It is not news that the Cleveland Cavaliers have been bad since the All-Star break. It bears repeating, however, quite the extent to which this is true. 39-16 at the time of the break, Cleveland has lost 14 games since, while winning only twelve. They have lost their grip on the Eastern Conference both figuratively and literally - although the Cavaliers beat them as recently as last week, at the start of an insanely contrasting five day stretch of games, the Boston Celtics have taken the top spot in the East with one game to go. Going 12-14 is, for the relative standards of a title defender and assumed contender, a very bad stretch, and one coming at the worst time, a time when a contender should be crescendoing. To get the top spot back, Cleveland needs to beat the Toronto Raptors tonight in their final game, while hoping that Boston loses at home to the Milwaukee Bucks. This is a tough ask. It will be one made tougher by the fact that LeBron James will miss the game, getting some much-needed rest before a gruelling upcoming playoff schedule in which he will once again have to largely carry his team. Both the fact that LeBron needs rest, and the fact that he will largely have to carry his team single handedly, are sad facts that speak to the troubling recent fortunes and immediate projections of a #1 or #2 seed. Things should be good for a #1 or #2 seed, just as they are right now for Boston. But because of those two things, the Cavaliers arrive at the playoffs with absolutely no momentum and legitimate concerns. Worse still, both of those things were completely avoidable.