Cavaliers Clinch No. 1 Overall Seed In Eastern Conference

At long last, the Cleveland Cavaliers capped off a historic 2024-25 regular season by clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference standings and, with it, home-court advantage throughout the East playoffs.

Entering Tuesday, the wine and gold needed just one win or a Celtics loss to solidify their place atop the standings. The clinching result came via the former, as Cleveland finished disposed of a shorthanded Chicago Bulls squad, 135-113.

It's been a long time coming for the Cavaliers, who have held a stranglehold on the conference for most of the season. Cleveland first took over sole possession of the top spot in the East back on Oct. 30, while opening the season on a 15-game win streak.

They never surrendered it, and now they've officially secursecured it for the fourth time in franchise history. The last time the Cavs possessed the No. 1 seed in the East, they went on to win a championship in 2015-16.

Despite going on a four-game losing streak in mid-March that allowed the defending champion Boston Celtics to close the gap by going on a nine-game win streak of their own, the Cavs steadied the ship over the last two weeks.

Cleveland had its first opportunity to clinch the top seed on Sunday but fell short to the Sacramento Kings, 120-113. Despite being without Donovan Mitchell on Tuesday night, the wine and gold were able to finish the job against an undermanned Bulls team that was missing seven notable players, including, Lonzo Ball, Josh Giddey, Nikola Vucevic and Coby White.

Clinching the top spot in the East is just the latest feat achieved by the Cavs in what's been a truly historic season. Last week, they eclipsed 60 wins for just the third time in franchise history and still have a chance to tie the best record in franchise history.

With just three games remaining in the regular season, it's unclear how aggressively the team will chase that mark, especially with Mitchell now nursing an ankle injury.

There is also still a chance Cleveland can earn a home-court advantage for the entire playoffs, but that requires the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder to lose several games in the season's final week, along with the Cavs winning out.

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