Schedule doesn’t do any favors for Warriors, Cavs in quest for No. 1 seed

The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers have been rather inconsistent since the All-Star break, not resembling the two teams that played in one of the more iconic NBA Finals in league history. In the thirteen games after All-Star weekend, the Warriors have gone 8-5. The Cavs have played 14 games since Feb. 15 and have fared a bit worse at 7-7.

And with the Warriors and the Cavaliers struggling, the No. 1 seed in both the Eastern and Western Conference all of a sudden became surprisingly up for grabs.

In the West, the San Antonio Spurs were right behind the Warriors all season but with Golden State being inconsistent, they have the chance to quite possibly finish as the No. 1 seed with homecourt advantage throughout the postseason. At one point the Spurs had tied the Warriors but have now dropped back to the second seed. They do currently own the tiebreaker with Golden State.

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Both the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics have pushed Cleveland. Yet, both the Wizards and Celtics are still a few wins back from the Cavs.

So is the No. 1 seed in danger in either the West or East? Let’s take a look at the remaining games on the schedule to figure it out.

Golden State has 13 games left, eight of which are at home, where the Warriors are a league-best 29-4. The Warriors also have six games against teams under .500, two of which are against the lowly Lakers and Suns. But it isn’t all easy, Golden State faces some tough competition as well.

They play the Rockets twice and the Spurs for one final time. And the Warriors will likely rest Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and perhaps even Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston at some point soon. So, Golden State will probably be undermanned in at least a couple of games as the regular season comes to a close.

But with all of that in mind, it is quite hard to see the Warriors falling to No. 2 in the West. Although Kevin Durant remains out, Curry has refound his shooting touch and has just been sensational as of late. The same can be said of Thompson, who has shot himself out of his shooting slump and is back to playing at an All-Star level. And even if the Warriors rest Curry, Thompson and the rest of their stars down the stretch, at worst the Warriors will lose only a handful of games. Five losses is likely the maximum.

Plus, the Warriors currently have a two-game lead over the Spurs. And San Antonio doesn’t have an easy schedule to close out the season. They do have eight games at home which helps, but the Spurs face tough teams in the Timberwolves, Warriors, Cavaliers, Thunder, Grizzlies, Clippers and Blazers to close out their season. San Antonio also plays Utah twice and with the Jazz trying to maintain their fourth seed, those will likely be tough games for the Spurs.

The Spurs will also likely rest Kawhi Leonard and other key players down the stretch. That’s just what Gregg Popovich does as his team’s overall health in the postseason is more important than anything else. Even the No. 1 seed, which unless the Warriors completely fall apart, is likely out of reach for San Antonio.

In the East, the same can be said of both the Celtics and Wizards as Cleveland has a strong hold on the No. 1 seed. Boston is currently 2.5 games back and Washington is four games back. There is a small chance that the Celtics catch up and perhaps even surpass the Cavs in the standings but that is all up to Cleveland.

The Cavs have 13 games left, seven of which are on the road. Other than the Magic and 76ers, Cleveland faces possible playoff teams in the rest of their games. The Cavs have to play the Hawks twice, Celtics, Wizards, Raptors, Heat and Pacers, which won’t be easy as all of those teams are jockeying for playoff positioning. And similar to the Warriors and Spurs, the Cavs will likely rest LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and other key players in various games near the end of the season.

Cleveland though, is healthier than they’ve been in a while right now. J.R. Smith and Kevin Love are back and Cleveland has new depth with the late season additions of Deron Williams and Derrick Williams. They have enough talent and depth, to close out their season strong and perhaps all of the matchups against the playoff-bound teams can motivate the Cavs, instead of leaving them stuck in an end-of-season malaise.

But with such a tough remaining schedule, if the Cavs falter, the Celtics can swoop in and take the No. 1 seed.

Boston has a relatively easy schedule to close out their season. The Celtics have nine of their remaining 12 games at home and one of their three road games is against the inconsistent Knicks. Boston also only plays five teams that are likely heading to the playoffs. They do play the Bucks twice though and with Milwaukee trying to make the postseason, those could be difficult games for the Celtics.

But overall, just 2.5 games back behind the Cavs, the Celtics have a legitimate shot at passing Cleveland in the standings. More so than the Wizards, who may be too far back to actually be in the mix for the No. 1 seed. Having the top seed in the East will be crucial for the Celtics. It should make their easier path to the Eastern Conference Finals, where if they do indeed face the Cavs, the Celtics will have homecourt advantage.

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Stranger things have happened but the No. 1 seed in both the East and West isn’t completely safe. Both Golden State and Cleveland will need to finish the season strong in order to stay at the top in their respective conference. If not, the expected outcome of this year’s playoff could actually be unexpected.