as the season heads for the homestretch?
Timofey Mozgov – After getting off to a slow start this season, working his way back from offseason knee surgery, Timo still hasn’t found his form this season. Mozgov hasn’t notched double-figure scoring since late January or double-digit boards since mid-December. He’s been coming off the bench since January 25 and is slowly getting his confidence back – shooting 67 percent from the floor over the last 12 games. But he’ll need to channel 2014-15 Mozgov if the Wine and Gold hope to return to the NBA’s Promised Land.
Iman Shumpert – Iman’s value to the team can never be measured by point production. Instead, look to the overtime period in Dallas back on January 12 when he shut down Dirk Nowitzki and Deron Williams in separate possessions to seal the win. Still, the Wine and Gold could use some added wing production when LeBron and J.R. are off the floor. Shump and Delly are keys to the Cavaliers’ defense, but they’ll still need to pitch in on the offensive end as Cleveland climbs the chain when the posteason tips off.
GROWING QUESTIONS
What will the Cavaliers identity be when the playoffs roll around?
So far this season, the Wine and Gold have shown they can adapt to any style – and that versatility will go a long way as they try to match up in the postseason. As a defensive-minded team, the Cavaliers held opponents to 85.3 during a five-game run from December 11-25. Not long after Coach Lue took over, the Cavs were an offensive juggernaut – averaging 114.2 ppg through a five-game win streak. Tyronn Lue has insisted he wants his team in better shape to push the pace – and they responded to that demand early. But the playoffs feature a lot of halfcourt hoops – and the Cavs have shown they can go that way too.
Who will emerge as Cleveland’s main Eastern Conference competition heading into the postseason?
Three teams in the East won eight of their final 10 games heading into the Break: Boston, Toronto and the Cavaliers. (With one of the Celtics’ wins coming on February 5 at The Q.) If the playoffs began today, the Cavs would take on the Charlotte Hornets, who finally beat a LeBron James team for the first time in 22 tries earlier this month. But the Bulls, Pacers and Pistons are also all hovering around the 7th and 8th seeds. The Hawks have a postseason ax to grind with Cleveland and the Heat, the top defensive scoring team in the East, has played the Cavs tough for two straight seasons.
But right now, the Raptors are looking like the Cavs’ stiffest challenger. They face off for the final time this season next Friday at the Air Canada Centre.
Will the Cavaliers settle in on a solid rotation and who will be in it?
Two quotes are pertinent here: One is the Mike Tyson classic: “Everybody’s got a gameplan til they get punched in the mouth” and two, that “necessity is the mother of invention.”
Last year, the Cavaliers had a rock-solid rotation heading into the playoffs, but injuries to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving plus J.R. Smith’s two-game suspension threw all that out of whack. Rotations will get whittled down to eight or nine guys maximum in the playoffs, and for the next eight weeks – barring injury – Coach Lue and the Cavaliers will have to decide who those guys will be.
As of right now, Delly and Shump are locked in as the first two guards off the bench. Delly has been outstanding on both ends this year and Shumpert’s defensive adaptability will be invaluable in both backcourt spots.
Anderson Varejao has recently replaced Timo as the first big off the bench, but that’s been a fluid situation all season. And Richard Jefferson has been a big improvement over Shawn Marion in terms of relieving LeBron off the bench.
