The Cleveland Cavaliers emerged from the All-Star Break with three straight losses (to the Denver Nuggets for the second time this season, to the Charlotte Bobcats for the third time this season, and to the Orlando Magic for the first time since they eliminated the Cavs in the '09 Eastern Conference Finals).
It was their first three-game losing streak in almost two full years. (Their last back-to-back-to-back losses came in March of 2008.) And it was a real buzzkill after all the exhilarating trade deadline hysteria . . . culminating in the pillaging of the Washington Wizards.
Then the Cavaliers righted the ship. In a big way.
Since those three loses, the Cavs are 11-1.
That's even more impressive considering the fact that the Cavs have been without Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O'Neal, who went down just one-and-a-half games into that 11-1 run. Yet, without both of their centers, the Cavs are still 9-1. (Or, technically, 9.5-1)
[And leading into the All-Star Break, the Cavaliers had a franchise record-tying 13-0 streak . . . while being without Mo for 11 of those games, Delonte for nine, and Jamario for four.]
So let's take a step back and appreciate the Cavs' resilience and take a look at some stats to see how they've been getting the job done over the last month.
Suck down these numbers:
#1.) Leading into tonight's game against the Chicago Bulls, the Cavs are 54-15, which is three games off last year's pace. After 69 games last year, the Cavs were 57-12, and nine games into last year's 13-game winning streak.
To match those 66 wins, the Cavs would have to finish the regular season on a 12-1 run, which sounds like a stretch . . . until you consider that they're currently on an 11-1 run. (Not that the 66 wins really matters in the grand scheme of things.)
#2.) As of this (Friday) morning, the Cavaliers (54-15) have a 5.5 game lead on the Orlando Magic (49-21) for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The tiebreaker hasn't been determined yet. Cleveland has a 2-1 lead over the Magic in the season series, but there's one game left (in Cleveland on April 11th).
The Cavs have a 3.5 game lead over the Los Angeles Lakers (50-18) for the best record in the NBA . . . which, of course, would net the Cavs home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Since the Cavs own the tiebreaker - they walked over the Lakers in both of their match-ups this season - the lead is technically 4.5 games.
Continue reading "W&GR Cavaliers Stat Check [3/19] . . . The Minus-Shaq, Minus-Z Edition" »

