The Cleveland Cavaliers accomplished their first goal of the season by clinching a playoff berth during their three-game Western Conference road trip.
Next up for Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and the Cavaliers is locking up homecourt advantage in the opening round. They host the Indiana Pacers, who will be without All-Star forward Pascal Siakam and five other core players Sunday.
Cleveland (48-29) is comfortably sitting in fourth place in the East, 3 1/2 games ahead of the fifth-place Atlanta Hawks with five to play. The Cavaliers’ magic number for finishing fourth and gaining home court is two.
“Obviously, we want more, but yeah, we celebrate getting into the playoffs,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said. “You never underestimate the importance of making it because we’ve all been on the outside at some point.
“It’s hard to be in that group who makes it. We’re happy to be one of them again this season.”
The Cavaliers qualified for the playoffs for the fourth year in a row with a 118-111 win at the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. It matches the third-longest postseason streak in franchise history.
Mitchell scored 25 points and Harden had 19 points and five assists, but Max Strus was the difference with eight of his 24 points in the final 7:07 as Cleveland ended the contest on a 24-13 run.
The Warriors trailed by seven in the fourth, then went up 98-94 on Gui Santos’ hoop. The rally was fueled by Cleveland’s Dennis Schroder being called for a flagrant foul on LJ Cryer, prompting a response from Draymond Green that earned him a technical.
“We shouldn’t be happy about this one, but I guess we’ll take it,” said Strus, who made a pair of 3-pointers in his late outburst. “We’ve got to get better on defense than we showed. We can’t be happy with that, but we’re happy to be going home.”
Center Jarrett Allen had 16 points and 13 rebounds in his third game back from right knee tendinitis that sidelined him for 3 1/2 weeks, but Atkinson said his workload will be lessened down the stretch.
One year after eliminating the Cavaliers in the East semifinals, injury-ravaged Indiana (18-59) is playing out the string as part of a three-team battle for the worst record in the league with the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards.
“That’s the NBA,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ll have to see what it looks like for Sunday and get back the best we can.”
A glimpse of how Indiana’s entire season has gone played out Friday, when Siakam bruised his lower back and twisted his left ankle in the fourth quarter of a 129-108 blowout loss at the Charlotte Hornets.
Siakam, who was already battling through right knee soreness, scored a game-high 30 points and had seven rebounds before falling to the floor while giving extra effort. The injuries could end his strong season with a 24.0 scoring average.
“I can’t say enough great things about him,” Carlisle said. “He’s a great player and a great competitor, and he’s proven over the last 2 1/2 years to be a great leader. And he’s a hard worker about the right things.”
The Pacers also will be without Aaron Nesmith (cervical strain), Andrew Nembhard (lumbar soreness), T.J. McConnell (right hamstring soreness) and Ivica Zubac (rib fracture), who is out for the season. Tyrese Haliburton (right Achilles tear) has missed the entire season.
“Unfortunately, we’re in worse shape than we were going into the (Hornets) game,” said Carlisle, who added Ben Sheppard and his freshly bruised hip to the list. “We could be getting even thinner here.”
