76ers at Cavaliers
The best team in the Eastern Conference will take on the worst when the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. The Cavaliers are winners of four straight and got Friday and Saturday off after outlasting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
The 76ers dropped their ninth straight game 107-97 to the New York Knicks on Friday but managed to add a positive development earlier in the day, when veteran Mike D’Antoni was named associate head coach. The former Nuggets, Suns, Knicks and Lakers coach is one of the innovators of modern up-tempo offenses and is expected to help Philadelphia’s league-worst scoring offense. Cleveland has few problems scoring as long as LeBron James and Kevin Love are on the floor, and only figures to get better once Kyrie Irving (knee), Iman Shumpert (groin) and Mo Williams (thumb) are able to take the floor together. Irving was reportedly due to make his season debut on Thursday before tweeting out that he would not be playing, and Sunday is another possible target date for his return.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia, FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE 76ERS (1-27): Philadelphia upgraded the front office by bringing in veteran Jerry Colangelo and upgraded the bench by bringing in D’Antoni after giving coach Brett Brown a two-year contract extension. "I think that we want to have some fun. We want to share ideas," Brown told reporters. "So how can we not step back and say with Jerry Colangelo coming in and Mike D'Antoni coming in, that we got better?" Brown is trying to mold two styles by pushing the pace and feeding the post with rookie center Jahlil Okafor, and is open to D’Antoni’s input on the subject.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (17-7): Cleveland held a pair of strong Eastern Conference opponents under 80 points in wins at Orlando and Boston before surging at the end to grab a 104-100 triumph over the Thunder. “It was a very good win,” Love told reporters. “It is one of those games where it is up and down. I’m glad we got the win and we got big stops when we needed it.” James narrowly missed a triple-double with 33 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in the win and is carrying the load with 28.8 points in the last four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers struggled in each of the first two meetings this season but won both by a total of 13 points.
2. Okafor scored 20 or more points in five of the last six contests.
3. Cleveland F Tristan Thompson scored 14 points on Thursday, four more than his total from the previous four games.