The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing as well as anybody in the NBA and have won 17 of their past 19 games, and will be put to the test against the Golden State Warriors, who have the best record in the league.
Projected Starting Lineups
Cleveland Cavaliers (36-22)
G Kyrie Irving – 21.6 ppg, 5.3 apg
G J.R. Smith – 12.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg
F LeBron James – 25.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 7.3 apg
F Kevin Love – 16.9 ppg, 10.4 rpg
C Timofey Mozgov– 10.3 ppg, 8.1 rpg
Golden State Warriors (44-10)
G Stephen Curry –23.8 ppg, 7.3 apg, 2.2 spg
G Klay Thompson – 22.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg
F Harrison Barnes – 10.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg
F Draymond Green – 11.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg
C Andrew Bogut – 6.3 ppg, 8.2 rpg
What to watch for:
Stephen Curry vs. Kyrie Irving
Curry is widely considered to be the favorite to win this year's MVP award, but he'll be put to the test against Irving, who's playing as well as anyone in the league during Cleveland's hot streak. Both are dynamic offensive players that can go off for 50 points on any given night and are extremely tough to guard. Whoever wins this individual matchup will give their team a major advantage in a game that figures to be extremely close.
Bench Production
Golden State's bench is one of the top 10 in the league, averaging 35.5 points per game, while Cleveland's bench unit ranks dead last in the NBA with 23.6 points per game. The Cavs have seen improvement in their reserves over the past month since the trade that brought J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to town, but they're still largely ineffective.
Cleveland needs their bench to play well and lessen this gap between their two teams to give themselves a good chance to win.
Prediction: Warriors win 111-106
This game figures to be an exciting, high-scoring affair since both teams like to play an up-tempo style and should but an extremely close game throughout. However, Golden State is deeper and will make more plays down the stretch to pull out the win.
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