Cleveland Cavaliers: Handing Out Gifts

Did Christmas come early this year? Because the Cleveland Cavaliers just gave the Boston Celtics two presents in the form of wins.

The two teams have played their last two games against each other and the Celtics won both. In each of them, there were key Cavs players missing. In the first matchup, Kyrie Irving didn’t play, and in the second the entire starting lineup didn’t play save for Timofey Mozgov.

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In each game, the Cavs looked about as interested in winning as a dog looks when it’s on the way to the vet. They gave a lackluster effort on both ends of the floor and appeared at times to be daydreaming. David Blatt used the opportunity to try out some different lineups, but he looked like he was just wasting time more than anything.

While the team and management would never say so, the Cavaliers may have decided to simply tank the games against Boston. They’ve already locked up their spot as the second seed in the Eastern Conference and there’s no worries any longer about where they’ll end up.

Now it’s all about the playoffs.

While resting players is important in order to do just that (especially for someone like LeBron James), it’s also used at this time of the season in an effort to intentionally lose games to affect the way the seeding goes.

Who else is fighting for that seventh seed? Brooklyn, Indiana and to a lesser extent, Miami. The Nets have a few guys who could potentially be dangerous if they get hot, like Joe Johnson and Deron Williams. Indiana has a very good coach and Paul George again. And Miami … Well, let’s just say that Dwyane Wade would relish the chance to play against LeBron in a series.

But the Celtics? They’re zero threat. Sorry, Bill Simmons.

The Cavs would love to play them in the first round. Brad Stevens is one of the best young coaches in the game, but his team just doesn’t have the pieces. They’ve been constructed out of role players. Marcus Smart might be really good someday, but he’s only a rookie. Isiah Thomas is a good player too, but he can’t carry a squad in the playoffs.

Even without LeBron, the Cavs could win the series. In fact, that might be a good idea. Just give LeBron the time off to rest. No, seriously. He deserves it.

The Celtics only have two games left this season. They play the Raptors and then the Bucks. Both of those teams are playoff foes, but the games are fairly winnable. The one against Milwaukee will be the most salient, since they’re locked into sixth.

Brooklyn still has to play Chicago and Orlando. Indiana has Washington and Memphis on the docket. Those matchups are not kind. The Nets and Pacers will have to hope that at least one of the teams they face has stopped caring about regular season basketball and will forfeit the win to them like the Cavs are doing for the Celtics.

Playing a team like Boston would be a perfect first playoff test for the newbies Kyrie and Kevin Love. They would get their first test against a team supremely inferior to them. Their confidence level would have nowhere to go but up. Especially since they’d be beating Boston in front of their crowd, which is always raucous and fantastic.

Cleveland has done their part to try and control their destiny, now the Celtics just have to do the rest. All in all, things are looking solid for the Cavaliers in their quest to go deep into the postseason.

Next: NBA: Who's Going To Win The No. 2 Seed In The West?

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