The Cleveland Cavaliers must win early as they have a very challenging end to the season which we will get to in the next point.
Two good sections for the Cavs to pocket some wins are in mid-November when they go on a stretch from November 17th to the end of the month with only one road game and outside of the game in Philly, all very winnable.
The second is the first half of January as once again they only play one road game on the first at Toronto with the rest at home and all winnable through the 15th.
Starting on March 29th at home against Philadelphia through an April 10th home tilt against Memphis is going to be a hard seven-game stretch for the Cavs. In between playing the Sixers and Grizzlies at home is a grueling five-game west coast swing starting against the defending champs in Denver and ending in LA against both the Lakers and Clippers.
The Cavs have multiple back-to-backs and three against strong opponents. They have an early home and home series with the Knicks, and then later in the schedule back-to-back road games against the Celtics on December 12th and 14th, and later in Milwaukee they play the Bucks twice on the road on January 24th and 26th (the Cavs play the Bucks three times in a five-game stretch in January with a home game on the 17th).
The NBA season is right around the corner, and we have finally learned the schedule for the Cavaliers in the upcoming season. With 17 nationally televised games (9 on ESPN & TNT, 8 on NBA TV), the Cavs are receiving the most national recognition they’ve had since LeBron James left the roster. Here are the most significant dates on the upcoming schedule that stood out to me.
After three games to kick off the season, the Cavs immediately get a chance for revenge with a home-and-home series against the New York Knicks. This provides a great opportunity for the team to experience an intense atmosphere early in the season and truly demonstrate that they have evolved from the team of a year ago.
LeBron James returns home on November 25th; this game will remain significant until his retirement, offering a compelling matchup against a formidable Western Conference team.
Around a month and a half following the challenging back-to-back against New York, the Cavs will play two consecutive games in Boston against the Eastern Conference favorites. This presents a genuine playoff-like scenario with two games in the same environment, providing an excellent chance to showcase the progress made in the initial months of the season and to gauge their standing against the title contenders.
The Cavs then face another test in the East, with two consecutive games in Milwaukee a month later. While these two games, along with the two Celtics games, will effectively reveal the team’s position, they are also pivotal for securing seeding as the season progresses. The two Milwaukee games come after facing them the week before, allowing the team to make necessary adjustments based on a matchup that closely resembles a playoff scenario.
Lastly, the game on March 29th in Cleveland against the Sixers could hold immense importance for seeding purposes. Following this matchup, the Cavs will go on a streak of five straight road games against Western Conference teams, four of which made the playoffs the previous year, including the defending champions. With this game serving as the final game against a top Eastern Conference team, it could become a must-win situation before the grueling west coast trip for five of the last eight games.
Cavs’ matchups for the In-Season Tournament & Format
For the first time ever, the NBA will be hosting an in-season tournament in which every team will compete for a chance to win. Starting in early November, the already scheduled regular season games will count towards the in-season tournament’s group stage. Teams could end up playing more than 82 games if they advance, but the added incentives early in the season have the potential to be very interesting, depending on the direction they take. Here is the Cavs’ schedule for the group-stage games:
With six groups of five teams, the winner of each group moves on to the knockout round. The other two spots will be filled by wildcard teams from each conference who finished second in their groups. The format then transitions to a single-elimination bracket of eight teams from December 4th to the 7th. The initial round of games will be played at the higher seed’s home court, while the final two rounds will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Considering the ongoing James Harden saga, it’s reasonable to say that the Cavs are the strongest team in this group. They should encounter no issues in securing at least a wild card spot, and their chances of winning the entire group are pretty favorable. Injecting some cash stakes into the early-season games could intensify the competition in the initial months and provide a playoff atmosphere in November’s regular season basketball.
In the 2023-24 season, there will be numerous instances of games on back-to-back days, as well as facing the same team in consecutive matches. Playing against the top Eastern Conference powerhouses for two consecutive games will pose a challenge amidst the season’s grind, yet it presents an opportunity for the team to build confidence in winning within those challenging environments. The west coast trip towards the end of the year will prove to be demanding, and the Cavs need to position themselves favorably to ensure that those games do not carry excessive significance.
The In-Season Tournament will add an intriguing element this year, and the Cavs are scheduled to compete against the Pistons, Pacers, Hawks, and Sixers, with hopes of securing a spot in the knockout round. This added incentive early in the season could lead to some intense matchups from the outset. All signs point to an exhilarating Cavs season, and it’s right on the horizon.
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