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Key: No Brotherly Love
On paper, the 2018 Playoffs don't officially tip-off until Saturday, April 14th. But NBA fans will be treated to an early postseason teaser when the Cavaliers travel to Philadelphia on Friday for a high-stakes matchup against the streaking Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center.
What's at stake? The third seed in the Eastern Conference standings and added confidence heading into the Association's tourney.
With Thursday night's comeback victory against the Wizards, the Wine & Gold improved to 49-30 on the season keeping them half a game up on the Sixers. Cleveland currently holds the tie-breaker with a 2-1 season series advantage.
Both teams have been on a red-hot collision towards tonight's showdown. The Cavs come in having won 10 of their last 11 while the Sixers enter Friday's contest on a 12-game winning streak.
Philly is already beaming with pride following an Eagles Super Bowl Championship, Villanova taking the NCAA Men's Basketball crown and their beloved Sixers on the verge of participating in their first postseason since 2012.
The Cavs are 11-1 against the Sixers over the previous 12 meetings and have won five consecutive contests at Wells Fargo Center.
Expect the City of Brotherly Love to show no such affection for the Wine & Gold tonight.
Key: Zero Dark Thirty-23
You know it's April in Cleveland when ... you think THIS time is definitely the last snow ... you dust off your Tribe cap for Opening Day ... and LeBron James begins to creep towards Zero Dark Thirty-23 by turning beast mode on heading down the regular season's homestretch.
LBJ is arguably having his best career as a pro at the ripe age of 33 but the four-time MVP has taken things to a whole new level as of late - proven by another herculean performance in last night's 119-115 victory over the Wizards. The King willed the Cavs in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 of his game-high 33 points to cap off the comeback win. In the victory, James also dished out a team-high 14 dimes and added nine boards on an efficient 12-of-20 shooting from the floor.
His double-double on Thursday was his 50th of the 2017-18 campaign. James is just the second player in franchise history to record 50 double-doubles in a single season, joining Brad Daugherty (53 in 1990-91). (Elias Sports Bureau)
In three games against the Sixers this season, LeBron James is averaging 30.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 1.33 steals in 36.3 minutes.
Squaring off against the King for the majority of the evening will be the Sixers swingman, Robert Covington. Covington prides himself at the defensive end. Over his last three game, he has recorded 14 steals, which is the most in the NBA over that span. Philly's small forward has 128 steals this season which ranks him seventh in the NBA.
Key: Ben Frankly is Good
Philly already has a famous Ben, but quite frankly, they may have caught lightning in a bottle when they selected Ben Simmons with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
It doesn't take bifocals to see Simmons' unique talents. At 6-10, the towering point guard has uncanny ball skills and court vision for a man his size. His size and strength is only matched by his athleticism and feel for the game. Sound like someone else you know?
The odds on favorite to take home Rookie of the Year honors, Simmons is averaging 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 8.1 assists. His 36 double-doubles leads all NBA freshman.
In Thursday's win, the Wine & Gold were down two point guards as George Hill (left ankle sprain) and Jose Calderon (left hamstring soreness) sat out. This forced Head Coach Tyronn Lue - who returned at the helm on Thursday after missing nine games due to health issues - to go with a big lineup, starting Cedi Osman at the other guard position alongside Rodney Hood.
With Hill out again and Calderon's status as questionable for Friday's contest, Coach Lue may benefit from a larger lineup to combat Simmons' size.
Key: Threes Company
In this day's NBA, you have to be able to spread the floor and shoot the three-ball with consistency. Both the Cavs and Sixers have a bevy of sharp-shooters who can get hot from beyond the arc.
Quietly, one of the best free agent pickups this offseason was the acquisition of J.J. Redick by Philadelphia. The 12-year vet has made the postseason in every season as a pro and his leadership and three-point prowess can't be measured on this Sixers squad. Redick has scored at least 19 points in six consecutive games, the longest such streak of his career (Basketball-Reference). Over those six games, he is averaging a team-leading 20.5 points per contest (stats.nba.com). On the season, the former Duke standout is averaging 16.8 points while shooting .417 from beyond the arc.
In the Cavs last visit to Philly on November 27, a 113-91 win, the Wine & Gold held Philadelphia to just 3-28 (.107) shooting from beyond the arc, which was lowest three-point percentage
allowed by the Cavs in a single game since Feb. 20, 2015 (.063, 1-16).
Since then, the Sixers have improved their outside shooting with the addition of Marco Belinelli. Only four reserves in the NBA have scored more points off the bench than Belinelli since his arrival in Philadelphia. His 43 three-pointers are third among NBA reserves over that span. One of those shooters ahead of Belinelli in that category is the Wine & Gold's Kyle Korver.
Korver shot 3-5 (.600) from deep and scored 13 points last night and ranks 4th in the NBA in three-point percentage this season (.439).
As a team on Thursday, Cleveland also shot .481 (13-27) from beyond the arc, the fourth straight game and 33rd time this season shooting .400 or better from three-point range. The Wine & Gold also connected on double figure triples for the 15th time in their last 17 games (62nd time this season).
Key: Trusting the Process
"Trusting the Process" has been the Sixers' mantra over the past couple of seasons, and right now, they are just trusting that their frontcourt will get back to full strength soon.
All-Star big man, Joel Embiid, will miss tonight's matchup for the fifth straight game due to a orbital fracture/concussion suffered on March 28 against the Knicks. Embiid has had easily his best - and most healthy - season as a pro averaging 22.9 points and 11.0 rebounds in 63 games played.
Embiid's frontcourt mate, Dario Šarić, will also miss Friday's showdown with a right elbow injury. Filling in for the Sixers' banged up frontcourt will be Ersan Ilyasova and Amir Johnson. Ilyasova is coming off back-to-back double-doubles and Johnson has started the last four games in place of the injured Embiid recording double-digit rebounds in two of those games, averaging 7.8 over that span.
Cleveland's frontcourt knows all to well the battle to stay healthy with Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. recently all missing time. But, the Cavs' big men look back at full strength (knock on wood).
Love knocked down 4-6 (.667) shots from beyond the arc and finished with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 31 minutes against the Wizards. Since returning to the lineup on March 19 (nine games), Love is shooting .451 (23-51) from three-point range.
Nance Jr. grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds off the bench in Thursday's victory against the Wizards.