National game on TNT from Cleveland. It’s already been announced no Kyrie Irving or Iman Shumpert, and possibly no Mo Williams. But still, Cleveland will have LeBron, Kevin Love, JR Smith, Matthew Dellavedova, Timothy Mozgov, Tristan Thompson, Richard Jefferson, James Jones, and some others.
Cleveland is 16-7 and winners of three straight. Shumpert had just come back from wrist surgery and the Cavs’ defense was getting its house in order. Without Shumpert tonight it’s a big blow defensively for Cleveland. Plus, the loss of Kyrie on the point. But still, as we saw last summer against the Warriors in the Finals, LeBron has a way of elevating those around him in big game settings on the national stage.
Obviously–not the dream matchup with Cleveland not at full strength, but it should still be a great test for OKC just trying to get over the LeBron mental hump and all.
Kevin Love has been more important of late in the overall scheme of Cleveland’s offense so it’ll probably mean just more of Love, JR Smith, and Dellavedova in the way of getting shots and LeBron spending more time on Kevin Durant defensively.
It’s still LeBron James. LeBron has been Kevin Durant’s primary last hurdle as far as where Durant wants to ultimately go with his basketball legacy.
So still–a completely compelling and intriguing matchup if for no other reason than the LeBron-Durant matchup.