Cavaliers at 76ers
LeBron James is letting Kevin Love assume a bigger role in the offense for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the early results have been positive. The Cavaliers will try to post their third straight win behind the James-Love duo when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
There was some question about whether Love would return to the Cavaliers as a free agent last summer, but conversations with James convinced him to stay in Cleveland. The former All-Star is averaging 19.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in the early going after recovering from a shoulder injury that knocked him out of the playoffs last spring. "(Love) knows how great he is and how good he is for our team," James told reporters after Love went for 24 points in a win over Miami on Friday. "He showed it again tonight why he's one of the best power forwards in our league and we need to continue to ride his coattails.” The 76ers don’t figure to put up much of a test and are just trying to avoid a third straight loss by at least 17 points.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (2-1): Cleveland’s big focus in the offseason – aside from bringing back Love – was upgrading the supporting cast. Postseason starters Matthew Dellavedova and Tristan Thompson are back to the second unit along with veteran Richard Jefferson and a healthy Anderson Varejao. “We have so much confidence in every player on this team,” Love told reporters .“We have guys that might be sitting for lengthy periods of time that come in and affect the game in different ways – some might not even show up on the stat sheet.”
ABOUT THE 76ERS (0-2): Philadelphia had Saturday and Sunday off to figure some things out after shooting 30.2 percent in a 99-71 home loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday that dropped them to 0-2. Sixers coach Brett Brown wants the team’s offense to play with pace, but Philadelphia totaled only 63 field-goal attempts in the loss and got caught slowing down with rookie Jahlil Okafor working in the post. Okafor, who scored 26 points in his debut during a loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, finished with 10 on 4-of-12 shooting on Friday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers took two of the three meetings last season, falling at the 76ers on Jan. 5 in a game James missed.
2. Philadelphia G Nik Stauskas (back, leg) scored 12 points in 21 minutes during his team debut on Friday.
3. Cleveland G J.R. Smith is shooting 28.6 percent in the first three games.