Just when it looked like the Wine and Gold had it all figured out, this week they’ve taken two straight tumbles – including Friday night’s heartbreaker at The Q.
The Cavaliers led by 15 points early in the game, by 10 after three quarters and by five with 18.6 to play, but Boston chipped away all night until Avery Bradley’s dagger at the buzzer sent them to their second consecutive loss. After averaging 114.2 points per game over their five-game win streak, the Cavaliers have come back down to earth beginning with Wednesday night’s defeat in Charlotte, averaging 100.0 points on 44 percent shooting over their last two.
On Saturday night, the Cavs try to right the ship when they welcome the Pelicans – losers of three straight – to The Q. New Orleans has taken the last two against Cleveland, including an overtime victory in the Big Easy back on December 4. In that contest, LeBron James scored 23 points in the fourth quarter – part of his season-high-tying 37 – but fellow All-Star Anthony Davis stole the show, going off for 31 points, 12 boards and four steals as the Pelicans opened the overtime session on a 6-1 run and didn’t look back.
Any discussion of the Pelicans begins with their superstar big man, Anthony Davis.
Normally, Kevin Love would match up with Davis, but Love left Friday night’s game with a left thigh bruise suffered late in the third quarter and didn’t return. He is listed as doubtful for tonight. The three-time All-Star was struggling from the floor in his second straight game before the injury – having gone just 8-for-22 including Wednesday’s loss in Charlotte.
If the Cavaliers hope to snap their skid at two, they’ll need Love – or Tristan Thompson, sliding over to the 4 – to keep Davis in check.
LeBron James is an impossible matchup for most opponents, but at least the Pelicans have a player who can match the four-time MVP in strength and athleticism in former Cavalier, Alonzo Gee.
In the first meeting of the season, James was a beast down the stretch – falling just one point shy of a franchise record when he went off for 23 points in the fourth quarter. Against the Celtics on Friday night, James – tied for the top fourth-quarter scorer in the NBA at 7.6 points per – finished with 13 of his game-high 30 points in the final period of the loss. And he’s had some big performances against the Pelicans in pretty much every quarter over the last three games – averaging 36.7 points on 56 percent shooting, adding 7.6 boards and 7.3 assists over that span.
On Saturday night, Gee will do his best to keep the King from exploding again – but he’ll have to do so against an angry All-Star who’s looking to get his club back in the win column.
Playing in their second straight game without Matthew Dellavedova, the Cavaliers bench was ineffective again on Friday night against Boston – (while the Celtics rode reserve forward Evan Turner to the win).
Boston’s bench outscored the Cavs’ second unit, 43-21, one night after the Hornets outdid them, 39-18. That’s not great news going against the top-scoring bench in the league. This season, the Pelicans second unit is averaging 42.4 points per game; outscoring their opposing reserves 31 times – having scored over 40 points 28 times, over 50 points 12 times and has scored 79 points against the Rockets just two weeks ago.
Will Delly on the shelf again on Saturday night, but the Cavaliers will need to get more production out of their second unit whether the Aussie guard is able to go tonight or not. Over the past two games, Mo Williams and Iman Shumpert have been cold from the floor and Timofey Mozgov has been a non-factor on both ends. They’ll have to turn that around against the Pelicans bench mob.
Kyrie Irving was still healing up the first time Cleveland faced New Orleans this season, but he’ll be ready to rumble on Saturday night.
Friday night was the first time in his last five games that he didn’t top the 20-point mark – finishing with 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting. In the previous four games, Irving was averaging 25.0 points and shooting 55 percent from the floor before cooling down last night at The Q. In his first game against New Orleans last season, Irving dropped 32 points on the Pelicans – and has a 35-point outburst on his resume against New Orleans from back in 2013.
Kyrie won’t have an easy go of it on Saturday night as he matches up against former Cleveland State star (and LeBron James teammate) Norris Cole. In his first full year in New Orleans, Cole has flourished – averaging a career-high 9.4 ppg and putting up 16 games with double-figure scoring. But Cole’s calling card isn’t on the offensive end, and the nasty defender will try to keep Kyrie under control on Saturday night at The Q.
