Through four contests, the Wine and Gold play their third road game of the year, taking on the young Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly.
The Sixers have dropped their first two contests – including their home opener against the Jazz by 28 points. Philly has averaged 58 losses over the last three seasons and as they continue to develop young talent and stockpile draft picks, this could be another long year for Brett Brown’s squad.
In three meetings with the Sixers last year, the Cavaliers took two – dropping only the January 5 game in Philadelphia on the night they dealt Dion Waiters for Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. Overall, the Cavs have taken five of the last six against Philly.
LeBron James comes into tonight’s game just 21 points away from adding another chapter to his storied career – looking to become the youngest player (at 30 years, 307 days) to reach the 25,000-point plateau – becoming just the 20th player in NBA history to do so. (The Logo, Jerry West at No. 19, is James’ next conquest with 25,192 points.)
LeBron is also just two defensive boards away from passing Zydrunas Ilgauskas (3,568) for second place all-time in Cavaliers history and just 21 field goal makes to reach 9,000 for his career.
The four-time MVP – who also does a mean rendition of “When Doves Cry” — played in two of the three games against Philly last year and, while he didn’t shoot the ball particularly well – averaging 19.0 points on 34 percent shooting – he doubled up in both contests, dealing 11 assists in a February 2 victory at The Q and grabbing 11 boards in a one-point win in late March.
On Friday night against Miami, the mustachioed Kevin Love tallied the 296th double-double of his career – finishing with 24 points and a game-high 14 boards as the Wine and Gold won their second straight, clobbering the Heat in the home opener.
Love, who also went 9-for-9 from the stripe in Friday’s victory, has been outstanding through three games this year – averaging 19.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per. The three-time All-Star had an odd series of games against the Sixers last season – going off for 28 points and 19 boards as the Wine and Gold fell in Philly on Jan. 5 and averaging 7.5 points on 5-for-17 shooting in Cleveland’s two home victories.
Love’s backup, Tristan Thompson, hasn’t missed a beat despite missing all of Training Camp – averaging 9.7 boards off the bench this season. Thompson, who’s nine offensive rebounds away from passing Phil Hubbard for 7th on the Cavaliers’ all-time list – is a big factor in the Wine and Gold’s dominance on the glass this season – topping foes by nearly 10 boards per contest: 51.0 – 41.7.
Tristan Thompson is also a huge factor in the Cavaliers’ bench success this season. On Friday night, the Cavaliers reserves were the deciding factor in the victory – picking up Cleveland’s backcourt of Mo Williams and J.R. Smith, who struggled on 3-for-18 shooting.
David Blatt’s bench notched 50 points in last Wednesday’s blowout of the Grizzlies in Memphis and was almost as productive against Miami. Thompson finished with 13 points and nine boards, working the two-man game to perfection with Matthew Dellavedova, who led everyone with 10 assists without committing a single turnover in 27 minutes of action. Cleveland was +23 with Delly on the floor against the Heat and the third-year point guard is already at +53 for the season.
Anderson Varejao has been rock-solid off the bench – snagging eight boards in 15 minutes on Friday – and Richard Jefferson has fallen under the category of “massive upgrade” all season. He didn’t shoot the ball well on Friday, but he’s still at 60 percent from beyond the arc this season.
The Cavaliers big man combination of Timofey Mozgov and Anderson Varejao hasn’t lit up the scoreboard this season, but on a loaded Cavaliers team, they don’t have to.
Mozgov is averaging 7.7 points and 4.7 boards through three contests, but he’s been very good on the defensive end – leading the team in blocked shots and keeping Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Hassan Whiteside completely in-check.
