That game is Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, and it shapes Friday. Cleveland already lost to the Knicks 109-97 at home in this stretch. Now it plays them on the road and then flies to Miami on 1 day of rest. Miami played its last game Tuesday night in Utah and has 2 full days to get home and settle in after a 5-game West trip. Whatever happens at the Garden, the Cavs show up Friday as the team with less rest.
The bigger issue for Cleveland is the defense. The Cavs gave up 117 and 124 in back-to-back games with Oklahoma City, then 124 to a Charlotte team that came in on a 6-game losing streak. Naz Reid stretched the floor from the 5 spot in that one, pulling Cleveland's bigs out of the paint and opening driving lanes the Cavs never closed. Evan Mobley had 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting. A front line that couldn't handle Charlotte's spacing now gets Giannis attacking the basket, and that's a much harder problem.
Miami has its own problem, and it shows up late. Our recap of the Utah game had the Heat leading by as many as 23 before getting outscored 37-23 in the 4th quarter, the 2nd straight game a big lead nearly got away. Utah was 1-10 and missing Markkanen, George, Jackson and Nurkic. A Cleveland backcourt with Mitchell and Harden in it can close a 4th-quarter gap a lot faster than Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey can. Tipoff is 8:00 PM ET at Kaseya Center.
