After a one-game stop at home Wednesday night, the Cavaliers hit the road again for a pair this weekend, starting with a Friday night matchup with the Timberwolves in Minnesota.
The Wine & Gold lost their third straight home game on Wednesday, falling to the Heat for the second time in three tries this year. Cleveland was again led by three starters and rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to take a four-point advantage with 1:34 to play. But Terry Rozier scored nine points in the final 1:24 of regulation to sink the Cavaliers.
The Timberwolves, now 1.5 games out of first place in the West, had their three-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night, falling to Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets despite a strong effort from Anthony Edwards.
The Cavaliers ended a three-game streak in the head-to-head series against Minnesota with a big overtime victory two weeks ago in Cleveland thanks to big efforts from Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.
Few opponents have been able to slow down Anthony Edwards this season, but the Cavaliers did a remarkable job two weeks ago.
After scoring 44 points against the Pacers the night before, the Cavaliers held the two-time All-Star to 19 points on 7-of-27 shooting, missing all seven three-pointers he attempted. The Cavs have actually managed to keep the rugged shooter in check throughout his career. In seven career games, he has only reached the 20-point mark twice.
For most of Friday night, he’ll see plenty of action against Isaac Okoro, who has once again been Cleveland’s best perimeter defender and is also having his best offensive season as a professional – averaging 9 .7 points per game, shooting 49 percent from the floor, 40 percent. long range.
Okoro finished with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting in the overtime win over Minnesota, adding six rebounds and two blocks.
Jarrett Allen has been very good this year, but one of his best performances of the season came two weeks ago against Minnesota – exploding for a career-high 33 points, going 9-for-19 from the field and 15 of 21 from the field. the tape, leading both teams with 18 rebounds to go along with two steals and two blocks.
And JA enters tonight’s contest off the back of an excellent effort Wednesday night against Miami – marking his fifth career 20-20 game, with 25 points and 20 rebounds on 10-of-13 shooting.
Rudy Gobert grabbed 17 rebounds and made two shots before fouling out in overtime two weeks ago, but he is listed as questionable because of a rib injury for Friday.
Naz Reid, who suffered a head injury two games ago against Utah, could be back in the lineup — and he tormented the Cavaliers in that game earlier this month, finishing with 34 points in 32 minutes coming off the bench, with a record of 7 for 11. from the depths of the loss.
