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Two teams battling plenty of injuries, but at opposite ends of the NBA standings do battle, with the Cleveland Cavaliers taking on the Sacramento Kings at the Quicken Loans Arena. Join The Roar for live scores from 11am (AEDT).
The Cavaliers enter this game with both Kevin Love and Australian Matthew Dellavedova missing. This will undoubtedly affect the Cavaliers on both ends of the court, and with an already failing offensive game, it will be difficult for others to pick up the slack.
Coach Tyronn Lue came out swinging after their last match, a 15 point win over the New Orleans Pelicans, rating their attack a fail since he took over as coach. A busy schedule hasn’t helped, but with Love on the sidelines, one has to wonder whether their attack will be able to make up the difference of a weakened defence.
Losses to the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics in their last three matches won’t be improving confidence levels either.
The Kings meanwhile are going to be without Rudy Gay for this game. He plays a massive part of their offensive set, and it has shown over the last fortnight with the Kings dropping seven of their last eight matches.
The Kings have, though, had an uncanny ability to standing up against good teams on the road this season with wins against teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers. Sitting 4.5 games behind the eighth-placed Utah Jazz out west, every game is becoming more and more important for them.
The key battle here looks to be that of the centres, as Tristan Thompson goes up against DeMarcus Cousins. Both players have been scoring high and rebounding well, but their ability to score comes down to point guard play. Rajon Rondo for the Kings is averaging nearly 12 assists per game and may give Cousins the edge in this matchup.
The teams are yet to meet in the 2015-2016 season with one more meeting after this one in the back half of the season. Looking at the record over the last few seasons, though, each of the last five has been won by the home team, with the Kings taking the last win on the road between the teams back in 2013.
Prediction
Both teams are battling with injuries, but the Cavaliers really aren’t looking in good touch. They have had a very busy period, and their attack has been poor. Without Love, their defence will take a hit as well. While the Kings are struck down with injuries and are in terrible form they have recorded some big scalps on the road this season. Don’t be surprised if they get the job done.
Kings by 5.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 11am (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below as the match progresses.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde