Key: Rivalry Renewed
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The Cavaliers-Warriors matchup isn’t what it used to be, but tonight’s matchup at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse still figures to be a competitive matchup between clubs trying to turn their seasons around.
The Wine & Gold are looking to reverse their home fortunes – having gone through the entire month of January without a win on their own floor with their last home win coming back on December 23 against Atlanta. Cleveland went toe-to-toe with the World Champs on Thursday night here at RMFH, nearly erasing the Raptors’ 14-point fourth quarter lead, mounting a furious late rally to get within one before a slew of costly turnovers sunk their upset attempt.
The Warriors are on the third game of a five-game roadie and haven’t won away from home in their last in their last 10 outings, having dropped five in a row overall. The new-look Dubs hung tough with Boston in the first half of a Thursday night meeting, but the Celtics opened up a 19-point lead after intermission and cruised to the finish line from there.
The Cavs have dropped five straight decisions to the Warriors – with the second regular season meeting this year slated for April 8. But these two squads are vastly different than the ones who tangled in June for four straight seasons.
Key: A Bunch of Bull
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One of the few bright spots for Steve Kerr’s squad this year has been the play of guard D’Angelo Russell, who’s having his best statistical season as a pro.
The former Buckeye standout has battled the injury bug on and off this year, but when he’s suited up, he’s been outstanding. Golden State’s top scorer comes into tonight’s contest averaging an even 24.0ppg in 31 starts – topping the 20-point plateau on 11 occasions, going for 30 or more nine times and exploding for 52 points in an early-season loss to the Timberwolves.
Since returning from a shoulder injury on January 12, he’s resumed his season-long tear – averaging 25.8ppg over that eight-game stretch, including a 37-point showing in a home loss to Indy last week.
He’ll be going up against a player who comes into the head-to-head matchup with an even bigger chip on his shoulder than usual.
Despite another rock-solid season, Collin Sexton was snubbed again for the Rising Stars Challenge, and he’ll be looking to exact some revenge on Saturday night.
Among his 2018 Draft class, the Young Bull ranks 3rd in scoring behind only All-Star starters Luka Doncic and Trae Young at 19.6ppg. With his 23-point night in Thursday’s loss to Toronto, Sexton has now scored 20-plus in three straight games and 16 of his last 24. And after shooting .111 from three-point range in December, Sexton went .446 (33-of-74) from deep the following month.
Sexton topped the 20-point mark in both matchups with Golden State last season, averaging 24.0 points on 49 percent shooting from the floor, 60 percent from deep and 89 percent from the stripe.
Key: Feeling the Love
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Kevin Love, one of just three Cavaliers remaining from those epic Finals matchups against the Warriors, comes into tonight’s contest looking to make some club history.
He’ll suit up for his 700th career regular season game and is just five defensive rebounds away from passing Jim Chones (2,750) for 7th place on the franchise’s all-time list (with Anderson Varejao as his next target at 2,955).
Love has been very good lately and has played in every game since January 17. Cleveland’s five-time All-Star has tallied at least 20 points in five of his last seven outings, shooting 47 percent from long-range over that stretch. One of those efforts came on Thursday night when Love finished with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, canning a season-high-tying six three-pointers on the night.
Dating back to his Western Conference days and four straight Finals meetings, Love has plenty of history against the Warriors – averaging 17.3 points and 11.7 rebounds in 39 regular and postseason matchups.
For much of the night, Love will lock up with Glen Robinson III, who’s having a career revival this season with the Warriors – more than doubling his previous high scoring average.
The sixth-year man from Michigan will never be confused with Kevin Durant, but he does come into tonight’s matchup having posted double-figures in 13 of his last 16 outings, averaging 14.3ppg on an even 50 percent shooting from the floor over that stretch.
Robinson, who finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting earlier this week against Philly, has shot over 50 percent from the floor in five of his last six starts.