The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a rough season, probably the roughest since LeBron James returned home to deliver a championship. The one constant from the past three years is that the Cavs always figured it out heading into the playoffs and made runs all the way to the NBA Finals.
On Thursday night, the Cavs were able to secure their spot in the NBA playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, and they didn’t even have to play a game to do so. The Detroit Pistons, currently in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, fell to the Houston Rockets on the road, which put the Cavs 10.5 games ahead of the Pistons with just 10 games remaining for Detroit.
On top of the 10.5 game lead, the Cavs also won the season-series 3-1, which means an absolute miracle for Detroit as well as a monumental collapse for the Cavs would still not be enough to overtake them in the standings.
However, the Pistons currently trail the Milwaukee Bucks by six games for the eighth and final spot in the East, as well as seven games behind the 7th seeded Miami Heat.
The Cavs have a fairly favorable schedule to close out the season, with games against the Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, and New York Knicks (twice) in their final 13 games of the season.