One of the reasons David Blatt was fired in Cleveland was because the Cavaliers suffered two bad losses to the Golden State Warriors and one to the San Antonio Spurs. While the team is the best in the Eastern Conference, they have struggled against the top teams in the West and now they have a chance to change that under head coach Tyronn Lue as the tam prepares to face off against the Spurs again.
Following the firing of Blatt, the Cavaliers have won three straight games after losing at home to the Chicago Bulls. Lue has been pushing an up-tempo offense which has helped the team average 114.3 points per game in that streak. The biggest upside for the Cavaliers right now is the involvement of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love who look better than before. Against Detroit, Love had 29 points while Irving added 28. Both players we snubbed when it comes to All-Star voting this year and the performances were much needed for the Cavaliers. Both players have gotten the brunt of the criticism when it comes to Cleveland's struggles and to have them stepping up could help the Cavaliers against San Antonio.
If the Cavaliers are going to have a good offensive performance, they will need to really step things up as they prepare to play on of the best defenses in the league in the Spurs. San Antonio is currently leading in scoring defense right now. Opponents are averaging just 90.6 points per game against the Spurs. The Spurs have been without Tim Duncan who is suffering from a knee injury and needed some resiliency to beat the Houston Rockets. They shot over 55.6 percent after falling to the Golden State Warriors in the previous game.
Duncan is expected to miss this game as he continues to nurse a knee injury. LaMarcus Aldridge has really stepped up in his place. He put up 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting against Houston while Danny Green remained hot with 18 points. They will be needed against the Cavaliers. In the past two meetings of these two teams, Cleveland has come out strong, but failed to finish. If they can step up and play a complete game against San Antonio, they stand a better shot of getting a much-needed win.
