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Few things are certain in the NBA with less than two weeks remaining in the 2022-23 regular season. The Cleveland Cavaliers having home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs isn’t quite a lock, but it’s very close to being solidified.
With five games remaining on the schedule, that’s one of the top goals for the team.
“It's up there,” Darius Garland said when asked how clinching a top four seed slides in as one of the team’s goals. “Come out healthy, most importantly. Get some wins. Keep getting better. Trying to work on the things that we're not doing as good at right now. Most importantly coming out healthy, in my opinion.”
The Cavs have the chance to clinch a top four seed in the Eastern Conference on Friday night with a win against the New York Knicks – their likely first round opponent – at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Having the chance to open up a playoff series at home, as well as play a potential Game 7 in Cleveland, is a really big deal to any team. It becomes an even bigger deal when factoring in that the Cavs boast a home record of 30-8 entering Friday night.
"I think it's definitely a huge confidence boost because we're really good here," Lamar Stevens said on Thursday. "We're a hard team to beat at home with our fans behind us. We believe we could bet anybody. You wanna have every little advantage that you could have in games like this that are going to come down to the little things. Being able to be at home, and be comfortable and have our crowd behind us is definitely a huge confidence boost."
A big injury update
Despite an ankle turn that prompted some limping on Tuesday night, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell was good to go in practice on Thursday afternoon at Cleveland Clinic Courts.
“Our expectation is that he’s good to go,” Bickerstaff said of Mitchell. “He went through everything today, got his treatment.”
After being severely shorthanded in Tuesday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks it’s likely the Cavs will have more bodies available on Friday night against the Knicks.
Isaac Okoro (knee) missed his first game of the season on Tuesday and will be held out of the game on Friday night as well. Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after practice on Thursday that Okoro didn’t participate.
Center Jarrett Allen did do some things at practice on Thursday according to Bickerstaff, but is listed as doubtful for Friday’s game.
The other guys that missed Tuesday’s game with injuries or illness were Dean Wade, Raul Neto, and Danny Green. Green, who is sidelined in the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocol, is out against the Knicks. Wade has been dealing with an illness, but is probable to be available on Friday night. Neto has missed the last few games with a hamstring injury and is questionable for Friday.
With all that said, the biggest injury update on Thursday came from the Knicks as All-Star forward Julius Randle has a sprained left ankle and will miss the remainder of the regular season. Randle left New York’s game on Wednesday night against Miami with the injury and potentially could miss time in the playoffs against the Cavs.
The Knicks said that Randle would be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Two weeks from Thursday would be April 13. The first day of the NBA playoffs is April 15.
It’s fair to wonder whether or not Randle will be available for the start of that series. Being re-evaluated on April 13 doesn’t mean he’ll be ready to go on April 13. Even if he is, playing at the same level he has been at during this season for the Knicks fresh off that injury may be a tough ask.
No one wants to see an important player on either side go down with an injury. But it also is something that absolutely increases the chances of the Cavaliers advancing out of the first round of the playoffs.
No matter who the opponent is – New York, Brooklyn, or Miami – the Cavs will be favored to win their first round series should they arrive to it with a relatively roster. They’re a better team than whoever will finish fifth.
If the Knicks are without Randle, or have a significantly limited version of him in the playoffs, the outlook for the Cavs goes from a series that should be difficult, to one that would be catastrophic to lose.
Randle’s injury also takes some of the juice between the Knicks’ final visit to Cleveland of the regular season on Friday night. Instead of this being a game that could provide a glimpse into what a tightly contested playoff series would look like, it becomes just another game at the end of March.