Cavs May Be Boring, But Playoffs In Sight

The Cleveland Cavaliers may get revenge on everyone who’s been making fun of them this season. They might make the playoffs.

The Cavs have been called slow, boring and ugly. They’ve probably used more seconds on the shot clock than any team in the league. Their unrelenting defense has made decent NBA teams look like wannabes from the youth league.

Reporters who cover the team have been forced to compile a cheat sheet featuring NBA records for low scoring. Each game presents a new twist: Which record will fall now? Points in a quarter? Airballs in a half?

Despite the unsightly combination of the league’s worst offense and best defense, the Cavaliers have done the only thing that counts. They’ve won.

And don’t look now, but the Cavs are in pretty good position to muddle up at least the first round of the NBA playoffs with their pedantic, excruciating, yet successful style.

“We’re trying to position ourselves for the playoffs,” guard Bob Sura said after the Cavs beat the Indiana Pacers 85-78 Wednesday night.

Cleveland, in the seventh Eastern Conference playoff spot, took a four-game lead over Indiana and won the season series with the Pacers 3-1. The outcome of the season series is one of the tiebreaking factors in determining the playoff field.

On the courts

Tracy Murray scored a season-high 22 points and the visiting Washington Bullets overcame a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit Thursday night to beat Miami 99-95 and knock the Heat out of first place in the Atlantic Division.

The Heat, division leaders since Jan. 15, fell one-half game behind the New York Knicks.

Christian Laettner, Steve Smith and Dikembe Mutombo had double digits in points as the Atlanta Hawks beat Philadelphia 117-104 in Philadelphia.

Glen Rice scored a franchise-record 48 points and Anthony Mason had his second straight triple-double as the Charlotte Hornets beat the visiting Boston Celtics 122-121 in overtime.