var opponent = "celtics"; //used in image formatting opponent-dateCode-page.jpg var dateCode = "190205"; var pageSelectorTag = "div" var pageSelectorClass = "article-section" var pageTitleTag = "h4"; var pageTitleClass = "key";
Key: Green Energy
The Wine & Gold wrap up their three-game homestand on Tuesday night at The Q, welcoming the Boston Celtics to town for the first time this season.
On Saturday night in Cleveland, Luka Doncic and the Mavericks snapped the Wine & Gold’s win streak at two – with the rookie scoring 28 of his game-high 35 points in the first half and Dallas using a late third-quarter burst to put the Cavs back in the loss column.
The Cavaliers had won two straight – topping Chicago and Washington – and are coming off a pre-Deadline deal that sent Rodney Hood to Portland in exchange for Nik Stauskas, Wade Baldwin IV and a pair of second rounders.
The Celtics haven’t done any wheeling or dealing (yet) but have been in the middle of most rumors for quite some time.
After dropping the Cavaliers in Boston in late January, the Celtics fell to Golden State in the following contest but have rattled off four straight wins since – including a big home win over Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon.
Boston has won nine of its last ten as the C’s gear up for a postseason push; the Cavaliers would love to put a damper on their recent run.
Key: Scary Terry
Word on the street is that Kyrie Irving won’t give it a go on Tuesday night at The Q, one game after going off for 30 points and 11 assists in the Celtics’ Super Bowl Sunday win over the Thunder.
In the 12 meetings between these two teams over the past two years, the former No. 1 overall pick has missed eight of those, including the previous matchup in Boston.
The Cavs might have wished he’d missed the November 30 game – instead opting to drop a game-high 29 points against his former squad, going 11-of-15 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Unfortunately for the Cavs in the last meeting in Boston, former Shaker High star Terry Rozier picked up Irving’s slack with a game-high 26 points of his own, going 9-of-13 from the floor, 4-of-5 from deep.
Either way, Collin Sexton is not in for an easy night at the office. Sexton has been solid offensively throughout his rookies season from a scoring standpoint, with only Luka Doncic netting more double-figure games among his incoming class. But the Cavs brass would love to see him pick up his assist numbers – handing out more than three helpers just once over his last 10 games – and his shooting percentage, hitting on just 36 percent from the floor over that same span.
Two of Sexton's 45 double-digit scoring outings have come against the Celtics, averaging 15.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in those games.
Key: Next Man Up
There’s no doubt the Cavaliers have had some Murphy’s Law moments during what’s been a frustrating season from an injury standpoint.
Cedi Osman had been playing frankly the best basketball of his young career when the injury bug caught up with him on Saturday, injuring his right ankle during the first half of the loss to Dallas.
Osman – who had been averaging 24.3 points over his previous four games and had 10 points through his first 14 minutes against the Mavs – will be sidelined at least for Tuesday’s matchup against Boston.
With the young Cedi hobbled and Rodney Hood relocated to Oregon, odds are recently-returned David Nwaba will jump into the starting lineup.
After missing 18 games with a right ankle injury, Nwaba came back in style, going for 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, adding four boards and a steal in just 14 minutes of work.
He’ll lock horns with Jayson Tatum, who’ll eventually face Cedi in the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend in Charlotte.
Despite the slight dip in his shooting numbers, Tatum is having another stellar season out of Duke – second to Irving on the squad in scoring, having posted 16 games of 20-plus points and one 30-point effort so far this season.
The Cavs have done a solid job keeping him in check – holding Tatum to 14.0 points on 43 percent shooting in two meetings.
Key: In the Trenches
Al Horford is not your average center, but the man gets the job done on a nightly basis.
In Sunday’s win over OKC, only Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving finished with more assists than the former Florida standout – who handed out nine dimes to go with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
Horford is never going to get by on brute strength, but he’s as crafty as they come in the post or the perimeter, shooting 64 percent from the floor – including 43 percent from deep – over his last 10 games.
Horford has had a long and winding career against the Cavaliers – averaging 12.6 points in 54 regular season and Playoff contests – but he hasn’t taken the floor against Cleveland in the two games so far this season.
If he makes his debut tonight, he’ll likely take on Ante Zizic, who slowed down on Saturday night after back-to-back double-digit rebounding performance.
Despite his eight-point, six-rebound clunker against Dallas, the 22-year-old big man is still averaging 13.0 points and 8.5 boards over his previous 13 games.
Zizic didn’t see much action in the first meeting of the season against Boston, but was very good the following contest – finishing with 19 points and eight boards in the January 23 matchup.
Key: Substitution Pattern
The Cavaliers bench has been feeling good about itself all season long – and justifiably so, ranking 43.4 points per, good for 6th in the NBA.
On Saturday night, the second unit combined for exactly 50 points – the 19th time they’ve gone for 50 or more.
But as good as they’ve been this year, the group took one on the chin in the previous meeting in Beantown, with the Celts’ reserves outscoring them, 65-33. Only Jordan Clarkson tallied double-figures for Cleveland while Boston got big efforts from Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown and Brad Wanamaker.
Clarkson led the Wine & Gold in scoring for the 23rd time this year on Saturday night – finishing with 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting.
The Cavaliers got a second-straight double-double from Larry Nance Jr. in that contest, chipping in with 11 points and a game-high 12 boards in just his fourth game back from an eight-game layoff with a knee injury.
Over his last two outings, Nance is averaging 12.0 points and 11.5 rebounds on 71 percent shooting. Nance had a quiet seven-point, five-rebound effort in the opening meeting against Boston this year – still nursing the MCL sprain during the most recent battle in Boston.