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Key: Home Cookin'
After last night’s comeback win over the Hornets in Charlotte, the Wine and Gold turn right back around and welcome the Brooklyn Nets to The Q for the second half of a back-to-back.
The Cavaliers have been utterly dominant in their home gym – going 8-0 this year, winning 28 of their last 29 and have won their last 33 in Cleveland when they’ve topped the century mark. The Nets have exactly one win on the road this season – a victory over the underperforming Houston Rockets on November 11. The Wine and Gold snapped a three-game road skein on Friday night in Charlotte – overcoming a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit to pull away for their 12th win of the season.
With another pair of road contests on deck for next weekend, Cleveland would love to make hay against a pair of struggling squads – (welcoming Washington on Tuesday) – before heading back out.
Key: Whole Lotta Love
Kevin Love has been excellent all season, but especially at The Q.
This year, the three-time All-Star is looking to make it No. 4 – averaging 19.4 points and 12.1 boards per contest. And he’s been even better at The Q, averaging 21.5 points and 12.6 boards, hitting at least two treys in every home game this year. On Friday night against Charlotte, Love notched his 10th double-double of the season by halftime, finishing with 18 points and a game-high 16 boards despite not seeing the floor in the fourth quarter. In three quarters of action, Love went 7-for-12 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from long-distance.
Love will be matched up with one of Brooklyn’s best – Thaddeus Young, who’s been pretty good as well lately – turning in four double-doubles in his last five outings.
Key: On Guards
The Wine and Gold will get a visit from an old friend when Jarrett Jack comes to The Q – running the head of the snake for Brooklyn now that Deron Williams has moved on to Dallas. Jack comes into Saturday’s contest having notched double-figure scoring in seven of his last eight outings, including a 28-point outburst in an overtime loss to the undefeated Warriors.
For the Cavaliers, their point guard position was fortified on Friday when Matthew Dellavedova returned to the lineup, joining Mo Williams – who returned in the previous game against Toronto. Mo notched 15 points against Toronto, but after getting the start on Friday, gave way to Delly in the fourth quarter.
Dellavedova finished with seven points and five helpers, holding Kemba Walker to 2-for-6 shooting without a single assist. Delly’s three-pointer midway through the fourth gave Cleveland its first lead of the second half and propelled them to the win.
Key: Heavy Reign
On Friday night, LeBron James continued his mastery of the Hornets/Bobcats – running his win streak to 21, the longest for any player against one team.
After Wednesday’s loss in Toronto – particularly a lackluster fourth quarter – LeBron let his team know about it, and the Wine and Gold responded on Friday night, holding Charlotte to just 14 points in the fourth quarter of Friday’s victory. On Friday, James led everyone with 25 points, going 8-for-20 from the floor and adding 13 boards and five assists. At one point, he was just as dominant against the Nets, running off 17 straight wins from 2008 to 2013. After dropping four straight against Brooklyn while with Miami, James and the Cavaliers bounced back to take three of four from Brooklyn last season.
On Saturday, he’ll be matched up with Joe Johnson, who’s off to a slow start this season but is still one of the NBA’s top long-distance shooters of all-time. As usual, all eyes will be on the King this Saturday.
Key: Brooklyn's Finest
Timofey Mozgov returned to the lineup on Friday night after missing the previous three contests with a sore right shoulder.
The Russian big man has struggled to find his rhythm this season, netting double-figures in just four of his 13 outings and not grabbing more than seven boards in any of those games. In 18 minutes last night, Timo finished with eight points and three boards and, like Love, didn’t see action in the fourth quarter of the victory in Charlotte. He’ll need to be at his best on Saturday night as he takes on Brooklyn’s best player – Brook Lopez, one of two players in the NBA averaging at least 19 points, eight boards and two blocks per game (along with New Orleans’ Anthony Davis).
Lopez has been especially good of late – averaging 24.5 points and nine boards per game over the last two. Tristan Thompson came off the bench to grab a dozen boards – his fifth straight game of double-digit boards. Both Cavalier big men might be needed to slow down Brooklyn’s big man to run their record to 9-0 at The Q.