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The Phoenix Suns came out with a huge victory over the Boston Celtics to push their record to 13-9. To make it 3 wins in a row, the Suns will need to take care of business against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It is hard to find a disappointing team to watch this season knowing that the Cavaliers are now turning their franchise around. With valuable assets to trade and a young core to build around, the Cavs are heading into the right direction.
The Starters
Phoenix Suns
- Chris Paul
- Devin Booker
- Mikal Bridges
- Frank Kaminski
- Deandre Ayton
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Collin Sexton
- Darius Garland
- Isaac Okoro
- Taurean Prince
- Andre Drummond
Injury Report
Cavaliers
Larry Nance Jr: Out
Kevin Love: Out
Suns
Abdel Nadar: Day-to-day
Jae Crowder: Day-to-day
Dario Saric: Out
Cameron Payne: Out
The Cavs
The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to one of the more surprising starts in the NBA, currently siting at 10-14 (10th in the NBA Eastern Conference). If the playoffs were to start to day, they would have an opportunity to participate in the play-in tournament.
The biggest question heading into this season for the Cavs- will Collins Sexton and Darius Garland become the back court of the future? They then formed the now popular stage name of, cover your ears, “Sexland.” Both Sexton and Garland have turned the franchise around while putting up improved stats from the year before.
Sexton: 23.6 PTS, 4.1 AST, 49% from the field
Garland: 16 PTS, 5.4 AST, 41% from 3
The bigs for the Cavs are their strong point with Andre Drummond and newly acquired Jarret Allen. Attention to the paint and dominant forces on the glass, not a minute is wasted in the game with Drummond starting and Allen coming off the bench.
Kevin Love, who was trying to pass his way out of Cleveland last year, is now somewhat in the background as this team starts to look positive. It is a great way to keep the NBA on the good side of things, with teams that sucked turning the corner.
The Suns
Playing to the level of their competition is annoying to repeat, but is a factor in the Suns long road ahead this season. It is only the Stars of the team in Devin Booker and Chris Paul to really carry this team and set the tempo.
The core is still young with Cam Johnson, who is now thankfully on the bench and striving again, Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton. All three need to follow and and Booker and Paul need to lead. This isn’t a complaint but just a worry of consistency. A poor start to a game vs a lesser team needs to lead to a timeout early and a player benched.
The battle towards the top of the Western Conference is tough and to take a few minutes off here and there is not acceptable and Coach Monty knows this.
Booker vs the Cavs
After a big game against the Boston Celtics, where Booker led the Suns in assists (11), his playmaking shines in games vs the Cavs. Averaging 6.6 assists in 7 games with 21.1 points per game, Booker looks to be more of a team player in his history against the Cavs. Almost 7 assists per game against the Cavs is a career best against any team in the league.
Prediction
This should be a win for the Suns but not a for sure win. The target on the Suns back continues to get bigger especially with teams like the Cavs needing to prove their destination with good outings against superior opponents.
It will be a battle on the glass and a game where the first punch can lead to a tone starter for the rest of the game.
Suns win: 111-98