When: March 31, 2016; 7:00 PM EST
Where: Quicken Loans Arena; Cleveland, OH
TV: YES Network
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
- After two of their more impressive wins this season, the Brooklyn Nets disappointed in a Florida road back-to-back against the Heat and Magic earlier in the week. The Nets hung around with the Heat for much of the first half on Monday, but faded as the game went on and they had no answer for Dwyane Wade or Hassan Whiteside. Less than 24 hours after, in Orlando, Brooklyn got crushed by the Magic as the Nets allowed a season-high 139 points in a 34-point drubbing. It was probably the worst performance — in terms of effort — under Tony Brown, especially on the defensive end, as the Magic shot over 61 percent from the field (and 51 percent from three).
- The Cavaliers are also coming off a really bad loss, as they blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead against the Rockets in Cleveland on Tuesday night en route to a 106-100 defeat. With LeBron James sitting due to rest, the Cavs were up 19 at halftime but — thanks to Michael Beasley and James Harden chiefly — Houston slowly climbed back into the game as Tyronn Lue’s showed no sense of urgency.
- Cleveland is still the East’s No. 1 seed — the Cavs are two games ahead of the Raptors — but reports of locker room strife and other chemistry- and basketball-related problems have surrounded the projected conference champion all season. To make matters (potentially) worse, both Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith are questionable for tonight’s game with injuries.
- On the other hand, the Nets will be without Brook Lopez and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson tonight as both players are resting. Lopez, along with Thaddeus Young, are the two players Tony Brown has been the most vocal about resting as this season nears its end while Hollis-Jefferson — who recently returned from a fractured ankle — is having his minutes managed to avoid a re-aggravation of that injury.
Probable lineups
BKN- Shane Larkin (PG), Sergey Karasev (SG), Bojan Bogdanovic (SF), Thaddeus Young (PF), Willie Reed (C)
CLE- Kyrie Irving (PG), J.R. Smith (SG), LeBron James (SF), Kevin Love (PF), Timofey Mozgov (C)
Final thoughts
On paper, the Cavaliers — even without Kyrie and J.R. — should crush the Nets. But, as Brooklyn showed just one week ago when the Nets took down Cleveland 104-95 at the Barclays Center. It was one of the bigger upsets of the season, yet that was with Lopez and Hollis-Jefferson playing significant roles. Without those two guys tonight — and with the Cavs coming off a really bad loss on Tuesday — this is going to be a hard one for the Nets to be too competitive in. Oh, and they also play tomorrow night at MSG against the Knicks.
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