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Kyrie Irving, who is out tonight with a knee injury, was the main reason the Cavs beat Brooklyn in both teams' season openers back in October |
When: 7:30 PM; Saturday, January 4th, 2014
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network
The road hasn't been very friendly to the Brooklyn Nets this season, as they are just 5-12 in games not played at the Barclays Center. Granted, they aren't much better at home (6-9) but in Brooklyn, at least they don't get blown out as much as they do in other team's arenas. The Nets return home to take on the scuffling Cleveland Cavaliers tonight as they look to turn momentum they have from the stunning win against the Thunder on Thursday into a prolonged winning streak.
Both the Nets and Cavaliers are in the midst of gravely disappointing seasons as each team is currently sitting at 11-21. Obviously, Brooklyn was expected to be well above .500 at this point in the season, not below it. Also, Cleveland, although a very young team, was predicted to have a solid year, especially with the presumed breakouts of Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Deon Waiters, in addition to the #1 overall draft pick Anthony Bennett–who has been horrific so far.
The unfortunate similarities don't stop there, though, as Brooklyn and Cleveland are each without one of their top young players due to injury. As mourned so often on this site, Brook Lopez of the Nets is out for the rest of the season due to a broken foot suffered a few weeks ago in a loss to the 76ers. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland's star point guard, is also injured; however, he is dealing with a knee injury that has him listed as day-to-day.
Probable Lineups
CLE- Jarrett Jack (PG), C.J. Miles (SG), Earl Clark (SF), Tristan Thompson (PF), Anderson Varejao (C)
BKN- Deron Williams (PG), Shaun Livingston (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Paul Pierce (PF), Reggie Evans (C)
Final Thoughts
The Cavaliers are 9-7 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland this season, meaning they are a dismal 2-14 when on the road. That severe disparity should be important for this evening's game, as the combination of being away from home and without Kyrie Irving is very, very bad for Mike Brown's club and great for Jason Kidd's. Sure, the Nets don't have Brook, but they are on a high note after Joe Johnson's gamewinner beat the Thunder a few nights ago and gave Brooklyn a ton of good feelings and optimism heading forward.
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