Five Keys: Cavaliers vs. Mavericks ‑ Jan. 4, 2015
1 / 5With a red-hot Rajon Rondo, the Mavericks have been on a serious roll – winning four straight, including his Friday night return to Boston. He dropped a season-high 29 points on his old squad and is averaging 19.0 ppg over his last four. The last time Cleveland faced off against Rondo, he was still in the green-and-white, and the Cavs used a variety of defenders to try to slow him down, with Shawn Marion finally getting a big late stop to preserve the win. In that game, Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. Kyrie’s coming off a big performance on Friday night, netting 23 points as Cleveland overcame an 11-point deficit on the road. Irving has averaged 24.8 points and 6.0 assists in four career games against the Mavericks, including 27 and 26 points in a pair of losses to Dallas last season. The Cavs will desperately need his point production against the high-octane Mavs on Sunday.