The Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Pelicans are playing live on the NBA schedule on Friday night and the matchup from the Smoothie King Center has LeBron James and Anthony Davis matching up as two of the most talented in the league and things start up at 8 pm ET as King James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love make the trip to the Big Easy for an east-west matchup.
James is day to day with a knee issue and he missed the game on Thursday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which snapped the eight game winning streak for the Cavs. The Cavaliers have been playing much better this month and they lost for the first time in the month of December against OKC and now they have another star player to deal with in Davis. The King is the superstar of the NBA and Davis is considered to be the next superstar, as he has developed into an All-Pro player.
The Cavaliers come into the game averaging over 100 points per contest and they are ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense and assists per game. The team had an injury scare with Kyrie Irving, but it ended up not being a major issue and now they are hoping that James can return as well. The Cavaliers have the Hornets next on the schedule and they are looking to get another winning streak going with this game against the Pelicans, who of course just gave up that nickname in recent years.
The Pelicans come in after a loss against the Mavericks and they are 10-11 on the season and they are playing against the Warriors next, who have won 14 in a row. Davis is leading the team in scoring and is averaging a double-double this season and he comes in after putting in 31 points in the last game. Omer Asik has played well and he had 15 rebounds in the game, while Jrue Holiday had 10 assists in the matchup. The team is averaging 100 points per game on offense and allowing about the same on defense and this should be a solid matchup on Friday night.
Kevin Love has played very well in recent weeks and he could be the key if James is out, as he comes in looking for his seventh double-double in eight games after putting up 18 points and 16 rebounds in the matchup with the Thunder. This season the Cavs are just 2-5 against the west, but they have time to turn that around. The Cavs play against the Hawks after the matchup with the Hornets and they have five games in a row, including a huge matchup with Memphis before James returns to Miami on Christmas day for the first time since leaving South beach.
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