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Key: Heading Up the Homestand
After running off five straight wins, the Cavaliers will look to bounce back after a rough outing on Wednesday night in Charlotte.
They’ll do so by welcoming one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference when the Celtics – winners of 10 of their last 13 – roll in on Friday at The Q. It’s one of five straight home games for the Wine and Gold, who had a forgettable performance against the Hornets – getting outrebounded by 21 overall and outscored by 16 points in the third quarter. Before Wednesday’s clunker, the Cavaliers were scoring in bunches, averaging 114.2 points per game over the course of their five-game run.
The Celtics have been just as efficient offensively, scoring at a 110.5 ppg clip during their 13-game hot streak. If Boston hopes to keep that rolling tonight, it’d be a departure from its last matchup with Cleveland – with the Wine and Gold holding the Celts to just 77 points on the night, 31 in the second half.
Both teams are vastly different than they were back in mid-December and it’ll be interesting to see how they match up in Cleveland’s final Eastern Conference contest before the Break.
Key: Little Big Man
It didn’t seem that major at the time, but one of the most impactful deadline deals last year was the three-team trade between Phoenix, Detroit and the Celtics, who received guard Isaiah Thomas.
Since then, Thomas has proceeded to transform their team – leading all bench scorers after his arrival in Beantown last February and leading the Celtics in scoring overall this season. At 21.4 ppg, Thomas is one of just four players 5-10 and under since 1950-51 (and the shortest of that group at 5-9) to lead his team in scoring – joining Michael Adams (Denver), Damon Stoudemire (Toronto) and Brevin Knight (Charlotte). As he is for most opponents, Thomas will be a handful for Kyrie Irving at The Q.
Irving – the first player taken in the 2011 Draft, with Thomas being that year’s final pick by Sacramento – has returned to All-Star form of late, topping the 20-point mark in each of his last four games. Irving led both teams with 26 points, but he struggled to keep Jeremy Lin under wraps in the second half. He’ll have an even tougher assignment when the Celts roll in on Friday.
Key: Homecoming King
It’s no secret that LeBron James loves sticking it to the Celtics. In 40 games against Boston, LeBron averages 29.7 points per – shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor to go with 6.5 boards, 6.4 assists and 1.4 steals.
Tonight, the 12-time All-Star returns to The Q, where he’s been red-hot of late – averaging 25.0 points on 70 percent shooting over his last three home games. Naturally, LeBron led all scorers with 24 points the last time these squads met – netting those points on 10-of-20 shooting.
LeBron will match up mainly with Jae Crowder – one of the league’s steals leaders and one of the main reasons the Celtics are the second-ranked defense in the entire NBA. Crowder wasn't an easy test for LeBron in last year’s First Round series and he made James work for his points in the previous meeting this year. The fourth-year forward from Marquette has also improved his scoring numbers this season, nearly doubling his point production from a year ago.
The Celtics know they’ll need to slow down the King if they have a shot to stop the Cavaliers – and Crowder is the key.
Key: Bolstering the Bench
Those who don’t watch the Cavaliers on a regular basis wouldn't fully grasp the impact the absence of Matthew Dellavedova has on the squad.
What Delly brings to the team can’t always be measured in straight statistics. In Monday’s victory over Indiana, Delly didn’t score a single point, yet the team was a game-high +10 when he was on the floor. He sat out Wednesday’s affair in Charlotte, and the Cavs missed his energy all night, especially in the third quarter – when Jeremy Lin notched 11 of his team-high 24 points. With Delly set to miss his second straight game with a sore left hamstring on Friday, the Cavaliers bench will have to step up, notably Mo Williams, who finished with five points against his former team on Wednesday.
Iman Shumpert and Richard Jefferson might have to pick up some scoring slack against a Boston team that’s been putting up big point totals lately. Boston’s bench has had no trouble keeping up with the starters in the scoring column, either. In a recent win over Orlando, the Celtics’ reserves tallied 62 points with four players – Evan Turner, Marcus Smart, Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko – netting double-figures, the first time a Boston team’s done so since 2000.
Key: Long-Distance Runaround
J.R. Smith was justifiably not pleased about being left off the lineup for this year’s Three-Point Shootout at All-Star Weekend in Toronto.
He’s not one of the top percentage leaders – sitting at No. 22 with a .396 mark – but no player not named Curry can get hotter in a single game than him, nor has any player in the Eastern Conference hit more triples than Swish has since his arrival in Cleveland last January. In Cleveland’s loss in Charlotte on Wednesday, Smith canned four treys – his 14th game this season knocking down at least four – while adding a season-high-tying four steals.
The Celtics are one of the best teams in the NBA at keeping teams in check from beyond the arc, allowing just 32 percent shooting from long-range, good for 3rd in the league. And they also have Kelly Olynyk – who, at .417, ranks third in the NBA from deep.
Though the Wine and Gold are averaging fewer three-point attempts during Tyronn Lue’s tenure, they remain one of the league’s best long-range teams. On Wednesday, they sunk 10 triples, the 25th time this season they’ve notched double-digit threes. This season, the Cavs average 9.9 treys per game – good for 5th in the NBA.
Both teams can bring the D – but this might just turn out to be an Eastern Conference shootout at The Q.