The Cavs entered the All Star break with an NBA-best 43-11 mark. The team's 115-104 win over the Magic (last year's Eastern Conference champs) on Feb 11 gave them 13 straight wins, matching a franchise record (remains an NBA season-high for the 2009-10 season). The Cavs fell three games short of the NBA's longest win streak entering the All-Star break, a record 16 straight which was posted by the 1990-91 Los Angeles Lakers. The Cavs acquired Antwan Jamison from the Wizards right after the break but promptly saw their 13-game winning streak ended by losing at Denver 118-116 in OT.
James finished that game with a triple-double (43-13-15) but despite becoming the first NBA player with at least 43 points, 13 rebounds, 15 assists, two steals and four blocks in the same game, the Cavs couldn't overcome Carmelo (40 points) leading the Nuggets to the OT win. Jamison was ready to play in Cleveland's second game back but shot 0-for-12 from the floor in his first appearance as a Cav, as Cleveland lost 110-93 at Charlotte. Up next was a game in Orlando vs the Magic but despite Jamison getting 19 points and eight boards (9-of-14 FGs) and Shaq scoring 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting, the Cavs were all of a sudden on a three-game losing streak after losing, 101-95.
The Cavs would end their mini-slump with a 10-point win over the Hornets on Feb 23 and then routed the Celtics in Boston 108-88 in their next game. However, Shaq left that game with a sprained right thumb and a few days later had surgery on that injured thumb. He is expected to miss about two months and the team is hopeful he will return for at least part of the playoffs (we'll see?). However, the Cavs have not missed a beat, as since losing those first three games back from the break, the Cavs have won 11 of 12 games through March 18, although they are just 6-5 ATS in that span.
Cleveland's lone loss this current stretch was 92-85 at Milwaukee on March 6 but let me note that the Bucks have gone 12-2 SU (11-2-1 ATS) since Feb 19. Two days after that loss to the Bucks, the Cavs edged the Spurs 97-95 in Cleveland for the team's 50th win of the season. The Cavaliers were the first NBA team to 50 wins in a season for the first time in their history and it shouldn't go without mention that in each of the last two years, the two teams to reach 50 wins first went on to win the title ('08-09 Lakers and '07-08 Celtics).
My February 16 Ness Notes column anticipated a matchup between the Cavs (LeBron) and Lakers (Kobe) in this year's NBA Finals, a year delayed. Little has changed since then, although the Magic may feel as if they will have something to sat about that in the East while the Nuggets and "new-look" Mavs could "upset the apple cart" in the West. I've always believed that point-differential is the best indicator of a team's strength. The Cavs lead the NBA this year at plus-7.2 PPG, with only the Magic (plus-6.9 PPG) and the Lakers (plus-6.0 PPG) joining them as the only teams this season with a scoring margin of at least six per game.
The Cavs led the league in point-differential last year at 8.9 PPG but lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the Magic. The Lakers, who owned last year's second-best point-differential at plus-7.7 PPG, went on to best the Magic in the NBA Finals, four games-to one. The team which has owned the year's best point-differential during the regular season has won six of the last 10 NBA titles, including the 2007-08 Celtics who finished with an impressive plus-10.3 point-differential. The NBA's first season came way back in 1946-47 and over its history, has seen just seven teams post point-differentials of better than plus-10.0 PPG.
The best-ever margin of victory for a season is owned by the 1971-72 LA Lakers at 12.3 PPG. That championship team won a league-record 33 consecutive games and its 69-13 record stood as a single-season best until the 1995-96 season. MJ's Bulls went 72-10 that year but fell just short of the Lakers average margin of victory, outscoring opponents by 12.2 PPG! Only one other NBA team has finished a year with a winning margin of above 12.0 PPG and that was the 1970-71 champions, the Milwaukee Bucks. Led by Lew Alcindor (what happened to that guy?) and the Big O, the Bucks finished 66-16 that year, outscoring opponents by an identical margin of 12.2 PPG.
The Bill Russell-led Celtics won 11 titles in 13 years but those legendary teams were able to outscore their opponents by more than nine PPG in only 1961-62 season (9.2)! The famous Wilt Chamberlain-led Philadelphia 76ers team of 1966-67 that went 68-13, outscored opponents by just 9.4 PPG in their championship season. More recently, Kareem and Magic led the Lakers to five titles in a nine-year period beginning in the 1979-80 season but just once, in the 1986-87 season, outscored opponents by as many as nine PPG (9.3)! Bird's Celtics won three titles from 1980-81 to 1985-86, outscoring opponents by more than nine PPG in just the 1985-86 season (9.4).
MJ's Bulls also outscored opponents by more than 10.0 PPG in both the 1991-92 season (10.4) and the 1996-97 season (10.8), both of which years ended in titles. If you have been counting, I've listed six teams with point-differentials of 10.0 or better. All six went on to win NBA championships in those season but there is a team which outscored opponents by better than 10.0 PPG (actually 11.1) and did not win an NBA title in that season. The 1971-72 Milwaukee Bucks were not able to repeat as NBA champions despite going 63-19.
That was the year the Lakers went 69-13 and set the all-record for point-differential (12.3) on their way to the Lakers' first NBA championship in Los Angeles since moving from Minneapolis. The Lakers beat the Bucks four games-to-two in the Western Conference finals, as West and Wilt out-lasted the Bucks of the Big O and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a player who looked an awful like Lew Alcindor, the man who led the Bucks to the title in the 1970-71 season.
The Cavs own a 5 1/2-game lead over the Magic for the East's No. 1 seed (Cavs have 13 games left and the Magic 12), while the Lakers (14 games left) own a 3 1/2-game lead over the Nuggets (13) and a four-game lead over the Mavs (14) for the No.1 seed in the West. However, at the other end of the 'food chain,' the 7-61 Nets (with 14 games left in their season) need three more wins in order to avoid the title of "Worst NBA of All Time." It's fairly common knowledge that the 1972-73 Philadelphia Sixers finished 9-73 that season and have been the standard bearers of futility for nearly four decades.
The Nets open a four-game homestand on Saturday but get the Raptors and Heat in the first two games, both of whom are fighting for playoff berths (and positioning). Then it's home to the Kings (currently 6-28 on the road) and the Pistons (7-26 on the road). A visit to Chicago is next (Bulls have lost nine in a row from Feb 27-Mar 18) and then back home for three more games. Problem here is that the Spurs and Suns are up first. Some good news comes with New Orleans being the final team of the three-game stretch and by the time the Hornets arrive in New Jersey on April 3, they'll be eliminated from the West's playoff race.
That stretch of seven home contests in eight games (with the lone away game being with slumping Chicago) gives the Nets a realistic chance to get to double digits in wins. If not, the best chances for wins in the team's final six games come April 4 at Washington (12-22 at home) and home to the Bulls on April 9. I've already discussed the Bulls situation and as for the Wizards, their "Big Three" now reside in Cleveland (Jamison), Dallas (Butler) and at home due to a suspension (Arenas). It's hard not to be rooting for the Nets to get those three more wins.
Join me back here early next week with an update on the Big Dance.
Good luck, Larry