The Cleveland Cavaliers surely didn’t expect to win 70 games this season because, well, it would be irresponsible for any team to enter a season expecting to do so. Yet as recently as Sunday morning, Cleveland had a fair shot at doing so. Entering Sunday’s matchup with the Orlando Magic at 56-10 and riding a 16-game winning streak, the Cavaliers had an outside shot at reaching that historic milestone. All they needed to do was finish the year at 14-2, and with multiple 15-game streaks under their belt, that was attainable.
Winnable games against depleted opponents like the Magic were a catalyst for their pursuit. With a relatively easy schedule, Cleveland had a clear path. Instead, Orlando stunned the Cavaliers with a 13-point halftime comeback to end their 16-game winning streak Sunday and likely put an end to any hope they might have had for 70 wins.
Mathematically, of course, it’s still in play. The Cavaliers need to win 14 games and have 15 left. But there’s no inherent advantage to winning 70 games. The only real goal is ensuring home-court advantage over the Thunder in a possible NBA Finals matchup. Oklahoma City currently sits at 12 losses, so Cleveland is incentivized to keep winning. However, Cleveland has a major advantage in the conference record tiebreaker, so it functionally holds a two-game lead. Assuming the Thunder lose another game or two at least, Cleveland will be able to clinch the league’s best record without pushing for 70 wins.
Without that need, Cleveland has no real reason to go all out for the highest possible win total. The priority, it seems, is to ensure proper health going into the playoffs. Evan Mobley missed Sunday’s game. Donovan Mitchell missed the two games prior, and role players are in and out of the lineup. Health, not win total, is what matters here. It’s hard to go 14-1 across any stretch without trying. That the Cavaliers close their season with two of their final three games against a Pacers team that may be playing for seeding will make it that much harder.
Still, it’s not as though the Cavaliers needed a 70th win to validate the remarkable season they’ve had. They’ve already done more than enough to call this the best regular season in franchise history. Even with this streak snapped, they’ll end the season with separate winning streaks of 16, 15 and 12 games. That’s 43 combined games across three streaks that represent more than half of the season.
The bigger goal, of course, comes in the playoffs. The job isn’t to win 70 games from October through April. It’s to win 16 from April to June. That pursuit begins next month, and no matter how many games they win between now and then, the Cavaliers are in great to shape to chase the victories that actually matter.
