The Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Philadelphia 76ers in a clash Friday that will help determine playoff seeding. Cleveland is right off the heels of a seventeen-point comeback against Washington last night with a half-quarter to perform the feat and will now take on a determined Philadelphia just about twenty-four hours later.
Philadelphia is on a twelve-game winning streak and the team is obviously playing its best basketball, even without star center Joel Embiid. The squad continues to wrestle for the third-seed with only four games left in their regular season. Philly also has Markelle Fultz this time around, so the Cavs will see the top pick for the first time in his career.
Let’s look at the three keys to a victory:
1. Undermanned At The Point- The Cavaliers announced that George Hill and Jose Calderon will both be out, meaning the team will once again be undermanned at the point guard position. Fans should expect an unconventional lineup which features Cedi Osman once again, as the rookie will serve as a “point guard”. In all reality, Osman and Rodney Hood will be working off the ball a lot for LeBron James, who will be right at home in his point forward role he’s come to know and love.
Where things will get tricky is the second unit. Larry Nance Jr. and Tristan Thompson did not mesh well at all together last night and it would be extremely unproductive to put them on the floor at the same time. But with Jeff Green already named the playoff starter out of the bunch, there really is no other choice for Cleveland. Let’s see if those two along with Jordan Clarkson, Kyle Korver, and JR Smith can get it going.
2. Attacking The Paint- There is no concern for the Cavs when it comes to the paint presence of Philadelphia. The 76ers are missing Joel Embiid and will certainly be lacking in that area for tonight’s contest. Though they have Amir Johnson and Dario Saric, those two aren’t necessarily intimidating while down low.
The Cavs imposed their will on a mentally-defeated Washington team and cruised offensively to a shooting percentage of 54.1%. After a strong second half which saw everybody on the Cleveland roster get hot at the right time, will momentum help carry them to a win against a young and scrappy Philly team?
3. Tightening The Bolts- With the NBA Playoffs right around the corner, there’s a lot of things that teams that have already clinched a playoff berth have to do. Cleveland has a plethora of things on the agenda.
First things first, figuring out a playoff roster won’t be easy. While JR Smith and Tristan Thompson have been mainstays since LeBron has returned home, they’ve both underachieved mightily to the point of being unplayable at times. With a bunch of guys ready to claim minutes in the postseason rotation, both Smith and Thompson might find themselves out of the loop.
Secondly, there is still chemistry that needs to be ironed out in parts of the lineup. The starting unit has been an extremely inconsistent mold and that will be a factor in just a week or so. Trying to find the flow between those guys and the bench players is not going to happen before the regular season comes to an end. That makes the playoff run that much more unpredictable this time around, for better or worse.
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