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Key: Blaze of Glory
There’s so rarely a four-day break during the NBA season, it’ll actually be interesting to see how the Cavaliers will react to it on Wednesday night, when they welcome the Blazers to The Q.
The last time Cleveland suited up was Friday night, when they thumped the Pistons by 23 points. On Wednesday night, they face their second Western Conference foe of the season when Damian Lillard and the Blazers roll in for a Thanksgiving Eve matchup.
The Wine and Gold have excelled against the Western Conference since LeBron James’ return – going 37-9 against the West over the last 46 regular season games, including 21-3 at home.
The Cavs split their two matchups with the Blazers last season, dropping them in a close contest at The Q and suffering maybe their ugliest loss of the season on the day after Christmas in Portland, a 29-point blowout. The Cavaliers have been hitting on all cylinders, with just a pair of hiccups so far this year.
The Blazers come to town at 8-8 – crushing the Nets and falling to the Knicks in New York before they close out their five game road trip in Cleveland tonight.
Key: Pointed Conversation
Almost every night, Kyrie Irving matches up with a heavy hitter at point guard, but on Wednesday night at The Q, it’s truly a meeting of two bona fide superstars.
Damian Lillard – who was inexplicably snubbed from last year’s All-Star squad – comes into tonight’s contest as the league’s 5th-leading scorer at 27.6 ppg and he’s been even tougher on the Wine and Gold over the years, averaging 26.8 points in four career meetings with Cleveland – scoring at least 30 in half of those games, including a 33-point performance last December at The Q. The explosive five-year vet started out the season with a 37-point outburst against Utah and hasn’t slowed down since.
Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers leading scorer this season, has been almost as good – notching at least 20 points in 10 of the Cavaliers’ first 12 games, averaging 24.0 ppg, good for 14th in the NBA. In his last outing on Friday night against Detroit, he became just the second player since 1963 – joining the legendary John Stockton – to post a stat line of 25+ points, 11+ assists, zero turnovers and a .733+ field goal percentage.
Key: Home Improvement
After facing off against arguably the best backcourt in the East eight days ago when they took down Toronto’s one-two punch, the Cavaliers will tangle with the best backcourt duo in the West not named “Curry” and “Thompson” on Wednesday night.
The other half of Portland’s explosive guard tandem, Canton’s own C.J. McCollum, is fresh off being named the league’s Most Improved Player and is off to another strong start in 2016-17. The fourth-year man from Lehigh recently dropped 33 points on the Nets, has scored at least 20 points in seven of his past nine games and has topped the 30-point plateau in four of his first 15 games. In Portland’s two-game split against the Cavs last year, McCollum averaged 20.0 points and 5.5 assists.
He’ll be matched up with J.R. Smith, who returned to action on Friday night from a three-game layoff with a sprained right ankle. In Cleveland’s 104-81 win, Swish canned three of his first four three-point attempts – moving up to 15th on the all-time list – and finishing with nine points (and a +26 mark) in the blowout win.
Key: Bench Mob
The Blazers have two stars in their backcourt and Maurice Harkless is the only other Blazer averaging double-figures (11.5 ppg).
Instead, Portland relies on its depth to grind out ballgames. This year, it’s been Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard and Allen Crabbe who’ve done most of the Blazers’ heavy lifting off the bench. In their November 22 victory in Brooklyn, just those three reserves combined for 47 points – with Turner going 8-of-12 from the floor for 19 points and Leonard doubling-up with 14 points and a team-high 11 boards. Of course, the Cavaliers know exactly how effective Crabbe can be; the fourth-year guard went off for a game-high 26 points – going 4-for-6 from long-range – in Portland’s December 26th drubbing of Cleveland last year.
The Cavaliers have been strong off the bench this season. Channing Frye is the squad’s fourth-leading scorer and has posted a pair of 20+ point performances over the past two weeks. Iman Shumpert is having one of the best shooting seasons of his NBA career – including last Friday’s effort against Detroit, netting all nine of his points in the fourth quarter of the win – going 3-of-5 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from deep.
And, naturally, Shump’s been a terror on the defensive end – something that could come very much in handy for tonight’s matchup.
Key: Good Vibrations
It hasn’t really mattered which opponent the Cavaliers have faced or where, Kevin Love has been excellent throughout the young season.
In last Friday’s win over Detroit, the three-time All-Star notched his seventh straight double-double and, along with Anthony Davis, is the only player in the NBA averaging at least 20 points and 10 boards. His nine double-doubles on the season are good for 5th in the league and he’s always done well against the Blazers – tallying a double-double in 12 of his last 15 outings against Portland, averaging 22.8 points and 12.1 boards while shooting over 43 percent from long-range over that span.
The Blazers will try to contain Love with sixth-year big man Ed Davis, who’s nowhere near the threat that his counterpart is, but is coming off easily his best game of the season – a 14-point, 10-rebound effort in their recent loss in New York.