Cavaliers at Clippers
The Cleveland Cavaliers suffer through slumps just like every other team but look head and shoulders above every other team in the Eastern Conference when they manage to put it all together. The Cavaliers will try to show off their best form when they kick off a stretch with six of seven on the road by visiting the slumping Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
Cleveland dropped five of seven to begin March before turning it on and blasting the Detroit Pistons 128-96 on Tuesday, which it followed with a gritty 91-83 triumph over the Utah Jazz on Thursday as Kevin Love returned to the lineup and the team avoided serious injuries to two other players. "(I’m) happy to be back, especially to get one in front of our home crowd before we go on a four-game road trip," Love, who missed the previous 13 games with a knee injury, told reporters. "So it was good. ... It was either going to be this weekend or tonight, I think once I saw how I was progressing and didn’t have any hiccups along the way, that tonight just felt right and we decided it was in front of our home crowd (that I would come back). It felt good." The Clippers are chasing the Jazz for the No. 4 spot in the West but failed to take advantage of Utah's loss to Cleveland on Thursday by falling at Denver 129-114 for their third straight loss. Los Angeles remained three games behind the Jazz and is now looking over its shoulder at the Oklahoma City Thunder, who lurk a half-game back.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (45-22): Cleveland lost point guard Kyrie Irving (knee) and swingman Iman Shumpert (shoulder) in Thursday's win, but neither injury is considered serious and both players are day-to-day. "Right now we’re just having to mix and match and try to figure it out," Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters. "With Kyrie and Shump not being serious, (Love) working his way back and (Kyle) Korver being close, these last 12-13 games we can finally start figuring out our rotation and who’s going to play, who’s going to play with who. I think that will make things a lot better. I’m just excited about that." Superstar forward LeBron James, who recorded a triple-double in four of his first seven games this month, picked up the slack on Thursday with 33 points on 13-of-20 shooting.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (40-29): Los Angeles did not have its full squad available on Thursday, either, as the team elected to keep center DeAndre Jordan and power forward Blake Griffin home to rest. "I think it can help us recovery-wise," Jordan told the L.A Daily News. "I know for myself and - I think I can speak for Blake, too - we want to be out there every game that we're healthy. We want to be out there helping our team getting better as a unit and just being able to get better as a whole." Both players will be available on Saturday as the Clippers kick off a closing stretch that includes nine of the final 13 games at home.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cleveland SG J.R. Smith is 7-of-12 from 3-point range in the last two games after going 4-of-19 in the previous three contests.
2. Clippers PG Chris Paul collected 18 points and 14 assists on Thursday to snap a string of eight straight games without a double-double.
3. Irving led the way with 28 points while James and Love scored 16 apiece in a 113-94 home win over Los Angeles on Dec. 1.