The Cleveland Cavaliers saw their 16-game winning streak end on Sunday at the hands of the Orlando Magic.
They will look to start another one when they face off against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Tuesday.
At 56-11, the Cavs have the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference just about wrapped up, but they can’t put the cart before the horse and start looking ahead too much.
ESPN Cleveland’s Emmett Golden said on Monday that the expectation is now for the Cavs to make the Eastern Conference Finals.
“Every year they have improved. They went from the lottery to the play-in to a top-4 seed to the first round of the playoffs to the second round of the playoffs. They have to get to the Eastern Conference championship this year. If they don’t it’s a step back.”
Is it fair to expect the Cavs to make the ECF? pic.twitter.com/8azvmrIcsi
— Emmett Golden (@egoldie80) March 17, 2025
This is a fair point, as the Cavs have been on a natural linear progression from one year to the next, but when you’re 56-11, expectations are going to be much higher.
Cleveland will most likely have a first-round matchup with a team under .500, though those matchups could be deceiving as the current No. 7 and No. 8 teams are the Atlanta Hawks, who have beaten the Cavs twice this season, and the Magic, who just beat the Cavs and took them to seven games in the first round of last year’s playoffs.
A second-round matchup won’t be a cakewalk either, but there is no excuse for the Cavs to not at least make the Conference Finals this year.
What can’t happen is for the team to lose focus and start overlooking teams because it already has the No. 1 seed in the bag.
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