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As of March 3rd

1 Cleveland 47-12 (---)
2 Boston 47-14 (-1.0)
3 Orlando 43-16 (-4.0)
4 Atlanta 34-26 (-13.5)
5 Miami 31-28 (-16.0)
6 Detroit 29-29 (-17.5)
7 Philadelphia 29-30 (-18.0)
8 Milwaukee 29-33 (-19.5)

Chicago 27-33 (-20.5)
New Jersey 26-33 (-21.0)
Indiana 26-36 (-22.5)
Charlotte 25-35 (-22.5)
New York 24-35 (-23.0)
Toronto 23-38 (-25.0)
Washington 14-46 (-33.5)

Cleveland - MIL, @BOS, MIA, @LAC, @PHO, @SAC, NYK, ORL, POR, ATL, @NJ, NJ, MIN, DAL, DET, @WAS, @ORL, SAS, WAS, @PHI, BOS, @IND, PHI

Boston - @NJ, CLE, ORL, @MIA, MEM, @MIL, @CHI, MIA, @SAS, @MEM, LAC, @ORL, @ATL, OKC, CHA, ATL, NJ, MIA, @CLE, @PHI, WAS

Orlando - PHO, NJ, @BOS, @DET, CHI, @WAS, UTA, @CLE, @MIL, NYK, @NYK, BOS, MIL, @MIA, TOR, CLE, @ATL, @HOU, MEM, NYK, @NJ, @MIL, CHA

LA Lakers - MEM, MIN, @POR, @HOU, @SAS, DAL, PHI, GSW, @CHI, @OKC, @DET, @NJ, @ATL, @CHA, @MIL, HOU, LAC, @SAC, DEN, @POR, MEM, UTA

Those are the remaining schedules of the teams fighting for homecourt advantage. Interesting that all 3 East teams have to play the other 2 two more times apiece. Orlando seems to have just a little bit easier schedule remaining, but they need to make up quite a bit of ground at the moment. This could very well come down to the April 12th game when Boston comes to the Q. I only threw LA's schedule up for comparison for HCA in the Finals.

Some will probably ask why in the world I even bothered putting the rest of the East in this thread. Even though we have bigger goals than making the playoffs, it wasn't long ago we were watching every single game hoping to just make the postseason. It's going to be an exciting finish to see which of those teams actually get in and who the Cavs will face in the first round. Washington is really the only team that has no shot to make it and I'd put Toronto as very close to eliminated.

Games for today
March 3rd
Phoenix @ Orlando
Chicago @ Charlotte
Denver @ Detroit
New Jersey @ Milwaukee
Golden State @ Minnesota
Toronto @ Houston
Indiana @ Sacramento
Memphis @ LA Lakers

We have the easiest sked and more home games

Glad we have a lot of home games. If our home court intensity continues, we should win a lot of them.

We have 14 home games left.. 8 are on the road. Not bad at all.. We should be able to win 60 games fairly easily from here on out.

Exile23 wrote:We have 14 home games left.. 8 are on the road. Not bad at all.. We should be able to win 60 games fairly easily from here on out.

9 road games, but I agree. Hopefully closer to 65 wins though.

I think you guys will finish with a 66-16 record, which is phenomenal. I think the Lakers will finish with the exact same record. Both teams will meet in the NBA Finals.

It should be noted that if the above holds true then it would be the first time in NBA history that more than 1 team finished with 65+ wins (and Boston will likely crack 65 as well).

Call me crazy but we can go 22-1(only loss at Orlando) for the rest of the season. Anthing less than 67 wins would disappoint me.

prekazi wrote:Call me crazy but we can go 22-1(only loss at Orlando) for the rest of the season. Anthing less than 67 wins would disappoint me.

Yeah, it's possible.

Of course, I thought the Lakers had a great shot of finishing with 69 wins until they messed around and lost back-to-back games to Denver and Phoenix, both of which I thought they would win. You just never know.

We're not going 22-1.. We barely won in ATL and MIA... It's not like we're steamrolling opponents right now...

I don't know how you couldn't be happy with 65 wins. This team has never come anywhere near that win total. 65-17 would be a phenomenal record. That's an 18-5 finish which is just about exactly what our winning percentage has been for the whole season.

65 wins would be an excellent year, but won't be enough to beat out LA for homecourt.

We can afford to drop maybe 2-3 more games tops (which is insane but shows how good LA is)

But in terms of HC in the East, that will come down to the head to head games against BOS I think. If we beat them in both of those games, it will be almost impossible for them to pass us in the standings at this point. So we need every game, but we ESPECIALLY need the BOS games.

ORL is not a threat to pass us at this point IMO.

Dang, didn't realize you guys played Boston twice... w00t!

