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It feels like it's been weeks since the Cleveland Cavaliers played a basketball game. In actuality, it's only been since Monday. But seriously, it has felt like weeks or even years. I haven't known what to do with myself every night. Tonight they will finally be back on the court in Boston to take on the Celtics.
Who: Cavs at Celtics
When: 7:30 pm Eastern
Where: Boston Garden TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Television: Fox Sports Ohio
Music: I've been waiting a long time for this moment to come.
The only good thing about the Cavs having so many days off is that they actually probably needed some rest. LeBron James is averaging 40.3 minutes per game at the moment. He hasn't averaged that many over a full season since 2007-2008. Kyrie Irving is averaging 39.8, and Kevin Love is averaging 38. That's simply too many minutes, even for the younger Irving and Love, and now would probably be a good time for David Blatt to get those minutes under control.
Boston is off to a 3-4 start to the season, and they're 2-2 at home. They start Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Jeff Green, Jared Sullinger, and Kelly Olynyk.
Rondo, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL and also suffered a broken hand during the offseason, is averaging 10.8 points, 11.3 assists, and 8.2 rebounds per game on 45.2 percent shooting from the field. Green is the team's leading scorer at 18.9 points per game. Sullinger, the former Ohio State Buckeye, is having his finest season as a pro, averaging 14.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game with PER of 20.78.
Another former Buckeye, Evan Turner, is averaging 21.1 minutes and 7.9 points per game off of the Boston bench. He's shooting 46 percent from the floor (his career-high is 44.6 percent), but just 14.3 percent on threes.
Former Cavalier Tyler Zeller has been fairly good for the Celtics on offense off of the bench, but he's only getting 12.6 minutes per game so far.
Like the Cavs, the Celtics have been pretty good on offense, and pretty bad on defense. They are eighth in the NBA in points scored per 100 possessions, but 26th in points allowed per 100 possessions. So this one should be a fairly high-scoring affair.
After this game tonight, the Cavs will be back home tomorrow night to host the Hawks.