Capital Gains
The Wine & Gold look to make it four straight – and sweep their current road trip – when they roll into the nation’s capital for a Friday night matchup with Bradley Beal and the Wizards.
The surprising young Cavaliers have bounced back from a five-game skid by winning their last three – two on the road against teams that have dominated them recently – by an average of 19.0 points per. On Wednesday night, J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad halted a 20-game losing streak in Miami that dated back over a decade, jumping on the shorthanded Heat early and never letting up.
The Wine & Gold relied on a familiar formula – relying on their big front line, getting double-doubles from Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, as well as their veteran reserves, with Ricky Rubio posting a +38 off the bench and Kevin Love leading both squads with a season-best 22 points in just 21 minutes of work.
Defensively, the Cavs were outstanding once again – swatting 14 shots and holding their 12th straight opponent under 40 percent from beyond the arc, with Miami connecting on just 12-of-37 attempts. Cleveland has held all three foes over their recent win streak under the century mark and currently rank 2nd in the NBA overall, holding opponents to just 101.8ppg.
The loss dropped Miami out of a first-place tie with the Wizards, who come into tonight’s contest with a 14-8 mark to lead the Southeast Division. Washington has won three of its last four, including a Wednesday night win over the T-Wolves in its return from a four-game trip.
Bradley Beal is still the Wizards leading scorer, but he’s not doing all the heavy lifting on this year’s team. Montrezl Harrell has been big off the bench all year, posting eight 20-point games off the bench, including a 27-point outburst on Wednesday, going 11-for-12 from the floor.
Wes Unseld Jr.’s new-look Wizards have already dropped the Cavaliers earlier this season, and the two teams have two more battles left after tonight’s meeting.
The Cavaliers return home for a Sunday afternoon meeting with Jordan Clarkson and the Jazz before hitting the road the following night for a matchup with the World Champs in Milwaukee.
History
The Wizards snapped Cleveland’s four game win streak back at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse back on November 10, with Kyle Kuzma netting 12 of his 22 points – including the game-deciding triple – in the fourth quarter of a 97-94 contest.
Washington has also won four straight in the series and has a 117-108 edge all-time in the regular season. In 26 Playoff meetings, however, the Cavs hold a distinct 17-9 advantage – including a 12-4 mark in three series victories in 2006, ’07 and ’08 and, naturally, the Miracle of Richfield.
The single-game scoring mark for Cleveland belongs to LeBron James, who scored his Cavaliers career-high 57 points in November 2017. (His overall career-high is 61, scored with the Heat against Charlotte.) In that 130-122 win in D.C., James went 23-for-34 from the floor, adding 11 boards and seven assists. Washington’s single-game leader belongs to the great Bernard King, who went off for 46 points in a 20-point Bullets victory.
Connections
There aren’t many connections among these two clubs, save some common alumni. Both Kevin Love and Aaron Holiday attended UCLA and Rui Hachimura and Kevin Pangos being former Gonzaga Bulldogs. Ricky Rubio and Raul Neto, who’ll likely match up at certain points on Friday night, were teammates with the Jazz back in 2017-19.
And then there’s Wizards TV analyst Drew Gooden, who played in 292 games with the Wine & Gold from 2004-08 and was the starting power forward on the Cavaliers team that reached their first Finals in franchise history.