Cavaliers at Celtics
Jeff Green helped the Boston Celtics clinch a playoff spot, but they still need to sort out their positioning. Green and company will try to get closer to locking up the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference when they host the fading Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. Green scored 34 points to help the Celtics hold off the Detroit Pistons and secure their spot in the postseason on Wednesday. The Cavaliers are riding the longest losing streak in the NBA at 10 games.
Boston is 2 1/2 games ahead of the eighth-place Milwaukee Bucks and is trying to avoid a scenario that would have it opening on the road at the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. Kevin Garnett is still nursing an ankle injury, which has left Green a bigger role to fill along with Paul Pierce. Cleveland star Kyrie Irving is not playing on the second night of back-to-back games since returning from a shoulder injury but has not been of much help even when he has been in the lineup. The Cavaliers fell into a 30-point hole at halftime against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday and Irving’s 16 points and six assists made little difference.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSOH (Cleveland), CSNNE (Boston)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (22-52): As bad as Cleveland has been recently, it always seems to play the Celtics tough. The Cavaliers held a fourth-quarter lead against Boston at home on March 27 before Green’s layup at the buzzer gave the Celtics a 93-92 victory. That was the closest call during a losing streak that has seen Cleveland fall by an average of 13.5 points. The defense has been the big issue in the last three losses, when New Orleans, Atlanta and Brooklyn have eased their way to an average of 109 points. “Things went from bad to worse, and once we got down we just stopped doing our whole game plan,” Irving told reporters after the 113-95 loss to the Nets on Wednesday. “It just went down the drain.” The lack of defensive effort was tough for coach Byron Scott to handle. “I’m very disappointed,” Scott said. “We just didn’t show any life.”
ABOUT THE CELTICS (39-36): Boston had done its best to let Milwaukee come up and challenge for the seventh spot while dropping seven of nine games from March 18-April 1. That rough stretch also helped ensure that the Celtics would not have much shot at home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But Boston jumped out to a big lead against lowly Detroit on Wednesday and managed to hold the Pistons off to sew up a playoff spot. The Celtics' weaknesses - especially a lack of rebounding - were still on display against Detroit but Green’s effort and 17 points apiece from Pierce and Brandon Bass helped cover for those deficiencies. Garnett has missed the last seven games and will likely sit out Friday as well, with Sunday against the Washington Wizards the possible target date for his return.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pierce (right ankle) reportedly sat out Thursday’s practice and is questionable for Friday.
2. Irving has put up 26 points on 58.8 percent shooting in five career games against Boston.
3. Green is averaging 23.8 points on 56.8 percent shooting over the last five contests.