The Cleveland Cavaliers are 41-15 which is the third best record in the NBA and the best record in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland looks like they will finish with the top seed in the East and have home court advantage throughout the playoffs but they just can't shake the Toronto Raptors. Toronto is only three games back of Cleveland and is a real threat to taking the one seed in the East. Clinching home court advantage early is big for the Cavaliers because they would like to get some of their players, particularly LeBron James, rest before the playoffs. The Cavaliers though, should rest LeBron regardless of whether they clinch the top seed early.
The Cavaliers have made it a goal of theirs to get the top seed in the East so that they have every advantage possible entering the playoffs. Head coach Tyronn Lue said that if the team does clinch early he wants to get LeBron a lot of rest, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, but I'm here to tell you that clinching early shouldn't matter.
The first reason why LeBron should be rested regardless is because the Cavaliers have enough talent to get the top seed even if he does sit out periodically. LeBron has missed just one game so far this season and the Cavaliers lost that game to the Miami Heat but that was before Kyrie Irving was back. Now with Irving fully healthy and Kevin Love still in the fold the Cavaliers can win plenty of regular season games without their main star.
After Monday night's loss to the Pistons Lue said he regretted not resting LeBron in the second half of a back-to-back set, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. In the past there would never be consideration given to resting LeBron because he never got hurt but now he isn't quite as indestructible. LeBron is still out there almost every day but he has had back issues so the Cavaliers need to keep their eye on that.
The most important thing for the Cavaliers is to have LeBron at 100 percent going into the playoffs. They made it to the NBA Finals last year while Love was out but losing LeBron, or having him hurt, would be impossible to overcome. LeBron says he feels much better physically this season than he did last year, according to Real GM, but it is not a risk worth taking for the Cavaliers.
It is understandable that the Cavaliers want home court advantage really badly, who wouldn't, but having LeBron 100 percent healthy is much more important. The Cavaliers showed last season that home court advantage wasn't all that important as they rolled through the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Odds are the Cavaliers will be the top seed anyway but even if they're not health, not home court, should be their top priority the rest of the regular season.
