The Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers are playing live on the NBA schedule on Wednesday and the matchup from Quicken Loans Arena has LeBron James and John Wall in the game with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love as the Cavs try and get things going and right now the Wiz are one of the best teams in the league and this game starts up at 7 pm ET from Ohio.
The Cavaliers are coming in off of a win, but LeBron has said that the team needs to play better and now they have a true test in the Wizards. Last season Washington won a playoff series fir the first time in years and now many see them as a sleeper in the east and while they may not make a title run, they easily could win the division. James leaving the Heat opened things up for the Wizards, as they finished behind Miami last season.
The Cavaliers got a big win over the Magic and now they face off against the Wizards before playing against the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers were expected to be contenders, but they lost Paul George and now the Cavs look like the favorites along with the Chicago Bulls in the division and they are dealing with injuries too with Derrick Rose in and out of the lineup this season.
The Cavaliers currently are third in the central division and they need to play better overall if they want to make a run to a title. James scored 29 points and had 11 assists in the game against the Magic, while Tristan Thompson had 11 rebounds. The Cavaliers have a very solid roster, but the pieces need to come together a bit better and right now they are in the bottom half of the league in defense. The team is averaging 102 points per game, but they have to play better on both ends of the floor.
The Wizards come into the game after a four point loss to the Atlanta Hawks and they are first in the division and will play against the Pelicans next. The team comes in ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense so far this season and they are averaging just under 100 points per game. The team is in the top 10 in assists per game and rebounds and they have gotten some strong play from John Wall.
Wall led the team with 21 points and 12 assists in the game on Tuesday and Marcin Gortat had 11 rebounds. The Gortat trade from before last season has been huge for this team and he is one of the main reasons why they are now a legit playoff contender in the eastern conference. The Cavaliers had lost four straight games after winning four in a row and now they have the Wizards, Pacers and Bucks coming up and James sees this as a chance to get things together.
Check here for the Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers live coverage.