Cavaliers at Pelicans
The Cleveland Cavaliers just put together two impressive performances at home against Eastern Conference playoff teams and are showing strong signs of improvement since switching head coaches at the All-Star break. The Cavaliers will try to keep the momentum up on the road when they visit Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Cleveland is 3-1 in four games since moving from John Beilein to J.B. Bickerstaff at the break and jumped out of last place in the East with a 108-94 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday - two days after battling for a 125-119 overtime triumph over the Miami Heat. "You see the leadership, you see the young guys, they are pushing one another, they are holding each other accountable, they are having real conversations to fix problems," Bickerstaff told reporters after Wednesday’s triumph. "The environment and culture we are creating is growing and that’s going to be the foundation of it. It's a bunch of guys who play hard but play well together also." New Orleans is trying to get into the fight for a playoff spot in the West and nearly pulled off a perfect three-game road trip before falling to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 118-109 on Tuesday. “Each loss hurts,” Williamson told reporters after scoring 29 points against the Lakers. "I said in an interview last game, 'every win matters, every loss matters.' So I'm going into every game trying to get the win."
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS Ohio, FS New Orleans
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (17-41): Cleveland is trying to develop its young talent and got a season-high 30 points from rookie shooting guard Kevin Porter Jr. in the win over Miami before second-year guard Collin Sexton took center stage with a team-high 28 points on Wednesday. "It was awesome," Bickerstaff told reporters of Sexton's performance. "These last few games, somebody else somewhere has stepped up and tonight was Collin's night. They went on a run and he made two shots to put their run to a stop. That's what he's capable of. Collin is a rare guy where he can roll out of bed and get you 20 and that's not common in the NBA." Sexton scored 20 or more in nine of his last 12 games to push his season average to 19.9 points.
ABOUT THE PELICANS (25-33): All-Star forward Brandon Ingram was struggling to mesh with Williamson and was held under 20 points in three straight games before breaking out with a team-high 34 points on 12-of-20 shooting Tuesday. "Both of those guys are unselfish guys and they play for the betterment of the team," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters of Williamson and Ingram. "I thought they did a good job. I thought we did a good job. We played, I thought, with a lot of confidence against ... I mean, there may be a better team in the NBA, but we'll see." Williamson is averaging 23.3 points on 57.3 percent shooting and 7.1 rebounds through his first 13 NBA games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cavaliers C Andre Drummond (calf) sat out Wednesday and is day-to-day.
2. Pelicans SG Jrue Holiday went 5-of-19 from the floor on Tuesday after knocking down 15-of-27 over the first two games of the road trip.
3. New Orleans earned a 125-111 win at Cleveland on Jan. 28 despite Williamson scoring a season-low 14 points.