First-Round Futurama

Last year, at this time, the Cavaliers were eyeing up the three-seed in the Eastern Conference’s version of Bracketology. Getting in touch with the third spot in the East this year – trailing the Magic by 5.5 games with 11 to play – would require a creative imagination.

This year, the Cavaliers have been locked into the fourth-seed pretty much all season. Boston got off to a great start and stayed strong, Detroit has been their steady selves and Orlando, unlike last year, kept their foot on the gas all season.

The Cavaliers have battled through one obstacle after another this season and now find themselves in the position of checking the rear-view mirror for their first round future. Some players and coaches might tell you that they’re taking it one game at a time and not looking back at the standings. Then there’s LeBron James …

“You have no choice but to follow it,” said LeBron. “You have the standings in our locker room, you watch SportsCenter and they show the standings.”

Of course, there’s nothing the Cavaliers can do about it, but watch. “It’s going to go back and forth over the next 12 games, so we’re just going to hold down the fort and see what happens,” added James.

For most of the second half of the season, it looked like the Wine and Gold would be heading north of the border of the first round. The Raptors have been close enough to the Cavaliers to keep an eye on, but never got close enough to threaten homecourt in late April.

The Cavaliers dropped the Raptors on Friday night to take the season series over Toronto, 3-1. And just recently, the streaking Wizards club recently overtook the Raptors for the fifth-seed.

The Wizards are an entirely different animal as far as the Cavaliers first-round opponent. They’ve been Cleveland’s first-round foes for the past two seasons. In 2005-06, the two clubs faced off in a bare-knuckled battle, with LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas staging an epic duel, and Damon Jones finishing off Washington with a series-ending 17-footer in Game 6.

Last year, the Wizards were depleted with late-season injuries and the Wine and Gold rolled them in four straight.

This season, the two clubs have split four games. Each team has won a nail-biter and each has blown the other out at home. And of course, there’s the DeShawn Stevenson quote – that LeBron is “overrated” – simmering beneath the surface. If James gets another crack at Stevenson, you can believe that LeBron will be a man on a mission.

The good news for the red-hot Wizards is that Gilbert Arenas is scheduled to return before the postseason. The bad news is that although they’ve won six of seven – including a convincing win over Detroit on Sunday – they still have to make their West Coast junket where they’ll face the Blazers, Lakers and Jazz.

The team that’s confounded everyone is the scorching Sixers, who are just 1.5 games behind the Wizards. Philly has lost just two games in the month of March and are 18-7 since the start of February. The Cavaliers will get an up-close-and-personal look at Maurice Cheeks scrappy squad on Sunday night at The Q and once more before the regular season ends.

While the Cavaliers will have one eye fixed on their first round opponent, they still have to right their own ship. They’ve won nine straight at The Q, but have dropped five consecutive on the road. Most likely, they will only have homecourt in the first round. After that, they’ll have to win on the road to advance.

“I’m worried because if we expect to be a very good playoff team we have to know how to win on the road,” said a concerned Mike Brown following Saturday’s loss in Milwaukee. “For some reason – and it doesn’t matter who we are playing – we think we can just show up and turn it on at the end of the game instead of coming out and playing the right way.”

The Cavaliers should be getting Boobie Gibson back within a week and Ben Wallace will probably get plenty of time to rest his bad back before the NBA’s second season tips off. When it does, Mike Brown hopes to have his club firing on all cylinders – at home and on the road.