CURSEDCLEVELAND.COM

Last night the Cavaliers cruised to another home victory on their way to what’s turning out to be a historic season in the NBA. They have a chance to roll through the regular season with only one loss, matching the Celtics 40-1 season in 1985-86.  They’ve already shattered the franchise mark of 57 wins.  When you break down every split: Home record, road record, second night of a back to back, record when Magic Johnson interviews LeBron at halftime, it’s all very, very positive (like Magic’s HIV test in 1991, and until 1995).

To compile that kind of record, you have to be an elite basketball team. Nobody could debate that at this point. At the risk of ruining the entire premise of this website, even we’re on the bandwagon.  But aside from being good,  you also have to get some luck along the way. It’s often thought that the NBA season is long enough to even out any kind of inequities.  That over the course of the season, you’ll get to play games against teams with different agendas and various levels of health – but most of it should even out over the course of the year. But not necessarily with the Cavs’ opponents.

While role players have missed plenty of time throughout the year for the Cavs, their three most valuable players (LeBron, Mo, AV) have yet to  miss one game. (Correction, AV has missed last week’s  game against the Spurs).  But as for their opponents; it’s been a different story. The Cavaliers do have some quality wins against teams that had their best players (Denver twice, Portland twice, Houston once and twice against a healthy Atlanta team).

However, against the top ten teams in the league, the Cavaliers are  only 9-5 against them when their top players are healthy. Boston 1-1, Lakers 0-1, Orlando 0-1, Atlanta, 2-1, Denver 2-0, Houston 1-1, Portland 2-0, New Orleans 1-0.  Also consider that they fell to the Celtics without Garnett, the Lakers without Bynum,  the Hornets without Chandler, and the Magic without Nelson. That’s only 14 games they’ve played against the best teams in the league when healthy.

The following is an incomplete list of games against teams with a notable absence in their lineup. If you have anymore, feel free to add to the list. 16 of their 78 games have been against teams missing one of their top players. That’s 21% of the season, almost as high as the percentage of games LeBron has faked a season ending injury (28%).

11/1 – New Orleans -  Tyson Chandler out – loss

11/11 – Milwaukee – Michael Redd out – win

11/15 – Utah – Williams  Okur and Kirilenko out – win

11/22 – Atlanta – Smith out – win

12/25 Washington – Arenas out – win

1/24 Utah – Boozer out – win

2/8 Lakers – Bynum out – loss

2/11 Suns – Nash out – win

2/20 Milwaukee – Redd out – win

2/27 San Antonio – Duncan, Ginobli – out

3/6 Boston – Garnett out – loss

3/17 Orlando – Nelson out – loss

3/29 Dallas – Howard out – win

4/3 Orlando – Nelson out – loss

4/5 San Antonio – Ginobli plays quarter – win

4/8 Washington – Arenas out – win

Given the fact that the Celtics and Lakers will be back to full strength come playoff time, we just ask you remember this piece come June.