A few months ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers weren't playing like title contenders and the standings showed it.
Now the Cavaliers can wrap up the Central Division with a week to spare.
Their first crack at the crown - which would be the franchise's first since LeBron James' first stint - comes on the road Wednesday night against a Milwaukee Bucks team likely hoping to avoid being Cleveland's first-round opponent.
"We're a championship contender, but we're not there yet," James said. "We have the talent, we've had the process so far, but we still have some time left and we won't take those days for granted."
The Cavs didn't look close to ready back on Jan. 13, when a six-game losing streak pushed them under .500 and behind Milwaukee for second place with seven games to make up on division-leading Chicago. However, they've since gone a league-best 31-7 with the trades for Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert earlier in January paying off.
Cleveland (50-27) all but clinched the Central title with a 99-94 win over the second-place Bulls on Sunday, taking a four-game lead with five to play and winning the season series tiebreaker. The Cavs, winners of 11 of 13, haven't been division champions since defending the Central crown in 2009-10 in James' swan song before heading to Miami.
"We've been playing some really good ball," James said after posting his first triple-double for Cleveland since 2010 with 20 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. "We still make some young team mistakes - hopefully we can get past those very soon."
A victory would wrap up the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed, currently leaving Cleveland to face seventh-place Brooklyn to begin the playoffs. However, the Bucks (38-39) are in sixth and their advantage would be down to one game if they lose Wednesday while the Nets beat Atlanta. Milwaukee hosts Brooklyn on Sunday.
The Bucks' only win in three meetings with Cleveland came when James sat out, and he's won 11 straight against Milwaukee when taking the court.
The Bucks had been playing better, winning four of six with the losses coming to conference champions Golden State and Atlanta, before falling 97-90 at home to sub-.500 Orlando on Saturday.
"I think we really needed that win, but now we just gotta win one we're necessarily not supposed to," point guard Michael Carter-Williams said. "... We're still in pretty good shape, but we gotta get it together and really be solid come playoffs."
Carter-Williams shot 4 for 14 and is at 33.8 percent over the past seven games, averaging 9.4 points.
O.J. Mayo, though, has stepped up to average 17.0 points on 62.5 percent shooting in three games this month after playing limited minutes in his first four following a hamstring injury. Chris Dudley has totaled 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the past two games after playing sparingly due to back spasms.
Khris Middleton is Milwaukee's top 3-point shooter following the trade that sent Brandon Knight to Phoenix and brought Carter-Williams on board, but he's in a 3-for-23 slump from beyond the arc.
While the Bucks have been among the league's least prolific 3-point shooting teams since the All-Star break, making 5.7 per game, Cleveland tops that list at 12.4.
Kyrie Irving is 7 for 12 from beyond the arc in the past two games while totaling 50 points, Smith was 8 of 17 for 24 points Sunday and Kevin Love chipped in three 3s after missing a game with a sore back.
"We've been a very good 3-point shooting team all year," coach David Blatt said. "A lot of it is coming off of action from the post or from drive or kick out, which is a very good thing. No complaints."
