Cavs move one step closer to clinching the one seed in the East
Cleveland still has a narrow chance of overtaking the Thunder.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Cleveland Cavaliers' 114-113 win over the tanking San Antonio Spurs was enough to bring them one step closer to clinching the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.
Specifically, it brought their magic number to securing the top spot over the Boston Celtics down to one. That means, just one more Cavs win or Celtics loss would guarantee Cleveland the one seed in the East.
Both the Cavs and Celtics have five more games to play. At this point, it would be unlikely that Boston ran the table while the Cavs lost out. That said, here's a look at both teams’ remaining games.
Cavs remaining schedule
- vs. Sacramento Kings - Sun. April 6
- vs. Chicago Bulls - Tue, April 8
- at Indiana Pacers - Thu, April 10
- at New York Knicks - Fri, April 11
- vs. Pacers - Sun, April 13
Celtics remaining schedule
- vs. Washington Wizards - Sun. April 6
- at Knicks - Tue, April 8
- at Orlando Magic - Wed, April 9
- vs. Charlotte Hornets - Fri, April 11
- vs. Hornets - Sun, April 13
The Cavaliers control their own destiny. A win on Sunday against the Kings would be enough to get them the top spot in the conference.
Cleveland does still have a slim chance of getting the number one overall seed in the NBA after the Oklahoma City Thunder’s loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night.
Oklahoma City is still two games ahead of Cleveland, but the Cavs do currently possess the tiebreaker over the Thunder thanks to having a better record within their own conference.
The Thunder were on an 11-game winning streak before their loss on Friday. They would need to lose at least two of their last five games — which seems unlikely — to give the Cavs a chance. But crazier things have happened.
Here’s their remaining schedule:
- vs. Los Angeles Lakers - Sun, April 6
- vs. Lakers - Tue, April 8
- at Phoenix Suns - Wed, April 9
- at Utah Jazz - Fri, April 11
- at New Orleans Pelicans - Sun, April 13
The two games against the Lakers are the ones that stand out. OKC is the better team, but you can’t completely count out a team with both LeBron James and Luka Doncic. The next best threat to beat them is the Suns, and they’re down bad to say the least.
All of this is to say, the Cavs don’t have a great chance of getting the top spot in the league even if they were to win out. But anything is possible.
We’ll see how things shake out over the next nine days.