Five To Go

Five games to go for the Cavs in eight days, and a two game lead in the battle to hold on to the 4th seed in the East.

Philadelphia, Washington and Toronto are still very much in the hunt. The Cavs' magic number is 3 to close out Washington...three to close out Philadelphia and one to eliminate Toronto. The Wine and Gold wins tiebreakers with the Wizards and Raptors, while the tie-breaker is still to be settled with Philly.

To refresh your memory, 3-way ties are settled by best cumulative head-to-head record...in this instance, the Wizards would win a 3-way draw with the Raptors and 76ers because of their 4-3 mark against the other two.

Toronto is 4-4, while the Sixers are 3-4 head to head. Now it gets more interesting in two team tie breaks. The Wizards win head to head with Toronto...but are losing the head to head with Philly, with one more meeting in DC. The next tie breaker is conference record, and right now, Washington has a better record than the Sixers. The Raptors meanwhile win head to head with the 76ers, but again, lose to the Wiz.

Confused?

Washington has 40 wins, two behind he Cavs, followed by Philly with 39 and Toronto with 38. Toronto has the easiest schedule left...five to play, with three at home, and of those five games overall, only one is against a team with a winning record...that being Detroit.

Both Philadelphia and Washington also have three home games left...the Sixers have three left overall with teams with winning marks...and the Wizards have the toughest schedule with four games remaining with teams above .500.

But the unpredictable element is how much Boston, Detroit and Orlando will push to win, with their seeds cemented.

So, sit back and enjoy the possibilities as the regular season still has a week and a half left.

What does your 4-7 order look like?