Cleveland Cavaliers finish regular season at #4 in Eastern Conference, will play Orlando Magic in first round of playoffs

Cleveland — The Cleveland Cavaliers will start the postseason as the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive year.

With the results of Sunday’s games, the Cavs might have finished as high as the #2 seed, but they lost their regular season finale to the Charlotte Hornets, which solidified their place in the rankings and guaranteed them a first-round matchup with the Orlando Magic.

Cleveland is three games below their 51-win total from the previous season as they wrap up the regular season with a 48-34 record.

Unless their play-in opponent pulls off a massive upset, the Cavaliers will face the 64-win Boston Celtics in the NBA Playoffs if they get past the Magic in round one.

Story of the AP game:

After trailing the playoff-bound Cleveland Cavaliers 120-110 on Sunday, the Charlotte Hornets recovered behind a season-high 24 points from Nick Smith Jr. and a victory in Steve Clifford’s final game as coach.