In a battle of teams fighting for places in my "Lottery Balls" standings, the Cavaliers head to Washington D.C. on Saturday night to battle the team with one of the nicest uniforms in the league. Fortunately, the Washington Professional Basketball Team (hint: House) is in the midst of an image and team rebuilding stage so the game is very winnable.
As of this writing, the word still is out on whether Kyrie Irving will play or not but let's hope he does because I want to see him play John Wall.
Song of the Day: My Friends Over You - New Found Glory
Tonight's Overview:
Cleveland Cavaliers (13-21) at Washington Wizards (7-28)
The Wizards are 28th in the league on offense and 27th in defense so this road contest is a fixture the Wine and Gold needs to take care of business in. The Cavaliers have lost three straight games since Kyrie's heroics during All-Star weekend.
When glancing over the Wizards team numbers for the season it stood out to me that they really aren't good at anything as a team besides blocking some shots. And that really just doesn't bother me too much.
Wall is an emerging young point guard who could battle Irving for All-Star berths for years to come so I really hope to see who could get the best of this match up should Kyrie feel better.
With both teams having multiple impact players out the squads are pretty thin and this is a game where few neutrals will be interested in.
I'm expecting Kyrie to play and also Manny Harris to get another run of a couple minutes after he played well against the Bulls in 18 minutes on Friday evening.
Key Matchup:
Kyrie Irving vs. John Wall
This one stood out as these guys were the 2011 and 2010 First Overall Picks in their respective drafts. Irving has actually had a better start to his career but neither can claim to being on a team loaded with weapons to help them.
One thing specifically where Irving laps Wall on is outside shooting as Wall is just 2-22 from three point land on the season.
If Irving shouldn't go, I'm still looking forward to seeing the underrated Ramon Sessions give Wall a run for his money in those extra minutes.
Injuries:
Cleveland - Anderson Varejao, wrist (out)
Kyrie Irving, illness (questionable)
Christian Eyenga, toe (questionable)
Washington - Andray Blatche, calf (probablel)
Rashard Lewis, knee (doubtful)
Ronny Turiaf, hand (out)
Nick Young, knee (questionable)
Fear the Sword's Fearless Prediction:
The Cavaliers are a better team than the Wizards by a slim margin even without stalwart Anderson Varejao. Even with the game on unfamiliar turf I'm going to pick the Cavaliers 95-90.