You might also note that the Lakers have a difficult 4-game stretch coming up where we play the following teams:

@POR (they always give us problems, Oden or not)
@HOU (if the way they played LeBron is any indication of things to come...)
@SAS (no Ginobili, but we play them the day after the Rockets game)
DAL (they've played us tough this year)

I think that 4 game stretch is going to determine who will have home court throughout. The Lakers, IMO, need to do no worse than 3-1 to hold off the Cavs who have a more favorable schedule and are finally healthy as a team. There's also that 7-game road trip out East that we have to deal with, although we only play 1 quality opponent (Hawks -- who also play us tough) on that trip and with a little luck we'll have Bynum back.

L&H_05 wrote:We're not going 22-1.. We barely won in ATL and MIA... It's not like we're steamrolling opponents right now...

We barely beat 2 tough teams on a back to back away games.

TheOUTLAW wrote:I don't know how you couldn't be happy with 65 wins. This team has never come anywhere near that win total. 65-17 would be a phenomenal record. That's an 18-5 finish which is just about exactly what our winning percentage has been for the whole season.

Before the season if you told me we'll win 65 games I'd laugh at you. Right now we know how good this team is. There is no reason we can't beat anyone at any place. 65 wins would still be great but going 22-1 isn't unrealistic at all.

MIL, -Easy
@BOS, -NO KG we'll win
MIA,- win
@LAC,- win
@PHO, -win
@SAC, -win
NYK, -win
ORL, -win
POR,-win
ATL,-win
@NJ,-win
NJ,-win
MIN,-win
DAL,-win
DET,-win
@WAS,-win
@ORL,-loss
SAS,-win
WAS,-win
@PHI,-win
BOS,-win
@IND,-win
PH-win

This is NBA, we can lose to Bucks tonight and nobody can do anything about it but that doesn't mean all these games are extremely winnable. We can go 22-1. This team can do it. Not unrealistic at all.

I find it pretty hilarious that you guys could take a giant nap the rest of the season, wake up, and still be probably top 5 in the East.

Congrats on locking up the playoff seed, even though I know you guys have bigger goals than that. Good luck the rest of the way.

prekazi wrote:

L&H_05 wrote:We're not going 22-1.. We barely won in ATL and MIA... It's not like we're steamrolling opponents right now...

We barely beat 2 tough teams on a back to back away games.

TheOUTLAW wrote:I don't know how you couldn't be happy with 65 wins. This team has never come anywhere near that win total. 65-17 would be a phenomenal record. That's an 18-5 finish which is just about exactly what our winning percentage has been for the whole season.

Before the season if you told me we'll win 65 games I'd laugh at you. Right now we know how good this team is. There is no reason we can't beat anyone at any place. 65 wins would still be great but going 22-1 isn't unrealistic at all.

MIL, -Easy
@BOS, -NO KG we'll win
MIA,- win
@LAC,- win
@PHO, -win
@SAC, -win
NYK, -win
ORL, -win
POR,-win
ATL,-win
@NJ,-win
NJ,-win
MIN,-win
DAL,-win
DET,-win
@WAS,-win
@ORL,-loss
SAS,-win
WAS,-win
@PHI,-win
BOS,-win
@IND,-win
PH-win

This is NBA, we can lose to Bucks tonight and nobody can do anything about it but that doesn't mean all these games are extremely winnable. We can go 22-1. This team can do it. Not unrealistic at all.

idk asking a team to go on a 19 game winning streak seems pretty unrealistic imo...18-4 and a final record of 66-16 seems like a pretty realistic goal - anything more is gravy

69 wins not gonna happen, but 67 seems in a realm of possibility. That would be insane. Get it done, Cavs!

My Prediction remaining home games win

Fri, Mar 6 @ Boston Win < no KG
Sat, Mar 7 Miami
Tue, Mar 10 @ LA Clippers Win
Thu, Mar 12 @ Phoenix Win
Fri, Mar 13 @ Sacramento Win
Sun, Mar 15 NY Knicks
Tue, Mar 17 Orlando
Thu, Mar 19 Portland
Sat, Mar 21 Atlanta
Sun, Mar 22 @ New Jersey Win
Wed, Mar 25 New Jersey
Fri, Mar 27 Minnesota
Sun, Mar 29 Dallas
Tue, Mar 31 Detroit
Thu, Apr 2 @ Washington Win
Fri, Apr 3 @ Orlando Lose
Sun, Apr 5 San Antonio
Wed, Apr 8 Washington
Fri, Apr 10 @ Philadelphia Win
Sun, Apr 12 Boston
Mon, Apr 13 @ Indiana Win
Wed, Apr 15 Philadelphia

69-13

prekazi wrote:Call me crazy but we can go 22-1(only loss at Orlando) for the rest of the season. Anthing less than 67 wins would disappoint me.

we can't lose the orlando game, I'm taking my whole family (of 8) to that one (going to disney on spring break). We're not driving 15 hours for a loss.

Might as well call for 70-12 if you think the Cavs can get 69 wins. I'll gladly take 64-67 wins for the season. There is plenty of games left that will be difficult. I hope you guys are right calling for 69 wins, but seems unrealistic.

as a Laker fan I'm praying that you guys make it to the finals.