The surging Cleveland Cavaliers look to match their season-high with an eighth straight victory when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. The Cavs kept rolling with a 103-95 win at Detroit on Tuesday to move six games above .500, one game off their high point of the season. The Trail Blazers have dropped four of their last six but should be well-rested after having Monday's game at Brooklyn postponed because of winter weather.
Cleveland's trifecta of stars is starting to jell, and it was point guard Kyrie Irving who erupted to match his season high with 38 points in Tuesday's win. "That's the luxury of playing with a great player like LeBron (James). When he's on the floor, you know there are going to be things opened up for the rest of you," Irving told reporters. "(Against Detroit), we had a lot of open shots, and we got enough of them to go down." The Trail Blazers have won three straight meetings, including a 101-82 victory in Portland on Nov. 4, and they're 18-3 against the Eastern Conference this season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, KGW (Portland), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (32-13): Portland has had a three-day layoff since its 103-96 win over Washington on Saturday, which marked only the second time in the past six games the Blazers have hit triple digits. That's an oddity for a team that ranks seventh in the league in scoring (103 points per game) with big man LaMarcus Aldrdige (23.3 points, 10.2 rebounds) and point guard Damian Lillard (22 points, 6.2 assists) leading the way. Prolific 3-point shooter Wesley Matthews (16.5 points) has a league-best 138 triples and knocked down three en route to 21 points in the first meeting this season.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (26-20): James (26.4 points, 7.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds) and Irving (21.3 points, 5.2 assists) combined for 70 points against Detroit and have really started to thrive off one another. The transition has been more difficult for Kevin Love (17.3 points, 10.3 rebounds), who struggled to seven points on 3-of-11 shooting Tuesday and has a tendency to get lost in Cleveland's offensive plans. Newcomer J.R. Smith has fit in seamlessly, though, averaging 15.2 points in 10 games since being acquired from New York.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers are 21-1 when scoring at least 102 points, which they have achieved in every game during their winning streak.
2. Portland is 20-1 when leading after three quarters and has an NBA-best 10 victories when trailing after three.
3. The Trail Blazers are 23-4 when scoring at least 100 points and 25-3 when holding their opponent under 100.