Cavaliers at Magic
The Cleveland Cavaliers spent the week getting their emotions up for reunion games against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat. The Cavaliers will try to get back to the business of just playing basketball when they visit the Orlando Magic on Friday. Kevin Love had some success as Cleveland topped the Timberwolves on Tuesday but the team could not help LeBron James in his return to Miami.
The Magic have been off since snapping a four-game slide with a 100-95 win over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday and are happy for the rest. “I think it’s a great time for us to go and re-juice a little bit,” guard Victor Oladipo told reporters. '”Whatever wounds we may have and whatever soreness we may have this is a time for us to get rid of those.” Orlando did not have much success in a trip to Cleveland on Nov. 24, when the Cavaliers rolled to a 106-74 win.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), FSN Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (17-11): Cleveland is expected to take the absence of Anderson Varejao (Achilles) on a game-to-game basis, and the team went small with Mike Miller and Shawn Marion in the starting frontcourt along with Love and James on Thursday. Tristan Thompson played 26 minutes off the bench in the 101-91 loss to the Heat and could see his role increase against the Orlando front line. The Cavaliers went 6-of-26 from 3-point range on Thursday and their 91 points marked their fewest since Dec. 4.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (11-20): Orlando will try to take advantage of Cleveland’s shortage in the frontcourt by leaning on Kyle O’Quinn and Nikola Vucevic, who combined for 36 points and 25 rebounds in the win over the Celtics on Tuesday. O’Quinn moved into the starting lineup to provide more bulk up front while Channing Frye and his outside shooting ability switched to a reserve role. Vucevic went for 18 points and 13 boards in the Nov. 24 meeting, but O’Quinn and leading scorer Tobias Harris both sat out the meeting.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers have taken eight straight in the series.
2. James, a career 74.7 percent free-throw shooter, is shooting 63.8 percent from the line in the last seven games.
3. Oladipo has been held to single digits in scoring in three of the last four games.