Nets at Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers have a huge Christmas Day showdown on the horizon, which means they have to be careful not to overlook woeful Brooklyn when the Nets visit town on Friday. Cleveland has won eight of its last nine games entering the contest, which precedes Sunday's NBA Finals rematch against the Golden State Warriors.
Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love (knee) could sit out for the third straight game with the club preferring he's healthy for the game against the Warriors. Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving has played well over the past three games after sitting out two with tired legs and he produced 31 points and a career-best 13 assists in Wednesday's 113-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Cavaliers forward LeBron James scored 29 points and has topped 20 points in each of his last nine games to help his team keep the best record in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn has dropped four straight games and blew a 16-point halftime lead against the Warriors on Thursday while suffering a 117-101 loss.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE NETS (7-21): Point guard Jeremy Lin matched his season high of 11 assists and contributed 10 points and eight rebounds in the loss against the Warriors and he appears fully recovered from his recent hamstring injury. Lin is working to find a comfort level with center Brook Lopez and coach Kenny Atkinson is pleased with the early returns. "It's nice having him and Brook back together in the lineup," Atkinson told reporters. "I think the more they play together, the better all this goes. I don't want to put the turnover blame on lineups jumping around, but it's part of it. I just feel like we need to get hopefully back to a stable lineup, stable rotations."
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (21-6): Shooting guard J.R. Smith underwent surgery on his fractured right thumb on Friday and the team said he will miss 12 to 14 weeks. His absence will mean increased minutes for Iman Shumpert and DeAndre Liggins, though it is possible Cleveland may consider trading for an alternative solution. "We're going to miss J.R., his effort on defense, his tough shot making," Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters. "But it's no excuses for us. It's next man up and we've got to be ready to play. We've got to do it by committee. I think our guys are ready to step up to the challenge."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers won seven of the past nine meetings.
2. Lopez is averaging 23.6 points over his last five games, scoring at least 20 in each contest.
3. Liggins is 7-of-24 shooting over the last six contests.