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Team Gets Healthy In Time for Playoffs

Over the past few months, the Cleveland lineup has been put through the grinder, first with Kevin Love fracturing his hand during a January 30th game against the Pistons. This means he had not got to play with any of the players acquired at the trade deadline, each of which has had minor injuries of their own. George Hill is currently out with an ankle injury, Rodney Hood missed several games with a back injury, and Larry Nance, Jr. sat out several with a calf issue. Even Coach Ty Lue has stepped away from the team due to health reasons.

Now the team is more or less healthy, with Hill rejoining the team as early as tonight for the Raptors game. They need time to integrate Kevin Love with the newer members before the playoffs get here. Although Love isn't showing any signs of rust: He's got three straight 20 point games, and is putting up double-doubles regularly.

Current Run

The Cavaliers have been on a solid run recently, with only a dismal 98-79 loss to Miami as their only blemish since Mid-March. J.R. Smith has found himself a little bit, since being moved to the second unit. He has been averaging 8.7 points on 47.9 percent from the field and 48.5 percent from 3-point range since the change. Even Tristan Thompson, who has been plagued by injury and inconsistency this season, regained some of his previous form with 6 offensive rebounds and solid defense on Anthony Davis during the Pelicans game on March 30.

Breaking Records

LeBron James has been otherworldly lately, but it's not getting much attention, because he's "supposed" to do things like that. With his game against New Orleans on friday, LeBron notched his 867th consecutive 10+ game, breaking the record previously held by Michael Jordan. To put that in perspective, the next highest active player is James Harden with 257. LeBron, in his 15th season, is actually getting better with age. He looks faster and springier than he has in previous years, a testament to his workout and training regimen. Lebron is getting to the stage in his career where he is going to start breaking more and more records that were previously though untouchable. I'm just glad I'm around during this era to watch.

What's Up Next

The Cavaliers only have five games left before the playoffs start, and I know they want to get to that 50-win mark. They are currently sitting at 47 wins, with tough games against playoff teams Toronto, Washington, and Philadelphia coming up, but they should be able to get at least 3 wins with the remaining two against the Knicks. This run should be used to try to get everyone healthy and experiment with lineups for the playoffs. If the standings stay the same, they will face the Wizards in the first round and have home-court advantage.

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_{Cover photo credits: By Erik Drost (Cleveland Cavaliers) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons>via Wikimedia Commons}

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_{Author: @jaymesbawned
Editor: @bacchist}

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