They left town with a big win over the New York Knicks by a 119-101 score that held their place in the standings with only four games to go in the season.
Darius Garland (24 points, 13 assists) and Moses Brown (16 points, 13 rebounds) each posted double-doubles with seven Cavaliers scoring in double figures.
Cleveland hosts Philadelphia tonight in Cleveland before the final week and the last three games of the season.
Swashbucklings
1) The Cavaliers scored the first five points of the game and never trailed during the game but even more than control of the game was the team managing to put an awful game against Atlanta behind them quickly.
With a battered and to a degree inexperienced in a playoff chase, it did show some maturity in how the situation was handled with a fast start and strong effort.
2) The Knicks had been eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the week and they were playing without Julius Randle, so one could say they had little to play for.
However, Cleveland putting the Knicks down early and not allowing the Knicks to feel like they could hang around and steal a game that would mean little to them but a lot to Cleveland was a key factor in the attitude of both teams.
3) Darius Garland was as expected the best player on the floor with his double-double but Garland nailed five three-pointers.
Garland's shooting still has a little room to potentially improve but if he could do that and that's not a guarantee he will be able to do so, Garland might be the type of point guard that you can build teams around.
This Cavalier team seems to have been built around not having one star that is above the team in stature but like it or not, Darius Garland could throw a wrench into that plan.
4) Another surprising performance from Moses Brown with a 16/13 in thirty minutes of play makes me really believe that Brown may have a place on this team next season.
Brown hit seven of ten shots and although he is a more traditional big man as far as his offensive game goes, Brown has the type of energy that can play well off the bench.
Brown will need to expand his shooting range even a little bit and he needs lots of practice time as a rim protector but I can see him as the big man that spells Jarrett Allen next season.
5) The Cavaliers' win moved them to a two-game lead with four to play over Atlanta for the seventh spot (Atlanta leapfrogged Brooklyn after the Hawks defeated them yesterday) and just as importantly a three-game lead over Brooklyn and Charlotte.
That's important because Cleveland would really like to be seventh or at worst eighth.
That spot places them in a position to have to win only one game to advance out of the play-in level and either one or both would be in Cleveland.
Falling to ninth or tenth would force Cleveland to win two games and at least one (ninth) or two (tenth) on the road.
Cleveland hopes to have Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in the lineup for the play-in series but the path will be easier if they can hold on and stay in the seventh slot.
Conversely, the Cavaliers are two games behind Chicago for the sixth spot which would avoid this scenario.
Cleveland's four games remaining are Philadelphia at home, road games at Orlando and Brooklyn before wrapping up next Sunday at home against Milwaukee.
Chicago will have a three-game homestand against Milwaukee, Boston, and Charlotte before ending the season at Minnesota.
Atlanta finishes with a road trip to Toronto followed by a home game against Washington before their final two games on the road at Miami and Houston.
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