Game 36 | Cavs (19-16) vs Rockets (23-11) | Wednesday, January 7th, 2015 | 7:00 PM ET

[GreekMo]

Cavs (19-16)

vs

Rockets (23-11)

Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

Coaches:

David Blatt

Kevin McHale

Starting lineups:

Kyrie Irving - vs - Patrick Beverley

Matthew Dellavedova - vs - James Harden

Mike Miller - vs - Trevor Ariza

Kevin Love - vs - Donatas Motiejunas

Tristan Thompson - vs - Dwight Howard

Cavs bench:

Shawn Marion, J.R. Smith, Joe Harris, James Jones, Brendan Haywood, A.J. Price

LeBron James, (Left Knee/Low Back Strain, Out), Anderson Varejao, (Torn Left Achilles Tendon, Out)

Rockets bench:

Josh Smith, Jason Terry, Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson, Corey Brewer, Isaiah Canaan, Clint Capela, Kostas Papanikolaou

Terrence Jones, (Left Leg Nerve Inflammatio, Out), Alexey
Shved, (Left Ankle Sprain, Out)

Game Summary
Before embarking on a five-game road trip out West, the Cavaliers will host the Houston Rockets tonight at Quicken Loans Arena for the first of two regular season matchups. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Cleveland's (19-16) defense is allowing the 4th-lowest opponent scoring average in the NBA since Nov. 24, giving up 97.6 points per game over that 23-game stretch. The Cavs are 12-5 when holding opponents to less than 100 points this season, including a perfect 7-0 when allowing less than 90 points on the year.

The Cavaliers are also allowing the league’s lowest fast break points per game in the league since Nov. 24 at 9.4.

The Wine and Gold hold a 9-4 mark in its last 13 games at Quicken Loans Arena.

Houston (23-11) has dropped four of six after after falling in Monday's 114-105 loss at Chicago. The Rockets were outscored 19-5 over the final 3:19, suffering their third consecutive road loss after opening 11-2 away from home.

Head-to-Head Matchup
The two teams last met this past March at The Q. Matthew Dellavedova posted his second straight double-double (second career) with 14 points, including 3-4 (.750) from the three-point line, a career-high tying six rebounds and a career-high tying 10 assists in 37 minutes off the bench.

The Cavs trail the all-time series against the Rockets 42-79 (29-31 Home, 12-48 Road).

The two teams will wrap up things on March 1 at the Toyota Center.





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[Jstock12]

Brewer has been very good for them. Josh Smith... meh.

Love vs Motiejunas might be quite interesting. Also, Cavs might find it hard stopping or at least slowing Harden down.

 

[shoes22]

Pencil in another 'L'

 

[Simon]

Dwight Howard is going to dominate us tonight....

....I'm thinking a 20 point, 20 rebound game for him....

 

[MikeOC33]

Thanks

You didn't include Shumpert on the IR or bench list fyi... too bad cuz they could use him tonight vs Harden....

 

[Ohio]

Maybe we wont get completely embarrassed since Kyrie is playing.

 

[stick]

I have a good feeling about this game...

Though the lack of big men the Cavs possess is not going to be pretty. Hopefully Love/Tristan don't get into foul trouble, though if Smith is playing the 4, Marion could guard him. Haywood should be able to guard Howard for short (okay, very short) stretches (and probably foul him in the process, which isn't the worst thing to do against Howard).

 

[AuxiliaryPie]

We may have a morale boost after losing Dion, thats about all we have going for us.

That and maybe our two all stars will decide to play like themselves, we got a chance

 

[deadddilly]

we have one backup big and its haywood so effectively we have no backup bigs.

 

[Marcus]

This one has the potential to get ugly. Hopefully having Irving and Smith in the lineup will give the team a shot in the arm.

 

[JFT]

I'd start Smith over Delly as Delly really is decent as a backup to add spark. Also, can't wait to see how Smith plays with Love and Kyrie. Should be interesting game overall.

 

[gijimbo]

I'd start Smith over Delly as Delly really is decent as a backup to add spark. Also, can't wait to see how Smith plays with Love and Kyrie. Should be interesting game overall.

Can Smith even play? Did Dion pass his physical in OKC?

Also, would we play him even though he didn't have a practice with the team yet?

 

[Rick Astley]

Kyrie coming back, Pipes debut. I love it. Outcome don't matter right now bros. I just want it lubricated.

I just want to throw this one out there: I want to sex Griffin.

 

[Marcus]

Can Smith even play? Did Dion pass his physical in OKC?

Also, would we play him even though he didn't have a practice with the team yet?

Smith is expected to play tonight. The Knicks already waived their players and Waiters is playing tonight too.

Fully expecting the Cavs to get rolled tonight. Hoping they prove me wrong.

 

[Simmy]

View: https://twitter.com/cavs/status/552961969209507840


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