“Don’t want to jump too far ahead, but we’ve got our eyes set on the playoffs,” Sharpshooter Max Strus said. “We’ve got a tough stretch of games coming up and we’re not gonna take anybody lightly. But we know that we have a talented roster, 1-18. We know that everybody can come in and produce and help us win games. We’re not afraid to play guys on a certain night. We’re excited for the opportunity and hopefully that keeps us all fresh and ready for the postseason too.”

Because of their January Paris trip, the Cavs’ second-half schedule is much more condensed than usual. They have seven back-to-backs, the most of any team. More than half of their 29 remaining games are on the road. Sixteen come against opponents with a record above .500 (the Cavs are just 13-15 against that caliber foe). March features 17 games in 31 days, including 14 straight matchups in a different city.

The grind begins with a Thursday-Friday home-road back-to-back against Orlando and Philadelphia. There’s another back-to-back next week as well — Cleveland-to-Chicago. In all, it will be five games in seven nights and nine games in the first 14.

Welcome back.

“I think it’s important to continue to focus on our depth,” Bickerstaff said. “Being able to go 10- or 11-man rotation gives us an opportunity to not kill anybody. Obviously, you’re going to play and do what you’ve got to do to win the games. But understanding how you manage first halves versus second halves and where you don’t have to just put a ton of pressure on one guy to play a ton of minutes because of the depth that we have. That’s been our message to our guys — embrace the depth, embrace the opportunities for your teammates to be successful. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”