Cavs must survive March of death

The Cavaliers are now 0-2 this month with losses at Memphis, and at home to the Spurs last night. Those are both pretty excusable losses against good teams.

The problem is, for the Cavaliers to make it into the playoffs, they're going to have to win some of these tough games against good teams. They're currently four games out with 20 games to go, and the schedule over the next two weeks is just brutal:

at Charlotte
vs. Knicks
at Phoenix
at Golden State
at Clippers
vs. Miami
vs. Oklahoma City
vs. Houston

The game this Friday in Charlotte is pivotal, because the Bobcats are the team currently in the eighth spot in the East.

But even if the Cavaliers beat Charlotte and New York, they will be heavy underdogs in each of their six games after that. It would be very impressive if they even go 2-4 against the Suns, Warriors, Clippers, Heat, Thunder, and Rockets. I think more likely they're headed for a  1-5 or possibly 0-6 stretch.

My point here is that the Cavaliers are not going to make the playoffs. They've played better lately, and they're finally starting to get healthy. However, the hole is just too deep to climb out of, especially given how tough the schedule is.

Yet all is not lost. If they can weather that upcoming six game stretch, and then close out the season with a few more wins, they can head into next season with a little bit of momentum.

And another lottery pick.