The Boston Celtics will host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night in a matchup of two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers come in at 15-7 which is good for first place in the East while the Celtics come in at 14-10 which has them in seventh in the East but just two games behind Cleveland.
The Cavaliers have won their last two games after losing three in a row and they are starting to get healthy which is a scary proposition. Iman Shumpert played his first game of the season in Friday night's blowout win over the Orlando Magic as he scored 14 points on 5-7 shooting from the field. Cleveland isn't 100 percent healthy yet though as Kyrie Irving has yet to make his season debut but that seems to be coming very soon.
LeBron James hasn't been talked about much this year because Stephen Curry has been doing ridiculous things out West but LeBron is having another outstanding season. He has struggled from three point range (28 percent) but he is averaging 26.4 points, 6.4 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game and leads the team with his 27.5 PER.
This will be Kevin Love's first game back in Boston since injuring his shoulder there, an injury which ended his season. The Cavaliers went on to sweep the series anyway but they could have used Love in the NBA Finals. Love has been much more successful in season two with the Cavaliers as he is averaging 17.8 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, both up from last season.
J.R. Smith missed the Cavaliers last game against Orlando with an illness but he is expected to be available for this one while Matthew Dellavedova missed practice earlier this week with back soreness but he too is expected to be available.
The Celtics have been playing great basketball lately as they have won five of their last seven games, with one of those losses being a double-overtime defeat to the then undefeated Golden State Warriors. Boston was able to bounce back by defeating a very good Charlotte Hornets team though and the Celtics could be a real threat to Cleveland in the East.
Avery Bradley has been on fire during Boston's recent run as he has moved back into the starting lineup and has made 47 percent of his threes in the past seven games. Bradley is averaging 16.3 points per game to go along with his usual great defense and he is coming off a 23 point game in the win over the Hornets.
Isaiah Thomas has been the Celtics' guy this year as he is now a full-time starter and he has played like an All-Star this season. Thomas is leading the team with his 20.8 points per game and he is coming off a 21 point and season high 13 assist effort and the Cavaliers will have to try to contain this potent backcourt.
On the injury front the Celtics will be without Marcus Smart who is still out with a leg injury but he will be evaluated again at the end of the week. R.J. Hunter is expected to be available after missing the last four games with a hip injury but it is unknown if he will be given any playing time.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Cavaliers radio broadcast go here and for the Celtics radio broadcast go here.
